Lord of Prayer - Chapter 328 - 221: Zhou Chen, You Deserve to Die

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In the mountain cave, a bonfire burned. The CLANG CLANG CLANG of hammering echoed from the deepest part of the man-made cavern.

Deep within the cave lay the four-meter-long prototype of a Mecha, resembling a dissected and dismembered steel corpse. On the workbenches around it were an engine, radar, a power furnace, and other components, looking like organs just removed from its body.

Several Alchemy Melting Furnaces blazed with roaring flames, casting the depths of the cave in a crimson glow. Blacksmiths, their sweat pouring down like rain, gripped hammers and pounded on red-hot metal plates, performing Enchantments.

Cutting, grinding, shaping, welding… Their tasks were clearly divided, and each procedure was carried out in an orderly fashion. They worked day and night, forging parts for the Mecha.

This was their greatest source of confidence in the competition—the War Mecha·Defender Seventh Generation!

A powerful Mecha that could wreak havoc even in an Abyssalized environment.

Of course, limited by the environment and their technology, they couldn’t perfectly replicate the true Defender Seventh Generation Mecha. But as long as they could build a “lite” version, they could still dominate the competition.

“Old Chen, you’ve already worked a double shift. Come take a break.”

The team’s captain, Sun Shiheng, walked up to his good friend and told him to rest.

Chen Quan wiped the sweat from his forehead and followed Sun Shiheng toward the entrance, asking, “Have Joyful Sawman and Power Boy still been stirring up trouble these past few days?”

“Yeah. Ever since we got the Essence Detector working, we’ve been picking up the Essence Fluctuations from their fights every few hours. By now, they’ve probably plundered seven or eight teams. They must be loaded.”

Sun Shiheng said, “But lucky for us, we set up a Barrier Array, so they can’t find us for now. Once the Defender Seventh Generation is complete, we won’t have to be afraid of them anymore.”

The two of them walked near the cave entrance, where a few teammates were roasting meat. The aroma was tantalizing as golden fat dripped down, making the flames burn even brighter.

“This damn place has a lot of animals. The guys who went hunting even ran into two Demon Beasts. They taste pretty good.” Sun Shiheng pointed to a large leg of meat roasting on the spit. “We saved this for you.”

“Thanks.”

Chen Quan didn’t stand on ceremony. He picked up the scorching hot leg of meat, blew on it, and took a huge bite. After a few mouthfuls, he said indistinctly, “What if—and I’m just saying what if—what if Joyful Sawman and his crew show up at our doorstep?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll handle it.”

The confident and nonchalant words came from the side, where a young man sat on the ground, leaning against the rock wall. His eyes were closed in Meditation, and he cradled a Silver Dragon Spear in his arms.

[A Cold Light First Arrives]

This was his contestant ID. He had ranked ninety-fourth in the qualifiers.

When the live stream audience heard this, the bullet comments instantly exploded.

“Who is this guy? How can he be so arrogant?”

“Ranked ninety-fourth in the qualifiers and he dares to act all high and mighty?”

“Cut it out, this guy’s the real deal. I’m begging you clowns to go check the forums. You don’t even know Li Chengtian? His Forging Skills are just average compared to the other genius Blacksmiths, but in terms of personal combat ability, he’s definitely in the top twenty among the known contestants!”

“For real? He’s that strong? I’m gonna go look up some videos.”

“It’s true, I can vouch for it. Li Chengtian was in last year’s competition too. With just his spear, he wiped out an entire squad of fully-equipped Power Armor!”

After a moment, the chat was flooded with bullet comments spamming “666.” Apparently, some of the less familiar viewers had learned about Li Chengtian’s track record from various sources.

“Contestant Li Chengtian’s strength is indeed formidable. He left an extremely deep impression on the audience in last year’s competition. It’s just a shame he was ultimately defeated by Magnetic Field Lunatic.”

Colonel Guan chimed in at the right moment. “Both of them have entered the competition again this year. I wonder if we’ll see sparks fly between them again later on… As for who’s stronger between Joyful Sawman and A Cold Light First Arrives? That, I don’t know.”

He looked at the questions scrolling by in the bullet comments and offered his opinion: “However, if we were to really compare them, I’d definitely be more optimistic about A Cold Light First Arrives, that is, contestant Li Chengtian. After all, his past competition records speak for themselves.

Contestant Zhou Chen is indeed the dark horse of this competition, but judging from his performance so far, there’s still a considerable gap between him and Li Chengtian.”

“Oh no, the Jinx King is at it again! Li Chengtian is in danger!”

“Li Chengtian: Why is my spear suddenly leaking milk? Does anyone know what’s going on?”

“Got it. I’m betting against whatever Colonel Guan says. Bros, wait for me to get my beachfront villa!”

As a wave of bullet comments scrolled by, Colonel Guan explained helplessly, “Can you guys stop calling me a jinx? Is this jinxing? This is clearly a detailed analysis based on the actual situation…”

“You still have the nerve to talk? You said you were optimistic about First Ah Bin before, and what happened? Both Ah Bin and Zhang Li got double-killed by Zhou Chen!”

“Yeah, exactly!”

Seeing the bullet comments, Colonel Guan was at a loss for words. He quickly changed the subject. “Let’s get back to the competition. We’re now on the seventh day, and I can tell you all with great certainty that so far, not a single contestant has discovered the hidden plot of this Sword Forging Competition.”

The bullet comments filled with question marks. A hidden plot?

Isn’t this just wilderness survival plus a battle royale? How can there be a plot?

Colonel Guan chuckled. “It wouldn’t be any fun if I spoiled it. Let’s wait patiently for the first contestant to discover the plot.

By the way, in three more days, a blizzard is coming. The contestants still on the periphery are probably in danger.”

「In the mountain cave.」

Sun Shiheng roared with laughter and slapped Chen Quan on the shoulder. “Did you hear that? With Brother Li here, Joyful Sawman, Power Boy—they’re all just a bunch of chumps! If they dare to show up, we’ll make sure they never leave!”