"Any favorite drinks?"

Behind the workbench, Elisa asked warmly, "For Yingzhou people, it should be sake or whiskey, right? Or perhaps, tequila? Dongxia's baijiu is also an option. Feel free to order; today it's on me."

"Holding an all-you-can-drink event at this time clearly has ill intentions, right?"

Huai Shi tapped the bar in front of him, "I don't drink much of your mixes, so you can do as you like. If I had to say, give me something that feels lonely and heartbreaking?"

"Please don't use such a messy way to order drinks here; we don't have such things."

Elisa pulled out a bottle, unplugged it, and took a whiff, enjoying the sweet aroma joyfully, "How about some rum? It can be paired with soda for a sense of freedom when you add two slices of lemon... Though the place originally feeling very free ended up pretty miserably, enjoying the present is never wrong."

"That casual?" Huai Shi was dumbfounded.

"Just kidding, the one enjoying the present is me."

She directly picked up the rum bottle, took a hearty swig, and then tossed it aside.

This was her freedom, unrelated to anyone else.

Enter the state.

Just like that, she exhaled freely, Elisa reached out, and swiftly took out the base liquors prepared for this competition from the depths of the cabinet.

Bottle after bottle piled together like a small mountain.

Huai Shi's eyes widened, "This exaggerated?"

"It looks like a lot, but it's just ingredients really."

Amidst her fingers, wisps of darkness settled and slowly emerged; a series of gray lines lit up under the nails, weaving countless fierce and malicious eyes among the darkness.

That was the aura left by an existence superior to the Abyss, a curse left by the Ruler controlling Hell.

"The Ruler's curse?"

Huai Shi frowned, "No wonder you're on forced leave... What exactly did you do to provoke such a great entity?"

"Just a tiny, insignificant contribution, not worth mentioning. But this curse is interesting, so I kept it, later modified it at the Corpse Workshop, and it turned out to be a pretty good work."

Elisa's fingertips spun an ounce cup, smoothly catching the clear liquor. The clear and transparent aroma of the liquor echoed in the air, exciting Flamikir on the audience seat to take off his sunglasses and sniff the fragrance.

"Vodka."

Huai Shi discerned that pure and rich smell without any scent mixed in. Then he saw tomatoes and celery taken out from the fresh-keeping box.

Tomato juice, as red as blood, was squeezed into the shaker, mixed with vodka, faintly interspersed with a hint of spicy pepper aroma.

Next, lemon juice was squeezed in.

Ground pepper, chili powder... Various spices were used without sparing, finally blended evenly with the celery stalk, perfectly incorporating that Ruler's curse hidden in her hand.

In less than a minute, a glass of crimson liquor was presented before Huai Shi.

"The perfect aperitif for you, Bloody Mary, enjoy, Miss Huaizhi."

Elisa smiled, observing his expression.

In the blood-colored liquor, it seemed like endless darkness was undulating, with blurred visions of the Abyss and malice emerging, causing shivers.

When Huai Shi raised the glass, he could sense what kind of bomb and malevolence it contained.

Once swallowed, the aftermath might not be much different from swallowing magma?

In the silence, Huai Shi pondered; something felt off.

Time trickled by.

Elisa wasn't in a hurry either, merely observing Miss Huaizhi's contemplative look. After a long while, she gently reminded, "The best tasting time is passing by. Even for a novice, you should have completed your mental preparation by now, right?"

Huai Shi sighed, picked up the glass, and took a sip.

Instantly, the unique sweet and sour taste of fresh tomatoes burst in his mouth, carrying the fragrance of spices, dropping into his stomach like heated lava.

Next, Huai Shi felt darkness before his eyes, and he was suddenly unable to breathe.

Instinctively grabbed the table.

Fell into a daze.

What kind of curse is this?

Even the source substance with Rotten Dream attributes couldn't affect it... In the moment of swallowing that sip, his strength, agility, and even endurance were all drastically reduced!

About... one-fifth?

Didn't even know what had happened, weakness came suddenly, catching him off guard.

If this was a game, he would suspect a developer behind the scenes suddenly adjusted his character's stats... Couldn't even sense the curse state.

So abruptly, it brought about regression!

"Grief Loss, that's what I call it."

Elisa leaned against the bar, observing Miss Huaizhi's pale complexion, cordially explaining, "Got to be careful. The dead Ruler's curse lets everything wither along with itself, inevitable demise... Once in contact, life, stamina, and source substance will quickly drain.

The Existence Institute couldn't handle it, so they just sealed it within me.

No need to worry; what you experienced is merely the product of blended mixing, not even considered an aftershock. Reflected on you, each contact deducts one-fifth of your existing life. This is only an illusion formed by reality erosion, and it will dissipate after an hour."

She paused, showing a dangerous smile, "If you can endure at the table for an hour, victory will be yours."

An hour, how many drinks can a skilled bartender mix?

If it's Elisa, going all out, at least over sixty glasses. Each physical contact deducting one-fifth of life... An hour later, Huai Shi's vitality would be comparable to a paramecium.

Don't even mention continuing to drink, afraid even the energy to breathe would be lacking!

Not to mention other calamities mixed in the liquors...

So, the number of contacts must be reduced.

That means...

Huai Shi lowered his head and looked at the remaining half glass of wine, then immediately threw his head back and drank it all in one gulp!

One mouthful, he drank it all!

Immediately after, a sudden weakness set in again, Huai Shi's strength drained away once more. Then, he felt as if someone had punched him viciously in the stomach.

His vision darkened, and the rolling burst of alcohol turned his eyes red.

He felt as if he had swallowed a cup of boiling lava! Now, that sticky fire was burning in his stomach, constantly tormenting his insides.

"Don't underestimate vodka, this pure alcohol mixture is flammable. Today, for you, I have prepared the Chef Demon special attack version of this life-water that is comparable to nitroglycerin."

Elisa observed Huai Shi's flushed cheeks, and couldn't help but reach out to pinch them, sighing gently: "If you can't handle it, you can admit defeat at any time."

She had already been lenient with Huai Shi, her opponent.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed to explain the principle of the curse, although perhaps this was also to deceive him. Nonetheless, Huai Shi couldn't find any way to break it temporarily.

This is the most straightforward and unsolvable way of fighting.

The weakening of life force leads to a rapid decline in alcohol resistance, without Elisa even needing to poison him. When Huai Shi's vitality falls to one-twentieth of its current level, he will instantly drunk himself to death.

This means failure.

In other words, he must make her admit defeat before he collapses.

In the silence, Huai Shi slowly raised his head and took a deep breath.

He lifted his gaze.

"Next, it's my turn, right?"

Miss Huaizhi smiled slightly, like a beast scrutinizing its prey, and asked softly.

Under that gaze, Elisa's breath briefly halted.

Then, Miss Huai Zhisu picked up the sake from the box beside her and placed it on the bar.

The glass and solid wood created a sound that was both low and clear.

"Ah, sake, it's been a long time since I've tasted it." Elisa sighed with emotion: "But aside from dilution, there's not much room for processing sake itself, right? Moreover, if all you did was buy others' sake for me to taste, that wouldn't count as the skill of a bartender."

"Don't worry, this bottle of wine counts as something I was involved in brewing, a true labor of love."

Huai Shi stroked the wooden cork of the bottle with his thumb, reminiscing.

As his thumb flicked the cork aside, the clear and mellow fragrance of the sake burst forth like a waterfall, transforming into an omnipresent tide that spread to every corner.

It was like... the silent rain of early spring, quietly and gently soaking every corner around you.

The joyous vitality could be felt.

Now, that vitality echoed with Huai Zhisu in front of her, it was undoubtedly her masterpiece.

"Tengu Mountain's method? Really impressive, Miss Huaizhi, my perspective on you has changed."

Elisa breathed in the fragrance with all her heart, opening her eyes and admiring earnestly: "To be able to brew such a fine wine, perhaps you truly are capable of defeating me as an opponent."

"You're too kind, it's just a bit of insignificant work." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Huai Shi smiled, taking out a porcelain flask from the box beside her, she tilted the bottle and poured the sake into it.

About two hundred milliliters.

When her palm swept over the clay stove, a blaze of fire had already risen from it.

"Is this for a 'Hot Sake'?"

Elisa nodded knowingly, "I usually prefer cold drinks, but occasionally drinking warm sake is nice too."

"Not sake, it's a cocktail."

Huai Shi corrected.

She raised her hand and pressed it against the porcelain flask.

The steel arm beneath the long gloves decomposed, revealing a faint firelight.

——Casting, begin!

The blaze on the clay stove suddenly surged upward, almost swallowing the vessel and the porcelain flask within it.

The so-called 'Hot Sake' was originally a way of drinking sake by warming it. But now, the sudden and terrifying firepower seemed as if it would boil the entire sake thoroughly!

"If it boils completely, the alcohol will evaporate and it won't taste as good! Stop!"

As a lover of wine, Elisa's eyes widened, reaching out to stop Huai Shi, but was pressed against by her other hand. Miss Huaizhi smiled.

"Don't worry, madam."

The woman said, "We're just getting started with the mixing."

Under her palm, amidst the dancing flames, the clear sake swiftly turned crimson. Flowing like burning flames, surging and oscillating.

Under the precise control of Alchemy Fire, the alcohol content was not lost in the slightest, while the entire porcelain flask underwent a metamorphosis in this 'water refinement'-like alchemy.

Time flew by in an instant.

When the expanding blaze dispersed, Huai Shi raised two fingers, pinching the porcelain flask and pulling it from the water.

The water in the vessel showed no sign of heat rising.

All the heat concentrated in the wine.

As Huai Shi tilted her fingers, the crimson wine quietly flowed into a thumbnail-sized porcelain cup, rippling elegantly.

Like molten gemstones.

"Please, Miss Elisa."

The exquisite porcelain cup was placed in front of her, Miss Huai Zhisu said softly:

"——Specially Mixed Sake · Volcano!"