The explosive power of gasoline actually far exceeds that of an equivalent amount of TNT.

By weight, the energy from a gasoline explosion is ten times that of TNT! By volume, the difference is still six-fold.

If the hundred liters of gasoline he had on hand were to fully detonate, the resulting power would be comparable to ten thousand grenades exploding simultaneously—the equivalent of 1.5 tons of TNT.

It was even more powerful than the three-ton aerial bomb Lin Feng had witnessed after accidentally stumbling onto the main battlefield, as its warhead only contained 1.4 tons of TNT.

Yet that had been enough to kill four to five hundred Black Spine Zergs!

However, getting the gasoline in the barrel to fully vaporize and achieve the optimal air-fuel ratio required precise and prolonged calibration.

Clearly, there was no time to let the gasoline slowly evaporate. Besides, Lin Feng didn’t know how to do it—only a weapons expert like Ding Chenghai would.

But Lin Feng was certain of one thing: liquid hydrogen’s evaporation rate under normal conditions far surpassed that of gasoline!

Using it to supplement the gasoline could create a fast-reacting explosive mixture, one far more potent than simply burning gasoline.

After all, this was rocket fuel.

That was why he had collected the Hydrogen Storage Pouches from the Red-Armored Beetles: to mix them with the gasoline, increase the reaction rate, and boost the explosive power.

Lin Feng immediately opened the lid of the gasoline drum and stuffed the nozzle of the Hydrogen Storage Pouch inside.

The liquid hydrogen inside, upon contact with the air, began to boil, sending a torrent of bubbles through the drum.

The hydrogen gas churned the gasoline, accelerating its vaporization!

After concocting the terrifyingly potent liquid bomb, Lin Feng waited for the right moment and tossed it onto the road. Gasoline glugged from the unsealed opening.

The boiling hydrogen accelerated the gasoline’s vaporization. As their densities were similar, they vaporized and mixed thoroughly with the air, and the pungent stench of gasoline began to permeate the air above the highway.

It formed a transparent, explosive vapor cloud several hundred square meters in size.

At this point, the RV was still a kilometer away from the Black Spine Swarm. Lin Feng yelled for Chen Yanyan to accelerate and put more distance between them as quickly as possible.

He had no desire for the explosion’s blast wave to flip the entire RV.

The Black Spine Swarm’s pursuit had already reached sixty to seventy kilometers per hour. At that speed, they would reach the spot where he’d dropped the barrel in under a minute.

Lin Feng gripped his Level 11 Blast Gun, mentally calculating the perfect moment to fire. ’I need to wait until the dozen or so Black Spine Zergs at the very front are about to reach the barrel, then unload a barrage of explosive rounds. The flames from the impacts should ignite the fuel-air mixture.’

The window of opportunity would be fleeting. His timing had to be perfect.

The seconds ticked by...

Finally!

The Swarm’s vanguard reached the barrel. Lin Feng squeezed the trigger, firing off a continuous stream of small explosive rounds.

This was no time to conserve ammunition. Igniting that wall of explosive vapor was more important than anything!

Round after round flew from the muzzle as if they were free, hurtling toward their targets: the Black Spine Zerg Swarm already charging into the explosive mist.

A second later, the rounds detonated against the massive insects’ bodies. The reverse-impact firing pins in the warheads ignited the granular explosives stored within, which burned violently, causing an explosion.

And the flames from those explosions, in turn, ignited the surrounding hydrogen-gasoline mixture!

Blue and red flames spread with incredible speed!

Within a millisecond, the chain reaction spread like lightning, erupting into a massive fireball over a hundred meters in diameter above the highway!

The shockwave from the violent explosion directly obliterated the dozens of Black Spine Zergs at its epicenter. The rest of the Swarm, both nearby and further back, were knocked to the ground, the weak points in their joints all suffering various degrees of damage...

The massive fireball rose into the air, illuminating the entire suburb, but it only lasted for a few dozen seconds before dissipating, leaving behind nothing but wisps of black smoke and water vapor.

While the instantaneous force was immense, the lack of a metal casing meant the secondary damage from shrapnel was not as severe as that of an aerial bomb.

Even so, the sight was staggering!

As many as two to three hundred Black Spine Zergs collapsed to the ground in great swathes. While the damage from the aftershock wasn’t fatal, they were all severely wounded.

The force of the shockwave had destroyed their fragile central nervous systems. They lost all sense of balance and bodily control, twitching and staggering about, completely combat-ineffective.

The hundreds of Black Spine Zergs following behind charged over the piles of their comrades’ bodies, only to be blocked by a raging wall of fire that had erupted on the highway.

The massive blast had also ignited the four drums of gasoline.

They exploded from the instantaneous pressure increase, spraying their remaining contents all over the highway and igniting a scorching wall of fire more than ten meters wide.

The fire raged and heatwaves billowed. With temperatures approaching two thousand degrees, even the Black Spine Zerg Swarm had to give it a wide berth. No matter how tough their Outer Armor was, it couldn’t stop their internal organs from being cooked.

And that wall of fire wasn’t going to die down anytime soon.

By the time they detoured around the flames, their target—the RV—had already vanished into the darkness.

A dozen seconds earlier, the moment he’d fired the burst of explosive rounds, Lin Feng had ducked straight back into the RV.

Because real men don’t look at explosions!

The main reason was that the shockwave could cause internal bleeding. A person might look fine on the surface, but their organs could be shredded.

Even with the protection of his Shield Armor, Lin Feng wasn’t about to take that risk.

Just as he got back inside, the shockwave hit. Fortunately, Chen Yanyan had already slammed on the accelerator, putting two full kilometers between them and the epicenter, which greatly mitigated the impact.

The speeding RV only shuddered once; it didn’t even come close to flipping over.

The massive, burning fireball lit up the night, turning the landscape as bright as day. But it only lasted for a few seconds before gradually fading.

Darkness reclaimed the land.

Lin Feng and Liu Yueqi looked back. The wall of fire burning on the highway had blocked the Black Spine Zergs’ pursuit. They had successfully escaped the Swarm’s clutches.

They had not only saved themselves, but also tens of thousands of other survivors.

Of course, the far-reaching consequences of the explosion were already spreading in ways Lin Feng couldn’t have known, affecting the fate of everyone involved. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lin Feng collapsed into the passenger seat, trying to calm his wildly beating heart.

Thankfully, everything had gone according to plan. It had been tense, but they’d made it through without any real harm.

Even before taking on this mission, Lin Feng had realized something. ’To Upgrade quickly by eliminating entire armies of Black Spine Zergs, the firepower of a single Blast Gun is nowhere near enough!’

Ding Chenghai had once said that Black Spine Zergs, unlike the scattered, resource-gathering Worker Zergs such as the Red-Armored Beetle, had a different role. Their duty was to defend territory and eliminate enemies, so they almost never traveled alone.

Even their smallest combat unit, a Reconnaissance Squad, consisted of at least three Zergs.

And after killing a few squads, you would inevitably attract an entire army of Black Spine Zergs, who would then hunt you relentlessly.

The only exception was Qin Hu’s strategy: use a few vehicles as bait, lure the Zergs to the edge of their territory, eliminate them, and then leave immediately. Never linger for a prolonged fight.

That was the only way to ensure one’s own safety.

Therefore, trying to grind levels steadily was practically impossible.

It was all hit-and-run tactics.

Slow and inefficient.

But that wasn’t Lin Feng’s style!

’Go big or go home!’

’Take advantage of the high-intensity main battlefield drawing all the fire. The Mother Empress Avatar will be stretched too thin to mind the flanks. That’s my chance to completely wipe out a Black Spine Zerg Swarm!’

The gasoline and the Hydrogen Storage Pouches had given Lin Feng an idea.

’If used correctly, four drums of gasoline would be more than enough to give the Black Spine Zerg army a world of hurt.’

"Should we go back and take a look?"

Chen Yanyan gradually slowed the RV. Driving at high speeds in the dark was an easy way to get into an accident. A short sprint was one thing, but flooring it constantly was just tempting fate.

Lin Feng shook his head.

"That Black Spine Zerg army had at least five or six hundred of them. The explosion looked powerful, but it only outright killed a few dozen Zergs at the epicenter. The ones that fell are just badly wounded, and there are even more in the back that were unaffected by the blast, just like us..."

"Going back now would be suicide. We’re lucky to have escaped with our lives."

Even as he spoke, Lin Feng’s eyes fell to the Blast Gun in his hand.

「Level 11 Blast Gun, Red Quality」

「Upgrade Points: 21/3, Damage: 60, Effective Range: 2 kilometers, Remaining Bullets: 55/300」

The successful execution of his gasoline bomb plan had brought him a handsome reward: 21 direct kills on Black Spine Zergs.

But Lin Feng estimated the actual number was much higher. Many of the Black Spine Zergs were severely wounded and only died after struggling for a while. However, since their deaths weren’t directly caused by his bullets, they wouldn’t be counted.

If he had stayed to fire a few more shots, he might have gotten more Upgrade Points, but doing so would have drawn the ire of the surviving Black Spine Zergs once more...

The risk wouldn’t have been worth the reward.

Lin Feng didn’t have the spare gasoline—or the confidence—to pull off another miracle explosion.

For now, the 21 Upgrade Points were more than enough. He could use them to gradually upgrade his Blast Gun to Level 15.

By then, the power of his explosive rounds would nearly double.

The next time he faced a Black Spine Swarm, he wouldn’t have to flee so desperately, exhausting every trick up his sleeve just to escape.

Seeing a highway toll plaza appear in the distance, Lin Feng finally let out a long sigh of relief. He immediately used his points to perform a Level 12 Upgrade on his Blast Gun.