Chapter 462: Let You Open a Food Shop, You Open for Business at Three in the Morning

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

"You've changed so much here."

As soon as he stepped onto the second floor's flooring, Lu Feng couldn't help but look around.

The last time he came, he remembered there had originally been a small reading desk in the middle of the second floor, with a very large table where people could sit and read.

But now that spot had been replaced by a row of bookshelves, with colorful posters on them.

"Yes, we just finished adjustments here last week."

The short-haired staff member followed his gaze to the newly added row of bookshelves and smiled as she introduced: "This time we've added many books, most of them popular web novels currently being serialized online. If you're interested, I can take you over there to look; the books there have been selling very quickly recently."

Lu Feng shook his head after hearing this, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness: "Forget it, I don't plan to read any web novels recently; let's talk about it after some time."

Now just looking at the cooking books on the book list given by the system already made him feel he didn't have enough time, where would he find the leisure to read web novels?

The staff member didn't insist after hearing this, continuing to lead Lu Feng upstairs, actively introducing the layout of the book city after this adjustment as they walked.

"Our Xuehai Book City is divided into five floors total. The first floor has children's books, teenage compositions, and famous Chinese and foreign works. Besides the online popular novels you just saw, the second floor also has lifestyle books. The cooking-related books you're looking for are on the third floor. The third floor also has gardening and handicraft books. The fourth floor has teaching aids and various reference books. The fifth floor has academic monographs."

The short-haired staff member was very responsible, introducing the main classifications of each floor of the book city in great detail.

Soon they arrived at the third floor.

"The cooking books are on the third row of bookshelves on the left, classified by basic techniques, regional cuisines, innovative dishes, and ingredient encyclopedias."

The staff member pointed to the location of the cooking books and added: "If you can't find any books, you can call me at the first-floor counter anytime, and I can help you search for the specific location of the books."

Lu Feng nodded, thanked her, watched the staff member leave, then turned and walked toward the bookshelves there.

The side of the bookshelves had corresponding classification cards with the book classifications printed on them, which made it much easier for Lu Feng to find them.

Following the signs on the bookshelves, he quickly saw the books he wanted to find.

Lu Feng's gaze scanned quickly across the bookshelves, and if he saw a familiar book title, he would pull it out and hold it in his hand.

This time he only planned to first gather the books on the first ten pages of the book list, and come back to buy more books when he was almost done reading them.

So that others wouldn't find it strange, Lu Feng didn't carry that book list with him.

He now had the photographic memory skill; every word on every page in the bookstore was deeply imprinted in his mind.

This time he only planned to first gather the books on the first ten pages of the bookstore, and come back to buy more books when he was almost done reading them.

According to the names on the book list, Lu Feng carefully checked the bookshelves one book at a time, and soon found over a dozen, but unfortunately many were still not found.

After searching in front of the bookshelves for another ten-plus minutes and confirming there were no more books he wanted here, Lu Feng then carried the books in his arms downstairs to the first floor.

The stack of books in his arms was a bit high, over thirty books in total.

Lu Feng carried the books to the first-floor counter, put them on the counter, and then looked at the short-haired staff member from just now and asked.

"These are the books I want to buy. Also, I want to ask: do you have 'The Art of Cooking', 'The Path to Culinary Mastery', 'Kitchen Secrets', and... I couldn't find these books; do you have them here?"

Lu Feng followed the book list he had memorized and reported over ten books in one breath.

The short-haired staff member, seeing him report so many book titles at once, was first stunned, then picked up a tablet computer and lowered her head to search.

"Sorry, sir."

After a while, the staff member raised her head, with an apologetic smile on her face: "The books you just mentioned were not found in our system; they should not be available."

"None at all?"

Lu Feng furrowed his brow and suddenly felt things were becoming troublesome.

This was the largest book city in Jiangcheng; if even here didn't have them, the possibility of buying them in other small bookstores would be even smaller.

Originally he thought that with the books on the first ten pages, he could gather at least a large half this time, but unexpectedly he had only found a few dozen books, and the rest were not a single one available.

"Then do you know where these books can be bought?"

Lu Feng asked again, unwilling to give up.

The short-haired power source heard this and couldn't help but look at Lu Feng a few times.

This young man in front of her wanted to buy so many professional cooking books at once, and the pile of book titles he just reported were all very obscure books, which was indeed strange.

She thought for a moment, then spoke: "As far as I know, the books you just mentioned are not sold here. Many of them are from a long time ago, and the publishers have long stopped printing them. If you really want them, I suggest you go to some old bookstores in the city to look, but I can't say whether you'll be able to find them."

"Out of print?"

Lu Feng was a bit dumbfounded, and was somewhat surprised upon first hearing it.

But after thinking it over, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

"System, it's not that I don't want to complete the mission; it's really that these books are no longer published and simply can't be bought. So can these books that can't be bought be skipped?"

Lu Feng silently called out to the system in his heart, holding some hope, asking for the system's opinion.

【Please, Host, strive to complete the mission.】

The familiar electronic sound rang in his mind, but it was still that cold, robotic customer service tone, sounding like there was no room for negotiation at all.

The secret joy in Lu Feng's heart disappeared instantly, and he couldn't help but sigh.

He had long expected that the system definitely wouldn't give in so easily.

Especially since this mission was related to cooking, trying to bargain with the system was even more difficult.

But Lu Feng was still unwilling to give up, and seriously argued with the system in his heart: "System, this is a force majeure factor. I've already come to the largest book city in Jiangcheng to look, and even here doesn't have them, let alone other places. Where do you want me to get these out-of-print books?"

Then, he continued to say to the system in a somewhat desperate tone: "System, you definitely hope I can successfully complete the mission, right? But now in this situation, you have to think of a way for me. If it really doesn't work, then I can only give up this mission. If there's punishment for giving up a mission, I accept it. But I'm not convinced, because the pit you dug this time is a bit too much."