[Ding! Host detected purchasing Lv2 skills: Precision Mechanical Design and Manufacturing (Elementary), Material Structure Analysis and Application (Elementary)]
[A total of 220,000 business points will be spent. Confirm?]
"Confirm! Purchase!"
[Purchase successful! business points have been deducted.]
[Skill knowledge system is being imported. Estimated integration time: 720 hours.]
"Sev... seven hundred and twenty hours?!" Lu You's eyes widened as he counted on his fingers.
"Isn't that a whole month?!"
Just as he was about to complain about the system's inefficiency, a new line of prompts popped up.
[Detected that the Host has sufficient business points. Would you like to enable the 'Instant Integration' service?]
[The 'Instant Integration' service can reduce skill learning time to 1 second, but requires an additional service fee.]
['Precision Mechanical Design and Manufacturing (Elementary)' Instant Integration fee: 100,000 business points.]
['Material Structure Analysis and Application (Elementary)' Instant Integration fee: 100,000 business points.]
[Proceed with payment?]
Lu You looked at the 200,000 service fee, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
"Holy cow! I'm calling it right now, holy cow!" he couldn't help but blurt out.
"This service fee is more expensive than the skills themselves! It's a waste of talent for this system not to go into finance! You're a total profiteer!"
Although he was complaining wildly, his body was very honest.
Time is money, and he couldn't afford to wait a month.
"Spend it! Spend it for me!" Lu You's heart was bleeding.
But he still gritted his teeth and waved his hand helplessly.
"Isn't it just spending a few hundred thousand more business points? Small potatoes, I can handle it!"
After all, the wool comes from the sheep's back.
In the future, he would have to rely on this wicked system to earn back the difference.
[Ding! Payment successful! A total of 200,000 business points have been deducted.]
[Skill 'Instant Integration' has been activated!]
As soon as the words fell, Lu You felt a "boom" in his brain.
It was as if he had been struck by an invisible bolt of lightning!
A massive torrent of knowledge instantly surged into his mind.
Countless complex mechanical blueprints, 3D structural models, and dense formulas and parameters.
They swirled and exploded before his eyes like a sea of stars.
Then, in a way he could understand, they were reorganized and rearranged.
Deeply imprinted in the depths of his memory.
Next came knowledge about materials science.
How carbon atoms arrange themselves into graphite or diamond under different pressures and temperatures.
How the proportions of various metallic elements affect the toughness, strength, and melting point of an alloy... all of this was instilled into his brain within a single second.
"Ugh..."
As the ocean of knowledge receded, Lu You shook his head.
He felt a bout of world-spinning dizziness and intense thirst.
His brain was like an overloaded CPU, burning hot.
He staggered to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of chilled mineral water.
He gulped it down in one go.
The icy liquid slid down his throat, slightly easing the feeling that his brain was about to boil over.
Leaning against the wall, he took unsteady steps and slowly climbed up to the master bedroom on the second floor.
"Whew..."
He collapsed onto the soft, large bed, and without even taking off his clothes, he fell into a deep sleep.
He knew that when he woke up tomorrow...
There would definitely be many big clients waiting to meet him... The first ray of morning sunlight shone on Lu You's face right on time.
He opened his eyes, without the slightest intention of lounging in bed.
The intense and exciting seven days of the challenge had come to an end.
But the biological clock he had developed because of it was unshakeable.
He woke up at 6:30 sharp, feeling refreshed.
"Health is the capital of revolution," Lu You said as he did stretching exercises, feeling the vitality brought by his muscles waking up.
A few days ago, he was still that "lying flat" slacker youth.
His life motto was "As long as I lie flat enough, the sickle of capitalism can't cut me."
But now, things were different.
The eight-digit deposit in his account, which he had to count several times before he dared to believe it...
...had already activated his long-dormant cells for striving.
Before, he had no money and no motivation.
Now, with ten million in cash, if he didn't have a good body to enjoy it...
...wouldn't that be the greatest tragedy in life?
Buying luxury cars, living in mansions, traveling the world... which of those didn't require plenty of energy?
So, starting from the second day after the challenge ended...
Lu You set a strict routine and exercise plan for himself.
No joke, he didn't want to become one of those tragic cases where "the money is in the bank, but the person is in heaven."
After washing up, he walked to the entrance of the Hardware Store, ready to welcome the new day.
Lu You narrowed his eyes and found that the entrance to his "Old Lu Hardware Store"...
...looked like it was hosting some high-end business summit.
Rows of gleaming black business sedans stretched from his store entrance all the way to the end of the street.
They had almost turned the entire old street into a parking lot.
Next to the cars stood middle-aged men in suits with serious expressions.
Every one of them had their hair slicked back and their leather shoes polished to a shine.
They were either carrying thick briefcases...
...or were followed by a young assistant, also in professional attire and holding a folder.
This sight, even though Lu You had mentally prepared himself to welcome big clients...
Still gave him a huge shock.
"Good grief, did they move the elites of the entire CBD over here?" Lu You clicked his tongue... The atmosphere outside the store was already tense.
The air was filled with the smell of a smokeless war.
"Xiao Li," a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who looked quite like a leader...
...lowered his voice and said to the assistant behind him:
"As soon as Boss Lu opens the door, don't worry about anything else, just one word: Charge!"
"Use your middle school hundred-meter sprint speed to grab the most advantageous position for me! This is the key battle for our company to break through technical barriers and achieve an overtake on the curve!"
"Yes, President Wang!" The young assistant, Xiao Li, adjusted his glasses and crouched slightly.
Striking the starting pose of a professional sprinter.
The representatives from other companies nearby had ears as sharp as radar.
Hearing this, they also began to rub their hands together and whisper to their subordinates.
"Did you hear that? They're going to charge! We can't fall behind! Remember, our goal is to be the first to speak with Boss Lu!"
"Secretary Liu, are your high heels okay? If not, take them off now and charge barefoot!"
"Everyone, stay sharp! This is no longer just a simple business cooperation; this is a battle of honor! It's a battle for the company's survival!"
For a moment, these directors, vice presidents, and CEOs, who were normally the decision-makers in their respective companies...
...all transformed into grandmas preparing to rush into a supermarket for discounted eggs.
And the tourists who had come to check out the "holy site" after hearing the news...
...seeing this scene comparable to a movie set...
...sensibly retreated a hundred meters away, forming a phalanx of onlookers.
"Holy crap... what's the situation? Is there an IPO launch event?" a small influencer holding a phone for a live stream shouted in shock toward the camera.
"I'm just a guy who drives screws. I originally came to buy a new bit today, but now it looks like I don't even have the qualification to get near that door."
"Don't lose heart, you're not alone. Look at that, those license plates are all sequential numbers, and several of them belong to top-tier enterprises in our province."
"Boss Lu has really taken off this time. We small individual customers will probably have to wait for this wave of 'clash of the titans' to end before we can get in."
"Exactly, these people look like big shots with budgets of hundreds of millions. Boss Lu is a player in the high-level game now; we should just watch the excitement from the outside."
Various discussions rose and fell among the crowd.
Accompanied by the "click-click" of phone cameras.
They broadcasted the grand occasion at the entrance of "Old Lu Hardware Store" to every corner of the internet in real-time.
[Shocking! The Boss of Old Lu Hardware Store Sets the Business World Ablaze, Hundreds of CEOs Block the Door at Dawn Begging for Cooperation!]
[The Most Awesome Hardware Store in History! The Luxury Cars at the Door Rival an International Auto Show!]
[Versailles Literature: 'I'm Just a Hardware Store Owner'—and then the Entrance is Full of Maybachs.]
The clickbait writers on the internet had already begun to churn out content frantically.
The already highly popular Old Lu Hardware Store was now even more on fire!