"Whew..." He closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temples.
The voices from earlier in the day were still echoing in his head.
"Boss Lu, we are sincerely looking to cooperate. Regarding this price... could you give us a friendship discount?"
"Director Lu, our company's purchase volume is huge; we'll definitely be a stable, long-term client. Small profits, quick turnover, right? Why don't you reconsider?"
"Boss Lu, you're still young. You need to take a long-term view. Partnering with us means opening up the entire South China market..."
"I don't believe a word you say, you old geezer is full of tricks!" Lu You muttered silently to himself.
He had heard these sales pitches so many times his ears were practically growing calluses.
Friendship discount?
Is my friendship worth that little?
Small profits, quick turnover?
You guys just want me to earn a few pennies through tears!
But then again, as tiring as it was, the results were gratifying.
By the end of the day, the total value of the contracts signed was a staggering figure.
The business points were also skyrocketing.
"To make money, you really have to build a career," Lu You murmured to himself, the corners of his mouth curling up involuntarily.
Right now, he was like a fierce tiger that had just tasted blood.
Ready to make a big splash in the vast jungle of commerce.
Just as he was enjoying this moment of peace and preparing to head to the back warehouse to take a look...
A crisp notification sound rang out in his mind.
[Ding—]
[System detected to have upgraded to Lv3. The back warehouse can now undergo a synchronized upgrade.]
[The current maximum level the warehouse can be upgraded to is—lv3.]
[Upgrade cost: 5,000,000 business points.]
[Confirm upgrade?]
Lu You's eyes instantly widened into circles.
His previous state of exhaustion vanished instantly as he sat bolt upright.
"Only five million." He subconsciously glanced at his balance of business points.
Five million business points was not a small amount.
But for the current him, it really wasn't much.
After all, the price difference from today's contracts alone was already in the nine figures!
He couldn't help but complain a bit.
Truly a case of plucking feathers from a passing goose and skinning a walking beast.
Complaints aside, he definitely had to upgrade.
He was simply too curious.
What kind of changes this sky-high priced Level 3 warehouse would bring him.
The Level 2 warehouse had already shocked him enough; Level 3... wouldn't that just take him to the moon?
"Confirm upgrade!" he thought to himself.
[Confirmed consumption of 5 million business points... Consumption successful!]
[Warehouse upgrade starting. Estimated time: 10 seconds. Host, please retreat to a safe area and prepare to be amazed!]
"You sure know how to build tension," Lu You grumbled, obediently standing outside the door of the back warehouse.
As soon as he spoke, the back warehouse began a world-shaking transformation.
First, the boundaries of the entire space began to blur.
Like a sugar cube dropped into water, it rapidly dissolved and expanded.
The original space seemed to be pulled at will by an invisible giant hand.
It stretched frantically in all directions, upwards and downwards.
Those refined metal shelves, which were originally a bit taller than a person, emitted slight 'clack-clack' sounds.
Then, like bamboo shoots after rain, they rose section by section.
One meter, two meters, five meters, ten meters... they didn't stop, growing continuously upward toward the endless white dome.
These shelves eventually became rows of steel behemoths that stood between heaven and earth.
Each row was like a skyscraper, arranged in perfect uniformity.
They looked like deep, endless canyons.
Lu You tilted his head back until his neck nearly snapped.
He could barely see the upper-middle section of the shelves.
His Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.
He let out a clear, audible gulp.
"My... god..." He squeezed the words out through his teeth.
He didn't know how to describe this space anymore.
How was this still a warehouse?
Grand? Spectacular?
No, these words seemed too pale and powerless in its presence.
This was clearly a miracle of industrial civilization!
The entire space was bathed in bright, shadowless light.
The light was evenly distributed in every corner, yet no source of any lighting fixture could be found.
A faint, fresh scent permeated the air.
With constant temperature and humidity, it was extremely comfortable to the body.
"This... how much stuff can this hold!" Lu You's mind went blank.
He tried to use his meager imagination to estimate the capacity of this space.
But he quickly gave up.
It was simply beyond his scope of understanding.
Just as he was shocked beyond measure...
Within those deep canyons, moving figures began to appear.
"Whoosh— Whoosh—"
Accompanied by slight sounds of breaking air.
Silver-white robots, shaped much like high-tech spiders...
Were shuttling rapidly along vertical tracks between the shelves.
Their movements were lightning-fast, yet incredibly precise.
Mechanical arms extended and retracted flexibly, picking up labeled items one by one from the impossibly high shelves.
Then they quickly slid toward another target.
The whole process was as smooth as flowing water; thousands of robots were busy on their respective tracks without interfering with each other.
"Full... fully automated intelligent retrieval robots?" Lu You murmured.
Lu You slowly walked into this massive space.
He reached out and gently touched a shelf beside him.
"Incredible..."
Besides those words, he really couldn't think of any other term to describe his current feelings.
The degree of transformation from those five million business points was simply not something that could be measured by money.
He noticed that near the entrance, a brand-new control platform had appeared.
The platform had a large touchscreen displaying a simple and clear operation interface.
[Intelligent Warehouse Management System Lv3]
[Please enter the name, model, or number of the item you need to extract.]
Beside it was a half-person-high delivery port, similar to a conveyor belt.
The wall on the side facing the main lobby of his Hardware Store had also been modified.
The original white wall had become an alloy shutter door that could be rolled up.
Outside the door, a loading platform large enough to accommodate heavy trucks had been added.
The system had even thoughtfully considered the issue of moving large goods out of the warehouse!
Lu You felt like a country bumpkin who had just entered the city.
Everything looked fresh, and he was curious about everything he touched.
Only now did he realize how shallow his previous understanding of the term "Hardware Store" had been.
"It's too big... if I want to take a walk around inside in the future, won't I be exhausted?" Lu You marveled while starting to worry.
He suddenly remembered a crucial question.
"Wait! Where's my luxury villa? Where did the place I sleep go?" He looked around.
Aside from the endless shelves and cold machines, there was nothing else.
As soon as he finished speaking, a slight sound came from behind him.
"Beep beep~"
Lu You turned around in confusion.
He saw a small, round, and cute driverless vehicle, pure white in color, parked quietly behind him.
There was a small electronic screen at the front of the vehicle.
It was displaying a smiling emoticon `^_^`.
On the side of the vehicle, an ergonomically designed seat automatically flipped out, inviting him to sit down.
"Hey, it even has this good stuff!" Lu You was instantly delighted.
This system really focused on providing thoughtful service.
He sat down, his feet dangling comfortably outside.
He felt like a king being chauffeured in a private car.
The small car started smoothly without any noise.
It carried him toward the depths of the warehouse.
"From now on, you little guy will be responsible for my transportation! What should I call you? Let's go with 'Xiao Bai'!" Lu You patted the small car beneath him.
He felt like he was inspecting the empire he had built.
Admiring this spectacular hardware empire along the way... no, wait, it should be called the Empire of Everything now!