Because Squalo's corpse was still on the boat, Li Qing could not conveniently land on the crowded city coast.
But as a world-famous Mediterranean tourist city, Naples's coastline was practically never empty.
He ordered Andrew to pilot the speedboat around the waters off Naples for quite a while before finally finding a seaside park with no pedestrians or tourists in the way, nestled among rows of hotels, parks, attractions, roads, and sea-view villas.
This place was not far from Mount Vesuvius. From the sea, they could clearly see the pitch-black mountain formed from volcanic ash and basalt.
A dense grove grew along the park's shore, lending this stretch of beach a rare sense of tranquility.
Beyond that dense grove, just a few hundred meters away, was a coastal town road. Cars passed by from time to time, making it seem as though someone could come over at any moment.
"Um... Mr. Li Qing?"
Andrew's voice trembled with nerves:
"Someone could come over at any time. You... you aren't planning to bring the corpse ashore with us, are you?"
"If someone sees us, we'll be in trouble."
"Haha, don't worry."
"Not leaving him without even a corpse is already the limit of my kindness. I'm not sentimental enough to give him a proper burial."
"Leave the body here. Someone will naturally come collect it."
Li Qing smiled pleasantly, but the smile sent a chill down Andrew's spine:
"And besides."
"Now that we've reached Naples, you're no longer useful to me as a boat driver."
"N-no longer useful?"
Beads of sweat the size of beans formed on Andrew's forehead, while Li Qing casually added, "Go on!"
"Huh?"
Andrew froze for a moment, then let out a huge breath of relief. "I-I can leave?"
"That's right."
"You're no longer useful to me!"
Li Qing urged him impatiently:
"Useless people shouldn't stay here and obstruct my view. Leave now, immediately!"
"Oh, right."
"Don't leave with me by going ashore."
He suddenly pointed toward the vast sea behind them and made an extremely strange demand:
"Turn around, get back in the water, and swim away through the sea!"
"Huh?"
Andrew could not understand Li Qing's intentions, but under Li Qing's fierce gaze, he did not dare hesitate.
Soon, he obediently turned around, plunged headfirst into the sea, and swam with all his strength toward the distant waters.
Watching Andrew's figure vanish into the distance, Li Qing suddenly sighed softly:
"I worked so hard to save you from that sea of flames. You can't just die for no reason."
"Go back and sail your boat properly."
"If you want to be my 'teammate,' you're still far too incompetent."
After that baffling bit of muttering to himself, he suddenly turned back toward the dense grove before him:
"Seriously, won't you even give me a chance to catch my breath?"
"Looks like I've really provoked some terrifying people this time."
"Hey, hey, stop hiding!"
Li Qing shouted toward the seemingly empty grove:
"You breathe heavily, and your footsteps are as heavy as a bear's. You're probably a fat guy, right?"
"I could hear you approaching the shore from hundreds of meters away, so stop wasting your effort!"
"..."
The grove was deathly silent.
But soon, amid the rustling of branches, leaves, and grass, a tall, bloated figure slowly emerged from the grove's shadows.
It was a bloated man with grayish-white skin, an evil and eerie air, and a savage, ugly face.
"So it's you?"
"I only heard one set of footsteps. In other words, Diavolo only sent you alone to hunt me down?"
Li Qing stared fixedly at the newcomer's expression, trying to dig out any useful intelligence from his words and actions.
However, the other man had no intention of communicating at all.
The moment he saw Li Qing, he began to laugh in a disturbingly deranged manner:
"Hehehe..."
"It's you. It's you."
"You are the prey I've been waiting for."
Laughing madly, he stepped toward Li Qing.
The man's entire body was covered in fat. Not only did he walk slowly, but even the layers of folds on his neck trembled with each step.
Yet that absurd posture, combined with his gloomy, wicked aura and those crazed, lifeless eyes, produced a chilling horror.
Finally, when he was only a few steps away from Li Qing—
The fat around his neck and chest suddenly wriggled abnormally. Then, a mass of indescribable Meat Chunks proliferated and divided from his flesh.
In the blink of an eye, those Meat Chunks attached to his body gathered together, vaguely forming a nearly humanoid monster of blood and flesh.
"As expected."
"This is a Stand attack!"
Seeing that nauseatingly bizarre sight, Li Qing finally confirmed the newcomer's identity completely—
He was the Stand User Diavolo had sent to hunt him down.
Having prepared for this, he immediately activated his data-based combat mode. Then, at once, he drew the pistol from his pocket, already loaded with a round, and pulled the trigger at the enemy without hesitation:
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gun rang out three times in succession.
The two were already close, and Li Qing had been prepared to seize the initiative. None of the three shots missed.
Three scorching metal bullets tore through the air at supersonic speed, ripped into flesh, and ruthlessly blasted three deadly bloody cavities into the enemy's bloated body.
"Urgh!"
The enemy let out a pained howl, and even his bear-like bulk convulsed violently.
Amid the spraying mist of blood, he staggered several steps backward, seemingly about to die from his severe gunshot wounds at any moment.
But Li Qing did not lower his guard in the slightest:
"No."
"This is definitely not that simple!"
His sneak attack with the gun had gone even more smoothly than he had initially imagined, yet he became even more tense:
"This fat man accepted the mission to hunt me down alone and dared to appear before me so openly. That means he is definitely not an easy opponent!"
"And when I ambushed him with gunfire just now, he didn't panic at all."
"Even scarier, he didn't make the instinctive human motion to dodge—this guy never intended to avoid my bullets at all!"
"Clearly..."
"His Stand ability lets him 'ignore' the damage caused by bullets!"
"Then... is this ability endless 'super-speed regeneration,' or the simplest kind of 'physical enhancement'?"
Li Qing analyzed the enemy's Stand ability with impressive seriousness. However...
Under his extremely wary gaze, the other man shakily braced himself against a tree, gasped heavily a few times, then collapsed into a pool of blood with an ashen face.
Then, a system notification sounded in his mind:
"Ding!"
"Successfully killed Carne, member of the Passion Organization Royal Guard. Experience obtained."
"What?"
Li Qing's expression froze. "Dead... He's really dead?!"
A person could play dead, but a system kill notification could never be faked.
The mysterious enemy named Carne was truly, completely dead.
He had come to Li Qing alone, launched no attack, exchanged no words, and silently gotten himself killed just like that.
"How could this happen..."
Li Qing's face was full of bewilderment:
"Did he come here just to give me a free kill?"
Before you continue