355: Chapter 355 unlocked! Gold-tier optional quest cards available!

The harvest this time, in addition to Mathematics being raised to lv7, also included seven random draws. He didn't hesitate much and directly issued the command in his mind.

"Extract all."

The prompt sounds rang out continuously.

"Ding! Obtained trash +1."

"Ding! Obtained gold-level reward mission card +1."

"Ding! Obtained skill: Super Olfaction."

"Ding! Obtained white crystal +1."

"Ding! Obtained trash +1."

"Ding! Obtained diamond-level reward mission card +1."

"Ding! Obtained energy potion +5."

Not bad. The two pieces of trash were directly ignored; the energy potion was an old acquaintance, so he would just stockpile it. The things that truly caught his attention were the other four items.

Super Olfaction. He opened the skill description and read it through.

[Super Olfaction: The host's olfactory epithelium area and olfactory receptor gene expression levels are greatly enhanced. It can distinguish specific odor molecules with concentrations as low as one in a trillion and automatically construct a three-dimensional spatial distribution map of odors in the brain.]

Zhao Yang raised his eyebrows slightly. This skill was not bad at all.

Super Olfaction, combined with his existing Super Vision and World Penetration—these three sensory skills stacked together—could almost push his ability to observe samples in the laboratory to an even more terrifying level. In the future, when doing Chemistry analysis, he wouldn't even need to send samples into a mass spectrometer; he could make a preliminary judgment on the purity of reaction products and the approximate types of byproducts just by using his nose.

Then there was that white crystal. Zhao Yang was not in a hurry to extract the crystal from the system.

Instead, he called up the item description provided by the system.

[An unremarkable special crystal; it seems to contain some secret.]

What on earth is this thing?

A trace of curiosity flashed in Zhao Yang's eyes. He would wait until he returned to the underground laboratory to take the item out and then observe it using equipment.

Suppressing the curiosity in his heart, Zhao Yang continued to process the other items.

Next were the two mission cards. One gold-level and one diamond-level, plus the gold-level card he had drawn earlier but hadn't used yet; now, he had exactly three reward mission cards in his hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhao Yang chose to use one gold-level reward mission card.

A light blue light screen unfolded before his eyes, with three options arranged in order.

[Optional Mission One: Participate in any Olympic event and win a gold medal. Reward: physique points +5, random draw attempts +2.]

[Optional Mission Two: Without relying on the system's power, complete the research and development of a drug with an effect no lower than the spark stimulant. Reward: inspiration burst card (one hour) *2, random draw attempts +3.]

[Optional Mission Three: Spread the seeds of academia to the whole world. Become a professor at a famous university outside of Long Country and teach for more than half a year. Reward: random skill +1, random draw attempts +3.]

After reading these three options, Zhao Yang's expression was somewhat helpless.

Mission One was a direct pass. Although his physique was as high as 28 points and winning an Olympic gold medal didn't seem like a problem, the key was... the Beijing Olympics had already ended, and there were no upcoming Olympics held in Long Country. He couldn't possibly go abroad to participate, right!

Mission Three was also a direct pass. For the sake of safety, he didn't even go out to accept the Wolf Prize; going abroad to be a professor was an even bigger international joke.

So, there was almost no need to choose; it could only be Mission Two.

Zhao Yang's face was full of helplessness as he looked at the introduction for Mission Two.

Without relying on the system's power, complete the research and development of a drug with an effect not lower than the spark stimulant. Zhao Yang leaned back in his chair, looking at this mission, and his heart stirred slightly.

His personal laboratory was now fully equipped, with Shin-chan helping to run experimental data in batches, and his knowledge reserves in Biology and Chemistry were strong enough. Even without using the blueprints directly provided by the system, it was not impossible to develop a new drug with an effect equivalent to the spark stimulant.

Moreover, the reward for this mission was two inspiration burst cards. He knew the value of the inspiration burst card all too well—that kind of epiphany ability that could allow the brain to enter an overclocked state; every time it was used, there was one less, and it was his ultimate trump card for overcoming core problems.

"Select Mission Two."

He confirmed the command. On the system panel, Mission Two lit up, and a line of text appeared in the status bar.

[Mission in progress. Note: This mission requires that the research and development process must not rely on technical blueprints or finished product formulas provided directly by the system.]

Zhao Yang touched his chin. He had never intended to rely on the system to provide formulas to develop new drugs again. His Biology and Chemistry levels were both at LV5, his Intelligence had broken through two hundred, and he had the complete equipment of his own laboratory and Shin-chan, the tireless AI assistant. Developing a new drug from scratch was not easy for him, but it wasn't too difficult either.

Just as he was preparing to continue opening the second mission card, the office door was knocked on.

"Professor Zhao, the banquet starts in twenty minutes. President Wang asked me to remind you."

It was the voice of a staff member from the school office.

Zhao Yang glanced at his watch; it was already 6:40 PM. Tonight's banquet was specially held by Peking University for the mathematicians from various countries who came to attend the seminar. The standard was extremely high, and the location was the banquet hall on the second floor of the faculty canteen inside Peking University. As the protagonist, he could not be absent.

"Understood, I'll be there soon."

He stood up and stretched his shoulders. The dizziness from just a moment ago had completely faded, replaced by an extreme sense of clarity.

His brain felt as if it had been reformatted, and all his thoughts had become exceptionally clear. He walked to the door and pulled it open. Outside the door, in addition to the staff from the school office, were Tao Yunxia and Wang Hai, who had been guarding outside all along.

When Tao Yunxia saw him come out, she tightened her grip on the medical kit in her hand, but she didn't say anything. A trace of the unwillingness from being rebuffed earlier still lingered in her eyes, but there was more of a complex scrutiny. It was probably her first time encountering such a protectee who acted completely against the norm.

"Let's go."

Zhao Yang said, and walked directly toward the end of the corridor.

The banquet hall on the second floor of the faculty canteen was decorated exceptionally grandly tonight. Six huge round tables were covered with snow-white tablecloths, and exquisite porcelain and crystal glasses were placed on the tabletops. There were over two hundred mathematicians who came, plus the accompanying professors from Peking University and Yanlin University, as well as several leaders from the Ministry of Education, filling the entire banquet hall.

As soon as Zhao Yang entered the room, everyone's gaze turned toward him in unison. Those gray-haired faces that had asked questions at the seminar during the day stood up one after another, holding wine glasses, and surrounded him.

"Dr. Zhao."

The first to speak was Prof. Pierre Deligne. He was wearing a dark gray suit with his tie tied meticulously, holding a glass of red wine in his hand.

His gaze lingered on Zhao Yang's face for a few seconds, as if checking his physical condition, before continuing: "Your live deduction on stage for over an hour today, honestly, shocked me. I had only heard of such things in legends before. But I didn't expect to see it with my own eyes."

"It was just restating what was in the paper; it's nothing."

Zhao Yang smiled and said modestly.

"Restating it?"

Prof. Fefferman, standing next to Pierre Deligne, laughed. He had sparse hair and eyeglass lenses as thick as bottle bottoms, but his voice was very loud.

"Zhao, you call that 'restating it'? You were completely re-running two hundred pages of deductive logic from your brain! I finally understand why you were able to solve Goldbachs Conjecture so quickly; your brain simply cannot be compared with ours."