“Flames?”
“What flames?”
Chen Bugu’s mind instantly froze.
When Lin Ye described being chased by the Scarlet Hound, he only mentioned that the Unicorn Rock Sheep fled into the Horizontal Cave to escape the pursuit.
As for the details, Chen Bugu really had no impression!
“Maybe I didn’t make it clear just now, the Scarlet Hound that was chasing me can breathe fire.”
“What do we do, what do we do? Liu Shifu won’t be in trouble, will he?”
Lin Ye suddenly felt a bit guilty.
Chen Bugu was still somewhat bewildered.
The Scarlet Hound’s accompanying skill should be Scarlet Claw, attacking prey with fierce claw strikes and causing continuous bleeding damage.
Given their current newly Awakened levels, the Scarlet Hound wouldn't even need this move to slaughter them.
Moreover, this move is a close-quarters attack; if they can't get close, it poses no threat whatsoever.
It was precisely because of this that Chen Bugu dared to boldly suggest that Old Liu act as bait.
However, according to Lin Ye’s description, if there was a long-range attack like fire-breathing, then Liu Shifu would be in danger.
Is it a mutated species?
What kind of flame-spitting skill could there be at this level?
Fireball?
Flame Breath?
Or Firefly?
Chen Bugu’s mind began to race, and his body didn’t stop either.
But now he couldn’t afford to be cautious; he directly jogged towards the exit of the Horizontal Cave.
No choice!
The variables were too great.
It was already too late to call Old Liu back.
Would Old Liu die?
There was only one chance; should they continue to push the plan forward?
Chen Bugu kept calculating as he ran.
But even when he reached the Horizontal Cave entrance and crouched down, he still couldn't come up with a good solution.
At this moment, Old Liu was Floating against the upper wall of the tunnel.
He immediately saw Chen Bugu crouching at the Horizontal Cave entrance, looking calm, and Lin Ye, who had just crouched down, panting heavily.
It seemed they were ready.
According to the previous plan, Old Liu could start acting once he saw Chen Bugu and Lin Ye reach the Horizontal Cave entrance.
He could give the signal now.
Old Liu pulled a whistle from his pocket.
This was his lucky whistle; every day before he left home, his wife would help him put this whistle into the work clothes he was going to wear that day.
After work, he often blew his lucky whistle at the bus hub, signifying both a smooth shift change and a safe return from his trip.
He hoped this time, his lucky whistle would also bring him home safely.
“Beep ~ beep ~”
A loud whistle echoed throughout the entire tunnel.
The three Scarlet Hounds circling the strange stone wall all looked up at Old Liu simultaneously.
The next second, they all shot out, rushing wildly in Old Liu’s direction.
In addition, two more Scarlet Hounds also ran out from a corner not far away.
Five!
A full five!
As one of the top monster races among the Black Iron lower ranks, the combat power of each Scarlet Hound was comparable to an Awakened of around Black Iron Three Stars.
The situation was more perilous than imagined!
No time for surprise.
While the monsters were all distracted by Old Liu, Chen Bugu, hunched over, moved swiftly forward, hugging the side of the car.
Lin Ye followed closely behind Chen Bugu, not saying a word.
Previously, Lin Ye had wanted to warn Old Liu, but Chen Bugu interrupted him.
Chen Bugu told Lin Ye that they wouldn't have a second chance.
From the beginning of this disaster, everyone was gambling with their lives.
Even if they called Liu Shifu back and hid in the storage room, they would just be waiting to die; now they could only move forward.
Lin Ye couldn't understand why Chen Bugu, who had been pale and looked like a sickly person not long ago, had suddenly become like another person.
There were many questions Lin Ye couldn't figure out, but now was clearly not the best time to explore these questions; he could only suppress the doubts in his heart for now and follow Chen Bugu to execute the rescue plan first.
Perhaps due to extreme mental tension, Chen Bugu and Lin Ye moved with precise steps and quickly, soon approaching the strange stone walls.
Getting closer, Chen Bugu could already confirm it was the fat man’s masterpiece.
There were three stone walls in total, leaning against each other, forming a triangular shelter.
In his previous life, Chen Bugu had also relied on this to survive the Great Disaster.
He could already vaguely see people inside.
Very good! As long as these people were rescued, and then Lin Ye's Sheep Attribute was used to summon monsters to distract the Scarlet Hounds, they could successfully return to the storage room.
Chen Bugu looked back at Old Liu’s side and saw that all five Scarlet Hounds were surrounding him directly below, constantly jumping and trying to attack Old Liu, but due to insufficient height, they couldn't pose any threat to him.
Old Liu seemed quite terrified, his hands and back pressed tightly against the top of the tunnel, not daring to make any significant movements.
Good, there's still time!
Chen Bugu quickly pressed against the stone wall and shouted inside.
“I’m here to save you all, hurry and come with me!”
Chen Bugu had already seen the several people who had been slumped on the ground inside the stone wall quickly stand up.
“Who are you? Where are the monsters outside?”
A young man spoke.
“I don’t have time to explain! Tell the fat guy to quickly remove the stone wall, everyone who doesn’t want to die, follow me!”
The moment he heard the young man’s voice, Chen Bugu was somewhat delighted, because this young man was the owner of the strongest ability in the entire tunnel, and also the combat power he urgently needed.
But Chen Bugu truly didn’t have much time to explain; Old Liu could be in trouble at any moment.
“Ah!!!”
Chen Bugu was startled; what he feared most had come true.
Old Liu’s scream came from far behind him.
Lin Ye turned back with a pale face, just in time to see Old Liu falling straight down from the top of the tunnel in the distance, his right sleeve still burning with flames.
“Liu Shifu, Float!!!”
Seeing Old Liu about to die in the jaws of the hounds, Chen Bugu could only shout out.
It seemed as if he was woken up by Chen Bugu’s shout.
Old Liu hurriedly continued to activate Floating, re-Floating to the top of the tunnel.
Just now, Old Liu suddenly noticed a Fireball appearing in front of the mouth of one of the Scarlet Hounds.
He immediately realized something was wrong, so he didn’t stay put but forced himself to move at full speed.
Even so, that human-head-sized Fireball still attacked him at an extremely fast speed.
In that instant, Old Liu only felt a searing heat around him, and a wave of air pushed him.
Although the Fireball didn't hit him, the flames that splashed when it hit the wall even Ignited his sleeve, and in his panic, he lost control of his ability, and his entire body fell uncontrollably downwards.
If it weren't for Chen Bugu's shout, he might really have been torn apart and eaten by those monsters.
Old Liu steadied himself and quickly took off the clothes that had been Ignited by the flames, casually throwing them downwards.
He then looked back at the tunnel wall that had just been hit by the Fireball, and the sight made his liver and guts turn cold.
A large section of the wall was charred black, and upon closer inspection, some lingering sparks could still be seen, with even wisps of white smoke rising from the surroundings.
At this point, Old Liu couldn't care about anything else.
He wasn't confident he could dodge another Fireball.
“Must escape! Must escape!”
Old Liu had only this one thought in his mind at this moment.
The Scarlet Hounds behind him continued to chase him, but Old Liu ignored them.
He cursed and yelled, Floating towards the Horizontal Cave where the storage room was located.
Several of his curses were extremely foul.
Although mixed with a lot of dialect, Chen Bugu understood all of them.
Translated, the general meaning was…
This brat has ruined me!