Chapter 1

Fang Senyan listened with a courteous smile as he introduced everything in the shop one by one, letting the old bastard's words go in one ear and out the other, treating them like farts. Then, he suddenly shouted at the street:

"David! Come over here, lend me two pounds!"

"Wait!" Mogul suddenly called out, his face gloomy and annoyed. "Alright, I want to buy your gold coin. Name your price."

Fang Senyan said decisively:

"Twelve pounds, but since I'm buying your holy tree branch, ten pounds will be enough."

Fang Senyan already knew that he had been set up by Kerry. That guy only told him the mission process but neglected the step of having to buy Mogul's things to increase his favorability—of course, it couldn't be ruled out that people with high charm could directly carry out the mission—and Kerry's purpose in offending him like this should be simple: to make him get stuck in the mission and then return to him, taking some benefits along the way. In this Nightmare Space, of course, profit is paramount, and in most cases, everyone is driven by profit.

The reason why Fang Senyan bargained with this Mogul instead of directly gifting him pounds was because he knew that his charm was not high. Directly gifting gifts was actually a half-hearted approach, and this old man was clearly a greedy merchant. The essence of a merchant is to not engage in losing business. Once he gifted the pounds and still couldn't meet the mission requirements, wouldn't he be completely stuck here? In the end, he would probably have to go back and endure Kerry's exploitation.

Hearing the words "ten pounds," the old man jumped up like a mad dog, spitting and shouting: "No! Six pounds at most!"

Perhaps realizing that his previous posturing had no effect, Mogul simply launched a rogue offensive, clutching the gold coin and refusing to let go. Fang Senyan tried both soft and hard tactics but couldn't do anything about it because the continuous mission still had to fall on this bastard's head, so he could only reluctantly agree to the deal. When he mentioned that Ms. Tata Xia again, the old guy finally opened his mouth:

"Tata Xia... that woman still remembers me."

Fang Senyan's ears were practically perked up, but... but then there was nothing! This old bastard began to mutter to himself:

"Alas, it's been a long time since I've talked so much to someone. My mouth is really thirsty. I wonder if the golden rum at the Iron Hoop Bar next door has arrived."

Fang Senyan endured a bellyful of anger and could only go to the bar next door to inquire. He was told that it was available, but it was one pound for a small barrel (about the amount of a pint of beer now). Helpless, he had to spend money to buy it as a tribute to the old man. Having tasted the fine wine, Mogul was probably satisfied and finally told the whole story in detail.

It turned out that this old man was a fallen nobleman from India. When he was young, he offended someone he shouldn't have offended, so he went out to be a sailor, following the ships of the East India Company to Europe. When he was poor and destitute, he encountered a group of gypsies. Driven by poverty, Mogul went to steal, but was discovered by a gypsy and accidentally killed the person.

Gypsies are a nomadic people, like the nomadic people on the grasslands, without a fixed abode. But nomadic people chase after water and grasslands, while they travel from town to town in covered wagons, so their status is very low, and the law provides little protection for them. In this situation, Mogul, who had killed someone, fled, but from then on, he had nightmares every day, the content of which was the process of him killing someone.

After a month of this, Mogul, who was almost mentally broken, took the initiative to return to that gypsy tribe, only to find out that the person who cast the curse was the fiancée of the person he killed—Tata Xia. Because Tata Xia's marriage was not actually her own choice, her hatred for Mogul was not deep. She only made Mogul a servant for three years and then released him.

After taking a sip of golden rum, Mogul sighed and said:

"Speak, what is her message?"

Fang Senyan stared into Mogul's eyes and said the most crucial words in this hidden mission:

"The living nurture the dead, loneliness kills passion, nine wild ducks fly over a tiger."

After hearing this completely bizarre sentence, the wrinkles on Mogul's face became even deeper. After a long time, he shook his head, walked back into the room, took out a crystal clear shard, and handed it to Fang Senyan. Fang Senyan immediately received a prompt:

"You have obtained the mission item: Gypsy Prophecy Crystal Ball Shard. Use: It will illuminate the path of your life and lead you to the correct fork in the road."

When the mission progressed to this step, it had nothing to do with this old man Mogul. Fang Senyan also breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the beach. He held the crystal ball shard in his hand and put it into the sea. The crystal ball shard immediately emitted a faint light and then melted away. Then the light slowly condensed, forming a line of words on the sea surface like phosphorescence, before disappearing after a while:

"When the midnight bell rings, the wailing of the dead will be restored to reality, the dust of history will be wiped away, and the truth will be revealed."

Fang Senyan stood up and sighed contentedly. If the mission was done here, then there was only one last step left: come here at midnight. Although Kerry was cunning, he was just playing petty tricks and showing off, because he also knew that if he went too far and the two of them fell out, he, who was inevitably in a weaker position, would suffer a big loss.

At this time, Fang Senyan stood up and was about to go to the port to inquire about news and the like. He also had some money left and wanted to drink a few glasses of rum to accumulate the "Drunkard" milestone, but he was surprised to find that his current "Drunkard" milestone had actually increased to 72/100! The milestone points had inexplicably risen by 50 points! After thinking about it carefully, he immediately realized that he had also drunk a few sips after buying the golden rum for Mogul—could it be that one sip of this golden rum is equivalent to ten cups of ordinary rum?

With this thought in mind, Fang Senyan immediately went to that Iron Hoop Bar and asked to buy two more barrels of golden rum! But he was ruthlessly told that it was sold out, and no amount of money would help. Helpless, he had to go back to Mogul, but from a distance, he saw that the old man was obviously drunk, lying on the counter sound asleep. The two small oak barrels next to him were scattered to the side, and it was obvious that the golden rum left inside could only be described in "drops." Helpless, he could only come excited and return disappointed.

Looking at the remaining 28 cups on the milestone, Fang Senyan calculated that it was probably the amount of six or seven bottles of beer. It wasn't an unacceptable task for him, so he simply sat down and drank. However, the people next to him in the bar were immediately stunned. Most people who came to the bar were for entertainment, and even those with a good alcohol tolerance came to drink with a leisurely mood, not like Fang Senyan, who poured wine into his mouth cup after cup. It was as if he was drinking rum as water!

Fang Senyan, however, was oblivious to everyone else, and drank the remaining 28 cups in one go. He immediately felt a flash of light in front of him and received a series of prompts from the Nightmare Mark:

"You have completed your first milestone as a contractor."

"Your merit points +1." (The next time merit points are increased, it will be after accumulating ten milestones)

"You have obtained the title: Drunkard."

"Drunkard: When you drink alcoholic beverages, your hit rate is reduced by 3%, and your crit rate is increased by 4%, lasting 60 minutes."

"Only one title can take effect at the same time. Do you want to equip the title/Drunkard now?"

"Advanced milestone: Sot has been unlocked."

"Sot achievement conditions: Drink all types of rum, the types are as follows."

"Mulantan: Produced by Viaclara Santa Fe Rum Company."

"Ronrico: Rum produced in Puerto Rico."

"Lambs Potato Rum: Exclusive alcoholic beverage for the British Navy."

"Cocosba: Produced by Key Company in the West Indies."

"Lemonhart Rum: Provided by Hato Company, a trader in sugar and rum."

Fang Senyan was quite satisfied with the title "Drunkard" because, for him, who was good at close combat, it didn't require the precision like ranged shooting. Even the slightest error would make a huge difference. The impact of a 3% reduction in hit rate was not serious, but the additional 4% crit was very tempting. In other words, even if he had to exchange 3% of his hit rate for 2% of his crit, Fang Senyan would not hesitate.

More importantly, don't forget Fang Senyan's predicament in the real world. At this time, he may have to face the double pursuit of the state machine and the gangsters! Even if he obtains any powerful equipment and weapons in the space, he cannot bring them into the real world, and it will not help to improve his situation. But the title, like his own basic attributes, is an abstract thing and will not be restricted by this! In this way, it will undoubtedly be able to ease his situation in the real world.

At this time, an endless idea emerged in Fang Senyan's mind... Those famous drunk fist masters in Chinese history before were probably contractors who had obtained milestones related to alcohol like him! So as long as they don't have alcohol, they can't activate their titles, so their strength will naturally drop drastically.