Chapter 41: Chapter 41: This Is a Storage Space! I Don’t Believe It

A look of surprise appeared on Lu Feng’s face when he saw the Backpack Slot Exchange Token.

Anyone who’s played video games knows that characters have an inventory, which some games call a backpack.

The game "After the Apocalypse" also called it a backpack. The only difference was that you didn’t start the game with one. Instead, players had to kill monsters for materials to craft one themselves, or get a Backpack Slot Exchange Token as a direct drop.

That’s why, after entering this game world, he had a character attribute panel but no backpack tab.

And now, this Mutant Beast, the Slaying Dog, had just dropped a Backpack Slot Exchange Token for him.

This Backpack Slot Exchange Token could be exchanged for a single backpack slot.

The crucial thing was that this was a product of the game system—a function exclusive to him. People from this game world, like Lin Jiao, couldn’t even see it.

’In other words, things like this will be my exclusives from now on.’

’I just wonder what form these backpack slots take.’

[Use Backpack Slot Exchange Token to redeem a backpack slot? Successful redemption will grant a 0.5-cubic-meter system function space!]

’Space?’

The use of that word surprised Lu Feng.

Still, he immediately selected "Yes."

The next moment, another prompt appeared:

[Congratulations! You have successfully used the Backpack Slot Exchange Token to obtain a 0.5-cubic-meter system function space!]

Instantly, the Backpack Slot Exchange Token in his hand dissolved into specks of light and vanished. Then, a new "Backpack" option appeared on his character attribute panel.

At the same time, Lu Feng found he could access a special space, roughly one meter long, one meter wide, and half a meter high.

This was the 0.5-cubic-meter system function space.

It was a very strange sensation.

He’d played plenty of games, so he wasn’t fazed by this situation. He held the Slaying Dog’s Crystal Core and, with a mere thought, it vanished from his hand and appeared inside the space.

At the same time, he noticed a new entry under the backpack option on his character attributes, clearly showing that he had placed one Slaying Dog Crystal Core inside.

With another thought, Lu Feng made the Slaying Dog’s Crystal Core reappear in his hand.

This backpack slot was just as useful as the storage spaces of legend.

Besides, a 0.5-cubic-meter space could hold a fair number of items.

After finishing his experiment, Lu Feng stored the Crystal Core in his backpack space and walked toward the gold shop.

This gold shop wasn’t large, even smaller than the second one they’d visited.

But as long as there was something to gain, Lu Feng wasn’t picky. With another thought, he vanished and reappeared, a duffel bag already in his hand.

These duffel bags were cheap, so he’d bought a bunch to keep at his apartment. It was convenient to just grab one whenever he needed it.

The brothers, Chen Tao and Chen Hao, seemed to have gotten used to Lu Feng’s mysterious ability to appear and disappear.

He was a rumored ability user, after all.

"Help me pack the Gold," Lu Feng said, handing the duffel bag to Xu Bin as before, letting the big man handle the manual labor.

This gold shop was located on the edge of the Department Store’s floor, and it was in an excellent spot. The central window offered a clear view of the scene outside.

Lu Feng walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and took in the view. Outside the Department Store lay a mottled, decaying, abandoned city. The streets were filled with bizarrely shaped, sci-fi-esque cars, all covered in rust.

For Lu Feng, who was accustomed to the prosperity of modern society, the sight outside was jarring.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the ground floor of the Department Store; the area outside was also swarming with wandering zombies. It seemed that zombies from all over the vicinity had been drawn here.

This also explained why Lin Jiao and the others couldn’t leave.

In addition to the Mutant Beasts, the dense horde of zombies outside was another major reason.

"There’s still another Mutant Beast in this Department Store, right?" Lu Feng asked, his interest piqued.

Now that he knew Mutant Beasts could drop loot, he was eager to give it a try.

Chen Tao nodded. "There should only be one left. Four appeared when we first entered the Department Store, but we don’t know if any others have come in since then."

Before long, Xu Bin handed the duffel bag full of Gold to Lu Feng. "Boss, the Gold is all packed!"

Lu Feng took the duffel bag and, this time, stored the entire bag of Gold directly into his backpack space right in front of Lin Jiao and the others.

This scene left Lin Jiao and the others utterly incredulous.

’Did that bag of Gold just vanish into thin air?’

’What kind of special ability is this?’

Lu Feng then looked at the 1.2-meter steel blade in his hand.

The system function space was one meter long and one meter wide. ’By the Pythagorean theorem, the diagonal on the bottom is over 1.4 meters long. The steel blade will fit perfectly.’

Sure enough, with a thought, the steel blade also vanished from his hand and appeared in his backpack space.

This once again left Lin Jiao and the other three staring, unable to look away.

’This mysterious boss clearly has more than one ability.’

"Let’s go." Lu Feng said, walking out of the gold shop to head back to the Qingfeng Tea Shop.

Lin Jiao and the others hurried to keep up.

Back at the Qingfeng Tea Shop, Lu Feng went into the office again, took out some of the +2 and +3 tea leaves, and placed them in his backpack space.

As Lin Jiao and the others watched, they only felt that their mysterious boss was becoming more and more unfathomable.

Lin Jiao couldn’t help but ask, "Boss, what’s next? Are we going to keep looking for gold shops?"

Lu Feng nodded. "Yes, we’ll keep looking for gold shops. And while we’re at it, find that other Mutant Beast if you can."

Clearly, in addition to Gold, he now had a new target.

After all, who could resist a Mutant Beast that had a chance of dropping loot?

’But, I’ll need to prepare more gas canisters before logging out. Once I find that last Mutant Beast, I’ll take it out with the canisters first.’

’Besides, once I’m done exploring the Department Store and want to leave, I’ll have to deal with the zombies on the ground floor anyway.’

’If I play my cards right and lure a group of zombies around the gas canisters... what a scene it’ll be when they’re all packed together and it goes BOOM.’

After giving his instructions, Lu Feng exited the game with a thought and returned to his real-world apartment.

His cousin and Chen Bo had both left Youcheng to deal with the previous batch of Gold. They probably weren’t back yet, so the matter of the gas canisters would have to wait until his cousin returned.

Getting more of a dangerous item that required registration would easily attract attention. His cousin and the others had ways of acquiring them quietly and safely.

He, on the other hand, couldn’t.

Then, he went to the hospital to visit his mom.

As soon as he arrived at the hospital, the attending physician came over. "Mr. Lu," he said, "your mother has mostly recovered. We’ll observe her for another three days, and then she can be discharged."

This was absolutely fantastic news.

"Mom, did you hear that? You can be discharged soon!" Lu Feng said, his face beaming with joy.

After his father’s death, he and his mother had relied on each other completely. Nothing made him happier than her recovery.

But Lin Shuang’s face showed no trace of happiness. Instead, a heavy expression settled over it.

Her son and the nurses had conspired to hide the severity of her condition, but she wasn’t a fool. She knew how much a day in the ICU cost.

Plus, she’d heard that the surgery for her type of vascular disease cost hundreds of thousands.

She could only imagine how much money her son had borrowed and how much pressure he must be under now.

’It must be so tiring for him to always act so relaxed in front of me,’ she thought.

Now that she knew she was about to be discharged, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She sighed and asked, "Xiaofeng, how much more debt are we in because of my illness?"

As she spoke, her eyes reddened.

She hated her own useless body. Why did she have to fall ill right when the family had finally paid off all its debts?

Her son had already been forced to drop out of school because of their family’s debt, wasting five years of his youth. She had no idea how many more years of his life this illness would cost him.

’My husband and I are truly unfit parents,’ she thought. ’Other parents all want what’s best for their sons and work hard to help them. We’re the only ones who keep dragging ours down.’

’I really wish I could be stronger, that I could help my son instead of being a burden like this.’

Seeing his mother’s pained expression, Lu Feng knew what she was thinking and quickly said, "Mom, don’t worry. We didn’t go into debt at all for your treatment this time."

"I wanted to surprise you when you were discharged, so I didn’t tell you earlier. But I’ve also bought a house and a car, and I opened a tea shop. In a little while, I’ll be starting up a tea factory, too."

"???" Lin Shuang was stunned. She clearly didn’t believe him. "Stop trying to comfort me. Don’t you think I know our family’s situation?"