Lord of Prayer - Chapter 220 164: Psychedelic Light

Zhou Chen pinched his chin in thought for a moment. An idea gradually formed, and he lit the fire to heat his crucible. While it warmed up, he began processing his ingredients with masterful technique and incredible speed.

Seeing this speed, Goblin Ah Bin’s eye twitched. ‘This kid’s way too experienced!’

‘This won’t do. I have to slow him down!’

A sly look flashed in Goblin Ah Bin’s eyes. He took a tightly sealed dropper from his toolbox and squeezed a single drop into his own crucible.

In an instant, a powerful, acrid stench spread out. It was as if a hundred thousand burly men had finished a soccer match, then used their stinky feet to stomp all over pickled mustard greens that had been fermenting for eighty-one days. It was the smell of rotten durian and sewer sludge, an eye-watering, stomach-turning miasma.

“Gag…” An Alchemist who caught a whiff of the stench immediately started dry-heaving. He quickly held his breath, then, as if he had come prepared, pulled a gas mask from his toolbox and put it on.

Seeing this, Billy and the others quickly followed suit, donning their own gas masks.

The horrific stench spread into the audience, and instantly, the sound of mass vomiting erupted. Many people were foaming at the mouth and convulsing, with some even passing out from the smell. The black market boss hurriedly ordered his staff to turn on the ventilation system, which only barely slowed the unfolding tragedy.

As for this despicable, low-blow tactic, the unaffected members of the audience were roaring with excitement, their cheers echoing endlessly.

“Fuck, what the hell are you making, a large-scale bioweapon? Who would dare drink a Hallucinogen like that?” the Alchemist who had been affected earlier cursed loudly.

“You don’t know shit! This is called ‘stinky first, sweet later’!” Goblin Ah Bin’s smug voice came from behind his thick gas mask. His move had been quite effective, disrupting the other contestants’ performance. Even Zhou Chen had to put on a gas mask to avoid being affected.

The other Alchemist’s face was grim. He tossed a stone reeking of a dense Curse into his crucible. After an unknown, strange reaction, the liquid in the crucible boiled violently. Then, a scene straight out of Hell unfolded.

Bugs. A dense, writhing mass of bugs crawled out of the crucible—moths, flies, worms, centipedes, grubs, cockroaches… The skin-crawling swarm of insects became a tide, gushing madly outwards like a fountain.

In an instant, a gruesome Hell descended. The unnamable, squirming tide of bugs spread like wildfire. Countless terrified screams erupted from the audience, and some people fainted dead away from the disgusting sight.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” Billy screamed in terror, swatting at the disgusting bugs crawling all over him. As more and more swarmed him, he could only fight back his nausea, mix a simple insect repellent, and splash it around. He managed to drive away the surrounding bugs, but his body was now covered in their corpses and splattered guts.

“What the fuck, and you were giving the goblin shit? What the hell is this stuff you made?” Billy demanded furiously.

“It’s a family secret. If you don’t get it, shut your mouth.” Having gained a major advantage through this move, the Alchemist was in a very good mood.

Nearby, even the battle-hardened Zhou Chen felt his skin crawl as the swarm surged toward him. Pale flames spread out from his feet, forming a ring of fire that kept the insects at bay.

‘Since everyone’s pulling stunts, I might as well join in…’

Grinning savagely, he dripped a single drop of refined, concentrated hallucinogenic essence into his crucible. As the ingredients reacted completely, a psychedelic light shot up from the crucible toward the ceiling.

Immediately, illusions bloomed before everyone’s eyes. The entire World seemed to Twist and change constantly. Everywhere they looked, everything was stretching, shrinking, colliding, and transforming in ways that defied the laws of physics. Everyone felt like they were tripping balls, their vision filled with all sorts of dazzling hallucinations.

“Holy shit, an RGB dog! There’s a dog flashing with RGB lights over here!”

“Why are there seven little blue-skinned dwarves here?”

“Those are the fucking Smurfs!”

“But they’re wearing gourds on their heads… Ah… Now it’s seven princesses and one dwarf. Oh god, they’re about to have their way with him…”

“Why is there a piece of the ceiling missing? So much light… Is that the aurora borealis? No, wait, those are disco lights! Everybody, let’s get this party started!”

“Ranran, my Ranran…”

“So dizzy… I’m a washing machine.”

“WOOF WOOF WOOF…”

Even the contestants began showing symptoms. Billy was crouched on the ground, his tongue lolling out from under his gas mask, acting like a dog.

Goblin Ah Bin let out a long, drawn-out “Uhhhhh—” from his throat, believing himself to be a drooling idiot.

Lü Qiang was meditating on the spot like a monk, while another contestant began performing an eye-searing pole dance right on the stage.

A few seconds later, the psychedelic light dimmed, and the hallucinations vanished from everyone’s vision. Into the eerie silence of the arena, the sound of Zhou Chen pressing the submission button was exceptionally clear.

The female host had just snapped out of her daze when she heard the submission chime. She stood stunned for a full five seconds before speaking. “Contestant Zhou Chen has completed his work. I have to say, he is truly the darkest of dark horses in this competition. With just one move, he got the entire audience tripping… I am very much looking forward to his creation.”

“Oh? We have a sudden development on the competition floor. A contestant, in the middle of his dance, accidentally disturbed his own workstation, causing all his previous work to be ruined. What a shame.”

The Alchemist who had been dancing due to the hallucination roared at the sky, utterly indignant. He shot a vicious glare at Zhou Chen before storming off the stage in a rage.

Seeing this, the judges couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. None of them wanted to drink a Hallucinogen that had countless disgusting bugs crawling out of it.

Only four contestants remained. Fifteen minutes later, the three other than Zhou Chen also completed their concoctions.

“The second round of the competition is over. Let’s have the judges be the first to sample the Hallucinogen created by contestant Zhou Chen.”

The three judges, plus Brother Hu, each drank a dropper-full of the Hallucinogen. Soon, expressions of extreme pleasure appeared on their faces. They became uncontrollably excited, as if they had reached Heaven.

After a long while, the drug’s effects faded, and they returned to reality, still longing for more.

The venue fell silent as everyone awaited the judges’ comments.

Judge Number One let out a long sigh, his face flushed. “That feeling was absolutely incredible! The bastard who stole my parking spot, the asshole who tailgated me through the toll booth, the jerk who weaves through lanes without signaling, the moron who jaywalks against a red light, the prick who cut me off on purpose… I got to take care of all the people who make my blood pressure skyrocket in the most brutal, bloody ways imaginable. It was simply wonderful!”

As he spoke, he even shed a single tear, as if he had finally achieved a great and long-awaited vengeance.

Judge Number Two was still in a daze, forcing himself to focus. “I partied all night with countless beautiful women, including the Goddess I once thought was completely out of my league. Ah… such bliss…”

Judge Number Three’s eyes gleamed. “That kind of satisfaction… it’s like the payoff in a ‘live-in son-in-law’ story when his three-year-pact is up and he reveals his true power. It’s like the ‘thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west’ moment when the loser finally rises up and crushes everyone. It’s like the return of the Urban Soldier King, or the ultimate flex of the Beixuan Immortal Venerable… I… was so damn satisfied!”

Brother Hu wasn’t a man of many words. He could only sigh from the bottom of his heart, “The ultimate high. A brand-new experience I’ve never had before.”

“Ooh! It seems the judges’ evaluations are all incredibly high!” the host exclaimed. “Next, let’s see how the other contestants’ works fare.”

“Garbage!”

“I don’t feel a thing!”

“This is it? You call this a Hallucinogen? I could get a better buzz from choking the chicken!”

“Trash, it’s all trash!”

Unexpectedly, the works of Billy and the others were all deemed completely worthless by the judges—something that had never happened in the competition before.

—A complete and utter steamrolling!

The countless audience members were dumbfounded. They wondered just how good Zhou Chen’s Hallucinogen could possibly be to make the judges give such evaluations.

Zhou Chen whistled, casually strolling back to the preparation area. He had anticipated this outcome.

His Hallucinogen had raised the judges’ pleasure threshold. Naturally, any other Hallucinogen they tried afterward would feel like garbage. That single drop of concentrated hallucinogenic essence was the key, requiring an incredibly profound and masterful technique to extract.

And so, he won the second round without a shred of suspense.

After this, following a second discussion between the black market bosses and the judges, the other two contestants to advance were determined to be Billy and Lü Qiang.

After a twenty-minute break, it would be time for the third and final round.