Engulfed in Flames

"Brother Niu, quick, light it!" Luo Fan shouted as he watched the densely packed slugs crawling toward them.

"Uh, what makes you think I'd have a lighter on me?" Niu Dagang asked, giving Luo Fan a strange look.

"Brother Niu, aren't you being a little too lazy? How much space could one lighter take up?" The corner of Luo Fan's mouth twitched as he complained.

"You've got a storage-type Uncanny Artifact yourself. Why didn't you bring one?" Niu Dagang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

No matter how small a lighter was, he wasn't a chain-smoker like Zhao Chunfeng. Why would he carry one around?

They had the gasoline ready, but Luo Fan hadn't brought a lighter at this critical moment? He had dropped the ball now?

Shaking his head, Niu Dagang saw the slugs rapidly closing in and raised his Fire Axe, ready to strike.

Even if his attacks couldn't do any real damage to these uncanny slugs, he couldn't just sit there and wait to die, could he?

"Actually, I do have a lighter." As hundreds of slugs rapidly spread toward them, Luo Fan suddenly changed his tune.

He immediately took out a lighter, lit it, and tossed it toward the slugs.

The slugs visibly froze when Luo Fan took out the lighter and lit the flame.

But the lighter was already in the air. It was too late for the slugs to retreat.

Whoosh!

The lighter landed, and the gasoline-soaked slugs immediately burst into roaring flames, twisting and struggling wildly.

It worked!!!

Seeing that fire worked against the slugs, both Luo Fan and Niu Dagang were overjoyed.

"Luo Fan, how did you figure out that fire would work against these slugs?"

Niu Dagang watched one slug twist and struggle rapidly in the flames before falling still. Within moments, its body shriveled under the blazing fire. Delighted, he asked Luo Fan the question.

"Brother Niu, there's so much gasoline downstairs, but this slug was hiding on the second floor. And this thing is intelligent," Luo Fan reminded him.

His words made Niu Dagang understand.

Right, this slug clearly knew what gasoline was, so it didn't dare go near it and could only hide on the second floor?

Put that way, it certainly made sense.

"You jerk. You had a lighter all along, and you still gave me a scare."

Although Niu Dagang thought Luo Fan's explanation made sense, he followed it with a complaint.

Seriously, he even had the time to mess with me during a fight? I really thought he'd dropped the ball at a critical moment.

"Brother Niu, this thing only dared charge at us without holding back because it thought we didn't have a lighter. If I couldn't even fool you, how could I fool it?" Luo Fan replied.

Niu Dagang nodded in understanding at that.

Recalling how Luo Fan had deliberately shouted out his skill names like some overdramatic kid during their earlier fight with the Luo father and son, just to trick Luo Dahai, Niu Dagang couldn't help saying, "Luo Fan, you... you really are sneaky."

"Thanks for the compliment." Faced with Niu Dagang's assessment, Luo Fan looked proud rather than ashamed.

"Wait, what do you mean, if you couldn't even fool me, how could you fool it? Why do I feel like you're insulting me?" Niu Dagang then seemed to catch on and questioned Luo Fan.

"Brother Niu, be careful. Something's wrong with this thing." Luo Fan immediately turned serious and warned Niu Dagang.

Hearing that, Niu Dagang looked over. Sure enough, after losing some of its duplicates, the giant slug was making another move.

The giant slug's body writhed, then split off a new slug.

The new slug was smaller, but its whole body was wet.

The giant slug lunged straight at Luo Fan and Niu Dagang.

"This thing really is intelligent. It actually split off the gasoline-soaked part of its body into a separate individual?" Seeing what the slug had done, Luo Fan immediately understood what was happening.

Without wasting words, Luo Fan took all three purified-water bottles filled with gasoline out of his Storage Space, unscrewed their caps, and poured the contents onto the floor in front of him.

The roaring flames formed a wall of fire before him, keeping the giant slug from daring to approach.

"Brother Niu, go downstairs." Having temporarily blocked the approaching giant slug, Luo Fan shouted to Niu Dagang.

Hearing that, Niu Dagang hurriedly shouted, "Luo Fan, I'm not leaving! I won't abandon you! I'm going to fight by your side!"

Luo Fan: "..."

The corner of Luo Fan's mouth twitched slightly at Niu Dagang's reaction. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was a final farewell in a desperate situation.

"Brother Niu, I mean go bring up more gasoline." Helplessly, Luo Fan spelled it out.

"Oh, that's what you meant. I-I'll go right now." Realizing he had misunderstood, Niu Dagang spoke in embarrassment, then hurried downstairs.

As though it understood Luo Fan's words and knew what Niu Dagang was going to do, the slug, which had been hesitating to approach, ignored the wall of fire blocking its way and charged straight at Luo Fan.

"Spirit Void Step!"

Seeing this, Luo Fan activated Spirit Void Step. He immediately felt his body become weightless. With a light push of his feet, he darted aside, dodging the slug's charge.

The slug slammed hard into the floor and burst apart, turning into dozens of slug duplicates that rapidly spread toward Luo Fan...

Wielding the Beast-Fang Short Blade, Luo Fan slashed rapidly, cutting apart every slug that came near him.

Although he couldn't kill them, he could keep himself safe for the time being.

With Spirit Void Step active, Luo Fan moved nimbly and swiftly. Combined with his agile jumping ability, he could protect himself even against attacks from so many slugs.

Hum!

A gray Shield suddenly appeared without warning, enveloping Luo Fan and blocking two slugs that were hurtling toward him.

Luo Fan glanced back. An Xiaoran had cast a Shield skill on him.

"Xiao Ran, go downstairs first." Although the slug's attention was entirely on him, Luo Fan couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't split off a portion to attack An Xiaoran.

Someone in the Support Sequence really had little ability to defend herself.

"Luo Fan, I'm here..." Just then, heavy footsteps sounded from the stairwell.

Niu Dagang appeared, carrying a can of gasoline in each hand. They were standard thirty-liter gasoline cans.

A full sixty liters of gasoline seemed to weigh nothing in Niu Dagang's hands and didn't slow his swift strides at all.

"Throw them both," Luo Fan said.

Hearing that, Niu Dagang threw one gasoline can at the slug and the other at the Uncanny Little Tree.

With a bang, the two gasoline cans struck the floor some distance away and immediately split open, gasoline rapidly spilling out.

"Everyone, get downstairs!" Luo Fan shouted.

Then he drew his bowstring and shot at a gasoline can on the floor.

Clink!

The arrow struck the sheet-metal gasoline can, scraping off a spark.

Then roaring flames immediately swept across the factory's entire second floor, with scorching fire even blasting out through its windows...