Squalo

Half an hour later.

The yacht had already sailed far away from the bustling Port of Palermo.

The yacht was not very large, only a dozen or so meters long from bow to stern.

The captain obediently steered in the cockpit, while Li Qing lounged comfortably on a deck chair on the small deck, sipping the "free" iced drinks stored aboard the yacht as he admired the seascape of this foreign land.

The sunlit sea was calm and placid, like an endless sapphire mirror, deep blue and dazzling.

The Mediterranean's cool, damp breeze, carrying a faint fishy tang of the sea, blew over in waves, making the air aboard smell—

"Disgusting."

Li Qing pinched his nose, his face full of disgust.

His sense of smell had sharpened considerably after leveling up, making him especially sensitive to irritating odors.

To cover up the pungent smell, he could not help picking up a lighter "borrowed" from the captain and lighting a cigarette "borrowed" from the captain.

Oh, and during their friendly exchange, Li Qing had also very politely remembered the fat captain's name:

"Andrew, what exactly is that smell?"

"Um."

"You'd better not smoke right now."

The unfortunate captain named Andrew glanced timidly at Li Qing and muttered:

"If I'm not mistaken, it might be an oil leak."

"An oil leak?"

"How could this boat be leaking oil?"

Li Qing's expression shifted slightly, and he immediately snuffed out the cigarette he had just lit with his fingers.

His questioning tone was not particularly frightening, but after the earlier threats, intimidation, and kidnapping, poor Mr. Andrew had already come to see Li Qing as a starving wolf in human skin.

He did his best to hide his resentment and answered cautiously:

"Bald... sir."

"Didn't I tell you from the beginning—the fuel tank seemed to have a problem, and the boat needed to be taken back to the dock for repairs?"

"You... you were the one who insisted I take it out."

Though he tried his best to conceal it, he could not hide the bitterness of someone forced into joining a gang of criminals.

"Oh, haha."

Li Qing did not make things difficult for the unfortunate Mr. Andrew.

He rubbed his smooth bald head and laughed carelessly.

"You did seem to mention that."

"So, can this boat still run?"

"If it can, take me farther out. The farther from that place just now, the better."

Andrew's eyes shifted as he answered meaningfully:

"Although there are signs of an oil leak, it can still barely move for now."

"However."

"If this keeps up and we don't get ashore soon, it could stall at sea at any moment."

"If things get worse, it might even catch fire. If that happens, we'll all be finished."

"Oh."

Li Qing responded casually:

It was obvious Andrew was urging him to find somewhere to dock as soon as possible so he could be safely released.

Still, Li Qing did not think he was lying.

Because Li Qing could smell that, as the yacht continued across the sea, the foul fuel smell was indeed growing stronger and stronger.

"Then find a small island ahead and dock there."

Li Qing said reasonably:

"Don't worry. I'm just an ordinary citizen passing by."

"As long as you cooperate obediently, I'll let you leave safely."

"Ordinary citizen?"

"Is there any ordinary citizen like you, robbing people at gunpoint, kidnapping them, and making threats?"

Andrew's mouth twitched. He held it in for a long time, but did not dare voice the resentment in his heart.

Then, forcing a smile, he replied:

"Yes, sir."

"There's a decent little island ahead. You can change to a new boat there."

"Don't worry," Andrew added cleverly. "There isn't even a police station on that island. I definitely won't call the police and cause you trouble."

"Mm."

Li Qing replied noncommittally, then turned back to continue enjoying the wonderful sunlight over the sea.

Just then.

With his extraordinary hearing, he caught the roar of an engine coming from the distant sea:

"A boat?"

"There's a boat coming after us from behind!"

For safety's sake, Li Qing instinctively entered Digitization Mode.

The light instantly vanished from before his eyes, but his already exceptional hearing was amplified dozens of times over in that moment.

In Blind Monk state, the sounds became clearer:

"It's a speedboat chasing us. It's moving very fast."

"On the boat... there's only one person."

"Two hundred meters, one hundred eighty meters, one hundred forty meters... It's getting closer."

"That's right. It's coming straight for us!"

Li Qing's tone immediately turned serious:

"Captain!"

"Give it more power. Go as fast as you can!"

"Huh?"

Andrew had not even processed it yet:

"Go faster?"

"The oil leak hasn't been dealt with yet. If we keep overloading the engine, I think something might go wrong."

"I don't care what you think. I care what I think!"

Li Qing urged him tyrannically, "Put your back into it and go!"

"Otherwise, if that boat behind us belongs to Mafia men coming to kill me—do you think they'll conveniently kill you too?"

"Th-this..."

"Mafia assassins?"

"God, what the hell have I gotten dragged into?!"

A layer of greasy cold sweat immediately seeped across Andrew's fat face.

Then, trembling with fear, he followed Li Qing's orders and pushed the yacht to maximum speed.

Unfortunately, the yacht's speed was limited. No matter how much power he gave it, it could not shake off the small speedboat pursuing them from behind.

And so, the distance between the two boats steadily shrank.

One hundred twenty meters, one hundred meters, seventy meters, fifty meters.

When only fifty meters remained between the two boats, one in front and one behind, the speedboat that had been racing at full speed suddenly slowed down and trailed leisurely behind the yacht.

"Hm?"

"Why did that boat stop chasing us?"

Li Qing was somewhat puzzled, but Andrew let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Maybe... maybe it isn't an assassin. Maybe it's just a tourist passing by."

"A lot of tourists like renting speedboats here to tour the Mediterranean. It's normal to run into them at sea."

"Is that so?"

Li Qing still did not lower his guard.

But the facts really were as Andrew had said. The person driving the speedboat never showed any hostility:

He neither accelerated to catch up and board them, nor took out any weapon to snipe at them from afar. He simply drove the speedboat silently, maintaining a restrained distance of roughly fifty meters from Li Qing.

Several minutes passed in a row, yet the other party never showed anything unusual.

Was I overthinking it?

No unusual behavior is the most unusual thing of all!

The sea is so vast. If he were really just a passing tourist, why would he so stubbornly keep following us?

As the other party continued to make no move, Li Qing's expression grew even more serious.

He maintained Digitization Mode the entire time, without relaxing in the slightest.

What Li Qing had not noticed yet was—

On the deck beneath his feet, a "shark" quietly emerged from a shallow puddle of water.

At the same time, aboard the speedboat.

A young man with orange hair was staring intently at Li Qing on the yacht's deck ahead.

The captain could not see it, but he could—

Above Li Qing's head floated a bizarre, long red bar.

This was the red health bar visible only to those the system had judged to be "enemies," a clear sign that Li Qing had entered Digitization Mode.

This man was named Squalo. He was one of the Royal Guard members most trusted by the Boss, as well as the naval combat specialist the Boss had placed great hopes on for this mission.

"Tch, he's really vigilant."

"After waiting this long, he still refuses to deactivate that 'Stand ability'?"

"What a pain. Such a pain!"

Squalo muttered impatiently to himself:

"According to the information the Boss provided, that bald guy has a bizarre body like a 'video game character.'"

"If I fight him head-on, it'll take quite a bit of effort."

The reason he had not attacked directly was that he wanted Li Qing to lower his guard and exit Digitization Mode, then order his Stand to launch a sneak attack and end the battle in a single blow.

Unfortunately, Li Qing was not that careless.

"Forget it."

"I'll just attack directly!"

"If I take his head early, I can still make it back in time for the lunch I arranged with Dichano."

Dichano was his partner, and the two had always been inseparable.

But this mission was urgent, and Dichano's Stand ability was not suited for direct combat, so Squalo had come alone to pursue Li Qing.

He spoke his partner's name in an exceptionally relaxed tone.

With a battle about to begin, Squalo's greatest concern was still whether he should order a Margherita pizza or squid-ink pasta when he had lunch with Dichano.

It was not because he underestimated his enemy. It was because he was confident.

As long as the battlefield was this vast sea, Squalo had absolute confidence in his Stand ability:

"Go—"

"Clash!"