Chapter 162: Ponytail

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...