Diavolo, the Helpful Samaritan

Watching Li Qing escape by plane, Diavolo couldn't help but feel a surge of anger:

He clearly maimed the man and threw him into the mouth of the Meat Mountain.

How could they survive?!

It seems fate is targeting Diavolo at every turn!

However, it was also partly due to his own negligence:

Because his past self had already fainted, he had no recollection of when the earthquake stopped.

As a result, just when he thought he had thrown Li Qing into an endless abyss, the earthquake stopped, as fate would have it.

"How awful!"

Diavolo was resentful, but he didn't regret it too much.

After all, he had successfully saved his past self and perfectly achieved his original, fundamental operational goal—

I survived Li Qing's clutches.

Diavolo was unable to use Ouroboros for the first 10 minutes after returning to the past.

This period is Li Qing's only chance to defeat Diavolo.

But now Li Qing is being chased around by Meat Mountain and flying all over the place, so he obviously can no longer turn around and pose a threat to Diavolo.

Diavolo could simply wait for the 10-minute cooldown of Ouroboros to pass, at which point King Crimson would once again possess the "infinite power" ability.

Diavolo no longer needs to fear Li Qing; on the contrary, Li Qing has to avoid him.

"I am now completely safe."

"However, my situation seems to be somewhat dangerous."

After a moment of contemplation, Diavolo couldn't help but think of his past self.

He stepped over the ruins strewn with bricks and rubble, and carefully walked to the armored vehicle that had been half-eaten by the Meat Mountain:

The Diavolo of the past is fast asleep here.

His body was covered in horrific burns, and most of his black see-through bra was burned and stuck to his flesh.

So severely injured, Diavolo was unconscious like a dead pig, and even the occasional aftershocks couldn't wake him.

"No, this is still too dangerous."

Diavolo frowned deeply:

Now, my past self is completely unconscious and utterly incapable of protecting itself.

The buildings on both sides of the street are riddled with cracks, and the trees are teetering on the brink of collapse, with no telling when they might suddenly crumble.

If we recklessly leave our past selves in such a dangerous place, what if we get buried alive by an aftershock?

"Should I help you get 'me' out of the city and to a safer, more open area?"

Diavolo was somewhat unsure.

Because of the paradox, he dared not change the past casually.

But thinking about it carefully, since he didn't die this time, his actions in helping him survive in the past should have been part of the past anyway.

"Let's save them."

Diavolo thought for a moment, and finally dragged Diavolo out of the ruins.

He carefully protected "himself" and led him toward the more open and safer outskirts of the city.

After walking a few steps, Diavolo saw another car parked across the road with its door wide open.

The car owner was poisoned to death by the fungus of his Green Day, which devoured even his ashes.

The car key is inserted in the keyhole and can be used at any time.

"Perfect timing, having a car will make things faster."

"The less time I spend with my past self, the better, so that he can see me when he regains consciousness, which would cause a paradox."

With that in mind, Diavolo immediately borrowed the abandoned car.

He placed the unconscious "himself" in the back seat, then sat in the driver's seat and started the engine with practiced ease.

Diavolo drove his car along the rubble-strewn roads toward the outskirts of the city.

At the same time, he was also pondering this carefully in his heart:

"Is it enough to just send your past self to an open area outside the city?"

"Let me think. When I regained consciousness and woke up, it seemed..."

For some reason, this memory seems somewhat hazy.

But Diavolo suddenly remembered:

Oh, and Li Qing even used me as a hammer to throw me around—

When I woke up, I saw Li Qing. He then stole my crucial phone and dragged me to the warehouse by the sea!

"Etc."

"Then how come I saw Li Qing as soon as I woke up?"

"Could it be that Li Qing accidentally encountered 'me' who had been relocated outside the city?"

"Yes, that should be it."

Diavolo was also a little unsure.

And so, filled with tension and turmoil, he drove his past self out of the city.

Once you reach the outskirts of the city, there are far fewer buildings along the road.

Diavolo was looking for a flat, open space to lay down his past self.

Suddenly, a very familiar bald head appeared in the road ahead of him:

"Get out of the car, I need it urgently."

At this moment, Li Qing, who was the same Li Qing in the past, urgently needed a mobile phone and a means of transportation.

But now there are bricks and rubble everywhere, and not a single living person on the road, so it's not easy to borrow a cell phone.

Li Qing was not a socially experienced Giorno; he did not have the professional skill of borrowing a car even when the owner was not around.

So he could only stand there anxiously.

But just then, as if by fate, a car happened to be driving towards him from the city ruins behind him.

Li Qing naturally couldn't let go of this hard-won opportunity.

He reached out and stopped the car.

The driver seemed to be a helpful person.

Upon seeing Li Qing's raised pistol, he immediately stopped the car in a moment of urgency.

"Get out of the car, I need it urgently."

Li Qing is now blind, so he can't see the driver's face at all.

But that didn't stop him from hearing the driver's rapidly accelerating heartbeat.

Hearing the heartbeat that sounded like someone was terrified, Li Qing knew that he had most likely managed to borrow the car.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence...

Perhaps because Li Qing's words were so charming, the driver obediently got out of the car and walked away without saying a word.

"Wait!" Li Qing frowned. "You still have an injured person in your car. Aren't you going to take them with you?"

"."

The driver suddenly stopped.

After a moment of stunned silence, he slowly spoke in a hoarse and unpleasant voice:

"I don't know this person. I rescued him from the rubble on a whim."

"If you try to take my car, I can't take it with me."

"This"

Li Qing's face stiffened, and he hesitated for a moment.

But he ultimately chose to take on this small problem:

"Okay, you can go now."

"I will take care of the injured in the vehicle."

"Kindness."

The driver nodded and quickly disappeared in a hurry.

He didn't leave a deep impression on Li Qing.

In Li Qing's mind, he was nothing more than a kind-hearted stranger who was always willing to help others.

However, after the driver completely disappeared...

Li Qing belatedly realized what was happening:

"Damn it! How come I didn't notice?"

"I was so busy borrowing the car that I forgot to borrow the phone!"

The helpful driver sped away.

After running several hundred meters, and estimating that Li Qing was no longer paying attention to him, he stopped with a complicated expression.

"I see."

"I was surprised to find myself appearing next to Li Qing in this way."

"No wonder I saw Li Qing as soon as I woke up."

Diavolo then realized that he had been sitting in the car ever since he regained consciousness.

When he got out of the car, he was busy dealing with Meat Chunk, and the car was immediately swallowed up by the Meat Chunk.

So he had no recollection of what the car looked like.

So he only vaguely felt that the interior of the car he found looked familiar, without realizing that it was the same car.

"I should wake up soon."

"Then that bastard Li Qing would snatch the crucial phone from me and waste a lot of time making calls to his comrades from the spot."

Diavolo's expression was somewhat subtle as he recalled the past.

But he quickly calmed down:

"In any case, at least things are back on track."

"In the past, I had Li Qing to 'take care' of me, so I wouldn't encounter any danger again."

"Then I can finally focus on what I need to do now."

Diavolo looked up and cast a dangerous glance in the direction the helicopter had flown.

The helicopter was obviously destroyed, but he knew Li Qing was still alive.

Li Qing is not dead, and he has been active on his own in the past, which is the biggest hidden danger.

"Now I can use Ouroboros immediately and defeat Li Qing head-on."

"But that guy isn't stupid; it won't be long before he comes up with a way to use the past."

"So I have to find that guy as soon as possible, lest he cause any trouble."

Diavolo thought about it with a serious expression.

The past cannot be changed.

However, there are also "vulnerabilities" in the past that can be hacked, and time travelers can still use these "vulnerabilities" to plant seeds in the past.

One method is to find and utilize clues that already exist in memory.

For example, that time when a time bomb was planted:

Diavolo remembered that 500 million had suddenly disappeared from his account, so he traveled back in time and used up that 500 million.

His actions and his memories do not conflict, so there is no paradox.

Another approach is to ensure that memory is not interfered with while doing things.

If we compare human memory to history:

It's like a time traveler going back to the day a historical figure died, devising a plan to deceive everyone at the time, making the historical figure fake their death and escape.

The figure in the history book still died on that day, but he was saved by the time traveler.

The time traveler saved someone in the past, but at the same time ensured that history was not changed.

This is the "gap" in time.

Diavolo used the first method before, but hasn't used the second method yet.

There's a reason for that.

First of all, finding exploitable "vulnerabilities" is difficult in itself.

Secondly, exploiting vulnerabilities is an extremely dangerous thing—

If you want to exploit loopholes in history, you must be prepared to trigger Time Paradox at any time.

No one can guarantee that such an adventure will succeed; one wrong step could lead to utter ruin.

Furthermore, the Ouroboros can only travel for one hour at a time, and the location it travels to is always near Diavolo in the past.

This means that Diavolo's space is very limited each time he moves, and the things he can do are also very limited.

Furthermore, the Passion Organization was so tightly controlled that he had no way of hiding it from the eyes of the Diavolo of the past, and no way of secretly borrowing the organization's manpower, resources, and finances.

This makes it even more difficult to use the second method.

Of course, this difficulty also applies to Li Qing.

But in any case, there are definitely ways to "change" the past.

Diavolo's biggest worry right now is that Li Qing will take advantage of this time to make some kind of arrangements in the past, just like the time bomb he prepared for Jotaro.

We can't let him get away with this!

"It would be best to kill him right here—"

"Even if I can't kill him, I absolutely cannot let him out of my sight!"

Thinking of this, Diavolo could no longer sit still.

He decided to immediately follow the direction the helicopter had flown.

"There's no time to lose, I need to find another means of transportation right away."

Diavolo acted swiftly.

Unlike Li Qing, who lacks professional skills, he also possesses advanced keyless car-borrowing skills, eliminating the need to wait on the roadside longing for a car.

This wasn't because the Dark Emperor needed to steal cars to make a living, but because he was naturally cautious and had deliberately honed his skills in this area, in case he was left without a car in an emergency.

And now, Diavolo has used this tactic himself.

He quickly borrowed a motorcycle from the roadside and sped away.

Although it didn't take much time, Diavolo still felt a little annoyed:

"It still took a bit too long."

"Damn it, I hope I didn't run into Li Qing and he didn't steal my car."

"I could crush that weakling with a single finger right now, but to avoid creating a paradox, I have to swallow my pride and give him the car!"

"Etc."

Diavolo suddenly realized:

He was a mighty Dark Emperor. It seemed...

Li Qing snatched away another pair of horses!