Crash

In the pure, picture-perfect blue sky.

A panicked, fleeing fat pigeon, a bald man shooting straight upward, and a transforming, launching Meat Chunk formed a bizarre and wondrous supernatural sight.

Li Qing was about to catch up to the pigeon, while the Meat Chunk was about to reach Li Qing even sooner.

Then, an uninvited guest suddenly appeared on the canvas.

Spreading its silver-gray steel wings, spewing orange-red high-temperature flames, and radiating a wild roar like a tsunami sweeping across the sky, it brazenly swept low over the city.

It was an F/A-18, a supersonic fighter-attack aircraft known as the "Hornet."

Although this Hornet, which was about to return to base and land, was not flying at supersonic speed, even in its deliberately controlled low-altitude flight, it was faster than Li Qing using Echoes Act.

Whoosh!

The Meat Chunk instantly grew restless.

Compared to the "slow" Li Qing, it preferred the iron eagle speeding past high above.

Thus, this beast that acted entirely on instinct immediately abandoned Li Qing, who was practically at its mouth, and burst forth with speed no less than that of a fighter jet as it lunged toward the vast sky above.

"Whew."

Li Qing let out a long breath.

He knew he had survived.

Amid that relieved sigh, he killed the unfortunate fat pigeon, while the Meat Chunk successfully caught up to its delicious, juicy new prey—the Hornet.

It clung tightly to the Hornet's wing, crafted through flawless design and exquisite workmanship, immediately making this pinnacle of human ingenuity appear clumsy and helpless.

The Hornet's flight posture was disrupted, and its fuselage began to tilt severely.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Li Qing anymore.

"Sorry."

He raised his head and looked at the dark shadow speeding overhead.

"Although shifting the trouble onto someone else is a little unethical, I really had no other choice."

"Still."

Li Qing gave a particularly nasty smile.

"As the beacon of humanity and the world police, it's only natural for you to save people, right?"

Although only a brief instant had passed, the high-speed fighter jet had already carried the Meat Chunk clinging to its wing at least a hundred meters away.

Li Qing had completely left the Meat Chunk's sensing range, and the distance between them was still rapidly increasing.

Then, he began to fall under the pull of gravity.

Falling from more than a hundred meters up would certainly not feel good. Li Qing could only pray that the health he had saved up would be enough, so he would not end up dying miserably from "jumping off a building."

During the fall, he suddenly noticed something.

"Huh?"

"I think I can use Golden Bell Shield on that kid now?"

So, just before he made intimate contact with the hard concrete ground.

Li Qing's falling body suddenly turned sideways, tracing an oddly straight path as he shot toward Giorno on the ground.

The translucent light film of Golden Bell Shield lit up around both Giorno and Li Qing. Using this displacement skill, which was completely unrestricted by the laws of physics, Li Qing landed without a scratch.

"This..."

"So you have an ability like that too."

Giorno curiously examined the spherical shield of light around him as it gradually faded away, but immediately reined in his emotions and returned to the main issue.

"However."

"Is this really over?"

He looked up at the fighter jet that was continuously falling toward lower altitudes, his expression grave.

"Although the fighter jet lured that Meat Chunk away, we don't know whether that monster can survive the crash."

"If it lands alive in the city, and rapidly grows by absorbing the fighter jet's engine energy like it absorbed the bus engine earlier, then..."

"Naples may face a disaster."

"This..."

Li Qing did not answer immediately.

He quietly exited Digitization Mode and examined his new "teammate" with his own eyes.

Sure enough, matching the slightly immature voice he still had, Giorno was currently a thirteen-year-old blond kid wearing a middle school uniform.

This kid was suddenly dragged into an inexplicable disaster, witnessed something so terrifying, went through the limits of life and death, yet he doesn't feel the slightest bit nervous or scared afterward...

He isn't even fourteen yet!

Giorno Giovanna... So there really are people in this world born to be "protagonists"?

Li Qing silently marveled to himself before finally speaking to Giorno.

"It should be over."

"When I considered using the fighter jet as bait, I already worked out what might happen afterward—"

"The fighter jet is huge. It can't be devoured immediately."

"And this place is only a stone's throw from the sea. Once the pilot realizes the plane is out of control, he'll definitely turn it around and crash it into the ocean first thing."

"At that point..."

"I understand!"

Giorno could figure out the rest without Li Qing explaining.

"That Meat Chunk is a mindless creature that chooses targets based on movement speed, while the sea is constantly filled with tides surging back and forth."

"As long as it is sent into the sea, the monster will endlessly chase waves it can never finish chasing, permanently sealed within the boundless ocean."

"Although I feel a little sorry for that unlucky pilot..."

"This really was the wisest thing we could have done just now."

Giorno praised him sincerely.

However, as soon as those words of praise left his mouth, he added another "however."

"However."

"Mr. Baldy, how can you be certain that plane will turn around and crash into the sea?"

"Huh?"

Li Qing scratched his head in confusion.

"Naples is right along this shore..."

"If they don't fly it into the sea, are they supposed to let it crash onto the citizens' heads?"

The pilot of this Hornet fighter jet was Lieutenant Sam Mallis, assigned to the flight wing of the Roosevelt aircraft carrier under the Navy's Sixth Fleet.

He had just flown a satisfying sortie over the Balkan Peninsula across the sea with his comrades in his beloved aircraft.

With the United States Empire's overwhelming aerial military power, they had easily torn through the enemy's weak air defenses as though entering unoccupied territory, wantonly scattering flames filled with "love and justice" over the other side's cities.

What a boring game.

Those useless fools might as well surrender early. Air-to-ground missiles are expensive—this is all our taxpayers' money!

The patriotic Lieutenant Sam thought this to himself.

He piloted his returning fighter low over Naples. Amid the earth-shaking roar, he flew in an orderly manner toward the aircraft carrier anchored on the distant sea.

"Jennifer is always worried about my safety over here."

Lieutenant Sam could not help thinking of his girlfriend back home again.

"Hahaha, what is there to worry about?"

"I'll call her later and tell her to wait peacefully for me to return to Texas and propose."

He laughed heartily, laughing so hard that his neck turned red.

However, right then—

Bang!

A deafening metallic crack of twisting deformation suddenly erupted from the fighter's right wing.

He did not even need to look at the warning lights flashing across the instrument panel. With just a slight turn of his head, Lieutenant Sam could see it.

The steel wing made from high-strength alloy had actually collapsed and warped in midair!

"Holy shit!"

"Are those sons of bitches cutting corners even when building fighter jets?!"

Lieutenant Sam's face went pale.

He tried desperately to stabilize the fighter's severely tilted, descending flight posture, but immediately discovered something even more terrifying and bizarre.

The wing was not merely deformed.

More precisely, it was as though some invisible monster had bitten down on it, tearing it apart and devouring it bit by bit.

The "invisible monster's" reach extended farther and farther, deeper and deeper, causing the abnormal twisting of steel to spread inward from the wingtip. It seemed poised to devour even the cockpit.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Motherfuck!"

Lieutenant Sam erupted into a string of curses.

Even though he could not see the Stand, he understood that the fighter jet was about to break apart in midair.

"The warped section is spreading toward the fuselage."

"At this rate, even the cockpit's ejection system may be damaged!"

"I might die!"

Spending a few more seconds turning around might not necessarily kill him, but that uncertainty was precisely what terrified him most.

"But..."

Looking at the chaotic instrument panel before him, Lieutenant Sam fell into a dilemma.

"I can't parachute out yet!"

"I haven't turned the plane around. If I escape now, it'll definitely crash into the city!"

At that moment, Lieutenant Sam thought of sacrifice.

He could foresee the honor of being buried beneath the Stars and Stripes after his death, and imagine the glory of the news media spreading his name.

His beloved Jennifer and his doting parents would wipe away their tears as they recited such beautiful eulogies for him at a funeral presided over by the community priest.

"Sam Mallis was an outstanding soldier, a true representative of the United States Empire spirit."

"Called by justice, he came to a foreign land to spread freedom and light, and ultimately gave his young and beautiful life forever to save the innocent citizens of Italy..."

"Wait."

Lieutenant Sam suddenly realized something was wrong.

"What do ordinary Italian civilians have to do with me, an American?"

One second later.

The cockpit opened, and the ejection seat shot into the sky.