It took Fang Senyan a full two days before he could finally taste the lotus root and sparerib soup made by Mother He. -=Hand-typed by members=* Honestly, this He family secret sparerib soup was a truly unique specialty; if anyone tried to pass off a casual pot as the genuine article, they would be exposed one hundred percent of the time.

It turned out that the spareribs Mother He used for simmering had to first be treated with salt and certain spices, processed into a flavor akin to cured spareribs before being used for the soup. The resulting flavor was naturally quite different from ordinary lotus root and sparerib soup. After sipping a few mouthfuls, Fang Senyan refilled his bowl and submerged the endless flask of vodka into the steaming broth. Strange things happened: the dull metal surface of the flask gradually began to shimmer with a new hue after soaking in the soup. By the end, the flask’s surface gleamed dazzlingly, like freshly polished stainless steel, catching the eye. Simultaneously, the lotus root and sparerib soup mysteriously diminished, finally vanishing completely. Whether Mother He and He Xiaojun saw what happened or not, they both began to weep.

At that moment, Fang Senyan received the prompt from the Nightmare Mark:

“You have completed the Soul Mission: Lotus Root Soup.”

“Your Soul Mission completion evaluation is: 85%.”

“He Weiguo’s soul expresses gratitude and has left behind a portion of his power. Soul Equipment: Endless Vodka has been enhanced. Renamed: Endless Potent Vodka.”

“Endless Potent Vodka”

“Equipment Effect: Excitement (Active): Upon activation, increases your base running/walking speed by an additional (25%→) 28%. The Excitement state dissipates upon taking damage, and can be reactivated after 300 seconds following the dissipation of the Excitement state—this effect can now stack with other acceleration effects.”

“Item Special Effect: After taking a large gulp of the potent vodka contained within, you instantly restore (20→) 25 Health points and gain a temporary 25% increase in health regeneration rate. Duration: 60 minutes.”

“Item Special Effect: In a non-combat state, every fifteen minutes (reduced from the original 24 hours), the vodka contained within will automatically refill.”

“Other restrictions and descriptions remain unchanged.”

Looking at the prompt for the Soul Mission theoretical exploration completion rate of 85%, Fang Senyan nodded slightly. This was within expectations. He had already guessed that achieving a 100% completion rate for this Soul Mission would require curing the lupus on He Xiaojun’s body, which would naturally move He Weiguo’s soul to tears of gratitude. However, Fang Senyan had researched lupus; it was a disease stemming from an autoimmune system defect, and Western medicine offered almost no effective cure. Seeking a cure in the real world would mean relying on chance encounters with traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, making the treatment timeline unpredictable.

Of course, the alternative treatment option was direct: seeking help from the Nightmare Space. Fang Senyan had preliminarily estimated that this aspect would be directly linked to Merit Points. It might even require reaching a certain military rank before such medications could be purchased. Fang Senyan had witnessed Fourth Uncle's hands being crippled, a sight that remained an eternal pain in his heart. He, too, was hoping to advance his Merit Points soon to obtain medicine in the space, so even if he possessed the ability to cure He Xiaojun’s illness, he couldn't afford to waste it here.

Once the Endless Vodka took effect, Fang Senyan activated the acceleration effect. His movement speed increased noticeably. Every step he took now felt as if he were smoothly riding an escalator; he covered great distances with ease, yet those around him couldn't detect it. Although this amplified speed vanished instantly upon being attacked by an enemy and required a five-minute cooldown before reuse, it was undeniably practical.

Because of this Soul Equipment, Fang Senyan had been delayed in Chongqing for nearly four days. Although the total time spent in the real world was still relatively ample, he now had to race against the clock to proceed with his next action, striving for the "Advancement Milestone: Connoisseur of Fine Wines."

Given Fang Senyan's current situation, collecting those foreign liquors he’d never even heard of was likely unrealistic. However, finding clues for the Chinese Maotai 1950 Original Pulp offered a slim chance. This treasure, referred to as the "National Liquor," must be precious and rare. If he intended to search for it, there were two places in all of China where the probability of finding clues was highest: first, naturally, Maotai Town in Renhuai City, Guizhou Province; the other location... would naturally be the Zhongnanhai in Beijing!

Next, Fang Senyan consulted a series of reference materials and obtained two crucial pieces of information:

In October 1999, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the China National Museum acquired a bottle of 1950 vintage Maotai.

On June 19, 2010, Beijing Geroda Auction Company pioneered the auctioning of aged Maotai. In its inaugural "Chinese Famous Liquors" auction, a bottle of 1959 Chē Lún Brand Maotai sold for 1.03 million RMB, setting a new auction record for Maotai.

Evidently, the first piece of information contained a clear time, location, and event, even perfectly matching the mission item Fang Senyan was searching for. But what place was the China National Museum! It was a significant building on the eastern side, housing representative and important artifacts spanning five millennia of Chinese history. Any single item taken out casually was a national treasure. No matter how powerful Fang Senyan currently was, he absolutely could not challenge the nation’s might head-on! Facing the terrifying might of a national apparatus composed of over a billion people was despair-inducing just thinking about it.

Therefore, Fang Senyan simply bought a plane ticket to Guizhou. Chongqing wasn't too far from Guizhou anyway; even a discounted ticket was only 300 RMB. Fang Senyan bought the very next flight. During the boarding and ticket check, they scrutinized the ID card’s authenticity quite seriously. Fang Senyan, however, had deliberately visited a barbershop before departing to tidy up his appearance, trying to make it resemble the photo on the stolen ID card more closely. Thus, boarding went smoothly, without any suspense or incident. He flew into Guiyang that evening and stayed at an airport hotel. The very next morning, he directly hired a car straight to Renhuai’s Maotai Town, which should only take about four or five hours.

Here, far from the center of power, Fang Senyan had no time for intricate schemes or maneuvering. He casually found a local inn, checked in, and handed the clerk a hundred RMB. He claimed to be an HR manager from a northern distillery, visiting to recruit a senior master craftsman there as a technical consultant. The clerk, who had been watching the Xinwen Lianbo broadcast bare-chested, immediately jumped up, immensely excited, proclaiming that his old man was the absolute overlord, the pinnacle, the mighty warhorse, the Lu Bu among distillers. If Fang Senyan didn't hire his father as a consultant, it would be a disservice to the country, the people, and the Party.

Fang Senyan didn’t bother with pleasantries and asked directly:

"Has your old man ever drunk Maotai 1950 Original Pulp?"

The clerk’s chatter instantly ceased. After a moment, he replied sullenly:

"What does hiring a consultant have to do with Maotai 1950 Original Pulp?"

Fang Senyan shrugged:

"If you don't even know the connection, what kind of consultant are you hiring for?"

This reply silenced the clerk, causing him to roll his eyes before shutting up. Over the next two days, Fang Senyan, under the guise of "recruiting a consultant," began investigating everywhere, only to be overwhelmed. It turned out the information he had obtained about the Maotai 1950 Original Pulp wasn't too little, but too much! Renhuai was known as China's Liquor Capital, with nearly 300 distilleries of any significant size! The total production of Baijiu alone reached 111,000 tons! Maotai production was 23,000 tons!

Under such circumstances, it was predictable what kind of information Fang Senyan, an outsider, could gather through inquiries. News about Xiao Hutuxian, Jinshili, Jiu Zhong Jiu, Maohé, and others flooded him. Within Maotai Town alone, the "Maotai 1950 Original Pulp" seemed to have become a household treasure kept in every home. Moreover, the craftsmanship was so convincing that even a national-level expert would be unable to distinguish a fake by its appearance. Naturally, the asking prices were astronomical, leaving one stunned.

If Fang Senyan tried to buy it with money, he likely wouldn't acquire a genuine item for less than two or three hundred million RMB. But if he dared to use force, it wouldn't take many attempts before everyone in town knew of a bandit targeting the Maotai 1950 Original Pulp. This would alert everyone and make obtaining the genuine article even more impossible, while he, someone who had been inquiring about such matters frequently, would inevitably be placed high on the list of chief suspects.

While caught in this dilemma, Fang Senyan happened to catch a news segment on the local television that evening:

“Congratulations to National Liquor Maotai, selected for the ‘Exquisite Treasures Collection for Timeless Display’ at the Singapore Exhibition. To support this event and aid in developing bilateral relations, the Renhuai Municipal Government has specially provided two national treasure-level collections: Maotai 1950 Original Pulp, to participate in this exposition.”

This news immediately focused Fang Senyan’s attention. Clearly, at such an international convention, officials would never present counterfeits to become a laughingstock—it involved the prestige of a nation. He quickly checked online and confirmed that the exposition would take place in ten days, giving Fang Senyan ample buffer time. Although Fang Senyan currently couldn't obtain an international passport, for someone who spent much of his life sailing, finding a way to Singapore wasn't difficult. It was certainly better than being bombarded by the endless flood of false information here.

With this thought in mind, Fang Senyan immediately flew to the Chaoshan area of Guangdong, a region notorious for smuggling, where arranging a few illegal border crossings was commonplace. Having run the seas since he was fourteen, Fang Senyan was intimately familiar with such matters; he could recite the procedures backward with his eyes closed.

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