Far North, Flickering Danger

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Wang Dong noticed that Lu Ran was frequently absent from the dormitory, and whenever she asked, he would only say it was a secret, one he couldn't share.

Wang Dong huffed in annoyance, a secret?

He must be off chasing after some little girl again!

On the southeast side of Shrek City, near Shrek Academy, Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe stood before a three-story building.

He looked at the exquisite storefront that had been completely stripped bare, and nodded.

"This is the shop the Academy has prepared for you. It was originally a restaurant, but their contract expired, and we chose not to renew it."

In the current Shrek City, more than half of the land belonged to Shrek Academy.

Opening a shop on this land required signing a contract with Shrek Academy, which, aside from taxes and self-operated industries, was one of Shrek's major sources of income.

Lu Ran looked around, a bustling crowd surged through this commercial street, treading upon the wide, hardened road paved with blue bricks.

Men and women walked past them, all dressed in bright, clean clothing; one could even spot Shrek Academy uniforms among the crowd.

"Let's go inside and take a look."

Yan Shaozhe said.

Pushing the door open and entering, the noisy clamor was instantly shut out.

The interior was already empty, the walls adorned with reddish wood carvings, and sunlight streamed in through the glass.

The waxed wooden floor shone with a luster, and the air was filled with a warm, woody fragrance, without a hint of any unpleasant odor.

It was hard to imagine that it had previously been a restaurant.

"The first floor is two hundred square meters,"

Yan Shaozhe said with his hands behind his back, "The second and third floors are both one hundred and seventy square meters."

After touring the place, Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe went up to the second floor.

While ordinary residential ceilings were about two and a half to three meters high, this shop was at least four meters tall.

The sound of their footsteps echoed through the empty second floor.

The massive floor-to-ceiling windows allowed for an abundance of sunlight, which spilled in warmly.

Diagonally across the wide road was a hotel; it looked to be four stories tall and was truly magnificent. Even the outer glass was gold-tinted, and the facade was so brilliantly gilded that it looked as if they wished they could pave the floor with Gold Soul Coins.

Business seemed good, too, with at least half the seats by the windows occupied, all by young faces.

Lu Ran nodded, "Thank you, Dean Yan,"

"The location and foot traffic here are excellent; it perfectly meets my needs."

The most important things for opening a shop were location and foot traffic; without these two, business would certainly be affected.

Yan Shaozhe asked curiously, "Little Ran, what exactly are you planning to sell?"

Lu Ran replied, "Beverages."

"I want to open a beverage shop."

Yes, Lu Ran was about to undertake the quintessential entrepreneurial project for any transmigrator:

Opening a milk tea shop!

First, Lu Ran possessed a Small World, and he had already been cultivating things within it. As anyone with experience knows, in this current situation, there were only two ways to make money.

One was to sell the harvested crops directly.

The advantage was that it required no effort—simple and efficient. The disadvantage was that it wouldn't generate significant wealth.

The second was to process the goods before selling them.

This would be slightly more complex, but the profits would be much higher.

Clearly, the second path was the right choice.

So, the question arose:

What to process?

Brewing alcohol?

That would require a full set of equipment, an experienced master to teach him, and the guarantee that the final product wouldn't kill anyone. Plus, he would have to compete against rivals with plenty of experience...

Making canned goods?

The difficulty was relatively low, but Spirit Masters didn't need them, and the poor couldn't afford them.

No one would buy them...

This was where the advantages of milk tea became apparent.

It had a broad audience; more people drank milk tea than alcohol.

It was easy to make.

The raw materials were already available, and anything lacking could be purchased directly. With simple processing, milk tea could be produced.

Storage and logistics costs were low.

It didn't matter if ordinary ingredients spoiled a little.

Precious fruit-bearing Soul Beasts could be kept in a storage Soul Tool without ever rotting.

And the logistics cost was practically non-existent.

With a mere thought, he could complete the transport.

The current technology was also sufficient to produce paper cups, straws, sugar... all the necessary materials.

Lu Ran raised his hand and snapped his fingers crisply: "Snap!"

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!"

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

A group of small, cute-looking... White Ground Rats appeared instantly on the second floor!

Their ears were large and round, with a mark formed by dark spots at the base of the cochlea—the only splash of color on their ears. Their round, rolling eyes were as deep as black gemstones.

They were fluffy and extremely adorable, making one want to reach out and pet them.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!"

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak..."

They observed their surroundings with the curiosity of a fox, their noisy chattering echoing through the empty second floor, revealing their excitement.

"?!"

Even with Yan Shaozhe's composure, the corner of his eye twitched.

What was he planning to do?!

There were over a dozen of these ground rats, which stood up to his knees, gathered together and looking around.

The leader of the rats reached his hip, its ears twitched, and after scanning the room, it locked eyes with Yan Shaozhe.

"..."

"..."

Its round, pitch-black eyes were filled with confusion, Thinking:

Why is this human staring straight at me?

Yan Shaozhe was also thinking:

Why is this ground rat staring straight at me?

"..."

"..."

Man and rat stared at each other for several seconds, In the end, Yan Shaozhe was the one to concede, Shifting his gaze away, He reckoned he probably couldn't out-stare this ground rat.

"Xiao Ran, what is this..."

This matter exceeded his understanding; he couldn't even begin to guess.

Lu Ran gently stroked the head of the large ground rat, The texture was smooth and delicate, "They are called Cloud Cluster Ground Rats, a type of highly intelligent, gregarious Soul Beast I encountered in the Star Dou Great Forest."

Cloud Burrowing Rats mostly live underground, Capable of excavating extremely complex and massive subterranean nests, they even divide them into many rooms based on function, such as bedrooms, dining rooms...

Being gregarious, Combined with the need for cooperation when foraging, exploring, and confronting enemies, they are very intelligent and possess excellent teamwork skills, Gentle temperament, cute appearance, suitable size, intelligence, strong coordination...

This was clearly the top choice for shop staff!

Extremely suitable to be shop assistants--

Mouse Clerks.

Lu Ran said: "Rat Boss, I'll leave it to you."

"Squeak!"

Rat Boss puffed out its chest and squeaked proudly: Don't worry, Boss!

Following that, Lu Ran took out the items he had prepared in his Soul Tool, Setting up the scene, Planning out the waiting area, dining area, production area, ordering and cashier area, and the storeroom, Even with a storage Soul Tool, a storeroom was still necessary, Soul Tools were too valuable, and Lu Ran only had one, so it couldn't be left in the shop, Furthermore, for this kind of short-distance, high-frequency, small-batch transport, a storeroom was better.

Once the planning was complete, The Cloud Cluster Ground Rats began to get busy, Even without prior experience, under the command of Rat Boss, Transporting rats, arranging rats... everything was methodical, "Squeak squeak squeak squeak..."

"Squeak..."

"Squeak."

The noise was a bit loud, and they kept looking around while working, even sneaking glances at the outside world, Which was quite normal, After all, it was their first time encountering the human world.

Half an hour later, the entire place was set up, Lu Ran and Yan Shaozhe came outside, Looking at the empty sign, they hung up the three characters for Milk Tea Shop, From today on, The name of this shop would be: Milk Tea Shop.