Pig Farm

More than an hour later.

It was almost 8 a. m.

A full day has passed since Li Qing came into this world.

In the hour or so that had passed, Li Qing and the others drove out of the continuous valley and along the intercity highway to Pisa, which is only 70 kilometers away from Florence.

In other words, they are about to reach their destination.

"Outside Pisa, drive along Highway 103 towards Roca, then turn onto an unnamed road after 10 kilometers and continue on."

Li Qing recalled the detailed address of the science and technology team's station, gradually approaching his destination.

The car gradually moved away from the town and the highway, heading towards a vast wilderness.

The narrow road was flanked by farmland and vineyards, the environment became increasingly quiet, the location increasingly remote, and the sounds of other human activities gradually disappeared.

Are you sure it's here?

"Li Qing, could you have remembered the address wrong?"

Looking at the seemingly endless country road, Mista couldn't help but ask a question.

This place is far too remote; it doesn't resemble the kind of place Tech Intelligence Unit representing the organization's highest level of technology should be stationed.

"Yes, this is the place."

Li Qing had great faith in her memory.

It was precisely because of this remarkable memory that he was able to maintain a perfect record for four years during his university final exams, despite only having an average of three days of review time.

"Unless the cadre gave the 'boss' a fake address, the headquarters of the technology team must be here."

"What a pity."

As he spoke, Li Qing sighed with some regret:

"If Fabio hadn't been so stubborn, we might have reliable intelligence to use now."

"Hmm"

Upon hearing Li Qing's exclamation, everyone's expressions became somewhat strange:

After the debt was paid off, the "computer people" that Fabio relied on to fight his enemies all disappeared.

With his Stand ability fully exposed, Fabio was like a toothless tiger, powerless to fight back.

Of course, no one wanted to kill him.

They just wanted to extract some information from Fabio, just like they had with Jamie.

However, most members of the Passion Organization have a bad habit of being overly afraid of Diavolo, especially the members of the technology team who have access to most of the organization's inside information and have witnessed the fate of all the traitors.

That fear was deeply ingrained in their bones by various legends and tales, to the point that these people were so cowardly that they were not even afraid of death.

That's why, the instant the "computer people" disappeared, Fabio, realizing he had no hope of turning the tide, suddenly pulled out a pistol and pointed it straight at his mouth.

He felt that surrendering would only result in a miserable death, while not surrendering would subject him to inhuman torture, so he might as well just shoot himself in the head and end his life cleanly and neatly.

All of this happened too fast.

No one had time to stop it, only Li Qing reacted quickly.

He shot Fabio in the head before Fabio could commit suicide—

In any case, at least I've gained experience.

Continue driving along the unnamed road.

Li Qing only felt a slight pang of regret for Fabio for a moment before continuing to drive forward according to the complicated address he remembered:

"Stop three kilometers past the winery."

They finally arrived at their destination.

At that moment, what appeared before them was a huge white factory building.

The factory stood out abruptly in the middle of the wilderness, built beside this desolate and remote country road.

"Factory building?"

"What kind of factory is this? Why would it be built in such a remote rural area?"

"And what's this taste like?"

Before Li Qing and the others could even observe the appearance of the huge factory building, they all covered their mouths and noses with expressions of discomfort.

Even before the car got close, a faint stench wafted over from afar.

As they got closer, the stench became stronger and stronger.

"This taste"

Li Qing took a moment to adjust to the environment. "It feels like a septic tank."

"And it's like the septic tanks of large-scale farms, otherwise the smell wouldn't be so strong."

This conclusion was hard for everyone to believe. "Shouldn't this be the headquarters of the Tech Intelligence Unit? Why is there a septic tank here?"

"Don't rush, let me detect it."

Li Qing focused intently, concentrating on listening to the sounds coming from inside the massive factory building.

But as soon as he unleashed his superhuman hearing, he was disturbed by the countless humming and chirping noises coming from the factory, which made him buzz.

Li Qing tried hard to endure it before finally managing to get used to the chaotic noise:

His tone became hesitant as he began to say, "This..."

"What did you hear?" Giorno asked curiously.

"It's about the same as what I smelled."

Li Qing said with a strange expression:

"Pigs, lots of pigs, at least several hundred."

"There were a few scattered people moving around among the pigs, probably staff members."

"If I'm not mistaken, this is a Pig Farm."

"Pig Farm?" Everyone was taken aback.

Mista couldn't help but complain, "Hey, Li Qing, you really did remember the address wrong, didn't you?"

The technology group, the technology group, should be playing with high-tech things like computers and the internet.

Why are you raising pigs now?

"I'm absolutely right." Li Qing struck a pose of unwavering conviction, as if swearing an oath. "It's definitely here!"

"Actually, there's nothing strange about it."

Bucciarati thought for a moment and then shared his opinion:

"The Pig Farm is very likely just a front to conceal the existence of the technology team."

"After all, the Tech Intelligence Unit is one of the most important departments in the organization, so it is quite reasonable for them to be somewhat hidden."

"That is."

He lowered his hand from his mouth and nose, forcing himself to get used to the somewhat pungent smell. "This method of concealment... the odor is a bit too overpowering."

"Let's go in and take a look!"

Fugo was getting impatient with this dilemma and waiting.

He pushed open the car door, got out, and proposed to everyone:

"Whether this place is the technology team's headquarters or not, we'll find out once we go inside."

"Wait," Li Qing called out to him in time, "Don't go in yet, there might be a trap inside."

"If we encounter another spoof like Stellar Note or Everyone's Finance, which are good at setting traps, we could easily be wiped out if we rush in rashly."

"Then?" Fugo looked at Li Qing with a question in his eyes.

"Let me go in and scout ahead."

Li Qing volunteered to step forward:

"I'm not afraid of getting hurt; I'm 'immune' to most Stand attacks."

"If there is any real problem, as long as I haven't gone more than 100 meters in a straight line, I can use my Golden Bell Shield to get back to your side at any time."

"Alright."

After thinking about it, everyone agreed with the proposal.

There was no way around it; the intelligence capabilities of the technology team were simply too strong.

The disappearance of Fabio and Sam Sand is a clear reminder, and Li Qing and his group traveled from Florence to this place via intercity highways, making it impossible to avoid surveillance cameras along the way.

If the enemy did not choose to retreat quickly after knowing in advance that Li Qing and his men were going to their stronghold, then they must have been extremely powerful.

This strength gave them confidence, allowing them to remain firmly in the center of the army even as Li Qing and his men continued to approach.

Overwhelming strength, an unknown Stand, and the ability to foresee everything.

Everyone has to be more cautious.

"Okay, take this phone."

Giorno took out two cell phones from his pocket and handed one to Li Qing.

They borrowed these phones from passersby on the street—since their tracks were already impossible to hide, they might as well use communication tools boldly.

"Keep in touch."

Giorno dialed Li Qing Sin's number and carefully instructed him:

"Please contact us immediately if you discover anything."

"If the call drops, we'll come in and find you right away."

"OK."

Li Qing put the cell phone that was still on the line into the pocket of his shirt.

He walked through the gate of the Pig Farm.

One update today. My brain is really foggy, but I forced myself to write one update so that everyone wouldn't think I was going to abandon the project.

Some readers in the comments think I'm playing the victim and slacking off, that I'm taking leave just for the sake of taking leave. But honestly, people who aren't authors can't possibly understand how difficult it is to take leave; it's even more painful than when you're serializing.

After all, online novels are paid by word count, and there's no pay for slacking off. All I got from taking consecutive days off was a further decline in my grades and a feeling of guilt for letting my readers down.

While I was serializing the story, I logged into Steam every day, but when I took leave, I didn't even feel like playing games. For days, I've been thinking about how to write the next part well, how to make it so that no one can tell it's "not as good as before." But my mood is bad, my mind is dull, and no matter how hard I try, I can't think of anything. The more I can't think, the more anxious I get, and the more anxious I get, the duller my mind becomes. It's a vicious cycle. There's nothing I can do. I really tried my best.