Chapter 421: Fighting Fire with Fire

The atmosphere in the room was deathly silent, and everyone's gaze was fixed squarely on Lao San.

"Third Brother, what exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying we can't wade into the muddy waters of Yongan City? Is this Su Luo really that difficult to deal with?" The woman broke the silence first, her tone full of doubt.

Although Meng Rang and the others did not speak, the same question could be seen in the eyes they kept fixed on Lao San.

"It seems you all really don't know much about this Su Luo." As Lao San spoke, he reached out to wipe the cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Big Brother, please pass me the computer. I'll show you a video; once you've seen it, you'll understand what's going on."

Meng Rang, half-doubting, still passed the computer over. Lao San sat in front of the computer, his fingers tapping away on the keyboard with a clatter.

Finally, he found a video and clicked the play button.

This video was less than a minute long, yet the few of them stared at the screen without blinking, as if struck by an Immobilization Spell, for a full half hour.

With every passing second, another layer of cold sweat broke out on their backs, until finally, their clothes were soaked through.

Even though they had never dealt with the other person in the video directly, they had heard a little about him.

This person's awakened ability was Explosion, and among C-rank Awakened, he belonged to the group with the most ferocious combat power.

They couldn't help but wonder to themselves: if they were in the video, facing that powerful, indiscriminate Explosion, how much of a chance would they have of surviving?

The answer did not seem optimistic.

Yet, this person named Su Luo was not only unscathed by the Explosion, but he also killed the opponent in the blink of an eye.

This scene made the group wonder: is this guy really just a C-rank Awakened? The strength he displayed was simply beyond their comprehension.

"Lao San, it's a good thing you knew about this guy's existence; otherwise, if we had rashly gone to cause him trouble, it truly would have been seeking our own deaths." The bearded man's face flushed deep red.

With the almost freakish defensive capabilities Su Luo showed in the video, whether they could even injure him remained an unknown.

Yet, the other party only needed to flick a finger to instantly kill any one of them.

This gap in strength left them feeling deeply powerless—how were they supposed to fight this?

"Big Brother, I also think Third Brother makes sense." The woman's face turned very pale, and her voice carried a hint of fear. "I think we should just stop meddling in the muddy waters of Yongan City. Let's just stay here honestly; life might be plain, but it's passable."

"That's right, Big Brother!" The fat man reacted now as well, grinding his teeth in anger. "I think that Yan Hua clearly has ill intentions. He must know that Su Luo is hard to deal with and wants us to end up both hurt so he can reap the rewards!"

Hearing the fat man's words, Meng Rang's gaze turned icy.

He cursed inwardly: damn it, I knew this matter wasn't that simple; so the trap was waiting here!

He clenched his fists until they cracked, and said viciously, "I'm going to Yongan City right now to slaughter that bastard!"

"Big Brother, I'll go with you!" The bearded man responded immediately. "This brat actually dared to plot against us; he's got some nerve. Does he really think we're easy to bully? If I don't beat the crap out of him today, I'll take his surname!"

"Wait a moment, Big Brother." Lao San hurriedly reached out to stop the two of them. "I actually think we could use a strategy of 'fighting fire with fire'."

"Fighting fire with fire?"

"What does that mean?"

Meng Rang and the others were stunned upon hearing Lao San's words, their faces filled with confusion.

"Big Brother, think about it: Yan Hua is plotting against us, wanting us to clash with Su Luo—that is truly hateful. But now that we've seen through his conspiracy, what would happen if we turned it around, exposed his plot, and told Su Luo?"

Meng Rang and the others widened their eyes, their expressions as if to say: you can do that?

"What, what would happen?" Meng Rang asked, opening his mouth subconsciously, his heart full of curiosity about what Lao San was going to say next.

"Lao San, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Yeah, stop keeping us in suspense and just say it all at once."

The bearded man and the others were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, itching to have Lao San lay it out immediately.

"Big Brother, if I'm not mistaken, Yongan City is currently in need of people. If we can seize this opportunity, we might be able to gain a firm foothold in Yongan City, and our status then wouldn't be any lower than Guli or Shangguan Xu."

"Explain, explain that more clearly." Meng Rang couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva; he seemed to vaguely understand what Lao San meant, but he wasn't quite sure.

"Big Brother, look."

Lao San pointed at the computer screen, which displayed relevant information about the Awakened in Yongan City.

"In a small city like Yongan City, among hundreds of Awakened, there are only two C-rank Awakened. One of them is Hai Qiong, and everyone knows his combat power—it's just so-so.

In a small city, under normal circumstances, there should at least be four or five C-rank Awakened holding the fort, right? Otherwise, if some emergency happens, it can't be handled at all. If a Beast Tide breaks out, how could just two C-rank Awakened defend it?

And we have three C-rank Awakened here. If we went to join them directly, ordinary people might worry about us usurping their position and reject us, but now, the opportunity is right in front of us—it's this Yan Hua."

Lao San sneered, his eyes full of disdain. "This guy should be happy he hasn't been expelled yet, but he's still acting recklessly and trying to cause trouble.

So we will use a strategy of 'fighting fire with fire', record some audio or something, catch him red-handed, and bring him before Su Luo.

That way, the possibility of our request for shelter being rejected would be very low. Big Brother, don't you think that makes sense?"

Listening to Lao San's analysis, Meng Rang was speechless for a moment, only able to keep giving a thumbs-up.

He couldn't help but secretly admire him: brilliant, truly brilliant!

He had been plotted against and only thought of killing the other party to vent his anger, but Lao San was able to come up with such a clever method to use this opportunity to find a good way out for everyone.

Thinking about it carefully, if they went over and worked hard, their status in Yongan City in the future might really be on par with the likes of Guli and Shangguan Xu.

That would be more than ten times better than their current treatment here!

The key is that this President Su looks like a powerhouse; at the very least, he is certainly no weaker than Yan Ming. They would be willing to follow such a person.

"Third Brother, what if—I'm just saying, what if," the fat man said with a conflicted face, "we do this, and that President Su still doesn't want to take us in? What should we do then?"

Hearing the fat man's words, the air suddenly went quiet, and everyone fell into silence.

"Ahem." Lao San coughed twice, breaking the awkward silence. "Then we'll just have to accept our fate. Even if we could beat that Su Luo, we'd have to pay a heavy price; it really wouldn't be worth the loss."

"Big Brother, I've said everything I need to say. How to proceed is up to you." Lao San looked at Meng Rang, handing the decision-making power to him.

Upon hearing this, the others also cast their gazes toward Meng Rang, waiting for him to make a decision.

Meng Rang took a deep breath, as if he had made a great determination, and said, "We'll do as Lao San says."

"But Big Brother..." The bearded man started to speak but stopped; he was still a bit worried that if they ended up getting a cold shoulder, it would be too embarrassing.

"Let's try it." Meng Rang said helplessly. "Even if we get rejected in the future, we won't have lost anything; at most, we'll have wasted a bit of time and energy. But if we happen to succeed and that President Su is willing to take us in, our lives from then on will be much more comfortable than they are now."

Lao San nodded, expressing deep agreement. "Big Brother is right; do our best and leave the rest to fate."

The remaining three looked at each other, seeing the same determination in each other's eyes, and then they all made up their minds.