Chapter 108: Silver Soul (Earth Arc)

“The second round of the competition has concluded. Everyone has seen the performances of both Gao Tianyuan and abc.dotch. Now, let’s tally the number of people each team has gathered. One judge counts as ten people. Whichever side has more people wins,” announced the host, pointing toward the abc.dotch team.

“Alright, let’s count how many people abc.dotch has managed to pull in during these brief thirty minutes. How many women have these five hosts gathered?”

The camera shifted to abc.dotch’s side, where a group of fashionable, impeccably made-up women stood chatting and laughing with the five hosts, who were skillfully entertaining them.

“As expected of team abc.dotch, they’ve attracted a large number of guests. Let’s start counting: 1, 2, 3, 4... 29, 30, 31, 32.”

“Thirty-two! abc.dotch is truly formidable, gathering 32 guests in just thirty minutes. Seeing this number, I wonder if Gao Tianyuan’s team feels the pressure. Now, let’s see how many people Gao Tianyuan has gathered.” The host’s words trailed off as the camera turned to Gao Tianyuan’s side.

“Oh, oh!” Suddenly, a gorilla appeared in front of the camera, baring its teeth incessantly.

“Wait, what’s going on? Why is there a gorilla blocking the camera?” the host asked, confused.

The gorilla grinned at the camera for a moment but soon grew bored and left. The camera then captured the situation on Gao Tianyuan’s side.

“All right, the gorilla has left. Let’s take a look at Gao Tianyuan’s situation…” The host paused mid-sentence, stunned.

On the big screen, the five contestants of Gao Tianyuan sat awkwardly in the center, heads bowed in silence, looking utterly dispirited. Around them was a noisy crowd of heavily made-up drag queens drinking and causing a ruckus. Alongside them, a large group of gorillas bounced about energetically.

The only two genuine women present, Okakura Take and Amayo, were feeding bananas to the gorillas, and both seemed to get along well with the animals.

“Gao Tianyuan’s team is impressive; they’ve attracted many guests. But I’m not sure if these guests count, since the competition requires inviting women…” the host began.

“Wait!” Before the host could finish, a voice interrupted.

Tokiko, with her long silver hair, stepped up to the camera. Standing tall, chest out, she pointed directly at it and declared, “What do you mean ‘if they count’?! Host, don’t speak nonsense! We’re all genuine women here. If you say otherwise, I might have to sue you for defamation!”

“...” Okakura Take, who was feeding the gorillas, was speechless. Had the worthless silver-haired guy forgotten the massive cannon he had between his legs?

“Those over there are drag queens and female gorillas, right?” the host hesitated.

“So what if they are! Hosts can serve drag queens and female gorillas too! Drag queens are both men and women! You can’t ignore the woman within just because their other half is male. And female gorillas? Humans evolved from apes, and female gorillas are female too. Why can’t human hosts serve them? Besides, look, one of the judges is a female gorilla!” Tokiko pointed at Amayo.

“... (╰_╯)#.” Amayo suddenly went berserk. She leapt forward, punching Tokiko to the ground and stuffing a banana peel into the silver-haired girl’s mouth.

“Who did you call a female gorilla?!” Amayo roared, throwing punches at Tokiko’s face.

“Waaah!”
“Ooooh!”
“Wuuuuh!”

Strangely, the group of female gorillas became excited as well. They swarmed over and began beating Tokiko alongside Amayo.

“Help me! Help me! Save me!” Tokiko cried in agony, but sadly, he was surrounded by the female gorillas. Okakura Take could only see one of his hands flailing desperately in a plea for help.

“...” Okakura Take thought silently, that silver-haired guy talks so much nonsense even the gorillas can’t stand him.

“Amayo, stop! Tokiko—oh no, now a client of Shinpachi and the others—getting hurt wouldn’t be good,” Okakura Take hurriedly intervened.

“Hmph! Pfft!” Amayo spat on the ground after Okakura pulled her away.

“Pfft!”
“Pfft!”
“Pfft!”

The female gorillas stopped as well, spitting on the ground in unison with Amayo.

“...” Okakura Take was puzzled. She had been feeding the gorillas bananas alongside Amayo, so why did they obey Amayo so much? It was astonishing!

In the end, under the pressure of the Yagyu Drag Queen Army, the host relented. Gao Tianyuan had secured two judges (counting as twenty), twenty drag queens, and fifteen female gorillas, totaling fifty-five.

Gao Tianyuan won the second round. The current score: abc.dotch 1, Gao Tianyuan 1.

“The competition is best of five rounds. We’ve completed two rounds, with each team winning one. Next, we begin the third round—Drinking Ability!” The host announced as two towers of alcohol were wheeled onto the stage.

“This round isn’t simple. To entertain women, hosts must not only be good conversationalists but also skilled drinkers. They need to make guests drink, and they must drink themselves. In this round, participants must finish all the alcohol in their tower.”

“But the challenge doesn’t end there. After drinking, participants will arm wrestle against our three judges, who are well-known from the previous round: Miss Okakura, Miss Amayo, and Madam Saigo.”

“All three are delicate women, so participants, don’t go easy on them just because they look cute, haha.”

As soon as the host finished, the faces of Gao Tianyuan and abc.dotch’s teams darkened. They were the delicate ones here! They were the ones who needed mercy!

“Hehehehe.” The three judges smiled in unison, clenching their fists. The crackling sound of their knuckles sent a chill down everyone’s spines.

“Oh no, Gin-san! Those three are incredibly strong. Are we really ready for this?” Shinpachi trembled, asking nervously.

“I-it’s fine. You have to understand the other team is clearly a bunch of pretty boys. They won’t be able to handle those three monsters either. We’ll find a way,” Gin replied with a forced smile.

“But this round is random draw. We don’t know who will be chosen,” Shinpachi prayed silently, hoping it wouldn’t be him.

“The third round is a random draw, three participants per team. Let’s start with Gao Tianyuan’s team.” The host gestured to the big screen, where names began scrolling.

“1, 2, 3, stop!”

“Why me again?!” Hijikata and Gin both yelled in frustration. They’d both been selected again for the third round. The third participant was Okita.

Next was abc.dotch. The screen scrolled again.

“1, 2, 3, stop!”

abc.dotch’s chosen three were numbers 1, 6, and 9—all slender, handsome men. This eased Gao Tianyuan’s team’s nerves somewhat.

“All right, contestants are set. This round has a 40-minute time limit. Each team has 60 bottles of alcohol. Participants must finish all the drinks before rushing to the judges to arm wrestle. Each contestant has three attempts to challenge the three judges. That means one contestant can challenge all three judges. Winning against just one judge scores a point for the team. Let the competition begin!”

As soon as the host finished, Gin, Hijikata, and Okita rushed to the towers of alcohol. The selection was vast: tequila, Jägermeister, vodka, shochu, beer, and more.

“Master Hijikata, I have a suggestion. The hardest part of this round is arm wrestling the three judges. How about one person drinks all the alcohol, and the other two focus on arm wrestling? I propose Hijikata for the drinking role,” Okita said with a smile.

“Ah, that sounds reasonable,” Gin nodded, clapping his hands.

“What? There’s no way I can finish 60 bottles alone! Are you trying to kill me?!” Hijikata glared at Okita with his intense eyes.

“Master Hijikata, victory always requires sacrifice, doesn’t it?” Okita said with a seemingly innocent wink, though Hijikata sensed a murderous gleam in his eyes.

“Yeah, Totsuka-kun, sacrificing you means victory for us,” Gin added with a sly grin.

With that, Gin and Okita each grabbed a bottle and approached Hijikata.

“Wait! What are you two sadists planning?” Hijikata took a cautious step back.

“What else? We’re making you drink, of course!” Okita said, grabbing one of Hijikata’s arms while Gin took the other.

“You two bastards! Let go of me—ugh!” Before he could finish, Okita shoved a bottle of tequila down his throat.

“Mmm, mmph! Cough, cough...” Hijikata struggled, but his alcohol tolerance was poor. One bottle of tequila was already making him dizzy. Gin and Okita’s grip was strong, and poor Hijikata was pinned down by the two sadists.

“Oh dear, Gao Tianyuan’s team has started the match with merciless internal strife. What an ugly scene! Now, let’s check out abc.dotch’s side,” the host said as the camera shifted.

Unlike Gao Tianyuan’s intense conflict, abc.dotch’s atmosphere was harmonious. Among the three, number 6 was the heaviest drinker. He loosened his collar and downed bottle after bottle, quickly consuming several within minutes.

The stark contrast between abc.dotch’s friendly vibe and Gao Tianyuan’s brutal brawl caught the attention of the female audience, many of whom were drawn over by abc.dotch.

Finally, Hijikata, forced to drink by the two sadists, collapsed. After thirty bottles, his belly was distended.

Bang! He fell unconscious, eyes rolling back, face pale and ashen, with yellowish liquor dribbling from the corners of his mouth.

“...” Okakura Take thought, poor Hijikata really has bad luck being paired with those two.

“Master, I think Hijikata-san is done for. What should we do now?” Okita asked Gin.

“Don’t worry. Earlier, we gave Totsuka-kun the high-proof alcohol. Now, the remaining drinks are lower proof. Thirty bottles is manageable for the two of us,” Gin said with a wicked smile.

“...” If Hijikata could hear Gin, he’d probably want to kill him. But even unconscious, he resolved to take down those two bastards once he woke up.

Gin and Okita easily finished the remaining drinks. On the other side, abc.dotch’s number 6 also finished all his drinks and looked completely unaffected.

Yet, the faces of both teams grew serious. They knew that the earlier drinking was just a warm-up; the real challenge lay ahead.

Because... before them stood three absolute monsters.