Laden didn’t waste any time before taking the plant close to the student’s nose and then giving it a firk squeeze, thus expelling its content into his nose.

He observed an instant change in the student’s eyes, as they immediately appeared like they were rolling over before coming back down in a paler color.

"It’s working," Caleb said from the side.

Laden, who was about to turn and ask how he would know it was working, was immediately cut off.

"Ohhh alright, how do we test then?" Laden asked.

"I know, I know, let’s ask an embarrassing question," Caleb said from the side.

Laden’s eyelids twitched a little when he heard Caleb’s words; he couldn’t refuse that his words made sense.

"What question should we ask then?" Laden asked.

"Just ask a broad question," Caleb said.

"Hmmmmm, what’s your most embarrassing moment and what happened?" Laden asked.

The student listened to Laden, but he seemed obstinate to respond; he kept opening his mouth to speak and then forcing it shut.

He continued like this for a while before he finally couldn’t resist anymore and was ready to speak.

"My most embarrassing day was the day I was forced to confess my love to the school belle, but I was brutally turned down in front of the whole school."

"It was a beautiful morning; my friends were telling me about the naughty stuff they had done with their girlfriends—" before he could continue his words, he was quickly cut off by Laden.

"That’s enough; you don’t need to tell us more," Laden said with urgency.

Behind Laden, Caleb looked a bit disappointed, but he didn’t voice it and kept shut.

"I guess we can successfully conclude that it worked then," Laden said with a smile.

"Yes, it did," Caleb said with a nod.

"Now let’s move to more important questions."

"Who are you?" Laden asked.

This time there was no hesitation at all; instead, the student opened his mouth wide to speak instantly.

"My name is Mike, and I am from the Eastern Terminal High school," the student replied.

"Mike? Now that’s a very casual name for such an arrogant person," Laden said with a smile.

"So Mike, do you mind telling us where we harvest is?" Laden asked.

When Laden asked his question this time, Mike seemed extremely hesitant to speak much more than he had been when they asked about his most embarrassing moment.

The time his expression morphed was much more intense; he looked as if he was in an astonishing amount of pain.

"Should we ask him to stop? he seems to be in pain," Caleb said.

"Yes, I think that’s the best thing; we need to use a more roundabout way to get the information we need," Laden said.

Just as he was about to speak up to stop Mike from speaking up any further, he finally heard him speak up.

"The harvests are with my friend," Mike said.

"It was taken by one of my friends who was really good at digging the earth and moving through it," Mike said.

"If you check behind that log, you should see the sign of the digging," Mike pointed with his mind.

"That friend of mine is a really naughty one; he goes about—"

"That’s enough," Laden cut him off again.

From the two scenarios that had happened right now, Laden had realized that the Mind Opening plant also causes a lack of control of words.

"The person first responds to the questions and then begins spiraling out of control," he muttered.

"Can you lead us to your friends?" Laden asked.

"Yes, yes, I can," Mike responded enthusiastically.

"You two want to meet with the guys that are so naughty, right? you want some tips, right?" Mike added.

Laden couldn’t help but want to slap Mike to make him shut his mouth, but Caleb, on the other hand, just smiled and chuckled dryly.

"There’s no reason to be shy; my friends do it all the time," Mike said again.

"You know from the way you two are, I am sure you are both virgins. If you need any help getting a girlfriend—

"Shut the hell up," Laden suddenly shouted before rushing away.

He moved from his spot and headed to confirm what Mike had said earlier about the dig spot, and to his surprise, it was actually there.

"We must have been too distracted and didn’t notice him at all, or he was so quiet that we couldn’t even sense it," Laden muttered.

"If it was the second scenario, then things have gotten even more dangerous," Laden muttered again.

He maintained his alertness while he went to pick up all of his things from the staff and then his bag containing the golden fruit and went to meet up with Caleb.

"It was time to go find our stuff," Laden said to Caleb.

Caleb nodded before picking Mike up and resting him down on his broad shoulder.

"Now direct us to your meetup point," Laden said.

A big smile formed on Mike’s face when he heard Laden’s question.

"You guys really need it; let’s go," Mike said.

Laden couldn’t help but shake his head while he followed behind Caleb, who was carrying Mike and was going ahead in front.

Laden kept his guard up as they walked through the forest, from left to right and then forward again.

They walked for about thirty minutes through the wilderness with nothing to really hold on to except Mike’s unending rants.

He spoke about a vast array of topics, from how his mom met his dad to how he met his first girlfriend; he even told Laden and Caleb when the last time he had seen a lady was.

All through it, Laden had tried multiple times to shut him up as his voice could attract attention, but he was never fully successful as about five minutes later Mike would start talking again.

"ohhh ohh, we have gotten there, just that clearing over there," Mike said. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

They soon arrived at the clearing that was being pointed out, but they couldn’t find anything worthwhile in there; instead, it looked as if the people there had left a while ago.

Just as Laden was about to ask Mike if he was sure this was the place, he suddenly felt multiple presences spring up around him.

"Well done, Mike, you have brought good prey," A thick voice suddenly sounded from behind a tree.