Chapter 325 - 219: All Kinds of Licking Dogs? Licking Dogs Will Meet a Bad End

"With the loss of two powerful contestants, [First Ah Bin] and [Zhang Li], elimination is likely just a matter of time for the remaining players. But unexpectedly, a dark horse has emerged so quickly! Let’s keep an eye on [Joyful Sawman]’s performance... Hmm? Wait a minute.

What is contestant [All Kinds of Licking Dogs] doing?"

「In the chaotic Snow Forest.」

The handsome, fair-faced young man with the title [All Kinds of Licking Dogs] above his head peeked out from behind a thick tree, observing in secret.

’Time for my performance...’ He stealthily approached Chengzi, who was unleashing a full barrage with her mechanical claws. Once he was close enough, he let out a soft cough to get her attention.

The mechanical claws, as nimble as a snake, immediately swung the rifle’s muzzle around and sprayed a hail of bullets. [All Kinds of Licking Dogs] dodged frantically, making sure to appear in Chengzi’s line of sight, and quickly plastered on an expression of deep, solicitous affection.

"Babe, don’t mind me. No matter what, I’ll always be here for you."

"Today my friend said he’d break my legs if I kept being a simp. Good thing it was my legs. If it were my hands, I wouldn’t be able to text you."

"I just want to love you, plain and simple. I don’t get all this talk about being a simp or not. I just want you to be happy. Seeing you happy makes me happy."

The livestream chat exploded. Colonel Guan exclaimed in shock, "He—he’s started simping! And it’s hardcore! Is this guy going for maximum cringe?"

"Wh-what is he trying to do?" Commentator Catcat was stupefied.

"Ew..."

The cheesy simp lines were so nauseating that Chengzi broke out in goosebumps. The rifle in the mechanical claw’s grasp aimed at [All Kinds of Licking Dogs]; one pull of the trigger would riddle him with holes like a sieve.

But for some reason, a flicker of pity stirred in her heart.

’He’s so pitiful... Should I be nicer to him? Isn’t it too cruel of me to be so cold and heartless?’

’He’s fawning over me so much, showing me so much concern. I’d feel guilty if I didn’t treat him a little better... He’s so pathetic, so groveling...’

"I asked when I could see you, and you said, ’Maybe in your next life.’ You’re so kind, you want to be with me in our next life too."

"Today, you finally said my name. You got it wrong, but that’s okay. I’m going to change my name right now."

"I used two months’ worth of allowance to buy you a purse, and you said ’thank you.’ I’m so happy. You usually just tell me to get lost. Looking at the downpour outside, I’ve decided the weather today is sunny."

With another barrage of deeply affectionate simp-isms, [All Kinds of Licking Dogs] gazed at Chengzi tenderly, radiating a powerful charm that rapidly eroded her hostility.

This was his prized Extraordinary Ability, its name matching his contestant ID—All Kinds of Licking Dogs!

However, the Ability had one major drawback: it only worked on women. But the effect was remarkable. By fully committing to the role of a simp and laying it on thick, he could raise his target’s affection for him and soften her heart to some degree.

Sure enough, Chengzi fell for it. She was inwardly conflicted about whether to shoot him, and in that moment of distraction, an Ascender braved the hail of bullets and closed in on her.

BOOM!

Just as the Ascender was about to land the killing blow, a shotgun roared. Countless concentrated Thunderbolt Bullets erupted from the barrel, instantly blasting him away. Blood sprayed from his body as he vanished into thin air.

Ding Yuan racked the slide of his Silver Pattern Shotgun, ejecting a searing Alchemy Bullet casing. With an e-cigarette dangling from his lips, he exhaled a puff of fruit-flavored vapor and looked at [All Kinds of Licking Dogs].

"Buddy, you ever heard a certain saying?"

A voice sounded from behind [All Kinds of Licking Dogs]. Pale flames dispersed as Zhou Chen clapped him on the shoulder, shaking his head and tutting.

"—Simps never meet a good end."

With a flash of a blade, [All Kinds of Licking Dogs] vanished on the spot, eliminated from the competition.

Chengzi shook her head, snapping out of the mental effect. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "That guy’s Ability is nasty. He almost got me."

"This competition is full of hidden masters. Never underestimate anyone."

Zhou Chen smiled, his gaze turning to the last two enemies in the distance. Seeing that things had gone south, they were scrambling to escape.

An Alchemy Matrix on one of their boots lit up, and his speed surged. He ran to a snowmobile his team had built, grabbed a jetpack, and quickly strapped it on. The nozzles flared, spitting fire and launching him into the sky like an arrow.

Chengzi sprayed at him with her machine gun and rifle for a long time but couldn’t bring him down. The others had no anti-air capabilities, so they could only watch him fly away.

The other contestant, however, wasn’t so lucky. He was tied down by Li Yiliang and eventually overwhelmed and eliminated by the four of them working together.

"Okay, mission accomplished. We’re rich!"

Gazing at the dropped resources, Chengzi clapped her hands, an irrepressible smile on her face.

All the resources collected by three teams now belonged to them!

"How about this: first we build a helicopter to give us some anti-air firepower, then we build a high-power life-form detector to scan for nearby enemies," Zhou Chen proposed.

"You want to use war to fuel war?" Ding Yuan asked.

"Exactly. That’s the only way we can snowball and build up a massive advantage."

Zhou Chen continued, "Our individual combat skills are excellent; we can handle most of the contestants or teams we encounter. And that’s not to mention our Forging Skills—we all placed in the top twenty in the qualifiers. With enough resources, we could probably even slap together a Gundam.

If we actually manage to build a Gundam, we can do whatever we want in this competition. We can just stomp on anyone who looks at us funny.

But our time is limited, and so are the resources we can gather. To get more valuable resources and arm ourselves, actively raiding other teams is the best option.

Besides, aren’t we already snowballing? It’d be a real shame to waste this momentum."

"I agree with Zhou Chen’s plan," Chengzi said, the first to raise her hand. "I could tell you were holding back when you fought Zhang Li and Ah Bin."

’He got a double kill on Zhang Li and Ah Bin without even going all out,’ she thought. ’If Zhou Chen really let loose, I don’t think I could stop him unless I had enough time to mass-produce an army.’

’It’s definitely better to be his ally.’

’Besides, Zhou Chen’s plan is solid. Our team is strong. Once we start to snowball, even the favorites to win the championship might not be a match for us.’

’It’s not like there’s no precedent in the history of the Sword Forging Competition for unknowns to eliminate top contenders. In fact, there are quite a few examples.’

’But there’s a key difference here—we aren’t unknowns.’

’With enough luck, we could definitely make it to the final showdown. We could even win it all.’

"I agree, too," Ding Yuan said with a nod after a moment of thought.

Li Yiliang lowered his voice and boomed, "Same here!"

Zhou Chen nodded and grinned. "Alright then. Let’s get started."

·

「Nightfall.」

The contestant who had escaped reached a pitch-black forest. He fumbled in the dark, broke off a branch to make a torch, and lit it.

Then, in the Darkness of the woods, he saw them—figures holding weapons. Without him realizing it, they had silently closed in and surrounded him.

He swallowed hard, knowing there was no escape.

"Old Chen?" Just then, one of the figures exclaimed.

In the torchlight, the contestant recognized the speaker’s face and cried out in delighted surprise, "Old Sun?"

"It’s okay, everyone lower your Weapons. He’s a brother."

Old Sun waved his hand, gesturing for the others to stand down. He looked Old Chen up and down. "How did you end up in such a mess?"

"Hah, don’t even ask. We were attacked by a really strong squad. I was the only one who got away," Old Chen sighed.

Old Sun stepped forward, clapped him on the shoulder, and reassured him confidently,

"No problem. When we run into them, we’ll get revenge for you."

·