"Huh?"
Amor's expression shifted slightly—not out of nervousness, but anger:
He had been cautiously on guard for so long, only for this bald guy to spout a load of nonsense because he wanted to beg for mercy?
What a waste of time!
The hand gripping his gun trembled faintly with anger, then calmed in an instant:
No. Something was wrong.
If this bald guy really was begging for mercy, why wasn't he afraid? Why had he shown no fear from beginning to end?
This had to be a trick!
Amor cautiously analyzed Li Qing's thoughts. Even the four lackeys behind him held their breaths tensely.
But they did not know—
Li Qing truly had no idea what he had that could help him escape this predicament.
He simply did not know what fear was.
He had been that way as a child, that way after growing up, and even more so after learning that he was now "playing a game."
"Oh?"
Seeing Amor and the others warily hesitate, he instead took the initiative, pressing toward Amor's gun muzzle as he stepped forward aggressively:
"From the looks of it, you're unwilling to let an ordinary citizen like me leave?"
"..."
Amor fell silent, but his gaze quietly became resolute:
"Of course not!"
"This is a mission given to me by the higher-ups. I have to complete it!"
He gritted his teeth and muttered to himself as though brainwashing himself:
"In the Passion Organization, only capable Stand Users can become esteemed core members."
"An ordinary outsider like me can never get promoted, no matter how hard I work."
"I refuse to accept that."
"A Stand User, is it? Fine."
"Today, I'll kill a Stand User and prove my worth to the organization!"
Amor's voice grew louder and louder. He was encouraging himself, but also helping the four young lackeys behind him overcome their fear.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger and fight this Stand User of unknown identity and unknown abilities, Li Qing made the first move:
"Ha!"
He shouted loudly to shake their resolve, then chopped forward with two fingers held together like a blade.
Li Qing aimed for Amor's eyes.
His physical strength had greatly increased after crossing over. Though he had not reached any superhuman level, he could still overpower Amor and the other ordinary gangsters.
He wanted to exploit his physical advantage and take his opponent's vision with a surprise strike, then create chaos and seize the chance to escape.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
Though Amor had not anticipated Li Qing's sudden attack, he still reacted on instinct:
Like a startled venomous snake, he leaped back a large step and barely managed to protect his eyes.
"Boss Amor!"
Seeing their boss "take a loss and retreat," the four men in black panicked so badly that they forgot to raise their guns.
After all, in their minds, Li Qing was a suspected Stand User who possessed teleportation.
And every Stand User was a monster. How could enemies like that be handled by lowly grunts like them?
"Don't panic!"
The black-clad lackeys watching from the side were in disarray, yet Amor, who had just been ambushed by Li Qing, instead gained confidence.
He steadied himself, and his gaze at Li Qing instantly turned sharp:
"Everyone, stop being so nervous. I've already figured out this bald guy's true nature:"
"Either he doesn't have the teleportation ability we imagined, or that ability has some unknown limitation."
Amor calmly explained his reasoning.
Though it had only taken an instant, something wondrous happened.
In this world, commentary took no time at all.
Yes, under a certain "world rule," time nearly "stopped" whenever people spoke:
"If he wanted to flee, he could have teleported away directly."
"If he wanted to fight, he could have teleported into my blind spot and launched an attack that would be difficult to defend against."
"But this bald guy only used some crude hand-to-hand moves against me."
"That means—"
"He may no longer be able to use that strange teleportation ability!"
"And judging from that palm strike just now, his physical abilities are far beyond those of an ordinary soldier, but they haven't surpassed the limits of a normal human."
"He's merely a Stand User fighting bare-handed, with limited combat ability and a restricted power."
"We can handle him!"
In just a few words, Amor exposed Li Qing's entire hand.
After hearing the explanation, the four black-clad lackeys seemed to have taken a reassurance pill. Not only did they stop panicking, they even looked at Li Qing with the savage eyes of hungry wolves.
"Ah, dear..."
Li Qing looked helplessly at the dark gun barrels trained firmly on him:
He had truly done his best just now.
But the enemy was skilled, more numerous, and armed with guns.
The difference in strength between the two sides was too great. This game seemed a little unbalanced.
The situation reversed in an instant.
Amor was not even in a hurry to shoot Li Qing dead. He merely gave his men orders in an indifferent tone:
"Put on the suppressors first."
"The street below is a busy district, and we still haven't cleaned up the bodies here. Don't make too much noise."
"If we draw people over, that'll be another problem."
"Yes!"
Imitating their boss, the four men in black skillfully began attaching suppressors to their guns.
Li Qing knew he could not wait any longer.
Once they could shoot without restraint, he would have no hope of turning this around.
So he suddenly lunged forward, intending to use one of the black-clad men as cover and slip past them before they could fire, rushing out of the blood-scented guest room.
"Heh heh."
Yet what awaited him was Amor's cold laugh, filled with mockery:
"Running?"
"Looks like you really don't have any other tricks."
Under the world rule of "time stopping during commentary," he leisurely explained his thoughts to Li Qing, who had not even managed to run two steps:
"Most Stand Users are monsters that ordinary people cannot fight. We cannot afford the slightest carelessness."
"I deliberately had them fit their suppressors in front of you. Aside from the fact that we truly cannot attract attention, it was also to give you a chance to run and test your real abilities."
"If you stayed, it would mean that you, this Stand User, likely had other cards up your sleeve. We would need to proceed cautiously, perhaps even abandon the escape route entirely."
"But if you ran—"
"Then it proves my earlier guess was right."
"You're just a third-rate Stand User who can't even handle ordinary people!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Amor flicked his wrist slightly and produced a second gun from his sleeve—a compact pistol whose safety had long been off, whose bullet was chambered, and which even had a suppressor attached.
The next instant, deadly fire blossomed from the muzzle.
The bullet passed through the long suppressor tube, producing a muffled yet distinctly terrifying sound.
The metal projectile was swift and precise. In an instant, it tore through the air and struck Li Qing squarely in the kneecap of his right leg.
Li Qing's fleeing motion abruptly stalled.
"Hmph!"
Amor glanced coldly at Li Qing and said:
"Bald guy, you're staying right here."
"I think the organization will be interested in a 'Stand User' who came here to gather information."
As he spoke, he quickly pulled the trigger again, accurately shattering the knee joint in Li Qing's other leg.
If he had been an ordinary person, he would have been completely trapped now.
However—
"Ha ha."
Li Qing smiled without changing expression, as calm as though he had not been injured at all.
Because just then, at the instant the bullets pierced his knees, he discovered his true ability as a "player":
"Combat damage detected to host."
"Digitization Mode activated."
"Loading hero template: Blind Monk Li Qing."
His appearance did not change at all. He was still that bald young man with refined features and powerful, knotted muscles.
But a computer game-like system interface suddenly appeared in Li Qing's mind:
Skill bar, experience bar, health, level.
The experience bar was empty, his level was 1, and there was one unassigned skill point in the skill bar. Three learnable skill icons shimmered brightly.
However, there was no equipment inventory or stat panel, nor did he have the energy bar the Blind Monk should have possessed.
His health had no numerical value either, displayed only as a percentage. It was currently at 72%.
Clearly, the two bullets that had pierced his knees had dealt considerable damage.
Fortunately, his health was slowly recovering at a rate of 0.5% per second. It seemed he could recover to full without any treatment.
And at the same time, Li Qing knew:
He had truly become the League of Legends champion, Blind Monk Li Qing.
This was neither a baseless fantasy nor an unfounded sixth sense, but a genuine physical change.
The instant Digitization Mode activated, Li Qing gained the Blind Monk's superhuman ability:
He—
Was blind.
Before you continue