161-170
Chapter 161: A Complimentary Piece of Information
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
While most people were still digging in the weeds, some of them figured out the existence of the Weed Technology company. Lin Huang had done the investigation and confirmed that the company had nothing to do with the assessment.
"Weed, what does that mean?" Lin Huang was back at square one, trying to figure out the clue as he left the company. He then browsed through the Hunter Forum with his Copper Hunter permit. He used the keywords 'weed', 'Beixuan City' and 'Foothold No.7B24'.
After browsing for awhile, he could not find anything useful.
"There's nothing on the Hunter Forum…" Lin Huang frowned as he felt that he arrived at a dead end.
"If I was a real hunter, what would I do if I wasn't able to find the information that I'm looking for on the Hunter Forum and network…" Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he attempted to change his point of view, hoping that he would figure out something from a different perspective.
Just as he said that, he stopped walking all of a sudden. He lifted his head and said to himself, "I'm sure there are other ways to look for some information, and perhaps through ways that are illegal!" Lin Huang opened up a complete map of Beixuan City with his Emperor's Heart Ring immediately and got the location of the black market. He walked into an alley without surveillance cameras and altered his features to become Scarface. He wore his black suit with a gray coat on top before he walked out of the alley.
He got himself a car and headed to the black market. An hour later, he arrived at the area. After paying an entrance fee, he walked straight onto a street. Lin Huang had learned ways of identifying the location of a black market, who he should look for when he needed certain items and how should he should behave in a black market from his time at the Purple Crow training camp.
He placed his hands in his pockets and walked the street without an expression. The street was quiet, and he attracted quite some attention with his presence. However, nobody wanted to mess with him as he had Scarface's features on his face. Soon, Lin Huang found a bar and as he walked in, he noticed everyone's gazes fall on him as he attracted attention in the bar with his attire.
He ignored them and walked to the bench in front of the bar and took a seat. He knocked three times with his index finger on the bar counter and said to the bartender, "Give me a glass of Black Letter." The bartender was a tall, skinny young man. He looked at Lin Huang and gave him a pitch black drink awhile later. Lin Huang smirked as he lifted up the glass. He looked at the numbers that were engraved at the bottom of the glass.
'B-012'. Lin Huang left to the cellar with his glass. Arriving at the entrance of Room B-012, Lin Huang noticed that the light inside was green. He walked straight into the room and it looked like an office - spotless. Behind the mahogany table was a middle-aged man with black framed glasses who then said to him, "Sit."
Lin Huang took off his coat and hung it on the stand by the door and took a seat at the table. He placed the glass on the table and faced the room number engraved at the bottom of the glasses at the man. The man looked at the glass and smiled, "What would you like to know?"
"Simple. Weed." Lin Huang said what he was here for.
"Weed?" The man seemed surprised when he heard the word but soon he composed himself and continued, "What would you like to know about weed?"
"Everything," Lin Huang said and added. "Especially its relation to Beixuan City."
"I understand, give me a moment." The man projected a couple of pages before himself. However, the pages were opaque and the side facing Lin Huang was black. Lin Huang could not see a thing.
Awhile later, the man nodded to Lin Huang, "It will cost 18 billion credit points."
"That's not cheap, are you sure that the information is worth this much?" Lin Huang looked at the man without an expression.
"Don't worry, it is definitely worth the price you're paying," the man replied with a smile.
"Sure," Lin Huang nodded.
"Please transfer your credit points to the trading chip," the man then handed him a green chip that was the size of a thumb. The purpose of the trading chip was to avoid personal details of either party from being leaked elsewhere. The buyer would transfer his credit points to the trading chip and the seller would retrieve the credit points to his own account. With that, nobody would know the account details of the opposite party. Moreover, such trading chips could not save personal details because once the scan was complete and the credit points were transferred, account details would be automatically be deleted. There would not be an issue like personal information being leaked. Compared to the anonymous transactions with Emperor's Heart Rings, such trading chips were much safer.
Lin Huang took the chip, transferred 18 billion credit points into it and handed it back to the man. The man placed the chip aside and brought out a black chip. He then scanned his Emperor's Heart Ring on the black chip and transferred it the information that Lin Huang asked for. Soon, the transfer was complete. All the pages were closed, the man then passed Lin Huang the black chip.
"Everything you want is on this chip."
Lin Huang nodded and took the black chip from the man. He stood up and attempted to leave after putting on his coat. Suddenly, the man spoke again, "I'll give you a complimentary piece of information."
Lin Huang stopped in his step.
"Somebody came here about an hour before you did, the person asked about something similar. The person did not look too friendly, you might want to be careful," he warned.
"Thanks!" Lin Huang said but did not turn around. He walked out right after he thanked the man. He left the bar and left of the black market with a heavy heart.
"I arrived here at around 11 a.m., the person was an hour earlier than me, which means he was here at around 10 a.m. The assessment started at 9 a.m., it would take an hour riding on the car from the Hunter Association. This would mean that the person came here directly after leaving the Hunter Association. The person did not even go to the Weed Technology company."
"Someone who would come to a black market in search of information might be someone from the underground…" Lin Huang thought. It was not the first time the underground placed spies in the Hunter Association. Of course, Lin Huang was not 100% sure of that. The person could have just been really smart and looked passed the details that Lin Huang did not see and came straight to the black market without going to the Weed Technology company.
Chapter 162: Ponytail
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After leaving the black market, Lin Huang took out the black chip he had bought when he was sure he was at a safe place. He then scanned the information with his Emperor's Heart Ring. With that, he finally knew what 'weed' meant. Weed was an advanced drug named ZC. People in the industry would call it 'weed' and outsiders were unaware of such a name.
The drug was in the form of a black crystal and had no unique smell to it. However, those available to be purchased on the market were processed and was in the form of a powder instead of a crystal. The main contents of the drug were unknown. However, it caused intense hallucinogenic effects which reciprocated with one's Life Power, making it more powerful than usual drugs.
It was called an advanced drug as it was only consumed by people who had full control of their Life Power. For common people, they would die if they consumed even one gram of the drug. Even those who had full control of their Life Power would need to be careful with the addictive nature of the drug as it would cause severe damage to their brain and organs. If people on iron-level were to take the drug more than three times, the damage caused to the body would be irreversible. There would be a high possibility of organ failure which would then lead to death or severe brain damage. Even for those who had higher combat strength or defensive abilities would be addicted as soon as they took it more than twice and there would be no way for them to quit the drug. Left unattended, these people would eventually die.
Lin Huang looked at an image of the complete crystal. It looked exactly the same as the one that the head examiner showed them earlier.
"So the head examiner was talking about this drug…" He suddenly realized that the assessment was not as simple as he expected. He then proceeded to read about 'weed'. Aside from the introduction to the drug, there were many cases of deaths that were caused by the drug which included the deaths of some gold-level members. Their deaths were devastating.
Lin Huang frowned as he finished reading all the cases. He was not frowning because of the disgusting images and videos of the cases. Instead, he felt that the value of the information was not worth the price he had paid. However, he found the information that he wanted when he reached the end of the list of cases.
The creator of weed was a pharmaceutical lecturer at a hunter college. After resigning from the college, he managed to create an empire of his own within a couple of years. His empire was called Hiesen Castle, and one of its division was located in Beixian City. The information that Lin Huang bought from the black market had complete details about the castle and the personal information of the pharmacist, the information of his empire seemed to be complete.
"No wonder this piece of information is so expensive, there were three transcendents who endorsed this Hiesen Castle. It was comparable to the more common royal families. The division alone had two gold-level guardians and more than 30 silver-level people in it…" Lin Huang finally realized how valuable this information was.
"The weed available on the market is in powder form, it seems like the only place I will be able to get the crystal form of the drug is from Heisen Castle. That would mean, to be able to pass the assessment, the only way is to steal it from Heisen Castle. However, looking at the number of guardians they have, it's not easy." Looking at the difficulty of the assessment, Lin Huang thought in his mind that he would be able to count the number of participants who would be able to pass the assessment.
"As expected, we were being tested on our ability to source for information but obtaining the drug is an odd requirement as the task itself is way too complex," Lin Huang frowned, "This is quite impossible to be achieved alone by most of the bronze-level participants unless it's a group effort… Could this assessment be testing our ability to work together?" Lin Huang suddenly thought of a possibility.
After spending some time thinking and considering the possible intentions of the examiners, Lin Huang shook his head and put the idea aside. He summoned his Alexandrian Eagle and headed to Heisen Castle. There were many people who owned flying mounts in B-grade footholds. Although an Alexandrian Eagle was rare, it did not attract much attention. Within a couple of minutes, Lin Huang arrived near Heisen Castle.
He landed on the branch of a big tree and recalled the Alexandrian Eagle. He then leaped into the air and his body shot down to the ground like an arrow. As he got closer to the ground, he diverted his drop to the branches close by. To reduce his momentum, he caught hold of a branch and started swinging from branch to branch. Around 10 minutes later, he stopped swinging and leaped onto a branch as he realized that he was at a dead end. Before him was an ancient castle and it looked like it had been around for a long time. There was a huge red metal door in the middle of the castle walls, with two security towers on each side. Lin Huang could see there were guards walking around the security towers. Upon closer observation, he saw a Warning Bug sitting on top of each tower.
A Warning Bug was an insect that was very sensitive to the environment surrounding it. It had incredible vision and as soon as it noticed unfamiliar creatures entering the area it was protecting, the insect would emit a loud chirp that sounded like a siren. After a certain amount of training, an insect like this could be used as a perimeter alarm. If Lin Huang had not used Boundless Vision before sneaking in, he might not have noticed the presence of the two warning bugs.
The rock wall surrounding the castle was more than 30 meters high. It would not have been easy to leap over that height, even for a gold-level hunter. Lin Huang ducked low on a branch and hid behind a thicket of leaves. He watched the castle through the gaps. It would not have been difficult for him to sneak into the castle as soon as he transformed himself into Specter. However, it would have been more dangerous to reveal himself during the day so he decided to carry out his mission at night.
Just when Lin Huang was planning to get some rest, he felt someone was watching him. He quickly turned around and shouted, "Who's there?"
Suddenly, a girl dropped from a tree not far away from him. She looked like she was about 15 or 16. Her hair had gold highlights which she tied up in a ponytail. She wore a pink long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She smiled and sighed. She then raised her arms in submission and said, "Alright, you found me."
She looked like one of the participants of the assessment. Although she seemed harmless, Lin Huang did not let his guard down. Since she was here before him, it meant she was the person who was at the black market an hour earlier than he was. She could be one of the members of the underworld.
"Who are you?" Lin Huang asked to confirm what he already knew.
"I am just like you, of course, just one of the participants in this assessment. Who else would you think I am?" The girl in the ponytail said as she approached Lin Huang as she stepped over a few branches to close the gap between them. She stopped when she was on a branch right across him.
"How did you find out about this place?" Lin Huang asked.
"From the black market of course. Aren't you here for the same reason? How else would anyone know what 'Weed' meant?" The girl in ponytail rolled her eyes and continued, "Since you got the information from the black market, then you should know that there are two gold-level guardians and more than 30 silver-level guardians in this castle. It won't work if we just barge in. Would you like to work together?"
"You arrived 40 minutes after me. Although you're obviously dumber than me, I'll say that you're not as bad, compared to those idiots who are digging in the weeds. It would be a wise choice that'll work in your favor if you teamed up with me," the girl in ponytail said as she looked at Lin Huang. He did not say a word in reply her suggestion which annoyed her. Frustrated, she said again, "Hey, this is the first time I've taken the initiative to invite someone to join my team, what does your silence mean?"
"How do we work together?" Lin Huang was not interested in working together as he already had the ability to sneak out the item on his own. However, if the girl proceeded to pester him, it might affect his plan later that night.
"It's simple, I will sneak in and get the item while you distract them. As soon as I'm out with the item, we will meet again. You will get 30% while I get 70% for the weeds." The girl in a ponytail was out of her own mind, he thought. "70% of 5,000 pieces of crystals would be 3,500 pieces. I keep one to myself and sell the rest at 100 Life Crystals each, I would make 350,000 Life Crystals from that…"
"Have fun." Lin Huang said and turned around in an attempt to leave.
"Hey! then what do you have in mind?" The girl in ponytail shouted at him.
"Change it up. I'll go in while you distract them, you get 30% and I'll get 70%." Lin Huang turned around and countered her offer with a smile.
"I'm a girl, and you're using me to distract them? Do I get only 30%? If you were in my position, would you really want that?" The girl in ponytail said in anger.
"Of course I won't mind if I'm in your position," Lin Huang smirked.
"You bully!" The girl in ponytail stomped her feet. Leaves rained down as the tree shook wildly. Lin Huang checked to see if their cover was blown. The sentries on the towers seem unphased by the disturbance.
"To each, his and her own then. Bye!" Lin Huang said and leaped up high, away from the girl.
"Damn, you'll pay for this!" The girl shouted after him, furiously.
After getting rid of the girl in the ponytail, Lin Huang sat down on a branch while waiting for the night to come. What he did not know was after he left, the girl in ponytail summoned a white wolf with a Monster Taming Token and headed to the Hunter Association...
Chapter 163: Trouble is Here
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A crowd gathered at the entrance of the Hunter Association looking at a piece of white paper on the right side of the door. A girl in ponytail stood outside the crowd and smirked.
"Lin Huang, it took me quite awhile to find your name on the list. How dare you decline my offer to work together. Now, you'll have to pay the price!"
The piece of white paper on the right side of the door had a bunch of words written in a graceful handwriting. The handwriting wrote, "The weed that was mentioned in the assessment tip is an advanced drug called ZC. All of you can find a portion of the information about the drug on the Heart Network. Such a drug is only available in a powder form on the market and only the manufacturer has the black crystal, its crystal form. The empire that manufactures the drug is called Heisen Castle, a strong empire endorsed by three transcendents. There's a division of in Beixian City. The division is located in a jungle in the south of the city. It's in a castle and you can find the exact location on the map.
However, Heisen Castle was invaded by one of the participants. His name is Lin Huang, he had stolen all the drugs. He told me that if any of you wants to pass the assessment, you would have to purchase the drug from him at 1,000 Life Crystals each…"
A picture of Lin Huang taken during the registration was attached at the bottom of the handwriting, it was enlarged to the size of the paper.
"How dare he ask for 1,000 Life Crystals from each of us! There are a total of 5,000 weed crystals, wouldn't he be making five million from that?!"
"This is too much!"
"We can still considering paying him if the price is reasonable, but the price he is asking is just ridiculous!"
Many were furious when they read what had been written on the piece of paper. Some of them began to browse the Heart Network to see if the news was true. Soon, they found an image of the ZC crystal and confirmed that it was exactly the same one that was shown to them by the head examiner earlier. They also found some information about Heisen Castle and confirmed that they were the manufacturer of the drug.
Since the information shown on the network was true, many began to believe that Lin Huang really did steal the drugs. An uproar broke out within the crowd and they asked to see Lin Huang. Since the writing on the paper revealed Lin Huang's location - a jungle south of the city, many headed to the jungle via the monster car. They wanted to get Lin Huang to give them the weed crystals.
"Lin Huang? Isn't that the kid who was not even iron-level? If that's really him, I'll teach him a lesson!" Bai Yan who was wearing a red coat frowned as he read the messages on the paper. He remembered seeing Lin Huang a couple of months ago, the Imperial Censor who was finding fault with him. Because of Lin Huang, he was accused of being a coward on the Heart Network.
After mumbling to himself, Bai Yan summoned a Crimson Eagle and headed to the jungle in the south while the rest was admiring him. The girl in ponytail disappeared too. Lin Huang who was in the jungle in the south of Beixuan City was not aware of the events that had happened at the Hunter Association.
It was almost noon, he was relaxing while eating snacks that he bought online while waiting for the night to come patiently. Suddenly, he heard flapping above his head. Lin Huang then activated Boundless Vision as he looked up.
"A Crimson Eagle?!" Lin Huang recognized the Crimson Eagle immediately as the one he saw when he bumped into Bai Yan, the eagle was now a silver-level.
"Bai Yan had found this place too?"
Lin Huang found it strange, he did not expect Bai Yan to find this place that quick as he had only been here for less than half an hour. Theoretically, it should take quite some time for Bai Yan to get information on the drug.
"Come out, Lin Huang!" Bai Yan shouted from the sky. Fortunately, there was quite a distance between him and the ancient castle. Lin Huang was worried that the girl in the ponytail would look for him again, which was why he went two to three kilometers into the jungle. Otherwise, the people in the ancient castle would definitely hear Bai Yan.
"He's here for me?" Lin Huang frowned. He did not expect Bai Yan to come for him instead of the castle.
"Bai Yan, are you crazy?!" Lin Huang stood up from the branch and glared at Bai Yan who was flying in the air. Bai Yan patted his Crimson Eagle as it landed slowly on the ground. He then recalled the Crimson Eagle and looked at Lin Huang who was on a branch, "Lin Huang, I can't believe it's really you. Because of you, I was criticized by the netizens that called me a coward for running away. I will teach you a lesson today and take a video of this. I shall show everyone who is the real coward!"
"You're crazy! Maybe you're just a lunatic." Lin Huang stared at Bai Yan from above, "So you're here for me just because people are calling you a coward? Did I accept any interview requests from the media and badmouth you?"
"You…" Bai Yan did not know how to react to Lin Huang's reply. He then recalled that it was two other people who revealed what had happened to the media and not Lin Huang. Lin Huang did not participate in any interviews by any media, nor did he badmouth Bai Yan. He had no comeback for Lin Huang's reply.
"However, I think what they said was right because you really are a coward!" Lin Huang proceeded to reply when he saw Bai Yan unable to reply.
"Damn it!" Bai Yan hated being called a coward.
"Since you don't have a comeback for me. Would you like to fight me instead?" Lin Huang laughed, "Now that I think about it, why did you choose to run away the other day? Were you really scared that you would die? Aren't they right to call you a coward?"
Veins were bulging on Bai Yan's forehead because he did not have anything to rebut Lin Huang with.
"Also, the time you ran away was not the only proof of you being a coward." Lin Huang smirked.
"What do you mean by that?! Lin Huang, if we don't talk things out today, I'll kill you. I don't care if I'm blacklisted by the Hunter Association, I'll kill you!!!" Bai Yan was so furious that he was shaking.
"Alright then. Since you want to know, I'll tell you." Lin Huang was proud.
"Half a year ago, you were given the priority to join the association as a hunter, there was no need for you to join the Reserve Hunter assessment like everybody else did. However, you decided to join anyway. As for the reason you joined? Perhaps it was really like what you said. You wanted to test where your ability stands. That's not it! You just wanted to show off that you were more powerful than the rest of us.
"Right now, you've joined the Regular Hunter assessment with the same purpose - to show off that you're more powerful than all of us."
"What's wrong with that?! I really am more powerful than all of you. What gives you the right to call me a coward?" Bai Yan still had no idea what Lin Huang really wanted to say.
"Have you realized that you've been comparing yourself to people who are weaker than you? You enjoy showing off your strength before the weak to make yourself feel content. That's the reason why you've been participating in assessments unnecessarily."
"If I were you, I would spend the time you took to participate in assessments in my training so I can strengthen myself instead of wasting my time on unnecessary assessments."
"Real power comes when one is brave enough to face the risk before them. They are those who dare to challenge someone who is more powerful than them to break through their personal barriers… Unlike you, who have already placed yourself in your comfort zone while you show off to people who are weaker so you feel superior."
"You're afraid to challenge people who are more powerful than you. This is why you've been joining unnecessary assessments again and again instead of challenging those who're on the same level with you or those who're stronger such as Copper Hunters. You're afraid that you will lose so you put all your attention in winning your fights with the weak."
"Tell me, are you not a coward for your fear of a real challenge?!" What Lin Huang said made Bai Yan speechless.
Bai Yan did not realize that he had such issue himself, all he knew was that he loved surprising the weak. He had never looked at this issue on a deeper level. What Lin Huang said had made him realize his real fear - avoiding real challenges. He had nothing to say.
Bai Yan was furious. Although what Lin Huang said was right, his pride could not take it. He did not want to admit that Lin Huang was right. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a spear. He pointed the spear at Lin Huang who stood on the branch, "Lin Huang, we shall forget about everything that has happened between us after this battle. I won't be looking for trouble with you anymore. To prevent you from a humiliating defeat, I won't summon any of my monsters. Please try to … Withstand my attacks without losing too fast since the difference of ability between your mouth and your actual combat abilities is like the distance between heaven and earth."
Lin Huang smirked when he heard what Bai Yan said. The bronze-level ring on his hand transformed into a sword. He then leaped from the branch and dove towards Bai Yan like an eagle attacking a rabbit. A red flash flashed through the air like a meteor in the night sky, so fast that Bai Yan was shocked. He managed to avoid the slash just as Lin Huang dove towards him.
"Such speed…" Bai Yan exclaimed. The spear on his hand was sliced into half by the slash and there was a light stain of blood on his neck. Feeling pain from his wound, he touched his neck and saw the blood on his finger, realizing that he was wounded. He was in total shock, "How did this happen? Why are you so powerful?" It finally dawned upon Bai Yan that Lin Huang could kill him with that slash. Another centimeter deeper and his neck would have definitely got cut off.
"This is what I've achieved during the past six months. While you wasted your time on useless things like this, I have been strengthening myself." Lin Huang explained.
"It was you who said that we will forget whatever things that had happened between us once this battle ended. I hope you'll keep your promise and stop bugging me." Lin Huang said and walked away.
"Wait!" Bai Yan shouted and stopped Lin Huang from leaving.
Chapter 164: Lin Huang The Actor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang frowned as he heard Bai Yan speaking behind him. The reason he did not kill Bai Yan was that nobody was allowed to kill any of the participants during the assessment or else they would be blacklisted. However, if Bai Yan disturbed him again, he thought about killing Bai Yan in an untraceable way.
"Is there anything else that you'd like to say?" Lin Huang stopped walking and asked in an unfriendly manner.
"I just want to warn you that the news of you stealing all the drugs from the Heisen Castle has been leaked. Many of the participants are on their way here to get the drugs from you." Bai Yan reminded him.
"I stole the drugs from the castle?" Where did you hear this from?" Lin Huang was speechless.
"Somebody posted a note on the entrance of the Hunter Association, I heard it was done by a girl." Looking at Lin Huang's reaction, Bai Yan began doubting the news that he read.
"That b*tch!" Lin Huang knew what happened when he heard it was done by a girl. The only person he knew that he had met was the blond girl with a ponytail. He then asked Bai Yan, "How many people knew about this?"
"Everyone should know about this." Bai Yan said and could not help but to ask, "Is this not true?"
"Of course it isn't! I haven't even stolen them yet!" Lin Huang shouted.
After Bai Yan left, Lin Huang knew that it was not the end. He did not expect the girl would do something like this.
"Crazy b*itch, what was she thinking? We only have a total of 48 hours, if she misled everyone like that, they would waste most of their time on me. Although she could get in my way, there's no benefit for her if she did something like this. Moreover, if more people were in this jungle, it would be difficult for me to obtain the drug if the people in castle noticed the crowd." Lin Huang could not understand why the girl would do this. If it was merely because he rejected her offer to team up with him, it would be quite childish.
About 20 minutes later, a crowd rushed into the jungle south of Beixuan City. They have been deceived by the girl in the ponytail, having come here for Lin Huang. However, Lin Huang had used a Specific Transformation Card and transformed himself into the Specter and went underground to head to the castle. As there would be an uproar when the crowd arrived, Lin Huang was forced to start his mission earlier than he had planned.
Lin Huang passed through the entrance unground the castle. There was a roofless courtyard inside the castle and the main hall was further in. When he arrived on the first floor, Lin Huang went into the wall and strolled around the entire floor. Aside from a couple of silver-level humans on watch duty, there was nothing else.
Then, he went to the second floor by going through the ceiling and found nothing as well. The same happened for the third and fourth floor, there was no sight of weed at all. When he arrived on the fifth floor, Lin Huang finally found something. There were many staff members in white uniform working on something and there was a massive amount of chemicals as well as a complete production line. Pieces of black crystals were made on the production line and were put into a box. Lin Huang watched from the wall, the box was quite small, seemingly only being able to fit 100 pieces of weed in each box. The boxes were wrapped up later on.
After watching the entire production process, Lin Huang noticed that aside from the staff in white uniform, the number of guards were most concentrated on this floor. Aside from one gold-level rank-3 human, there were also 10 silver-level rank-3 humans. Before he got his hand on the weed, Lin Huang did not want to attract any attention. He proceeded to the sixth floor and a stroll, Lin Huang found a warehouse that was filled with hundreds of boxes of the weed crystals.
It was what Lin Huang had been looking for. However, there was a gold-level rank-3 human at the entrance as well as two silver-level humans. There were also five to six silver-level humans walking around the floor. The gold-level rank-3 human seemed to be watching some sort of video on the Heart Network, he was laughing occasionally. As the network page was semitransparent, he was facing the direction where the boxers were placed.
"From this angle, he would definitely notice me stealing the boxes." Lin Huang frowned as he looked at the surveillance cameras around the room, "This is an issue as well. If the cameras detect my presence, the alarm would go off and people would know there is a break in. By then, they may keep the boxes in their storage rings and my mission would fail."
Since Lin Huang had yet to find the control room, he left the warehouse and proceeded to the seventh floor and finally found the control room. There were three silver-level guards in there. After observing them for a while, he decided on what his actions would be and summoned Bai behind the three silver-level guards. Before they could even react, their heads were chopped off by Bai's Blood Spirit wings which transformed into a blade.
Seeing the headless bodies on the chairs, Lin Huang then recalled Bai and went back to the sixth floor. Fearless, Lin Huang stored all hundreds of boxes of weeds in the warehouse into his storage space while he was in his Specter Form. Just as Lin Huang was storing the boxes, the gold-level human noticed something was wrong. He then stopped watching the video immediately and noticed that the weed had disappeared.
Just as he was figuring out what happened, Bai appeared behind him but was too late for him to reach for anything. Bai covered his mouth with a hand that was transformed from his Blood Spirit wing while his other wings transformed into a sharp spike that pierced his heart from his back. He died a while later, the two silver-level humans did not notice anything at all.
Lin Huang then transformed back into his human form. He walked out from the room with Bai with his two Blood Spirit wings transformed into spikes, piercing through the temples of the two guards at the door. Bai then transformed his other two Blood Spirit wings into vines and sliced through their waist. Although Bai was also silver-level rank 3, he was a monster that had mutated twice. He was similar to a human genius with abilities that were a level higher than most people. A common silver-level rank-3 human was nothing to him.
After the sixth floor was cleared, Lin Huang followed closely behind Bai to the fifth floor. Since nobody knew what they had done earlier, many were shocked when they saw the both of them. It was only then that they realized that the castle had been invaded. Lin Huang then summoned Charcoal and the Ghastly Clown. He did not summon Tyrant as it was too big, there was no space for it to unleash its power.
Just when the gold-level human got ready to attack, he fell into the Ghastly Clown's trap and could not move. In the midst of all that, Charcoal released its dragonflame and killed all the uniformed staff members, including the silver-level humans while Bai took their lives like the grim reaper. In the 10 seconds that the gold-level human was trapped, the people on the entire floor had been slaughtered by the three monsters.
The gold-level human looked at Lin Huang and knew Lin Huang was the mastermind behind all this.
"Kid, do you know what you are doing? We have three transcendents in Heisen Castle, if you destroy the division, the headquarter would definitely get the transcendents to kill you!"
"They wouldn't know that this was done by me." Lin Huang smiled and instructed the three monsters, "Kill him!"
Although the gold-level rank-3 human was powerful, Bai was no less powerful than him. Within a minute, he was killed by the three monsters. After the fifth floor was cleared, Lin Huang did not destroy the manufacturing machine because he wanted the people from the Union Government to take it. After some hesitation, Lin Huang placed 50 boxes of the weed crystals next to the production line.
With his three monsters, he proceeded to kill everyone on the fourth floor. Even the security guards on the security towers killed themselves under the Ghastly Clown's control. After everyone was killed, Lin Huang went back to the seventh floor and got Charcoal to destroy the control room with its dragonflame. He proceeded to get Charcoal to destroy all the surveillance cameras in the castle.
When Lin Huang recalled the three monsters and walked out of the hall on the first floor, the two Warning Bugs sounded the alarm almost at the same time. The volume was more than 10 times louder than the alarms on earth. Lin Huang ignored the alarms and used a Specific Transformation Card and went underground when he arrived at the door.
He transformed back into his human form when he found a place without any people in the jungle. Many started running to the castle as smoke was coming out of it. Lin Huang followed them as well. Many were hesitating, considering if they should hide in the jungle but they started running after Lin Huang as they recognized his face from the notice posted on the door of the Hunter Association.
Lin Huang ran along like the rest and entered the castle with its wide-open doors. Seeing the dead bodies on the ground, many were in shock and forgot about their purpose here which was Lin Huang.
"What happened?" Someone asked.
"I think there was a massacre here." Lin Huang said while glaring at the girl in the ponytail who got him into trouble.
"Let's look around, they should have the weed crystals that we are looking for."
"Didn't you steal all the weed crystal?" Somebody asked.
"I'm only a bronze-level rank-3, do you think I could be able to steal under the watch of two gold-level humans and a bunch of silver-level humans?" Lin Huang said while glaring at the person who asked the question. He then pointed at the girl in the ponytail, "All of you were cheated by this girl. We had some misunderstanding earlier so she set me up by releasing fake news."
Many looked at the girl in the ponytail. She did not say anything but rushed into the main hall of the castle instead. Lin Huang followed suit and pretended to look for the weed crystals like everybody else. Looking at the bloody dead bodies, many exclaimed.
"Who did this... That person must be powerful?"
Soon Lin Huang followed the girl in the ponytail and a couple of other people to the fifth floor. When they saw the boxes next to the production line, they rushed towards them almost at the same time. It was chaotic. Many of the others who heard the noise upstairs and went up. Seeing the boxes, they started fighting. The fifth floor was crowded.
Lin Huang spilled a couple of boxes on purpose to allow the black crystals to roll out of the boxes. Seeing the crystals, the people in a frenzy. After some fighting, Lin Huang managed to get more than 10 boxes while the rest got their own share. Before the rest made it to the fifth floor, all the weed crystals had been taken away. Many who were downstairs regretted not coming upstairs sooner. Some of them even started to negotiate with Lin Huang to see if they could purchase the black crystals from him…
Chapter 165: The Truth About The Second Assessment
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The 50 boxes of weed crystals that were placed by Lin Huang next to the production line as well as a couple of boxes on the product line were taken away by Lin Huang and the other six people. Lin Huang got the most while the girl in ponytail got the second most. Lin Huang finally got her name from the rest. Her name was Xia Yu.
Recalling that Xia Yu wanted to sell a single weed crystal for 100 Life Crystals, Lin Huang thought it was completely ridiculous. One Life Crystal was sufficient to purchase two to three silver-level pieces of equipment. Even if she was the only one who possessed the weed crystal, nobody would buy it from her for 100 Life Crystals unless it was a recruitment assessment for Copper Hunters. However, it was only the second round of assessment and even if they passed through the second round, the possibility of them passing the following rounds were still an unknown.
Moreover, there were seven of them who possessed the weed crystal and people would definitely compare prices. Therefore, they could not sell the crystal weeds at a high price and could only probably sell each for one for two Life Crystals. However, Lin Huang was satisfied with what he got. He had earned himself some Life Crystals and nobody knew he was the one behind the massacre.
The head examiner, Zhuo Lin was surprised when more than 5,000 of the participants showed up at the Hunter Association with a weed crystal in their hands. Soon, he heard about the massacre in Heisen Castle from some of the participants. He then reported to the management and got them to follow up with the incident.
48 hours had passed, the head examiner Zhuo Lin looked at the 5,600 people and started to speak.
"Aside from the tip that I gave in the second round of assessment, the rest of the information was fake. That includes the 5,000 black crystals that had inscriptions on it from yours truly. It was to prevent all of you from cheating. I believe a few of you had figured out the true purpose of this mission."
"The first one would your ability to manage information. An outstanding hunter should have the ability to differentiate if a piece of information was real or fake instead of blindly believing in whatever people said, even if the person was your head examiner."
"The second would be your ability to retrieve information. There are many ways to retrieve information. The Heart Network and Hunter Forum would be the mainstream platform many used to obtain information. However, there are times where a hunter would need to rely on other ways to obtain certain information. In this assessment, there are only two people who retrieved the correct information. They are Lin Huang and Xia Yu while the rest of you failed."
"Third was the ability to work together. I chose a mission that was impossible to be done alone, it was not meant to get you killed but instead, for you to obtain the item by working together. However, due to this incident, the goal was not achieved."
"However, luck is considered to play a part in all of this. Therefore, all of you who managed to obtain a black crystal will pass the assessment…"
Many who were worried were relieved when they heard that. Many of them thought that the result of the assessment would be invalid due to the incident.
"However, it's too early for all of you to relax. This is only the second round of assessment, nobody knew how many of you would pass the following rounds." Zhuo Lin smirked.
What he said was like splashing cold water on those who were excited. Since the second round of assessment was already so difficult, many of them began to worry if they could handle the following rounds.
"I would like to inform you on behalf of the head examiner of the third round of assessment that all of you must gather at the Hunter Association at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Someone will bring all of you to the assessment point. Don't be late, you would be disqualified if you are late." After informing them about the third assessment, Zhuo Lin then knocked on the table with his walking stick, "Alright, that's all I have. You can leave now."
The 5,600 participants then left the Hunter Association. After they left, the head examiner of the first round of assessment, Xu Jinpeng appeared again.
"I thought you would only pass the two kids who retrieved the correct information." Xu Jinpeng laughed.
"I gave them 48 hours but these two kids managed to retrieve the information within two hours. They are really something. However, that doesn't mean that the rest could not retrieve the information within 48 hours." Zhuo Lin laughed as he explained.
"However, if the incident didn't happen, the passing rate would be close to zero. It's too risky that you set the mission like this." Xu Jinpeng shook his head, he disagreed with the way Zhuo Lin carried out the assessment.
"Lao Xu, it seems like you don't know me at all." Zhuo Lin laughed, "This assessment would end once the participant walked out of the black market. It's not important if they managed to find the weed. Did you really believe what I said about working together? I was once a spy, I had never worked with anyone on any missions."
"You sly fox, you are always lying." Xu Jinpeng did not expect he was cheated by Zhuo Lin.
"Alright, let's talk business. What's the situation now at Heisen Castle?" Zhuo Lin asked. Xu Jinpeng was the one who was responsible for following up on the incident. Xu Jinpeng frowned, "We can't track who did this. All of the surveillance cameras were destroyed, it was a clean cut job and the culprit can't be determined. There could be one, two or three people who did this. It could also be done by a powerful Imperial Censor who owned many summoning monsters."
"There were three possible scenarios that killed the staff. They were either sliced by a blade, burnt by flames or they probably committed suicide."
"We could only speculate that the person have mastered the sword, the fire element, and even some illusion or mind control skills."
"Could it be done by one of the participants? The time that the incident happened seems to match the hunter assessment that's going on. This is skeptical." Zhuo Lin suggested.
"You're thinking too much. Looking at the trails, the murdered killed all the silver-level humans in one hit. Even one of the gold-level rank-3 guards was killed in one hit. This means the murdered was at least gold-level rank-3. None of the participants is silver-level, how could they manage to do that? Even if any of them is an Imperial Censor, the most powerful summoning monster they could summon would be a silver-level rank-3. Both of us are gold-level rank-3, why would we be afraid of a silver-level rank-3 monster?" Xu Jinpeng shook his head and smiled.
"If I encounter a double mutated monster, I would be afraid." Zhuo Lin was silent before he responded.
"A double mutated monster? Do you think these bronze-level kids could manage to control a monster like that?" Xu Jinpeng insisted that Zhuo Lin was thinking too much.
"Alright. You didn't see how clean cut the murder scene was. The murderer must be someone who some terrifying combat skills. Even I couldn't do that."
"I must be thinking too much then…" Zhuo Lin shook his head and left the thought behind.
…
Lin Huang did not hear the conversation between Zhuo Lin and Xu Jinpeng. If he heard them conversing, he would be concerned because Zhuo Lin's estimation was very close to what exactly happened. Once the second round of assessment ended, Lin Huang thought that the difficulty of assessment was much harder than he could ever have imagined. He thought the assessment would just inspect their abilities and they would be given a pass. He did not expect there to be unpredictable traps everywhere.
Almost all of the head examiners set the assessment contents according to their own personalities, which made the assessment unpredictable. Nobody could tell how ridiculous the head examiner could be.
"Hopefully the head examiners of the following assessments would not be too eccentric. If they were the same as the head examiner in the second assessment who even lied to us, the passing rate would be rather worrying…" Lin Huang said worriedly.
Chapter 166: Mr. Fu
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the next day, Lin Huang checked out of the hotel early in the morning. From what the head examiner said earlier, he could guess that the location of the third assessment would not be in Beixuan City. After breakfast, Lin Huang arrived at the Hunter Association near the plaza at around 7:40 a.m.
Lin Huang looked around but he did not see Bai Yan. Lin Huang was sure that Bai Yan had dismissed himself from the assessment. However, he saw Xia Y and she saw him too, but she turned her head to the other side and pretended not to see him. Lin Huang smirked, "Do you think I'd let you go just like that?…"
Soon, it was 8 a.m. Nobody was late this time, all the participants who passed the second assessment had arrived. A Demonic Crystal Spaceship landed from the sky which was puzzling because the plaza in front of the Hunter Association was not the official docking point for the spaceship. Seeing the spaceship arrive, it was clear that the spaceship was being chartered exclusively by the Hunter Association for transportation.
"The Hunter Association is so generous to the point that they would get a Demonic Crystal Spaceship to pick us up."
"This is not a common Demonic Crystal Spaceship, but the latest Red Devil from the MEA Group. Each division is only limited to 100 of these and the price of each of them is equivalent to the price of three five-star relics. There are attack and defense systems on it that are on the same level as relics. I heard that even if the spaceship encountered transcendent monsters, it would be able to defeat them." A young man who was quite knowledgeable about the Demonic Crystal Spaceship said in excitement.
A gigantic red spaceship landed on the plaza at the entrance of the Hunter Association. A short, old man with white beard walked down from the spaceship. The two head examiners, Xu Jinpeng and Zhuo Lin rushed to greet the old man, they said respectfully, "Mr. Fu."
The old man laughed and nodded.
"Why are you here, Mr. Fu?" Xu Jinpeng asked. Mr. Fu was a transcendent with many other apprentices who were also transcendents. He was a highly respected person here in Division7.
"I just bought this Red Devil, is it wrong for me to show it off a little?" Mr. Fu laughed and Xu Jinpeng did not know what to say.
Zhuo Lin jumped in and said, "Seems like you took good care of your spaceship, Mr. Fu."
"Of course, it arrived just yesterday." What Mr. Fu said made them speechless again.
The both of them did not say anything but laugh along with the old man.
"Alright, I shall stop fooling around with you guys. I just bought this spaceship but l need to use it in order for me to test it out. I heard you guys needed a spaceship so this is my chance to try it out." Mr. Fu said and looked at the participants, his gaze stopping at the direction of Lin Huang and a few other participants.
"There is some great potential here."
Xu Jinpeng and Zhuo Lin were glad to hear that, they knew that Mr. Fu had a unique observation skill which was why all his apprentices were terrifyingly powerful. Since he saw great potential here, there was bound to be some participants who were worth training by the Hunter Association.
"Alright kids, scan your identity? You should board the spaceship now!" After chatting with the two head examiners, Mr. Fu then waved to the participants. A bunch of them rushed to board the spaceship. Once all of them boarded the spaceship, Mr. Fu waved at both head examiners and returned to the spaceship.
"Please find yourselves a room, we'll only arrive at our destination tomorrow morning." Mr. Fu said to the participants and headed to the cockpit. The participants were wondering who he was.
"Who is this Mr. Fu?"
"How can he afford this Demonic Crystal Spaceship on his own? He must be a transcendent."
Aside from the speculation of Mr. Fu being a transcendent, none of them knew who Mr. Fu really was. Even a couple of young men from royal families had no idea. Lin Huang stood on the deck and watched the spaceship depart. He saw Xia Yu from the corner of his eye. She was standing at the side of the spaceship, looking down at the Beixuan City beneath them with a frown. She seemed to be troubled. Noticing that Lin Huang was watching her, she looked at his direction but Lin Huang had looked away. She then proceeded to look outside once again. Lin Huang did not care what she was thinking about as he walked towards the residential area.
Many of them were trying to get into the VIP area on the top floor but Lin Huang randomly picked a room on the second floor. The reason why he chose the second floor was simple; he did not want to share the elevator with the others. It was convenient for him to get downstairs and more importantly, it was quiet. The spaceship had outstanding soundproofing but the sound of people walking in the corridor could still be heard in the rooms.
Although the spaceship was luxurious, it was empty as there were no other crew members on board. There were no kitchenware, plates, or alcohol in the restaurant on the first floor except the equipment. The only entertainment on the spaceship was the swimming pool on the top floor which could only be used with Mr. Fu's permission.
As the sun began to set, the spaceship began descending as well and startled quite a few people.
"Please do not panic, I wanted to try out the sailing function of the spaceship at night. Just rest on the spaceship as usual. I'll send all of you to the assessment location tomorrow morning." Mr. Fu's voice was heard on the loudspeaker. The red Demonic Crystal Spaceship landed on the ocean. Usually, most Demonic Crystal Spaceships came with the ability to sail float on water or even dive.
As it began to slowly sail on the ocean, Mr. Fu grabbed a fishing rod and walked out of the cocktail and headed to the side of the spaceship with a smile. Many were concerned if they could make it to the assessment location on time because the spaceship was moving slowly. They approached Mr. Fu to confirm if they would make it and Mr. Fu waved his hand, "Don't worry, if I don't make it on time, I'll get the Hunter Association to give you your licenses immediately."
What he said reassured the participants. Mr. Fu then walked to the side of the spaceship and took up a tall chair from his storage space. There was no bait on his hook but he sat on the chair and tossed the hook into the sea. He proceeded to smoke a pipe but seemed like he was falling asleep.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang was watching the sunset on the balcony. He saw Mr. Fu fishing and used his Emperor's Heart Ring to take photos of the scenery. The pictures came out good. An old man sitting by the spaceship, fishing with an orange sun next to him. The view was quite breathtaking.
Lin Huang then returned to his room and ate some snacks. When the sun was beginning to set, he walked to the balcony again. Mr. Fu did not catch any fish but he did seem relaxed. Lin Huang thought to himself that since he had nothing to do, he might as well accompany the old man. Perhaps he could even grill the fish if the old man managed to catch one.
Lin Huang headed directly to Mr. Fu after he got to the first floor. He stopped beside Mr. Fu and asked, "Mr. Fu, do you have any more fishing rods?"
Mr. Fu looked at him in doubt and asked, "Do you know how to fish?"
"I have tried fishing before but it was a long time ago." What Lin Huang said was the truth. When he was on earth, he had a customer who loved fishing. He learned many things about fishing from him as he would occasionally fish with the customer. That was how he learned how to fish.
Mr. Fu did not say anything but passed Lin Huang a fishing rod and a tall chair like the one he was sitting on. Lin Huang took the fishing rod and noticed that there was no bait so he put his snack on the hook. He then sat on the chair and tossed the hook into the sea. Mr. Fu could see that Lin Huang really did know how to fish so he gave him a nod and continued smoking.
Soon, the bait hooked a fish!
"Not bad." Mr. Fu complimented and passed Lin Huang a net. After Lin Huang got the fish on board, he used the net to capture the fish while he took out a pail he brought from his storage space. He cut open the top of the pail and tossed the fish in. The fish was quite small at only one catty but this was definitely a good start!
After the first fish, Lin Huang was getting luckier. Within half an hour, he managed to catch more than 10 fishes and the biggest one was almost 10 catties. Meanwhile, Mr. Fu still hasn't caught one. However, he did not appear to be worried. Lin Huang, on the other hand, felt awkward.
"Mr. Fu, why don't you try using my snack as bait." Lin Huang suggested.
"Don't worry, it's about time." Mr. Fu looked at the sky, it was getting dark.
Lin Huang did not understand but did not ask further either. As the sky got darker, he noticed that was something under the water. There seemed to be a small, glowing red snake under Mr. Fu's fishing rod. Lin Huang then activated Boundless Vision to look and he realized that it was a red snake formed completely from Life Power. It was moving beneath the waters and could not be seen clearly during the day but now that it was dark, its red glow became obvious.
"That's a terrifying mastery of Life Power… He is able to use his Life Power to create a lifeform that can move." Lin Huang suddenly realized that fishing was part of training for Mr. Fu. Suddenly, a gigantic shadow approached his bait at lightning speed. Mr. Fu smirked and a strong power pulled on his fishing rod halfway into the ocean.
"Up!"
Mr. Fu smirked and shouted, his right hand pulling up a gigantic black fish that was almost 100 meters long. The fish landed hard on the deck behind the both of them. The entire spaceship shook and many who saw what had happened were shocked.
"This is... A sea queen! A gold-level Goldenink Grouper!" Some of the people watching exclaimed in excitement.
Chapter 167: Food Hunter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sea king were the real kings of the ocean. Most of them resided in the deep sea with bodies longer than 10,000 meters. They were gigantic and a small population of the sea kings possessed abilities comparable to the dragonkin. The sea queens were also comparable to the sea kings. They possessed the blood of the sea kings but because their blood contained a lesser form of power, they were called sea queens instead. In the ocean, a sea queen was almost comparable to an overlord-level creature. Aside from the sea kings, they feared no one... Nothing! They possessed abilities that were superior to monsters of a similar level.
The Goldenink Grouper that Mr. Fu captured was a sea queen. Its body was at least 90 meters and it was hooked by Mr. Fu's fishing rod which was as thick as a thumb. It died after they docked at the deck of the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. Mr. Fu kept his fishing rod and exclaimed to the people, "I'm in luck today. This is my treat!"
Lin Huang put his fishing rod away and leaped down from the chair. He was attracted to the gigantic Goldenink Grouper. The fish was as black as ink, it was as if its body was covered with a layer of black metal armor. A couple of its scales were white and judging by its length, Lin Huang could tell that it was gold-level rank-3.
Although Lin Huang had seen many transcendents, he could not help but to secretly look at Mr. Fu. He was only 1.5 meters tall and always smiling. However, now that he had shown off how powerful he was, nobody would look down on him anymore.
"Boy, why don't we use the fishes that you caught as side dishes?" Mr. Fu suddenly looked at Lin Huang.
"Sure!" Lin Huang nodded immediately.
"Let's feast, please step aside."
Mr. Fu's got down and dirty with his hands. One of his hands transformed into a knife, as red Life Power shot through his arm. The knife turned into a 20-meter giant knife and he began to remove the scales from the Goldenink Grouper…
10 seconds later, the fish was completely sliced into pieces. Not only were its organs and scales removed, it was also sliced into 100 pieces.
After putting away the fish slices and fish head, Mr. Fu turned on the automatic cleaning system to clean the area surrounding the spaceship. He then tossed the pail with fishes Lin Huang caught into the air. As he threw the pail, five of his fingers transformed into red knives that glowed and just as the fishes fell back into the pail, it seemed like they were completely clean with their scales and organs removed.
Many people cheered and only Lin Huang and a few others who have mastered the sword could see that Mr. Fu had used a high-level sword skill.
"This must be at least an Epic sword skill." Lin Huang was sure.
Mr. Fu then grabbed a normal-sized wok from the air and began to season the meal with chives and ginger.
Fragrance soon filled the air and Mr. Fu tossed all the fish slices into the wok after taking it out from his storage space. The fish cubes shrunk in midair as they landed in the wok. Mr. Fu proceeded to add the 10 fishes Lin Huang caught into the wok. As he cooked, a delicious fragrance of fish lingered in the air and he poured a special sauce that he specially made into the mixture and stirred.
Lin Huang and the rest were drooling. Mr. Fu ended the show with some seasoning and it had taken him a total of half an hour to cook the fishes.
Washbasins that were used as plates were brought out. Although they were huge, each washbasin was only sufficient to contain one fish. Soon, the 100 washbasins were arranged in a row on the spaceship deck.
"I call this Big Sauced Fish Slices!" Mr. Fu then distributed the fish slices to everyone. After that, he got himself one as well. The color was a bright red and the fish slices were covered in a flavorful sauce. With the salivating fragrance coming off the fish, many of the participants began to dig in. Lin Huang took a bite as well and almost bit his own tongue off because there were no bones and the meat was as soft as tofu. It was so delicious that it tasted like the food he once had at Stable Residence.
"Mr. Fu must be a Food Hunter!" Many began to think. With only one bite, Lin Huang could feel changes happening to his Life Power. If his Life Power was not full, that one single bite of the fish would fill up his Life Power. A couple of participants in the crowd experienced an upgrade in their combat strength after eating the fish. Three of them leveled-up from bronze-level rank-1 to bronze-level rank-2 and two people leveled-up from bronze-level rank-2 to bronze-level rank-3. It was such a treat.
As Mr. Fu watched, he smiled but he did not say anything while he ate the fish silently. They finally finished eating in the middle of the night. Lin Huang's stomach was filled to the brim from eating seven to eight pieces. The rest were full as well with many of them holding their stomach while they lay down on the deck. Some even fell asleep on the deck.
Lin Huang slept in his room and when he woke up, it was already 7:30 a.m. He got up from his bed immediately and looked out the window to see if the spaceship had landed.
"Kids, it's already 7:30 a.m. You better start cleaning yourselves and get off the spaceship. We've arrived at the location of your assessment. If you don't leave by 8 a.m., don't blame me if you fail the assessment…"
Mr. Fu's deep voice was heard through the loudspeaker and woke many participants up. Many of them did not even wash their face or brush their teeth as they rushed out of the spaceship. Lin Huang looked at the time and it was only 7:30 a.m. so he took his time cleaning himself.
When he arrived at the deck, there was nobody left on the spaceship. Mr. Fu was standing next to the entrance. Lin Huang walked towards him and when he heard Lin Huang's footsteps, Mr. Fu turned around and said, "All the best, young man!"
"Okay." Lin Huang nodded, he recalled something as he was near the entrance. He stopped walking and took out the photo he took of Mr. Fu when he was fishing.
"I took a photo of you yesterday. Take it as a gift from me to you."
"That's not bad!" Mr. Fu seemed happy to see the photo, "Let me add you to my contacts."
After adding each other to their respective contact lists, Lin Huang sent the photo to Mr. Fu and left the spaceship.
Chapter 168: The Third Assessment Has Started
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as Lin Huang stepped out of the spaceship, he saw a row of gigantic fences, up to 100 hundred of them. A tall and big sized man stood before the fence. He had bulky muscles and was covered in a beard. He wore army pants, a black singlet and a pair of sunglasses. He looked serious because he stood there crossing his arms. He looked like the type of guy that nobody would want to mess with.
There were two staff members that wore hunter uniforms standing next to him. Lin Huang could tell that the bald man was probably the head examiner of the assessment. After Lin Huang left the spaceship, the last few people remaining got down from the spaceship after him. The spaceship then flew away and disappeared.
When it was 8 a.m., the bald man finally spoke.
"My name is Jiang Sen, I am the head examiner of the third assessment." The bald man introduced himself, "I don't appreciate bullsh*t and I also don't think of myself as the brightest man in comparison to other examiners. Therefore, this assessment will be simple."
"I believe all of you noticed the metal fence behind me. Behind the fences are long corridors which connect three monster cages. Each cage contains one silver-level rank-3 monster. Those who gets through the corridor, manages to get past the three monster cages and leave the corridor from the other end will pass this round. "
"The rules are simple. Before going into the fence, you will have to give me your Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings. You are only allowed to keep three pieces of equipment with you and the equipment has to be iron-level or bronze-level. Nothing higher than bronze-level."
Silver-level rank-3 monsters had an advantage over bronze-level humans. A bronze-level defensive weapon would not have an impact if it was used on silver-level rank-3 monsters.
Meanwhile, bronze-level weapons had little to no effect on silver-level rank-3 monsters. If they encountered monsters with a high defense, there was nothing that they could do to attack them.
The head examiner continued speaking.
"The assessment limit will be an hour per person. If you do not pass through the exit within an hour, you fail the assessment!"
"If you spend more than half an hour in any monster cage, you fail as well!"
"Also, in this assessment, you're only allowed to go forward. There is no going back or retreating. Once you've entered the monster cafe, you're not allowed to back out from the corridor. If you step back into the corridor after entering the monster case, you will fail!"
"Lastly, I would like to remind you that there will not be any safety measures taken during this assessment. If you die in the hands of the monsters, we've been instructed to only collect your corpses."
The participants looked even more upset with each passing rule that they were told. After Jiang Sen finished his briefing, he turned to all of them.
"It's not too late to withdraw from the assessment now. I'm giving you 10 seconds to think about it.
The assessment officially starts after 10 seconds!"
"10, 9, 8…"
Some of them hesitated because they could lose their lives in this assessment. As he counted down, one person raised his hand in surrender and shouted, "I give up!"
After the first person gave up, more people were having second thoughts.
"I give up too!" A second person raised his hand up. More and more people began to leave the assessment and many of them were bronze-level rank-1 and rank-2.
When he counted down to one, there were already more than 120 participants who chose to give up.
"Alright, those who have given up, please follow the staff to the resting room." Jiang Sen nodded to the staff next to him. The staff then waved at the participants, "Those who had given up please follow me, let us not delay the assessment for the rest." There was a group that followed her.
As the people left, Jiang Sen continued to say "The silver-level rank-3 monsters are stronger than most of you. It's normal to face a monster stronger than you but an outstanding hunter won't be afraid. Instead, they'll be able to convert their fear into courage and find a way to survive in times of crisis."
"What I'm looking isn't ability alone but bravery as well. This is why I'm giving you guys a time limit for this assessment. You're only allowed to move forward. No backing out!"
"There are a total of 100 corridor entrances with the code 001 to 100. Now, you can proceed to draw from the ballot to see which corridor you get to start from." Jiang Sen said and nodded to the staff next to him.
A couple of staff brought the ballot box over and placed it on the ground. It was a black, sealed box with a hole in the middle.
"Come forward and draw the ballot." Jiang Sen nodded. Many of them rushed forward and took out a round card that was the size of a mug.
After the rest were done, Lin Huang walked slowly forward and picked a card for himself. There was a red '066' printed on the white card and a black '23' was printed on the back of the card. Lin Huang raised an eyebrow, he wanted to ask why were there two numbers but somebody else beat him to it, "Why are there two numbers? One red while the other black?"
"The red number is the corridor number that you will need to enter from. The black number at the back refers to the order of your entry."
Hearing Jiang Sen's explanation, some of them who got the number '1' turned pale. None of them knew what to expect and what kind of monsters lurked behind those corridors.
"What is there to hesitate about? There's no difference whether or not you are the first or the 50th to enter. If you fail, our staff will escort you out and you won't be able to watch other participants perform."
He added, "I would like to remind you that none of you should exchange the number that you get. If you do, I'll make sure the both of you are blacklisted and you won't be able to join any hunter assessments for three years."
"Alright, those who got the black number '1', please choose the three pieces of equipment that you would like to bring along with you. Also, do pass your Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings over to our staff. Once you've done that, you can proceed to enter the corridor. Half an hour later, the one who has the black number '2' will enter and it's best if we maintain a few minutes gap in between participants."
Chapter 169: Monster Shed No.66
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the 100 numbered fences, the 100 participants who picked the number '1' on the black side of the card quickly gave their Emperor's Heart Ring and storage rings to the staff. Each of them brought three bronze-level pieces of equipment with themselves. Most of the participants brought along one piece of armor and two weapons. A couple of them brought two pieces of armor and one weapon. Those who were at the back saw someone putting on two layers of armor and thought it would be a good idea since the defensive prowess of a piece of bronze-level armor was limited and would not be able to defend against the attacks of silver-level rank-3 monsters. It would work better if they had two layers of armor on or at least, that was what most of them thought.
However, when Lin Huang and some of them saw this, they shook their heads as they knew it would not work. When an equipment was in its ring form, it would not weight a thing. However, as soon as the ring was activated, the weight of the equipment would return to normal. Although the armor was made of a special material that was lighter than regular armor, putting on two pieces at the same time would decrease both speed and agility. What this round of assessment required were speed and agility.
It was impossible for most participants to defeat silver-level rank-3 monsters. In a space so small, the only thing they could do was to avoid themselves from getting attacked and leap to the side of the corridor. Such a tactic would not work if they were even one second late. Therefore, putting on two layers of armor was actually pretty stupid, though it may seem like a wise move in their perspective. Moreover, one or two bronze-level pieces of armor would not make much difference when they encountered the monster. Their armor would be like one or two pieces of paper that could be easily pierced with a knife.
Once the first batch of participants entered, the area behind the fence became crowded. Although they could not see what was happening behind the fence, they could hear the monsters roar from the outside. Within a minute, an announcement was heard from the loudspeaker, "The participant No.1 in monster shed No.62 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can now enter." Many of them who were already nervous got even more nervous when they heard the participant getting disqualified within a minute.
About two minutes later, another announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"Participant No.1in monster shed No.13 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can enter now." As time passed, there would be announcements coming from the loudspeaker every now and then.
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.18 has been disqualified! Participant No.2 can enter now."
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.97 has been disqualified!"
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.55 has been disqualified!"
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.43 has been disqualified!"
…
Many of them lost faith when they heard the announcements coming one after the other.
"Participant No.1 in monster shed No.66 is dead! Participant No.2 can enter now."
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows because the number he picked was also No.66. Many of them were in a panic as someone actually died during the assessment! Many of them thought that the head examiner was kidding when he said there were no safety measures in this assessment. Now that somebody had actually died, they finally took what the head examiner said seriously.
After the death of a participant was announced, a staff ran out and whispered into Jiang Sen's ear. Jiang Sen nodded and looked at participant No.2 for monster shed No.66.
"What are you looking at, the assessment goes on!"
As participant No.2 walked into monster shed No.66, Jiang Sen frowned. He did not expect the monster in No.66 to go through a mutation out of nowhere. Since the difficulty of the assessment had been raised, he hesitated for a moment and wondered if he should notify the participants who had picked monster shed No.66 or if he should sweep the matter under the rug.
Just as he was hesitating, an announcement came from the loudspeaker again.
"Participant No.2 in monster shed No.66 is dead! Participant No.3 can enter now."
Many started to find it odd that there were two consecutive deaths in monster shed No.66. The monster in that particular shed was probably much stronger than the rest.
As the participant No.3 walked in, Jiang Sen shouted at him, "Alright, don't go in." The participant stopped walking and stayed where he was. Jiang Sen then took out a loudspeaker and explained, "Those who picked No.66, the first monster that we placed in the shed had just gone through a mutation which caused major upgrade in its intelligence and ability. Due to special circumstance, we shall break the rules for this time only. Those of who would like to change your number, please register with our staff here. Those who do not want to change their number, you can proceed with the assessment."
Most of the participants left the queue and rushed to the staff to change their drawn numbers, only a few which included Lin Huang remained in the queue. Lin Huang was initially No.23 but because most of them left to change their number, there were only two participants before he was scheduled to enter. He was happy because he would only need to wait for an hour to enter. The rest of them who left the queue looked at them like they were idiots.
"You think what you're doing will make you a hero?"
"You'll pay the price for being proud. It'll too late for regret if you die in there."
"Even if you manage to pass through monster shed No.66, how does that make you any different than the ones who manage to pass through other monster sheds? Is it necessary to be so persistent?"
Some of the participants who bought the weed crystal from Lin Huang shouted at him, "Lin Huang, get another number! It won't benefit you if you remain with No.66."
"Of course there's an advantage!" Lin Huang smiled at that person, "Now that the queue is shorter, I can pass the assessment at a shorter time."
What he said made them speechless. Once most of the participants left the queue for shed No.66, the queue was shortened from 55 people to five people. There were two people in front and behind Lin Huang.
Those who left the queue had to queue at the back again. Soon the assessment for monster shed No.66 began. The participant who was the first in queue walked in confidently with two weapons and a piece of armor. Lin Huang had high hopes in that participant. He was a muscular young man who seemed quite mature. Although he was also a bronze-level rank-3, he was going to break through to silver-level anytime.
As the announcements from the loudspeaker continued, the first good news was finally announced.
"Congratulations! Participant No.1 in monster shed No.37, Xia Yu had passed the third assessment!"
"That girl? Not bad, the assessment has only started for less than 20 minutes and she has already passed." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow, he decided to finish the assessment faster than Xia Yu did.
Just as everyone was cheering for the good news, they looked at Lin Huang as another announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"Participant No.11 in monster shed No.66 is dead!" Even Jiang Sen was frowning, "Nevermind, those of you who got No.66 please re-register and get another number. Stop wasting your time in the queue!"
Since the head examiner had spoken, the other four participants walked towards the staff members to draw another number but Lin Huang remained there, standing still.
"Sir, I would like to give it a try." Lin Huang said to Jiang Sen.
"Aren't you afraid that three people who went in there had all died?" Jiang Sen turned around and looked at Lin Huang.
"Silver-level monsters are not worth being afraid of." Lin Huang smiled and shook his head.
"Kid, if you're very capable and proud, it's what I'd call confident. However, if you're proud but you're not capable, that's what I'd call idiotic." Jiang Sen shot Lin Huang a deadly glare."
"I'll prove with my actions that I'm the former."
Without waiting for Jiang Sen to say anything, Lin Huang took out two modified CopperSparrow23s and a bronze-level battle sword from his Emperor's Heart Ring. He then placed all his rings into his Emperor's Heart Ring and gave it to the staff.
What he did seemed like he was digging his own grave to the others. However, some were anticipating what would happen to him.
"Can you open the door now?" Lin Huang looked at Jiang Sen.
Jiang Sen glared at Lin Huang and said to the staff, "Open the door for him!"
The door opened and Lin Huang walked in without a moment of hesitation…
Chapter 170: Can't Keep A Low Profile Any Longer
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After going into the passage to the monster shed, Lin Huang walked along the dark corridor. The walls and ceiling were cast in a silver metal. The floor was made of black metal boards and it was not hard to tell that the corridor was made for temporary use.
After walking for around 100 meters, Lin Huang had finally reached the end. He finally saw the monster cage.
It was a gigantic metal cage that was similar to a birdcage, with metal bars that were as thick as an adult thumb hanging from the top, made from a material unknown to Lin Huang. The metal bars were embedded into the black metal floor with a gap of only 20 centimeters between them so adults could not enter.
The monster cage was surrounded with green plants and seemed to be in a dense jungle. He could even see the other monster cages on both sides. It was a circular area that was 100 meters in diameter and the ground was covered in blood. However, Lin Huang did not see any dead bodies so he thought that the staff may have removed them.
After observing the environment around him, Lin Huang then looked at the monster across from him. It was a big, red bird with purple feathers on its tail and the bottom of its wings. There were a couple of golden crests on the top of its head and the bird looked rather colorful. Lin Huang could recognize that it was a bird that was similar to a parrot on earth but this was known as a Fenixplume Peacock in this world. It was an intelligent fighting bird.
Most talking peacocks could mimic sounds of other creatures but the Fenixplume Peacock was a mutated monster. It was a master in mimicking voices, being able to mimic a sound after only hearing it once. This ability was not only used for mimicking voices as it also used it to hunt for prey. For instance, it would mimic the sound of a mother beast to lure the baby beast to it or it could mimic a mating call to attract male beasts…
After spending more than three months with humans, a Fenixplume Peacock could even master a human language and understand what the words meant. To be exact, it was even smarter than most humans when it came to learning new languages. However, a Fenixplume Peacock only fed on meat. Its attacking prowess was unparalleled as its beak and claws were comparable to weapons. The defensive abilities of its feathers were also comparable to armor and it could take short-distance flights at the speed of light.
Looking at the gigantic bird, Lin Huang frowned as he knew it would not be easy for him to handle such a beast.
"Damn, boy. Are you here to dig your own grave?" The Fenixplume Peacock spoke. Its voice was husky, unfriendly and unpleasant to the ear.
"You can speak human language? It seems like you've spent some time with humans so why would you want to kill humans?" Lin Huang asked because the Fenixplume Peacock had spent some time with humans so it technically should not harbor any ill will towards humans.
"It's because human are bastards!! They deserve to die!" The Fenixplume Peacock shouted.
"Seems like you had a bad owner. It's no wonder you're hot-tempered." Lin Huang thought in his mind that perhaps the peacock must have been tortured by its human owner, which explained why it would say such things.
"Nonsense! My master is the best human in the whole wide world. He would kill humans every day to feed me the freshest human organs while waiting for me to go through a mutation. Unfortunately, I mutated today but he was not able to see it happen because he was killed by a human like you!" The Fenixplume Peacock shouted even louder this time.
"So your master was a Dark Imperial Censor. If that's the case, he deserves to die." Lin Huang knew finally knew what the backstory was when he heard what the Fenixplume Peacock had said.
There was an evil sect among the Imperial Censors called the Foulblood Imperial Censors. The Foulblood Imperial Censors would keep many human slaves and cast spells on the slaves using their own blood. They would then feed the slaves that had died from the spells to the monsters that they reared. The spell would continue to fester in the monster and after a certain level had been achieved, the monster would undergo a mutation due to the spell. If the monster was fed enough human slaves, it could even go through two mutations. That was the reason why the Union Government and Hunter Association killed them on sight because they did not want a cursed monster that had undergone two mutations to become a transcendent that could harm the world.
"How dare you!" The Fenixplume Peacock heard Lin Huang saying that its master deserved to die, it shouted again.
"Such a hot temper. It's got to be the curse…" Lin Huang thought it was a normal mutated monster and he was considering if he should keep it. Once he found out that it was owned by a Foulblood Imperial Censor, there was no need for such consideration.
"Since you're cursed, you'd do no good to the world."
Lin Huang extended his hand and called out, "Come out, Tyrant."
The gigantic Tyrant appeared before Lin Huang. Its body was so muscular that it looked like it was covered with a golden armor. There was no fat on its body and it had a perfect body that would make any woman go crazy.
Tyrant's golden eyes glared at the Fenixplume Peacock. Its feathers stood up as Tyrant glared at it as it had never felt a fear like this. It was like it had been chosen as prey by a high-level predator, it would become food on its plate at any time.
"Kill it." Lin Huang pointed at the Fenixplume Peacock. Tyrant plunged towards the Fenixplume Peacock at the speed of light to the extent that even Lin Huang could not see it moving. The Fenixplume Peacock attempted to fly to the top of the cage immediately but it was too late. Tyrant was already there with its hand on the Fenixplume Peacock's neck.
Flapping its 10-meter-wide wings, the Fenixplume Peacock was like a helpless chick before Tyrant. It struggled but the tips of its wings were pinched together by Tyrant. Then, Tyrant broke its neck with its hand and pulled off the Fenixplume Peacock's head. Purple blood splashed out from its neck all over the place.
The Fenixplume Peacock began to struggle and only stopped 10 minutes later. Looking at the purple blood on the ground, Lin Huang frowned and thought, "Looking at the color of the blood, it was definitely cursed." Although the Fenixplume Peacock had accumulated enough curses to make it go through a mutation, it did not mutate until today for some reason.
Lin Huang then recalled Tyrant and walked to the second part of the corridor across from him. An announcement came from the loudspeaker.
"The first monster in monster shed No.66 is dead! Please get the monster cage changed as soon as possible."
Hearing the announcement being made, the people outside the monster shed were shocked.
"He killed the monster?!"
"A mutated silver-level rank-3 monster! How did that kid manage to kill it!? Who is he!?!"
"He's only bronze-level rank-3, how could he kill a mutated monster above his rank. Could he be the genius of the legends?"
Even the head examiner Jiang Sen could not stay calm any longer. He looked at the surveillance camera immediately to see what exactly happened. He was shocked to see Tyrant killing the Fenixplume Peacock within seconds.
"What kind of summoning monster is that? It looks a giant but it's not the same. It kinda looks like a new mutated species. It managed to kill a mutated monster on the same level as it was. That's ridiculous!"
Jiang Sen did not know that Tyrant was a monster that had gone through two mutations as it was almost impossible for that to happen if a monster was below transcendent. He thought that Tyrant was a powerful mutated monster. However, it was because Tyrant did not show how fast and strong it really was. If they were fighting gold-level rank-3 monsters, almost anybody would be ablt to tell that it had undergone two mutations.
Lin Huang was not worried that Tyrant would reveal his ability as Tyrant was not involved in the Heisen Castle massacre earlier. Even if the Hunter Association knew that he had a mutated monster, they would not think that he was the murderer. An Imperial Censor would have to have great luck if they were able to own a monster that had undergone two mutations before they reached transcendent. It was almost impossible for them to own two or more double mutated monsters.
Lin Huang decided to reveal his abilities for the assessment because he knew he could not defeat the Fenixplume Peacock. Besides, he did that in the hopes that he would be able to gain access to more resources from the Hunter Association. As one of the largest organizations in this world, the Hunter Association owned vast amounts of information that other organizations and individuals were not privy to. No matter how powerful an ordinary person was, they would have limited access to information. Many rare materials were unavailable to trade for outsiders no matter how many Life Crystals one owned. Among all the organizations, the Hunter Association had the least amount of restrictions on their members while owning the most resources after the Union Government.
So far, the hunters that Lin Huang have met were good so joining the Hunter Association was a wise choice. After entering the second corridor, an announcement came from the loudspeaker again. Lin Huang heard it loud and clear. He smiled and shook his head, knowing that there was no way for him to keep a low profile any longer.
"Since I can't keep a low profile any longer, then I'll show them how powerful I really am. It'll be great if they'll grant me a Silver Hunter position after the assessment ended. It would be even better if I can get a residential permit to stay in an A-grade foothold!"