An Eerie Scene

Li Qing decisively abandoned his companions, taking with him the only one who still had Josuke Higashikata, and left triumphantly.

Diavolo instinctively took a step forward to give chase after the arrow after realizing its presence.

At the same time, his brain was also rapidly processing information at an incredible speed in that split second:

Li Qing escaped very quickly, and I hadn't reacted in time, which made me a beat slow.

The Higashikata Family was less than a hundred meters away. Even if he disregarded his physical limitations and had the King Crimson move at high speed with its main body, he probably wouldn't be able to stop the Crimson King from getting the arrow before him.

So, is it possible to use the power of the "Ouroboros" to stop Li Qing directly in the past?

This idea made Diavolo somewhat tempted.

But he soon realized that this seemed somewhat impractical:

Firstly, the fact that Li Qing chose to go back to get the arrows indicates that, in his understanding:

The arrow was kept in the Higashikata Family and was not lost.

At least that was the case before they left the Higashikata Family.

This is a settled fact and cannot be changed.

The only loophole Diavolo could find was the brief gap where the "state of the arrows could not be determined" that began not long after Li Qing and the others left the Higashikata Family.

During this time, no one knew whether the arrow was still with the Higashikata Family.

Diavolo could theoretically go back in time and use this brief window of opportunity to steal arrows from the Higashikata Family.

The problem is that going back to the past requires an "anchor point," and this "anchor point" is the time that Diavolo used to erase using the King Crimson.

Unfortunately

Diavolo did not use Time Erasure throughout the entire day, or even in the battle that just took place.

Without an anchor point, he cannot return to the time he wants to return to.

The idea of going back in time to steal arrows is now almost impossible.

So, is it possible to use other methods arranged in the past to hinder Li Qing's actions?

Did they hire assassins to lie in ambush here beforehand?

Or perhaps a time bomb was planted in the Higashikata Family beforehand?

These ideas are indeed feasible, but doing such a thing in a foreign country where you don't know anyone would cost a lot of money.

Diavolo had already exhausted his remaining 500 million yen by hiring gangsters to plant bombs last time, and he was so poor that he had to Time Erasure money to pay at convenience stores.

Perhaps he could go back to an earlier time, back to when he was still the boss of the organization.

At that time, he could indeed use his position as boss to mobilize the organization's funds, and he could also access his own hidden slush fund accounts.

However, Passion Organization's surveillance capabilities are incredibly strong, and Diavolo is an extremely cautious boss.

Diavolo wanted to steal money from Diavolo couldn't possibly not have noticed.

Diavolo, however, had no recollection of ever having his money stolen.

If he does something that conflicts with his past memories, it will trigger a terrible "Time Paradox".

In conclusion, time travel is always a dangerous thing.

Diavolo always treads carefully, trying to avoid appearing in public and minimizing any unnecessary impact on the past.

After all, he himself finds it difficult to distinguish whether what he is doing is actually "part of a time loop" or a "Time Paradox" that conflicts with the past.

"Damn it. Looks like we have no choice but to use the dumbest method to chase after them."

Diavolo was in a bad mood.

He had completely forgotten that there were forces in the world like arrows, which were beyond his control.

Seeing that Li Qing had already carried the staff and quickly ran back to the Higashikata Family.

Diavolo had no choice but to give it his all and chase after them relentlessly.

"King Crimson, full speed ahead!"

He had the King Crimson hold him firmly in his arms, then burst into the air at full speed.

This movement method allows King Crimson to move at a speed that is not hindered by his main body, enabling Diavolo to catch up with Li Qing as quickly as possible.

However, the only drawback is that this ultra-high-speed movement will put a huge acceleration load on the body.

That terrifying acceleration can even cause the body's internal organs to rupture instantly, and if the posture is wrong, the neck can be broken directly.

Even Jotaro, with his incredible physical strength, doesn't usually dare to do this kind of thing.

Otherwise, the enemy might not catch up before you're killed.

But Diavolo can't care about that now.

Anyway, even if he gets injured, he can recover in one second using the power of the "Ouroboros", so chasing at full speed in this way is not too dangerous.

And so, Diavolo quickly followed Li Qing and rushed into the Higashikata Family.

Even taking into account his initial hesitation and indecision, he was only a few seconds behind Li Qing.

However, when Diavolo stormed into the Higashikata Family's gate, he didn't see Li Qing, who had just escaped inside.

All that came into view was a woman with a blank expression.

That's Mrs. Higashikata, Josuke Higashikata's mother.

"Hey, who are you?!"

Mrs. Higashikata instinctively stepped in front of Diavolo.

She asked, bewildered and wary:

What are you doing at my house?!

What exactly just happened?

For her, what had just happened was a sudden, loud explosion outside, followed shortly afterward by the sudden forced opening of her front door.

A phantom, moving at such a speed that it was almost invisible, rushed all the way to the second floor.

Mrs. Higashikata could only vaguely make out the outline of the phantom, which seemed to be Li Qing, who was visiting her home, and her son, Josuke Higashikata.

She was still in shock and confused when Diavolo chased after her again, looking menacing, just a few breaths later.

"Oh, you must be that cow dung head's mother, right?"

A sudden chill ran through Diavolo's eyes.

"Josuke Higashikata!"

"Li Qing!"

The next moment, Diavolo looked up and shouted coldly at the upstairs:

"Don't be foolish, hand over the arrows you're carrying right now—"

"Otherwise, I'll kill that old woman downstairs right now!"

"Old woman???" Mrs. Higashikata looked annoyed and wanted to say something.

But the King Crimson's invisible hand suddenly gripped her shoulder, forcing her to let out a shrill scream.

The sound traveled straight up to the second floor, but there was complete silence on the second floor.

"I'll only count to three!"

Diavolo didn't use any persuasion; he simply spoke with murderous intent:

"If you don't see that arrow within three seconds, your mother is dead!"

"One"

"Two"

The counting sounded cold and resolute, but Diavolo remained calm.

He knew this tactic would definitely work—

Because he had already glimpsed the future within ten seconds using the "Epitaph" before he even began his pursuit.

"Epitaph" used to be his trump card for survival.

Because of the long cooling time, he was reluctant to take it out to use unless it was absolutely necessary.

But this problem has now been completely solved:

Although Epitaph cannot be used in the past, they can still function normally in the present.

Diavolo can return to the past at any time to rest and recover, and the future is completely under his control.

It was precisely because he saw a promising ten-second future in the "Epitaph" that he so decisively used this clumsy method to catch up.

Just as Diavolo had predicted.

"Etc!"

Josuke Higashikata's weak yet excited voice rang out in the second second:

"I'll give you the arrow, you release my mother!"

"Come down with the arrows!" Diavolo led Mrs. Higashikata cautiously toward the stairwell.

Slow, heavy footsteps came from upstairs.

Josuke Higashikata struggled down the stairs, clutching an arrow already stained with blood in his hand.

"Josuke!" Only then did Mrs. Higashikata notice the horrific injuries on her son's body.

She tried desperately to break free and rush to Josuke's side, but was unable to move because she was suppressed by the King Crimson.

"They actually managed to take the arrow from me?"

"What about Li Qing?"

Why didn't he show up?

Seeing Josuke back down and reappear, Diavolo's vigilance only increased.

After all, his biggest worry Li Qing, had not yet shown up, and he had a very bad feeling about it.

Let's look at the future one more time.

The ten seconds that "Epitaph" had just foreseen had just ended, and he couldn't see what would happen next.

Therefore, Diavolo immediately followed up with "Ouroboros," which caused him to become intangible for one second before returning to the past and then instantly returning to his original position.

In this way, the cooldown time will be ready much earlier.

"Epitaph!"

The future within ten seconds immediately appeared before Diavolo's eyes:

In the first second, Diavolo walked up the stairs.

In the second, under the careful protection of the King Crimson, Diavolo took the arrow from the Josuke Higashikata.

Josuke Higashikata no resistance whatsoever, nor did he have the strength to resist.

In the third and fourth seconds, Josuke Higashikata slumped down on the stairs, posing no threat whatsoever.

Ignoring the harmless Josuke Higashikata, Diavolo gripped the blood-stained arrow tightly and hurried to continue climbing to the second floor.

He was going to find the "missing" Li Qing and completely eliminate this major threat.

In the 5th and 6th seconds, Diavolo reached the second floor.

He suddenly noticed a large pool of blood flowing on the second-floor floor.

I looked into the room following the trail of blood.

Diavolo's face was filled with shock.

Seconds 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Diavolo entered the room, utterly shocked, and stood there dumbfounded.

"How could it be like this?"

Diavolo was not harmed at all during the entire process.

He was absolutely safe for the next ten seconds, and what he saw was not only harmless to him, but could even be described as an unexpected delight.

The scene was just very strange and shocking.

Diavolo could not have imagined that he would see such a scene.

"Let's go upstairs and take a closer look."

After a brief moment of thought, Diavolo ultimately decided to proceed according to the future he envisioned.

Following the vision of an absolutely safe future he had in mind, he took the arrow from the Josuke Higashikata, then went up to the second floor and stepped into the room covered in blood.

Just as foretold in the Epitaph.

On the floor of the room lay Li Qing's corpse.

A headless corpse.

I accidentally wrote almost 800 words explaining the bug. But if I don't explain it, someone will always care. Sigh. I'll never write anything so brain-teasing again. At least for now, I can barely explain the bugs reasonably well. If any bugs I haven't even considered appear later, the story will fall apart.