Love is the Opiate

Template:Spoiler

Red Dead RedemptionStranger Side-missionRed Dead RedemptionStranger Side-missionLove is the Opiate
Start	Begin at the Butchery in El Matadero (South of Diez Coronas)
End	Chuparosa railway station
Given by	Zhou
Location	El Matadero
Rewards	+50 Fame and +100 Honor
Progression
Unlocked by	Vincente de Santa mission strand: "Empty Promises" and Stranger side-mission: "Poppycock"
Unlocks	None
Location Map
Click to enlarge.

Love is the Opiate is a Stranger side-mission featured in Red Dead Redemption.

Story

A Chinese immigrant named Zhou is an indentured servant for the foreman, Juan de la Vara, in El Matadero. Zhou's true love is waiting for him back home in Shanghai but he can't return to her because he's a slave to the foreman. The foreman tells Marston that Zhou is under contract, and if Zhou breaks that contract he'll owe the foreman $10,000. The foreman then offers that if Marston brings him a White Stallion, he will give Zhou his freedom.

Walkthrough

Mission Prerequisites

Before this Stranger will appear on the world map, the player must complete:

• Vincente de Santa mission: "Empty Promises"; and
• Stranger side-mission: "Poppycock"

Mission Objectives

After speaking with Zhou, the player must:

• Ride to the Mesa del Sol area and break a Hungarian Half-Bred.
• Return the horse to Juan de la Vara in El Matadero.
• After some time, ride to Chuparosa and speak with Zhou at the train station.
• Zhou explains how he has missed his train.

Mission Details

Speak with Zhou and Juan de la Vara. The latter will task the player with finding a white stallion. Go to the area on the map marked by a picture of several horses running, just to the north of Diez Coronas. Look for a herd of horses, lasso and tame one of the white Hungarian Half-Breds, then ride it back to the butchers. Hungarian Half-Breds are white in color and are healthy; the sickly-looking horses are not the ones you need.

Note: If you have already tamed a Hungarian Half-Bred horse and have purchased the deed to the horse, you can simply call a Hungarian Half-Bred to you and deliver that horse to the butcher. You may have to save and reload the game for it to register that you have a Hungarian Half-Bred to give to the butcher if you use the deed, just look for the "?". Your horse must be at the "?" as well as you, however you do not need to mount it. The deed does not disappear from your inventory afterwards, and you can whistle for a new one. (If you whistle as Vara mounts up, the stallion will buck him off, and come back to you.) Alternatively, these white stallions can and have been found for breaking in Mexico, though they seem to be as rare an appearance as in America. The Hungarian Half-Bred has been found (first try, there were two of them in a small herd) in the northeast region of Mexico such as around Torquemada, at the spot where the map indicates horses. They can also be found in the indicated horse area southeast of Escalera.

Zhou will be set free and in a few days time Zhou can be found again at the train station in Chuparosa. He appears to be nodding (common slang when on a Opiate like substance, or Opium itself) on something. Speak with him to watch a small cutscene to complete the mission. Receive +50 Fame and +100 Honor.

Mission Complete Unlockables

• Reyes' Rebels Outfit scrap

Notes

• It is obvious that the opium given to the foreman in the side-mission "Poppycock" is the same drug that the foreman has used to get his workers, namely Zhou, addicted and dependant on their job.
• There's a known glitch where even after the mission is completed, the Reyes' Rebels Outfit still remains unavailable. So it is best to have two saves before completing it, to allow for multiple tries. Sometimes, the mission stays inactive even after a couple of days. Simply save your game (perhaps on the second save) and restart your console. Zhou should appear on your map.

• To get past the glitch, try hitching the horse to the hitching post across from your house. Save your game, then walk over to Zhou and whistle for the horse. This worked the first time I tried it, after several attempts riding the horse over.
• If you want to keep the horse, when you return to give it up, you can make the horse your trusty steed at a hitching post, then after you "returned it", whistle and another one will come, saddled and all. You can also buy the deed to the horse at a general store. It will cost between $750-$1500, depending on your honor. The higher your honor the less the cost except for in Thieves' Landing, where the lower the honor the less the cost.

• Alternatively, after the horse has been turned over, the butcher mounts up and begins riding it. At that point, you can just hijack the horse for a small bounty and no honor loss.
• Occasionally, if you whistle for your horse after the butcher rides off with the white stallion, another white horse will appear instead of a random two star horse.
• There is an entertaining bug which occasionally occurs when you free Zhou. The foreman of the butchery will be invisible during a cutscene, but the broom in which he is sweeping with still moves. So all the player sees is a broom sweeping on its own.
• Alternatively, get killed by law enforcement in the area and the second part of the mission becomes active.
• Occasionally, when you are talking to Zhou in Chuparosa, a train will arrive when you are talking to him in the cutscene. Strangely enough, he does not get on.
• On occasion, Zhou will die after you bring the white horse to the butcher; this is due to a rattlesnake bite. Do not be alarmed, as this will not fail the mission; you still encounter Zhou in the final part of the mission. This rattlesnake glitch seems to be pretty common, especially in part two of the "Funny Man" Stranger Mission.
• The stallion required to complete the mission is another reference to opiates, "white horse" being slang for heroin.
• If the player rides the horse to the cutscene where the player gives up the horse, the player will still be on the horse, and if the player rides away, a bounty may be enacted.
• The name of this mission could be a reference to the 1975 song "Love is the Drug", by the English rock band Roxy Music.

Gallery

Achievements/Trophies

Aiding Strangers will contribute toward the following Trophies/Achievements:

	STRANGE THINGS ARE AFOOT 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Complete a task for a Stranger.

---

	PEOPLE ARE STILL STRANGE 25 gamerscore Silver silver Complete 15 tasks for Strangers.

---

	REDEEMED 100 gamerscore Gold gold Attain 100% List in the singleplayer game completion list.