Chapter 54: The Incomplete Electromagnetic Rice Cooker Technology!

Looking at Lin Jiao and the other three, who were wearing expressions of utter astonishment, Lu Feng said, "Go ahead and wash all these items."

"Boss, I can help out with the prep," Liniao suddenly offered, a look of eagerness shining on her face.

In a good mood, Lu Feng nodded in agreement.

Without hesitation, Lin Jiao grabbed the large bags and carried them over to the makeshift stove area inside the vault. The tree trunk she had shot down earlier would serve perfectly as fuel.

"Xu Bin, you guys go wash these ingredients," Lin Jiao instructed, not forgetting to delegate tasks to the other three.

When it came to food, the three of them were clearly very motivated. This was their first time seeing such an abundance of provisions in the wasteland. They immediately hurried outside to fetch a bucket of water and began washing the vegetables.

Fortunately, the bank's water supply system was still operational; the Salvation Army faction must have specifically repaired it.

Before long, Lin Jiao had a fire going. Lu Feng also walked over to the stove. As soon as Xu Bin and his companions brought over the cleaned vegetables, he started cooking and whipped up the first dish.

Adding water and seasonings, it wasn't long before the first bowl of food was finished. Next came the second dish, then the third...

Lu Feng worked with practiced ease. Afterward, he picked up the fish meat, planning to make a plate of braised fish in brown sauce.

Lin Jiao stayed by the makeshift stove the entire time, watching Lu Feng cook. Every time he finished a dish, she would eagerly carry it over to the nearby table.

In a short while, Lu Feng had transformed all the fish, duck, chicken, and vegetables he brought in into a spread of delicious dishes, placing them all on the table.

Looking at the table full of food, the four of them suddenly felt as if they were in another world, as though they had been transported back to the pre-apocalypse era. Only before the end of the world could anyone enjoy such a luxurious meal. They had almost forgotten what a scene like this looked like.

"Dig in!" Lu Feng said, fully understanding what Lin Jiao and the others were feeling given the harsh realities of the wasteland.

Hearing his command, the four of them no longer stood on ceremony and immediately dug in.

This meal was unquestionably the best thing any of them had eaten since the apocalypse began. It also made them feel that following this boss was truly a wonderful choice.

In the real world, trying to buy the loyalty of four employees with a single meal would be practically impossible. But here in the wasteland, this was undoubtedly the absolute best way to win people's hearts.

Once the meal was over, Lin Jiao suddenly asked Lu Feng, "Boss, I remember you mentioning earlier that besides gold bars, you were also looking for technology, right?"

Lu Feng nodded. "Yes, if there's any technology available, I want that too!"

He knew very well that although this game world possessed a vast amount of gold—and this one ton was only a very small fraction of it—continually bringing gold back to the real world in large quantities would inevitably draw unwanted attention sooner or later.

If he could acquire technology from this game world and bring it back, the value it could generate would certainly be no less than that of gold. In fact, it could serve as the best cover story for his gold.

Lin Jiao immediately said, "Boss, there are some technical design blueprints in this bank that various companies mortgaged to it. Those might be what you're looking for."

"Take me to see them." Lu Feng's eyes lit up instantly.

In real society, some companies in financial need would mortgage their proprietary technologies to banks for capital. Moreover, compared to intangible or unreliable collateral, technology was undoubtedly welcomed by banks. After all, as long as the technology was advanced enough, even if the mortgaging company defaulted, selling the technology could still recoup their losses.

Sometimes, a bank might even use the acquired technology to start a company of its own. This sort of thing had happened in reality: the original company that mortgaged the tech failed to make it succeed, but once the technology fell into the hands of the bank, the bank managed to develop and turn it into a massive success.

Since banks in the real world could accept technology as collateral, it was hardly strange that a bank in this game world did the same.

Lin Jiao immediately led Lu Feng up to the second floor and into another archival storage room.

The vault downstairs was used for cash, gold bars, and similar valuables, but the bank had more than just one repository; there were other storage rooms as well. Just like mortgages where property deeds were pledged to the bank and needed to be stored in a dedicated room, technical documents and blueprints were kept in this specific archive.

This bank's data storage room was located at the corner end of the second floor, housed inside a specially reinforced vault. However, this room had been converted into a dormitory by the Salvation Army. As for the property deeds and other documents mortgaged to the bank, they had been stacked together, tied into bundles, and used to patch together makeshift beds. Perhaps the people who did this wanted to experience what it felt like to sleep on top of a mountain of real estate titles.

Before long, Lin Jiao dug a large stack of documents out from a corner and said, "Boss, these all seem to be technical documents mortgaged to the bank."

Looking at that stack of documents, Lu Feng's eyes shone brightly.

*Deep Micro-Carving Technology!*
*Special Projection Technology!*
*EDP Component Manufacturing Technology.*
...

Lu Feng scanned the titles of these technologies and found that many of them were extremely complex. Needless to say, every single one of these technologies far surpassed their counterparts in the real world. Otherwise, there would have been no need for anyone to mortgage them to this bank.

Lu Feng leafed through the documents and picked out one that was easiest to put into practice while holding immense potential: an electromagnetic rice cooker technology.

He immediately used his prospecting ability to check the details of this electromagnetic rice cooker technology, but his brow furrowed almost immediately:

[This is a specialized electromagnetic rice cooker technology, but unfortunately, it is missing the design blueprints for two crucial components and is no longer a complete technology. If a rice cooker were built using the complete technology, the special electromagnetic fermentation process would imbue the cooked rice with: Sweetness +1, Texture +1, Softness and Glutinosity +1!]

Reading this system note, Lu Feng felt a wave of frustration.

The description of the prospecting skill proved that if this electromagnetic rice cooker were manufactured and sold, it would undoubtedly become a massive hit. With identical rice, if your rice cooker produced grain with Sweetness +1, Texture +1, and Softness and Glutinosity +1, that would be completely unbeatable.

Yet, as fate would have it, the technical blueprints and data were incomplete. Wasn't this just screwing him over?

Lu Feng used his prospecting ability to check the other documents as well, and discovered that almost every single one of them was missing substantial parts. This was clearly the handiwork of those Salvation Army members.

How utterly aggravating.

These technologies were already far ahead of the real world; trying to reverse-engineer them and manufacture them in reality was already no easy feat. With parts of the data missing, the difficulty spiked exponentially.

Furthermore, even if he managed to bring them to reality and hire someone to repair them, it would easily arouse suspicion and risk the technology being stolen by others. If someone else figured out the complete technology and applied for the patent first, that would be even more infuriating.

"Boss, is something wrong?" Lin Jiao noticed Lu Feng's strange reaction and quickly asked.

Frowning, Lu Feng replied, "These technical documents are incomplete, but I need the complete technology. If the technical data isn't whole, it's useless."

"Boss, let's look around more carefully." Lin Jiao said this and immediately began searching the archives, focusing especially on looking for any overlooked pages related to the electromagnetic rice cooker technology.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, Lin Jiao found nothing.

Realizing they wouldn't find the missing documents this way, Lu Feng remembered something and asked Lin Jiao, "By the way, is there any way to find talented individuals who can restore the completeness of this technology?"

According to the background lore of *Post-Apocalypse*, there were a great many surviving professionals stranded in the cities. These individuals, who had been brilliant and thriving before the apocalypse, often possessed zero survival skills in the wasteland and might even starve to death due to a lack of food.

Even the most top-tier talents might earn a daily wage of no more than two steamed buns.

What kind of life was that?

If someone could help him repair and complete the electromagnetic rice cooker technology, paying them two steamed buns a day was practically nothing to him.

What he wanted to know right now was whether he could find the right talent.

Lin Jiao suggested, "Boss, if you want to find people like that, you might want to check out the East City Alliance. After all, the majority of survivors have gathered there; there are bound to be people who understand this kind of technology."

"Besides, there are far too many people of this caliber, and many of them have no outlet for their skills in the wasteland. The hiring wage should be very low—you just need to offer them some food."