11: Chapter 11 Coastal City Museum

In Hu Tian's mind, a line of brilliant golden text suddenly emerged, illuminating his consciousness like an oracle: [Main Mission Triggered: Diligently study antique knowledge and reach the pinnacle.]

[Mission Description: The system will plan the optimal learning path for the host. Please read extensively, integrate your knowledge, and reach a master level.]

[Advance Reward: Photographic Memory (passive skill), Speed Reading (passive skill).]

[Special Note: This ability will be permanently solidified. It applies not only to antique appraisal but also covers all academic fields. Once activated, the host's brain will undergo deep genetic optimization; thinking speed and memory capacity will undergo a qualitative change, bidding farewell to forgetfulness forever.]

Hu Tian gasped, his heart accelerating rapidly as if it were about to burst from his chest.

Photographic memory?

Speed reading?

These are the ultimate superpowers that countless students and scholars dream of!

If he could truly obtain this ability, learning any knowledge would become as easy as reaching into a bag to take something.

It's not just antique appraisal; in the future, whether it's combat techniques, firearm construction, foreign languages, or even medical pathology, architectural mechanics, financial models... all knowledge could be quickly mastered, broken down, and integrated in a short amount of time.

How is this just a reward? It's practically giving him a superbrain directly, a master key to unlock the treasure trove of human wisdom!

"Accept mission!" Hu Tian thought without hesitation, his voice trembling slightly with extreme excitement.

Instantly, an extremely cooling current gushed from the depths of his mind, like a sweet spring made from melted Tianshan snow, spreading wildly along the nerve endings to every cell in his body.

That feeling was indescribably wonderful.

His brain, which had previously been somewhat chaotic and occasionally prone to distraction, was suddenly completely purified.

All distracting thoughts and restlessness dissipated instantly, and his thinking became unprecedentedly clear and sharp, as if a dusty lens had been wiped spotless.

The entire world seemed to slow down in his eyes; the dust in the air, the texture of the book pages, the refraction of light—every detail was clearly visible, down to the finest hair.

Hu Tian lowered his head and looked again at the thick book, "Appraisal of Ancient Chinese Porcelain," in his hands.

He gently opened the first page, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed Song-style characters.

A magical thing happened!

Professional content that would normally require careful reading word by word, repeated deliberation, and even checking a dictionary to understand, now, as long as his gaze swept over it, all the text, pictures, notes, and even page numbers were deeply engraved into his cerebral cortex with a "click," as if by a high-precision recorder.

Every word, every picture, and every knowledge point was incomparably clear, never to be forgotten, and even the author's tone and the implied logical chains were recorded as well.

Moreover, his reading speed was astonishingly fast!

A thick page of content could be fully absorbed, understood, and internalized in just three short seconds.

This was not a superficial glance; it was a true understanding of the connotation of every concept and the logic of every detail, even instantly capturing the profound meanings hidden between the author's lines.

Hu Tian suppressed the urge to look up and howl, his fingers flipping through the pages rapidly.

The sunlight outside the window shone through the glass onto the pages, casting a soft halo in the warm-toned light, as if accompanying this genius youth in his reading.

The reading room was very quiet, with only the occasional rustle of turning pages and the faint hum of the coffee machine.

The other few readers were focused on their books, and no one noticed the abnormality of this young man in the corner.

In the eyes of others, Hu Tian was just flipping through books quickly, perhaps looking for information, or perhaps just skimming, appearing restless.

But only Hu Tian knew that a storm of knowledge was raging in his mind, a tsunami capable of reshaping his cognition.

His fingers flipped through the pages rapidly—one, two, three...

The speed at which the pages turned was so fast it even created a breeze, making a "whoosh" sound.

That three-thousand-page professional tome, "Appraisal of Ancient Chinese Porcelain," was rapidly "devoured" by him at an incredible speed.

The origin and development of porcelain, the evolution of patterns in Neolithic painted pottery, and the body density and glaze chemical composition characteristics of porcelain from the Tang, Song, Yuan, ming dynasty, and Qing dynasties.

The identification points of the Five Great Kilns (Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun, Ding), the rules of evolution in vessel shapes, the schools of calligraphy for base marks and the identification of authenticity, and the differences in firing temperature curves and atmosphere control for different kilns.

All the antique knowledge points, like rushing streams flowing into the sea, were all imprinted in his mind, incomparably clear and orderly.

These pieces of knowledge would even automatically organize themselves in his mind, forming a rigorous, systematic, and complete three-dimensional knowledge system that could be retrieved and used at any time, as if a super search engine had been installed.

Hu Tian put down the first book, his eyes flashing with brilliance. Without any hesitation, he reached out and picked up the second book, "Appreciation of Ming and Qing Furniture."

The same speed, the same efficiency, the same shock. The accumulation of knowledge piled up crazily in his mind, and his temperament was quietly changing.

The gaze that had been slightly immature and carried a touch of student-like quality now had an added layer of erudition and depth, as if it had been tempered by thousands of years of history.

The identification of materials for Ming and Qing furniture, from the unpredictable "ghost face patterns" of huanghuali to the fine, silk-like "cow hair patterns" of red sandalwood, the texture characteristics of every type of wood unfolded in his mind like high-definition paintings; the subtlety of mortise and tenon structures, the mechanical principles that allow them to endure for centuries without a single nail or drop of glue; the traces of time formed by patina, whether it was the gentle, jade-like treasure light or the glaring, vulgar light; the stylistic era of the carving craftsmanship, the simple and smooth Ming style versus the complex and ornate Qing style...

In exactly twenty minutes, the hundreds-of-pages-thick "Appreciation of Ming and Qing Furniture" was thoroughly "devoured" by Hu Tian, becoming a part of his knowledge system.

Immediately following were the third book, "Introduction to Bronze Appraisal," the fourth, "Identification of Jade Authenticity," the fifth, "Analysis of Antique Market Trends"... the sixth, "Complete Collection of Calligraphy and Painting Appraisal," the seventh, "Comprehensive Examination of Coins," the eighth, "Techniques of Bamboo, Wood, Ivory, and Horn Carving"...

Hu Tian was completely immersed in the ocean of knowledge, forgetting the passage of time, forgetting the noise around him, and even forgetting hunger and fatigue.

His thinking was like a high-speed quantum processor, greedily devouring every line of text and every picture.

Over the next half month, Hu Tian almost became a "resident employee" of Xinghua Bookstore. He came early every morning and didn't leave reluctantly until the shop closed and the lights were turned off in the evening.

The bookstore owner thought he was there for a work-study program, not knowing he was undergoing a rare knowledge infusion in human history.

"The glaze thickness of the sky-blue glaze of the Song dynasty Ru Kiln is between 0.8 and 1.2 millimeters, the bubbles are as dense as 'stars in the morning sky,' the glaze crackles are fish-scale shaped, and it has a butter-like luster when viewed from the side..."

He recited a knowledge point casually, then stunned himself. Content he had only read yesterday could now be recited immediately; even those boring detailed data points and chemical molecular formulas were remembered clearly, as if this information had been imprinted in his mind from birth, as if it were a part of his body.

One book, two books... one hundred books, five hundred books... The coloration principle of the "Sumali blue" of ming dynasty Xuande blue and white, the firing temperature curve of Qing dynasty famille rose, the composite casting process of Warring States bronze swords, the fine hair-carving technique of ancient jade, the "radish fiber pattern" characteristics of Tianhuang stone, the "base" classification of chicken-blood stone...

In these half a month, Hu Tian stubbornly devoured over a thousand professional books related to antiques, from basic introductions to academic monographs, from domestic literature to overseas research, missing nothing.

He absorbed knowledge both quickly and thoroughly; he not only remembered the appearances but also understood the logic and essence behind them. The edifice of knowledge he built was outrageously solid.

He devoured books in the bookstore during the day, and at night, he returned to his apartment to look up information online and browse professional forums, combining theory with practical cases.

But Hu Tian soon realized: all talk and no action is just a sham. Knowledge in books is flat and static, a summary of predecessors' experience; while antiques are three-dimensional and alive, full of variables and surprises.

What is obtained from books will always feel shallow; to truly understand this, one must practice it personally.

One day, half a month later, while flipping through a magazine in the bookstore, Hu Tian's gaze was suddenly attracted by a poster hanging on the wall.

It was the promotional poster for the annual special exhibition of the Binhai City Museum, with a beautiful bronze ding on it emitting a dark green glow, and below it was written: "Treasures of a Millennium, Inviting You to Appreciate Together."

Hu Tian's heart jumped. Binhai City Museum!

With its rich collection and gathering of masterpieces, it was the perfect battlefield to verify the results of his half-month of hard study!

"It's time for field research." Hu Tian closed the book, flames of eagerness burning in his eyes.

The Museum is located in the old city district of eastern Binhai City, a five-story European-style building full of historical charm, with two mottled Roman columns standing at the entrance, as if recounting the glory of the past.

Hu Tian spent over five hundred yuan to get an annual pass, and from then on, he started a crazy "Museum-brushing" mode.

The ticket checker at the entrance was a warm-hearted middle-aged woman. Seeing Hu Tian come every day, she gradually got to know him. Sometimes she would even pull him aside to chat a bit: "Little Hu, here again? You like antiques that much? Not many young people like that nowadays; most of them just play on their phones."

"Yeah, I want to learn more. There are so many treasures here, I can't get enough of them." Hu Tian smiled and swiped his card to enter, his tone humble, but his eyes exceptionally bright.

The Museum has five floors in total, divided by era and category. Every day, Hu Tian started from the first floor, looking at each display case one by one, like a rigorous scientist conducting data collection.

The first floor is the ceramic exhibition hall, with everything from Neolithic painted pottery to various porcelains from the Tang, Song, Yuan, ming dynasty, and Qing dynasties, like a three-dimensional history of Chinese ceramics.

For a Ding kiln white porcelain bowl, he would squat down to observe the crackle patterns on the glaze from different angles, comparing them to what he had learned in books about what the "earthworm mud-crawling pattern" actually looked like, feeling the kiln fire temperature from a thousand years ago.

He thought to himself: [The body is white and delicate, the glaze color is ivory white, the tear marks are obvious, consistent with the characteristics of the Northern Song Ding kiln. System determination: Authentic, accuracy 99.8%.]

For a xuande incense burner, he would lean against the glass cabinet, observing the patina color on the bronze surface through the reflection, verifying what subtle differences there were between the "chestnut shell color" and "jujube skin red" he had memorized, experiencing the warmth of time's accumulation.

[The bronze quality is refined, the skin is mellow, the calligraphy of the mark is vigorous, consistent with the ming dynasty Xuande period production standards. System determination: Authentic, accuracy 99.5%.]

For a Hetian jade seal, he would carefully look at the direction of the carving strokes, comparing them to the concise and bold "Han Eight Cuts" and the fine and complex "Qing craftsmanship" stored in his mind, comprehending the aesthetic changes of different eras.

[The jade quality is warm and moist, the carving technique is sharp, the patina is natural, indeed a relic of the Han dynasty. System determination: Authentic, accuracy 99.9%.]