His Usual Way of Borrowing a Car

Li Qing was the last person to jump off the plane.

Unlike his companions, he stayed in the driver's seat until the very last moment and didn't have time to put on his escape parachute.

Of course, he doesn't need a parachute either.

Li Qing jumped from a height of several hundred meters without any protection, and fell to the ground like a meteor amidst the burst of fire behind him.

This is an extremely dangerous act—falling objects from a height is a very uncivilized behavior, and it can easily damage flowers and plants on the ground, as well as some unlucky passersby.

Fortunately, Li Qing landed in a vacant construction site.

And it's nighttime now.

Workers in developed countries adhere to the life motto of leaving get off work on time, and will never work a second longer than the allotted time.

The lights on the construction site were still on, as if it were a waste, and the steel bars on the tower crane were still hanging in mid-air. The drivers and workers had already all run away long ago.

Therefore, Li Qing's simple and brutal landing method did not harm any innocent civilians, but it did create a deep human-shaped crater in the ground.

He sprang to his feet from the crater he had created, his expression slightly grave.

"Damn it, the situation is really bad now."

"I wonder how far Diavolo is from the Colosseum, and whether we can catch up with him in time."

Li Qing had no idea that Diavolo, whom he was worried about, had gotten away first, and was currently entangled with the police for speeding and running red lights.

In his mind, Diavolo must be heading straight for the finish line without any obstacles.

However, he lost his carefully prepared means of transportation and was forced to become separated from his companions in this perilous night.

Unfortunately, the others didn't have Li Qing's ability to freefall without injury. They could only drift with the wind in their parachutes, not knowing where they were now.

"Oh, and Thomas too."

"He might be able to help in some way."

Li Qing suddenly realized that he should call Thomas, who was in charge of logistics and intelligence in the rear.

If the information hadn't been leaked from Thomas, and Thomas were still one of their own, then he might have been able to offer a lot of help:

For example, accessing road surveillance footage to locate the missing companions.

For example, you could use anti-intrusion methods to directly contact the mysterious person and remind him to leave the Colosseum of Rome as soon as possible.

However, just as Li Qing had this thought, his phone rang.

The call was from Thomas man he was looking for.

"Hey, boss? Something terrible has happened!"

"You don't need to remind me."

"I was just hit by a missile at an altitude of 400 meters."

Li Qing patted the dirt off his clothes, his voice tinged with helplessness.

No, I wasn't talking about your side.

"It's the technology team! Something's happened in the technology team!"

Thomas's tone was no less relaxed than Li Qing's, who had just experienced a plane crash:

"It seems the supervisor did something to our tech team's servers before he died."

"Just two minutes ago, the virus suddenly broke out, and all the network equipment in the technology team was paralyzed."

"I can't even access the internet right now, so I can only call you on my cell phone."

"Network paralysis? That means..." Upon hearing this report, Li Qing's expression grew increasingly grim. "You can't do anything right now?"

"That's right."

"It will probably take quite a while to get these devices back in working order."

"During this time, I was unable to provide surveillance intelligence in the city, unable to help you mobilize the organization's resources, and unable to help you contact that mysterious person."

"I'm sorry, but right now you can only rely on yourselves."

After delivering this devastating news to Li Qing, Thomas, feeling powerless to change the situation, hung up the phone.

"You can only rely on yourself."

Li Qing recited those words helplessly.

They needed technical support just when things started to go wrong on Thomas's end—it all happened so coincidentally.

Clearly, this was part of the Diavolo plan.

The purpose was to eliminate the possibility of him actively contacting the mysterious person, thereby ensuring that he could arrive at the Colosseum of Rome before everyone else and find the mysterious person who possessed the great treasure.

There's no other way.

Thinking of this, Li Qing even gave up the idea of contacting his companions first.

Bucciarati was right when he said it on the plane: time is life, and every minute and every second is precious.

Diavolo had already gotten ahead of the race for so long, if he wasted any more time rejoining his companions, he might never have another chance to win the race.

Let's set off!

"At least we need to find a means of transportation first, and then we can figure out how to contact the other people once we're on the vehicle."

Li Qing put away her phone and prepared to leave the construction site.

This is not a remote suburb; there is a bustling road right outside the construction site, with a constant flow of traffic even at night.

With so many cars passing by the entrance, it became much easier for Li Qing to borrow a car.

He stood directly on the roadside and stretched out his hand, trying to trick some unlucky taxi drivers into stopping.

However, before a taxi could be hailed, a private car slowly pulled up in front of Li Qing:

Want a ride?

The car window rolled down, revealing a smiling face.

His face was slightly youthful and immature, making the car owner look like a progressive young man who was eager to help others.

"Want--"

"Thank you for showing up, it's very timely."

Li Qing pulled out his pistol and pointed the dark muzzle at the young man's warm and kind face.

"Then, let me ask you a question."

Do you want to die?

He spoke to the young man in such a "friendly" manner.

The young man's expression changed instantly.

His smile froze on his lips for a moment, and his facial muscles stiffened, making him look as tense as any ordinary citizen suddenly being pointed at with a gun.

However, in the next second, a strong killing intent suddenly surged in his seemingly clear and harmless eyes, and the instinctive horror on his face turned into a calm demeanor:

"No wonder he's the man the boss has his eye on."

"Just a simple glance is enough to tell my true identity."

The young man raised his head without fear and looked directly at Li Qing:

Let's get to know each other:

"I am Sandro Doni, a member of the Royal Guard."

"I'm the one who blew up your helicopter—the boss has ordered that you must die tonight."

The gun barrel pointed directly at his head by Li Qing did not frighten him; instead, it revealed a hint of appreciation and a profound meaning in his eyes.

"You reacted quickly, and you drew your gun very quickly too."

"Unfortunately, it's all too late for me now."

"Hmm, this one."

Upon seeing the young man's suddenly changed demeanor, Li Qing was first slightly taken aback, then his expression became somewhat awkward:

"Actually, I..."

"I usually like to pay with a gun; that was just my usual way of borrowing a car."

"I haven't figured anything out yet, but you've exposed your identity yourself."

These words immediately created an awkward atmosphere.

The young man who called himself Sandro's lips trembled slightly, and the inscrutable demeanor he had just adopted instantly crumbled.

Li Qing then pointed the gun further at Sandro's head, and his previously loosened finger quickly pressed tightly onto the trigger:

"However, since you've taken the initiative to introduce yourself, it has saved me a lot of trouble."

"At least I no longer have to go through the trouble of pretending to be a bad guy and saying harsh words, or waste time and energy scaring car owners away."

Li Qing shrugged, and his finger, which was tightly gripping the trigger, pressed down:

"Just kill the person, and the car is mine."

One update still. There's no other way. The Rome arc requires designing individual battle sequences for different characters, which is incredibly difficult to create. I even wrote the leave request, but I'll try my best to maintain one update per day. _(:з"∠)_