Discovered

The Baby Face, whom Melone sees as a killing machine, was born a little over an hour ago in a highway restroom toilet.

Its mother was an unfortunate young woman who was forced by Melone to become the mother of the Baby Face because she was the right age and healthy.

A mother's influence on her child is immense. The Baby Face instinctively imitated the poor woman's personality, born with a timid and cowardly nature.

Melone was extremely dissatisfied with this.

He believed that killing machines should only know how to kill and be insane, and should not know fear and terror.

He felt that the more violent and bloodthirsty the child he bred, the better; ideally, he would give birth to a mad dog that couldn't stand not biting people.

But the Baby Face man himself doesn't think so—

Yes, although it is a substitute, it possesses an extremely strong sense of self that is capable of defying the original's will.

In a sense, it is an independent person.

"Fear is not a mistake. Fear teaches us to be cautious and to know how to use our power more perfectly."

On the surface, she dared not refute the real person, but the Baby Face always had her own thoughts in her heart:

"I will definitely kill that tall prey."

"But I'll use my own method."

Because of the Baby Face's strong sense of self, Melone cannot completely control it.

This doesn't mean the Baby Face can ignore Melone's orders, but rather that it retains a great deal of freedom of action while obeying them.

Generally speaking, the relationship between the user and the substitute is like that between a swordsman and his sword; how the sword is wielded depends entirely on the swordsman's control.

The relationship between Melone and the Baby Face is more like that of a commander and a soldier. No matter how much the commander remotely controls and micromanages down to the platoon level, the soldiers on the front line will definitely prioritize their own ideas when fighting.

Just like now

According to Melone's plan, the hunt should proceed as follows:

Baby Face swiftly crept up to the enemy's vicinity, then with the force of a tiger descending a mountain, launched a surprise attack from the shadows, killing the enemy's main body in a single blow.

But the Baby Face man himself doesn't think so:

"Uncle Risotto is right."

It casually called Risotto, who had been traveling with it, "uncle":

"That muscular guy dared to carry the treasure alone, so he must be very strong."

"One must be careful when dealing with such prey."

"A surprise attack without a plan is suicidal. I should have taken a smarter approach."

With this in mind, the Baby Face acted against Melone's wishes from the very beginning.

It didn't approach its prey directly at all, but stopped at a distance to carefully observe the direction the prey was heading.

Just as it saw that Jotaro was about to leave the station and go about his business alone, it carefully avoided Jotaro's gaze and used its superhuman speed to quickly move away, eventually arriving at Jotaro's inevitable route a step ahead.

Jotaro had no idea that a small, ferocious monster had already ambushed him on the road after the first turn away from the station.

"The man always habitually walks on the right side of the sidewalk."

"So, if I disguise myself as a sidewalk tile, he will definitely walk on me without realizing it."

Baby Face silently recited this simple yet effective plan in his mind.

Its Stand ability is extremely powerful.

Leaving aside the bloodline perception ability that allows him to remotely track his father's location.

It can also divide humans or matter into extremely small pieces and then recombine them into another object with a completely different shape.

This actually includes two parts of capability:

Decomposition and recombination.

The children Melone had previously trained all preferred the ability to "decompose".

For those little monsters born specifically for killing, the ability to instantly disintegrate a person into countless small cubes is undoubtedly the most perfect and powerful means of slaughter.

But this time, the Baby Face is different from those in the previous works.

Its timid nature taught it caution, causing it to focus more on its ability to "reorganize"—

The disassembled cubes can be rearranged at will, and their appearance and shape can be perfectly changed.

This ability is, in a sense, like the seventy-two transformations in mythology, allowing the Baby Face to perfectly transform themselves into any object of suitable size.

It can blend perfectly into any terrain, any environment, and even become part of the environment itself, making it completely undetectable to the enemy.

"I just silently turned into a paving stone and hid in the sidewalk."

"When that big guy walks over here without any precautions, walks up to me, and makes zero-distance contact with me, hehe."

A surprisingly sly glint appeared on his Baby Face features.

Thinking of this, it quickly bent down and swung its Riot Games at the sidewalk.

The moment the Riot Games touched the ground, the bricks that were firmly embedded in the sidewalk instantly broke into countless tiny cubes.

These tiny cubes, manipulated by the Baby Face, rose into the air like clouds and were then hidden away in the large trash can next to it.

Soon, a wide pothole appeared on the sidewalk.

At this moment, the Baby Face could already hear Jotaro's steady footsteps approaching hurriedly from the street corner behind him.

Its little heart instinctively skipped a beat.

But this did not affect its actions.

Before Jotaro could see him, the Baby Face used the same trick again, breaking his body down into countless tiny cubes.

These densely packed, cloud-like cubes rapidly rearranged and recombined in mid-air, quickly changing their appearance and shape in the process.

In just a moment, the Baby Face transformed his body into simple-looking floor tiles.

These paving stones fit perfectly into the potholes in the sidewalk, as closely as Tetris blocks in a perfectly completed game.

And just like that, the Baby Face blended perfectly into the ground.

The sidewalk has been restored to its original state, looking flawless.

At that moment, Jotaro walked over without any warning, just as the Baby Face had expected.

If he took a few more steps, he would be standing on the Baby Face, coming into direct contact with this ruthless killing machine.

"Just like a car driving straight into a tollbooth."

I'll tear you to pieces right now!

The prey is about to fall into the trap.

The Baby Face couldn't help but get excited.

A moment ago.

Jotaro, of course, had no idea that he had been targeted as prey by a "child" who was only an hour old.

He had just left the station square and was at the fork in the road nodding goodbye to Li Qing and the others who were in charge of the other directions.

"We're leaving now."

"The situation is urgent; we need to get there as soon as possible."

A hint of anxiety crept into Bucciarati's voice.

Fugo and Narancia were like family to him, so his current mood was naturally not as calm as his habitually composed expression.

Therefore, Bucciarati understands even better that they have now been drawn into a different kind of racing game:

They had to reach their comrades as quickly as possible, before the worst-case scenario of the wounded encountering a second wave of enemies occurred.

So, Bucciarati bid farewell to Li Qing cleanly and decisively, then turned around and solemnly summoned his stand-in:

"Steel Chain Fingers!"

A muscular, blue humanoid figure appeared in front of him:

"Ali Ali Ali Ali Ali!"

A zipper as wide and long as a steel rail quickly appeared on the ground.

Bucciarati immediately stepped on it without hesitation, and without saying a word, he also pulled Abbacchio, who was traveling with him, up on it.

"Set off!"

Stepping on the zipper is like stepping onto a skateboard.

Bucciarati and Abbacchio glided quickly toward their destination along the zipper that Steel Chain Fingers had been creating.

Of course, this "zipper skateboard" move is a common method of rapid movement used by Bucciarati, and it's not a new trick.

But Li Qing, standing to the side, was somewhat inspired by this:

"Indeed, Mista is now only half alive, and we must get him treated as soon as possible."

"Giorno —let's speed things up too!"

Li Qing spoke very decisively to Giorno, who was traveling with him.

"Hmm?" Giorno was slightly taken aback. "Isn't your movement ability supposed to prevent you from carrying people?"

"It's alright, I can bring people with me."

"I don't need any skills, I can run around the city and get speeding tickets."

Li Qing's voice carried a hint of smugness.

Without waiting for Giorno's reply, he grabbed Giorno and lifted him off the ground.

As someone who transcends human limits, Li Qing naturally possesses immense strength.

The extra hundred or so pounds on his body did not affect his dashing and effortless running style at all.

A person hanging on his shoulder is like having a light towel hanging on him; when he runs at full speed, it even floats.

Regardless of Giorno's riding experience as a passenger, the speed is definitely sufficient.

In just a few seconds, Li Qing had already carried Giorno and disappeared quickly around the corner.

That's all.

The two groups each used their unique abilities, like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, and disappeared in a short while.

Jotaro, who was considered the most reliable and strongest, was left far behind and fell far behind in the effort to save his comrades.

"Looks like I can't fall behind."

"The situation on Polnareff's side is probably also very bad."

Influenced by Li Qing and Bucciarati, and worried about his missing best friend, Jotaro's pace quietly accelerated to its maximum.

But that's far from enough, at least not compared to the speed of the other two groups.

"I'll have to use some force."

Cheng Tailang thought to himself.

He quickly turned the corner of the street, and the road ahead was a straight street.

This flat, wide, unobstructed straight road is perfect for him to utilize his mobility.

Of course, Jotaro doesn't have any real speed-movement ability.

But he has Star Platinum, the invincible Star Platinum.

Invincibility is omnipotence. When power reaches an exaggerated level, many problems can be easily solved.

"It's been a long time since I've done something this big."

"Let's stretch our bodies first."

Jotaro suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Over the past ten years, he has been busy with dating, marriage, having children, studying for a doctorate, and writing papers, and he hasn't really been exercising seriously.

As a result Star Platinum's time-stopping ability deteriorated, and his monstrous body also began to become sluggish.

And so, Jotaro abruptly stopped on the sidewalk.

Then, he began to stretch his muscles and move his joints to get his body into a state of adaptation to high acceleration load as quickly as possible.

Jotaro, of course, had no idea.

While he was warming up, the sidewalk in front of him

A piece of "floor tile" was anxiously and secretly observing him:

"Damn it. Why did we stop walking?"

"He was so close, why did he suddenly stop?"

"Have I been discovered? Yes, he stopped so precisely in front of the trap, I really have been discovered, haven't I?"

"But... why is he doing calisthenics in front of me?!"

"Could it be that he's warming up, preparing to beat me up later?"

The Baby Face, who had initially thought he was in a very good position, suddenly fell into an inescapable panic.

It felt that it might have been exposed.

Uncle Risotto was right; the enemy was indeed a monster too powerful to fight.

What should we do? Should we run?

But can they still run away now?

It was only a few seconds, but the Baby Face felt it was longer than a whole century.

In other words, Jotaro was busy exercising and didn't pay attention to what was happening.

Otherwise, he would have been astonished to find that the entire ground in front of him was trembling.

While the Baby Face was lost in thought, deciding on the types of flowers and plants to plant on his grave, Jotaro had already completed his brief warm-up exercise:

"Star Platinum!"

This muscular, bulging humanoid figure exuded an invisible aura the moment it appeared.

If she hadn't been so scared that she couldn't move, Baby Face would have been scared away like a cat that suddenly discovers a cucumber behind it.

"It's over. He actually used a substitute."

"They really are coming to beat me up!"

The Baby Face thought this with despair.

Then, something completely unexpected happened.

After summoning his Stand, Jotaro didn't even look at the ground.

He took a bold step forward and landed right on the ground that the Baby Face was disguised as, stepping into the trap it had set beforehand.

Jotaro thus came into close contact with the Baby Face.

If Baby Face were to suddenly launch an attack, it would surely deliver the most fatal blow to the enemy swiftly and unexpectedly, just as it had planned.

"How so."

"Didn't he even notice me?"

Baby Face finally vaguely realized that he might have just been overthinking things.

Otherwise, if Jotaro had attacked the ground directly, he wouldn't have walked into the trap so unguarded.

"So I'm safe after all."

The Baby Face secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Sensing the unsuspecting prey stepping on it, it instantly regained its predator's confidence:

"Since he didn't even notice me, my chances of winning are still very high."

"This thing is right here on me; I just need to sneakily touch it with my hand."

"He's dead!"

The Baby Face thought excitedly.

So it mustered its courage, quietly shed some of its disguise, and let its arms "grow" silently from the ground.

But at that moment, the Baby Face's deadly move had not yet taken shape.

Then a steady, soft shout came from above:

"Star Platinum - Full Speed Ahead!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Star Platinum grabbed Jotaro's arm tightly, holding him firmly to her side.

And then...

Star Platinum unleashed its full power, stomping heavily on the ground.

A tremendous force poured onto the ground like a flood.

A shocking dent was instantly created on the hard "paving stones" of the sidewalk by someone's feet.

At the same time, the corresponding terrifying reaction force propelled Star Platinum and Jotaro into the air like rockets.

With just one jump, they flew straight for dozens of meters.

This is Jotaro's "displacement ability".

As Jotaro leaped and flew, he frowned slightly as he reached mid-air.

"Why do I hear the screams of a child coming from somewhere?"

Is it just my imagination?

The road was quite empty, with only a few scattered passersby in the distance showing their astonishment at the "flying man" who had just performed the feat.

There were no children around, so there was no basis for the claim of "children's screams".

When Jotaro landed and looked back, all he could see was a few dozen meters away, at the dilapidated road surface cracked with spiderweb-like patterns by Star Platinum's footsteps.

"As expected, it must have been an illusion."

Jotaro didn't dwell too much on what had just happened.

Considering Polnareff's safety and not wanting to waste time, he immediately turned around to continue his next jump.

Meanwhile, in those "ruins" that Jotaro hadn't even noticed.

A pitiful and weak voice then rang out intermittently:

"I absolutely am."

"We've been discovered."

One update today.