Chapter 160: Weed Technology?

The prompt for the second round of evaluation was "weeds." After swarming out of the Hunter Association, many candidates headed straight to nearby areas with weeds to search through them.

After all, the assessment period was only forty-eight hours, and the supply of those black crystals was limited. Whoever found one first would pass the evaluation first.

As a result, over the next few hours, many residents of Beixuan City witnessed a bizarre spectacle.

Groups of young adults and teenagers were poking their bottoms in the air, digging around in patches of weeds everywhere, busy and thoroughly engrossed in their work.

This happened not only in public areas, but even the private courtyards of some residents fell victim to their chaotic searches.

Digging up weeds was normally a good thing, but these fellows would dig around, fail to find any black crystals, and immediately walk away, leaving a trail of disorder behind them.

This drew endless curses from numerous sanitation workers.

Some busybodies who witnessed the scene recorded videos and uploaded them to the internet, spreading rumors that a treasure had been discovered in Beixuan City and that some unknown faction was frantically scouring the entire city.

Surprisingly, quite a few people believed these rumors, and numerous ordinary residents joined the searching ranks.

Consequently, the whole of Beixuan City became lively and bustling.

However, a small minority of candidates did not join this weed-pulling frenzy.

The moment the prompt was announced, Lin Huang knew the evaluation would not be that simple.

The cue word "weeds" certainly did not refer to ordinary weeds growing on the ground; if it did, this assessment would lose its meaning.

Since there were five thousand black crystals, as long as one put effort into searching, the probability of finding one was quite high. Yet such a search required no investigative ability whatsoever, failing to test any other skills.

Glancing at the people searching frantically all around, Lin Huang opened the Emperor Heart Net and searched for the keyword "weeds," wanting to know if the term had any other hidden meanings.

Yet, after flipping through several pages of information online, he found no special significance.

Frowning slightly, Lin Huang typed "Beixuan City" and "weeds" into the search bar, hoping to see if there was any special connection between the two terms.

As soon as the page loaded, numerous posts uploaded just today popped up, claiming that a treasure had been discovered in Beixuan City.

Lin Huang shook his head helplessly, scrolled through several pages, and finally let his gaze linger on one particular message.

"Weeds Technology, located in Beixuan City, is a company specializing in the development of cleaning tools..."

"Weeds Technology?"

Lin Huang raised an eyebrow and immediately searched for information about this company online.

After some digging, the useful information obtained was rather scarce.

The company was tiny, with a total staff of fewer than twenty people. It developed various cleaning agents and cleaning tools and did not even have its own factory. That was all the information available on the internet.

"It seems I'll have to pay a visit for a field inspection." A slight smile curved the corners of Lin Huang's lips.

At 9:40 in the morning, Lin Huang had already changed his face and appeared at the entrance of Weeds Technology.

His current appearance was that of a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a stern expression that bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Xu Jinping, the chief examiner of the first round.

This face, paired with an impeccably neat black suit, was more than enough to bluff people.

The company's security guard was an older gentleman. Seeing Lin Huang's attire, he did not dare to be negligent and asked, "Excuse me, who are you?"

"From the Bureau of Inspection. I need to see your boss."

The Bureau of Inspection in this world was somewhat similar to the audit bureaus on Earth, but its scope of review was much broader, covering not only corporate accounts but also product safety, waste pollution, and other issues. Most companies held a sense of awe toward personnel from the Bureau of Inspection.

"Please wait a moment." The security guard immediately dialed the front-desk number.

After hanging up, the guard promptly opened the gate to let him through.

Lin Huang strode inside. Using the identity of the Bureau of Inspection as a cover, the guard did not even dare to verify his credentials, terrified of causing offense.

Just as he stepped inside, a woman in her early thirties hurried over to greet him.

"Hello, my surname is Bai, and I'm the boss's secretary. May I ask your name?"

"My surname is Xu." Lin Huang intended to maintain the chief examiner's identity to the end.

"Mr. Xu, we just underwent an inspection two months ago. Is this secondary review due to some issue with the last inspection results?" Secretary Bai asked with a hint of bewilderment.

"It's the end of the year, so we are conducting random spot checks, and your company happened to be drawn. Don't worry too much; just take me to see your boss." Lin Huang could only offer this explanation.

"The company isn't busy during this period, so the boss arrives a bit late. Please wait a moment in the conference room while I notify him to come over immediately." With that, Secretary Bai led Lin Huang into the conference room, poured him a cup of tea, and then departed.

Lin Huang sipped his tea leisurely in the conference room. He had already figured out his course of action once he met the boss.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a chubby middle-aged man pushed the door open, sweating profusely.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Please come to my office."

Lin Huang nodded, stood up, and followed the chubby middle-aged man to the second-floor office, generously taking a seat on the leather sofa alongside him.

Secretary Bai placed a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of Lin Huang, then turned and closed the door behind her as she left.

"Um, Mr. Xu, what content will this impromptu inspection cover?" The chubby boss wiped away his sweat with a towel and looked toward Lin Huang.

The corners of Lin Huang's lips curved upward slightly as a mask formed and solidified in his hand. He pressed the mask onto his face, and his features rapidly shifted to resemble those of the chubby boss.

In the next instant, the chubby boss's eyes glazed over completely, as if his mind had been emptied.

"Tell me your name." Lin Huang posed his first question.

"Zhang Peng," the chubby boss answered without the slightest hesitation.

"What is your family situation?" Lin Huang asked next.

"Currently divorced, with two children—an eleven-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter." Zhang Peng still showed no hesitation.

"What is your relationship with your secretary?"

"She and I have an undisclosed romantic relationship. She has a husband," Zhang Peng answered honestly.

Having asked a couple of rather private personal questions and confirmed that he had completely taken control of Zhang Peng, Lin Huang finally proceeded to the formal inquiries.

"Where in your company are these black crystals kept?" Lin Huang projected the photo he had previously captured with his Emperor Heart Ring.

Zhang Peng glanced at the photo and shook his head. "I've never seen such a thing."

Hearing this answer, Lin Huang could not help frowning. "Since Zhang Peng doesn't even know about this as the boss, could this company be unrelated to the weeds mentioned by the chief examiner?"

Lin Huang asked a few more related questions, but Zhang Peng could provide no answers, appearing truly oblivious to anything concerning the black crystals.

"He really knows nothing at all. Could it be related to the employees downstairs?" Lin Huang refused to give up just yet.

After a moment of contemplation, he summoned the Demonic Pine Vine.

The shrunken Demonic Pine Vine, resembling a small blood-red serpent, coiled around Lin Huang's left forearm.

"Parasitize all the staff members in this company and make them find the black crystals for me," Lin Huang commanded the Demonic Pine Vine.

A small purple flower quickly bloomed on the vine, releasing more than a dozen seeds that drifted away and soon submerged into the bodies of all the target individuals.

Lin Huang quickly observed that everyone stood up from their desks and began wandering aimlessly—a typical manifestation of hosts losing their targets. If anyone knew about the black crystals, they would not exhibit such behavior.

"Alright, lift the parasitism." After observing for a moment with a deep frown, Lin Huang became certain that this company had nothing to do with his assessment. The company name "Weeds" must have merely coincided with the chief examiner's prompt word by pure coincidence.

Pacing over to the window, Lin Huang was pondering whether to remove the mask and leave when Secretary Bai suddenly knocked on the door.

"Boss, someone else is here, claiming to be from the Bureau of Inspection..." Secretary Bai finished, casting a somewhat puzzled glance in Lin Huang's direction, though she could only see the back of his head.

Through the window, Lin Huang happened to catch sight of the person being blocked at the gate downstairs, and to his surprise, it was yet another familiar face.

"Bai Yan? Wasn't he directly promoted to a Bronze-rank hunter through the special recruitment qualification last time? Why is he running back to take the hunter assessment again?" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow, and his lips moved silently.

On the other side, Zhang Peng, sitting at the executive desk, spoke up as well, "Just say I'm busy today and have no time to entertain him; tell him to come back another day."

Secretary Bai looked startled, but she turned, closed the door, and left.

Before long, the message seemed to have been relayed by the security guard, and Bai Yan turned and walked away with a look of utter reluctance.

Only then did Lin Huang turn around, walk up to Zhang Peng, and issue his command: "From now on, you will feel extremely sleepy and desperately want to sleep. In ten seconds, you will fall fast asleep. When you wake up, you will only remember that the Bureau of Inspection has completed its review, while everything else will automatically fade from your memory..."

Moments later, Zhang Peng slumped forward onto his desk and fell asleep.

Lin Huang finally experienced firsthand the immense power of the mask's control ability. It could not only dictate actions but even distort the target's memories, and such alterations were irreversible even after the control lapsed.

Peeling the mask off his face, Lin Huang turned and walked out of Zhang Peng's office.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Secretary Bai hurried over to greet him. "Mr. Xu, how did it go?"

"The inspection is complete, there are no issues, and I should be leaving now." Lin Huang nodded.

"The young man who came just now also claimed to be from the Bureau of Inspection. Is he a colleague of yours?" Secretary Bai could not resist asking.

"When have you ever seen an inspector who isn't even twenty years old? Do you lack even that bit of discernment?" Lin Huang retorted. "Next time someone claims to be from our Bureau of Inspection, don't forget to verify their identity. If they're impostors, report them directly by calling our tip line."

With that, Lin Huang strode away, leaving Secretary Bai standing there with a somewhat peculiar expression, as she suddenly remembered that Lin Huang's own identity had never been verified either...