Feng Bujue knew that the system wouldn't let him use SCP-294 frequently. Even optimistically, the total number of fifty-cent coins he could find in the entire script wouldn't exceed ten. But combining that with his own bad luck, a pessimistic estimate... three coins wasn't impossible.

So, Brother Jue pondered a bit over the choice for his third drink.

"Hmm... in this case... I have to use reverse thinking and the process of elimination to narrow down the selection range..." He stroked his chin, standing in front of the machine and muttering, "The first thing to avoid is... getting an 'out of range' response for what I input."

This line of thinking was correct. This coffee machine wouldn't return the coin, so if the input couldn't generate anything, it would be a waste of an opportunity... just like when he previously input [a cup of Woody].

"Let me think... the options that trigger an 'out of range' response from this thing are..." Brother Jue immediately recalled the relevant appendices for this SCP item, trying to sort out a clue...

The examples that caused the machine to respond "out of range" were roughly the following:

First, "specific, solid-state substances." For example... diamonds.

From the results of multiple experiments, it wasn't hard to infer that SCP-294 itself possessed a certain level of "cognitive" ability. And according to the machine's understanding, only when the carbon element reached a specific form, that is, a solid... could it be called a "diamond," so the machine couldn't generate it. But if you directly input "carbon," the machine would give you a cup of liquid carbon.

Second, "substances involving alternating universes or dimensional levels." An example of this was "a cup of antimatter water," which had been confirmed in Appendix [SCP-294j]. (Obviously, "a cup of Woody" also fell into this category; Brother Jue had only input it with a bit of luck.)

Third, was "substances that no longer exist in the world." Such as "a cup of saber-toothed tiger's (prehistoric feline, extinct around 10,000 BC) blood," "a cup of passenger pigeon's (a typical example of extinction due to human overhunting and environmental destruction, extinct in 1914) blood," or "a cup of Thomas Jefferson's (third president of the United States, died on July 4, 1826... uh... passed away) blood," and so on.

Substances that met these three conditions were the first to be eliminated by Feng Bujue.

Next, Brother Jue wanted to eliminate "crappy goods."

There were many examples of this kind, mostly produced by inputting "undefined or beyond the user's cognitive content."

For example... "Blood of Christ." The experiment recorded the result as: SCP-294 trembled and displayed a message: "This cup is my blood," then set down a paper cup containing about 0.12 liters of red wine...

Another example... "Food of the Gods (ambrosia_of_god)." After input, it produced a cup of amber-colored, unknown liquid with a honey fragrance, of unknown significance.

Also... "Not SCP-500 but has similar properties." The recorded result was: SCP-294 dispensed a cup of hot liquid that smelled like coffee. But after analysis, no therapeutic effects were found.

Of course, the crappiest of all had to be "the perfect drink"—

Appendix [SCP-294q-01]: The subject typed in "the perfect drink." The machine sent out a cup of odorless, pale purple liquid. After drinking it, the subject seemed greatly shocked and then committed suicide. He left a suicide note stating, "I'm sorry, but I'm completely despondent now." Strongly opposes requesting the same drink again. Currently, the composition of the drink is completely unknown.

In short, making such seemingly cool but meaningless requests to the machine would result in equally meaningless and crappy substances.

After eliminating the above options, Feng Bujue's focus shifted to some of the more successful examples, such as "a cup of music," "my life," "a cup of relevant medical knowledge," and other concrete concepts and knowledge.

These kinds of conceptual, but relatively clear, requests usually received more effective and pleasing responses, allowing the user to obtain something beyond their own cognition.

"Hmm... let's just decide to request some kind of knowledge..." Feng Bujue stroked his chin, thinking, "According to my understanding of the appendix... the 'feelings' produced or the 'information, skills' acquired after drinking these substances are all temporary and will disappear after a while... However, this should also be related to the user's memory and comprehension ability. The fading of 'feelings' is inevitable, but some of the 'information' and 'skills'... may be retained."

"And then, what I need to consider is whether this SCP is willing to cooperate with me..." Brother Jue then thought, "That 'a cup of relevant medical knowledge' instance was not an experiment, but occurred during a large-scale security failure. According to the description of the parties involved, the machine provided them with help in order to 'save its own little life.' Subsequent experiments have also proven that attempts to obtain 'mind juice' are not very successful, therefore..."

Thinking of this, Feng Bujue had made up his mind.

He boldly typed the following line on the keyboard: [Helping me is helping yourself.]

This sentence couldn't be considered as requesting anything at all; in a sense... it was more like blackmail.

However...

Buzz buzz buzz—

After a burst of trembling and buzzing, SCP-294 actually quickly produced a paper cup and poured in a cup of strange purple liquid.

Feng Bujue picked up the paper cup and examined it. The strange color, the perfect consistency, and the nauseating smell all exuded the word "suspicious."

"Heh..." Brother Jue smiled, raised his neck, and drank the liquid in one gulp.

What normal people couldn't do, he could do without hesitation.

Just as he finished the drink, the system prompt actually sounded: [Due to the effect of a special item, your "Title Ability" has been unlocked.]

"Not bad, thanks for the cooperation," Feng Bujue said to SCP-294 with a smile.

Then, he threw away the empty paper cup in his hand and walked to the table in the lounge to sit down.

"Hmm... let's use this." After sitting down, Feng Bujue thought for a moment and took out a handful of bullets from the pocket of his jumpsuit.

He held his arm out flat, palm up, and activated [Prophet]. The cooldown time for this title ability was ninety minutes; anyway, it would cool down sooner if he used it sooner. As the bullets fell with a "clatter," the content of Brother Jue's divination—"the location of the Anomalous project"—was displayed on the table.

"It's on the third basement level..." Seeing the bullets on the table arranging themselves into the pattern "-3" as they rolled, Brother Jue knew what to do.

After obtaining this information, he picked up the previous cup of [liquid that can prevent SCP-173 from moving even when not being directly observed] and left the lounge.