Gunfight

The cannons roared.

Bullets were whistling.

Li Qing tumbled and dodged awkwardly on the riverbank, the gun barrel in his hand already burning hot from the smoke.

After gaining this ability, he never imagined that one day he would be like an ordinary person, only able to protect himself by the power of firearms.

There was no way around it. Under the powerful biological detonation ability of the Stellar Note, Li Qing, whose skills were all focused on close combat, was unable to unleash his full potential.

The tree wall built by Giorno was not very effective.

There was no need to launch the battery to detonate it. As long as Sam and his Stand got a little closer, the seemingly tall and thick tree wall was blown into a cloud of flying wood chips.

Trees can also convert chemical energy into bioelectricity; they are also batteries that can explode.

Basically, everything Giorno creates is a "battery," a firecracker that can be detonated before it gets close to the enemy.

The worst part is that they have too many wounded.

Fugo and Bucciarati were still able to move around, but Narancia, Mista, and Abbacchio, who had been injured in the car explosion, were too weak to even move.

Five wounded soldiers were left stranded on this dangerous battlefield, with no time to evacuate, no strength to fight back, and such a large and obvious target. To put it bluntly, they were now a huge burden, hostages held tightly in Sam's hands.

As long as Symm fires a few batteries in the direction of the wounded, Li Qing and Giorno will have to scramble to find a way to cover and block them.

In this situation, Li Qing had no choice but to pull out his pistol and barely restrain the other party.

This was the only way he could fight back.

Bang bang bang!

Gunshots rang out one after another, and bullets whistled through the artillery fire.

Unfortunately, the results were minimal.

Li Qing first handled a gun yesterday morning. He has always focused on close combat and has no real marksmanship skills.

Although he had a keen sense of perception and accurate aim, the bullet still deviated uncontrollably from its intended trajectory after leaving the barrel for several meters.

Sam was very cautious; even though Li Qing's marksmanship wasn't great, he still didn't dare to take any risks.

He carefully hid behind a large rock on the riverbank, letting his double peek out from behind the rock, occasionally engaging Li Qing in a "gunfight" with a battery-powered grenade launcher.

"Hateful."

Li Qing was covered in dust and dirt from the blasts of batteries that were being launched at him.

Almost all of his bullets hit the rocks, failing to reach Sam, who was protected by cover.

"If only Mista and Narancia hadn't gotten hurt."

"To deal with enemies that you can't even touch, a ranged attack type Stand is more useful."

Li Qing silently counted his dwindling bullets, feeling a headache coming on.

However, Mista and Narancia, who are best at ranged attacks, not only couldn't provide any assistance at this moment, but instead became wounded and a hindrance.

"What to do?"

Li Qing frowned, racking his brains as he thought.

At that moment, Giorno approached, panting heavily.

He had already expended a lot of energy building a wall of trees to shield his wounded comrades from the batteries. "How many bullets do you have left?"

"Two." Li Qing sighed helplessly, "He was hiding behind cover, I couldn't hit him at all."

"I have an idea, though I don't know if it will work."

Giorno thought for a moment, "Give me one bullet."

"Um."

Li Qing didn't ask why, and there's no time to ask why now.

As soon as the gunfire stops, that guy tries to get closer, and the closer they get, the more dangerous it becomes for Li Qing and Giorno.

The problem is, he and Giorno can't run at all: the wounded are right behind them, and if they run, their comrades will be blown up.

Time is too tight.

Upon hearing Giorno's request, Li Qing immediately and without hesitation pulled out his magazine, ejected a bullet, and handed it to Giorno.

"Wood big wood big wood big wood big!"

Gold Experience threw Riot Games, channeling invisible life energy into that tiny bullet.

A great deal of life force was concentrated in this tiny bullet, giving this once inanimate object a new life.

"Quick!"

Giorno handed the bullet back to Li Qing and said:

"I have modified the bullet's warhead into a seed, which will sprout in a few seconds."

"Shoot it out, hit that rock in the bunker."

"No problem."

Li Qing readily agreed and then quickly loaded the unique biological bullet.

Although Li Qing couldn't hit Semi, who was protected by cover, his marksmanship wasn't so bad that he couldn't even hit cover.

The bullet was chambered, the gun was raised and aimed, and the trigger was pulled, a flash of light suddenly erupted.

The special warhead, imbued with a great deal of life force, shot out propelled by gunpowder, flying over a distance of several dozen meters in an instant before piercing the stone protecting Sam.

Sam, however, thought it was just an ordinary bullet and only wanted to end this incredibly boring battle as soon as possible.

"Almost there, I'm about to win."

"Those two idiots will never abandon their comrades. As long as I keep an eye on those wounded who are holding us back and fire the batteries, they'll just stand there getting bombed like idiots."

That's what Sam was thinking.

The only thing that can stop his offensive now is Li Qing's pistol.

But pistol bullets are limited, and once they run out, he can win effortlessly.

To force the enemy to run out of bullets as quickly as possible, continuous fire suppression is necessary, suppressing them until they are either blown up or killed without being able to retaliate.

So, even as the bullet embedded itself in the stone, he was still urging the Stellar Note to fire batteries forward.

Soon

Several batteries were launched at high speed and landed at the feet of Li Qing and Giorno.

As before, Stellar Note released an invisible shock, preparing to remotely detonate these batteries.

"Success!"

A glint of light flashed in Giorno's eyes.

Meanwhile, the bullet that had just been driven into the stone had transformed into a vibrant seed.

The seed sprouted and swelled rapidly inside the large rock. In just a short moment, it had carved out a space inside the rock and grown thick, gnarled roots.

Sam didn't see any of this.

He was too eager for victory, and the noise from the battery firing conveniently masked the strange sound of the stone shattering.

Therefore, when the Stellar Note released its explosive impact, the first thing to explode was not the batteries under Li Qing's feet a dozen meters away, but the huge root growing from the middle of the stone.

"What?!"

Sam was slightly taken aback.

He never expected that the stone in front of him, which had remained unresponsive until now, would contain something that could be detonated.

But the explosion had already happened: the power of the explosion was greatly amplified in the confined space, and the plant root that was detonated instantly released a powerful high-pressure shock in all directions.

The impact is secondary; the real danger lies in the flying debris from the blasted rocks—those are the sharp blades that can truly take lives.

Sam's heart clenched violently at first, but then calmed down instantly under the influence of his survival instinct.

"Stellar Note!"

The tall, burly mech soldier slightly raised his gun and, in a flash, fired a battery.

This battery is clearly several sizes smaller than the ones previously launched.

It was detonated the moment it was launched, and the shockwave could only make the Stellar Note, which was right next to it, stagger back a few steps. It could not cause any fatal damage at all.

However, although the explosion was not very powerful, the shockwave effectively stopped the flying debris from the front.

The shockwaves from the two explosions collided and canceled each other out in mid-air, instantly slowing down the rapidly flying stone chips to a point where they could be blocked by Stellar Note' wave of his hand.

"Not killed in the explosion"

Sensing that Sam had only suffered minor injuries, Li Qing's expression became unusually serious.

He dared not waste a single moment.

The same trick is unlikely to work twice, and Giorno doesn't have time to create another plant bullet right now.

So, taking advantage of the moment when the rocks used as cover were blown up and the enemy had not yet recovered, Li Qing fired the last bullet.

"Ah!" Sam let out a scream.

The distance of a dozen meters is not too far, and without any cover, Li Qing's bullet successfully hit his shoulder.

However, it was just a shoulder.

The shoulder injury didn't matter much; Sam was still standing there, lively and energetic.

After that last bullet left the barrel, the only pistol that allowed Li Qing and Giorno to salvage their disadvantage completely became useless.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Looking at the bolt, which had failed to reset due to running out of bullets, Sam realized that his opponent had lost his last means of fighting him from a distance, and had lost the only ability to stop him from advancing.

He was only a dozen meters away from Li Qing and the others. If he got any closer, Li Qing and Giorno would have to face a fatal choice—to abandon the wounded and run away, or to stay with their companions and blow them up together.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Sam clutched his bleeding shoulder and laughed wildly:

"Nice little trick, too bad I'm still alive!"

"Damn it. If only I could have been more accurate."

Li Qing helplessly lowered the muzzle of his gun, his tightly furrowed brows remaining furrowed.

"No"

Giorno stared intently at Semi's shoulder, from which blood was seeping out. "That's enough."