An Inconspicuous Petty Thief

Diavolo sped forward on his motorcycle.

Following the direction the helicopter crashed, the coastline drew closer, and the massive body of the Meat Mountain became increasingly clear.

Actively approaching the area where the Meat Mountain is located is an extremely dangerous thing to do.

But he always had a very bad feeling:

Sure enough, if we don't find Li Qing soon, Li Qing will definitely do something in the past that will change everything.

Diavolo could not tolerate such an unknown threat.

"Find him, and it would be best to kill him here!"

"If he dies in the past, then no matter what preparations he made for the future, he won't have the life to use them."

Diavolo thought with bloodshot eyes and a murderous intent.

And so, the motorcycle quickly approached the coast and entered the vast Port Warehouse Area.

They had just entered the port.

Diavolo was surprised and delighted to find that Li Qing was standing on the open road outside a warehouse.

He was peering at the Meat Mountain from afar with his lifeless eyes, seemingly carefully and intently calculating the distance between himself and the Meat Mountain.

"Great, he hasn't left yet!"

A resolute killing intent surged in Diavolo's eyes:

He can now use Ouroboros, which allows the King Crimson to stay at his peak condition forever.

Li Qing would never be a match for him in a direct confrontation.

The people nearby seemed to have fled in terror due to the earthquake and the Meat Mountain, and he was unable to escape using the Sonically Enhanced Wave.

As long as Diavolo keeps a close eye on Li Qing and prevents him from suddenly escaping like he did in front of the Higashikata Family, he is very confident that he can kill Li Qing directly.

"This is an opportunity!"

"King Crimson - Let time fly by!"

Before Li Qing could react, Diavolo immediately eliminated this period of time.

During the time it took to remove him, Li Qing could only stand there blankly, frozen in his original state.

Diavolo, however, had already silently approached Li Qing's side together with King Crimson.

The Time Erasure ends at this moment.

The King Crimson's hand blade struck down like lightning.

"What?!"

Upon Time Erasure consciousness, Li Qing instinctively showed a look of horror.

He had already sensed the presence of the King Crimson in that instant thanks to his extraordinary perception, but the King Crimson was not the same King Crimson as before.

After awakening and evolving, King Crimson has reached the limit of its Stand.

Its powerful hand strike, like a giant axe, slammed heavily onto Li Qing's rapidly blocking arm.

The immense force that poured down caused Li Qing to tremble violently, and the ground beneath his feet caved in.

"Li Qing!"

"You can't kill me now!"

Diavolo's killing intent reached its peak, and the King Crimson unleashed a storm.

The suffocating force of the punches surged forth like waves in a long river, seemingly without end.

Li Qing didn't say much.

Diavolo clearly wanted to get rid of this major threat as soon as possible, so he could only do his best to block and resist.

Now is the time to let Riot Games do the talking; only pure power can persuade the other side.

"Ah, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit!"

"Ah, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit!"

The two storms collided violently amidst strange roars.

Although they appeared to be evenly matched, Diavolo actually had the biggest advantage.

Every so often, he uses Ouroboros to travel back to the past and rest properly.

Even if Li Qing manages to occasionally break through the defenses and inflict some effective damage on King Crimson can still "instantly restore his health and mana".

This is an unfair fight.

The King Crimson's "health points" are always full, but Li Qing's health points keep decreasing in this top-level life-or-death battle.

90% 80% 70% 60%

Li Qing was starting to feel the strain:

"Damn it! Are you completely indestructible, you bastard?!"

He saw no hope of defeating Diavolo in a direct confrontation.

The King Crimson, who possesses the Ouroboros, is invincible; trying to defeat him through combat is practically wishful thinking.

Finally, when his health dropped to only 50%, Li Qing suddenly withdrew and turned around to escape at maximum speed.

"Just as I thought."

"This time, I won't let you escape so easily!"

Diavolo acted with prior preparation.

Relying on his advantage of not being afraid of getting hurt, he had the King Crimson hold him firmly in his arms and, along with his main body, unleashed a full-speed pursuit.

This time he didn't hesitate, and Li Qing found it difficult to distance herself from him.

However, just when Diavolo thought he could keep Li Qing forever...

Li Qing, however, flashed and instantly disappeared into the huge warehouse next to him.

"They went into the warehouse?"

"This guy is trying to play hide-and-seek with me inside the warehouse to buy me time, using the various goods as cover!"

Diavolo immediately saw through Li Qing's thoughts:

Unlike Li Qing, who uses his hearing to perceive his environment, he needs his eyesight to fight.

The presence of various obstacles on the battlefield has a significant impact on him and will affect King Crimson's movements to some extent.

If the battle is prolonged because of this, and some unsuspecting passerby happens to come to the vicinity, giving Li Qing a target to use his Sonically Enhanced Wave, then there would be big trouble.

Diavolo became aware of all these risks.

But he failed to stop Li Qing from playing hide-and-seek to buy time:

"Damn it. If only we could mobilize the organization's resources."

"This is Naples, my home ground, Diavolo's home ground."

"If I could plant weapons and explosives in this warehouse beforehand, I could increase my output and take down Li Qing as quickly as possible."

Diavolo thought with a hint of helplessness.

Firearms and explosives are both useful to Li Qing, especially explosives—

Don't be fooled by Li Qing's seemingly indestructible nature.

The more explosives you have, the greater the yield, and the damage has virtually no upper limit.

If enough is used and the yield is large enough, even a tough-skinned Li Qing can be taken down in one shot.

The idea is indeed good, but...

The Passion Organization, however, was managed so meticulously and in such a modern way by Diavolo.

They want to transfer tons of explosives from the logistics department?

The technology team's surveillance was not just for show, and the naturally cautious Diavolo would be the first to notice the presence of a "mole."

Diavolo's attempt to exploit Diavolo without Diavolo knowledge is nothing short of wishful thinking.

Thinking of this, Diavolo wanted to slap himself across the face:

Why are you watching so closely if you have nothing better to do?

Managing the organization so strictly ultimately benefits them!

Compared to one's own life and death, what is the small loss of stolen supplies?

"Etc."

A flash of inspiration struck Diavolo.

A forgotten memory suddenly resurfaced before his eyes, and he abruptly realized something:

"Supplies were stolen."

Naples.

"Port warehouse."

"These things... were all in my memory!"

Diavolo's eyes lit up, and an invisible force of spacetime quietly activated:

"Ouroboros, return to the past!"

March 23, 1999.

At this time, Li Qing had not yet arrived in this wondrous world.

Diavolo is happily playing the role of his Dark Emperor.

On this day, an ordinary junior manager in the logistics department of the Passion Organization suddenly received a phone call that would change his fate.

"You... you are the boss?"

"No way, why would the boss contact someone as insignificant as me?"

Upon hearing the man on the other end of the phone identify himself as the organization's boss, the junior leader's expression immediately changed.

"I have something for you to do."

"This is an extremely important secret operation; you cannot tell anyone."

The boss on the other end of the phone said this in a deep tone.

"Clear!"

The junior leader instinctively gave the most loyal reply.

But he immediately sensed that something was wrong:

"But boss, isn't this a bit against the rules?"

"You usually issue orders through the organization's intranet or through senior officers. Why are you contacting me directly this time?"

"Are you doubting my identity?"

Diavolo's voice suddenly turned chillingly cold:

"Idiot, through the internal network and the cadres?"

If it's through the internal network and the cadres, then this order will probably be discovered by my past self before it's even carried out.

He thought this in his heart, but what he said aloud was:

"If it all goes through the internal network and the cadres, can it still be called a secret mission?"

"Just behave yourself."

As for your doubts... hehe.

Diavolo didn't rush to prove his identity; he simply said slowly:

"You were among the first members to join the organization when it was first established."

"Although you are not Stand User, you were a brave and capable fighter when the organization was first established, so I have a good impression of you."

"It's a pity that you later developed a chronic illness due to an injury, so you were transferred to the logistics department to retire and faded into obscurity."

So many years have passed in the blink of an eye.

"Do you still remember the secret code we used to confirm each other's identities?"

As he spoke, Diavolo uttered a code word he hadn't used in a long time.

That was a product of the time when there was no technology team and no organizational intranet.

He secretly kept this code word system to prevent the worst-case scenario and ensure that he could mobilize some of the organization's resources as the boss even without an internal network account.

"That's right. It's definitely the boss!"

The leader's body was already trembling uncontrollably:

To prevent high-ranking moles from impersonating him and issuing orders, Diavolo designed a unique code word for every cadre and leader in the organization at the time.

Therefore, there can only be two people who remember this code: this long-dormant junior leader and the boss himself.

The other party's identity has been almost 100% confirmed.

"Boss."

The junior leader straightened his chest, and for a moment seemed to have rediscovered the glory of fighting on the front lines:

"I am your person, please feel free to ask me anything!"

March 26, 1999, 8:36 AM.

In an unassuming inn outside Naples.

"Mr. Carne, please don't kill me."

A man collapsed helplessly in his own blood, his voice hoarse with pain:

"Those explosives and weapons were all ordered by the boss to be transferred to Naples; it wasn't a decision I made on my own."

"Believe me, I secretly placed all those supplies in a port warehouse in Naples. I never sold them."

"You can go see me right now. I really didn't betray the organization!"

He strained to raise his head, pleading for the pity of the obese man before him.

But Carne, one of the boss's Royal Guard, remained unmoved:

"Did the boss order you to do this?"

"Heh. He's just a low-level henchman in the logistics team, yet he's already so arrogant as to impersonate the boss and steal and sell organization supplies!"

Carne raised his thick, pillar-like thigh and stomped on the traitor's bloodstained head:

"Damn it! Damn it!"

"Do you think I'll forgive your sins if you just spit out the stolen goods now?!"

"That's the boss, the supreme boss."

"You despicable and shameless vermin, how dare you use that filthy cavity on your head that only devours excrement to blaspheme the boss's sacred name!"

Carne was furious, almost to the point of madness, as if he had witnessed his god, whom he worshipped day and night, being blasphemed.

He stomped on the shameful traitor beneath his feet with increasing force.

In the end, the poor little leader was trampled to death.

Just then, Carne's phone rang.

Carne picked up his phone and glanced at it; his expression immediately turned fanatical.

"Boss?"

"Why are you making the call yourself?"

"I've dealt with that traitor who stole organizational supplies under your name. Please forgive me, I couldn't find out about his accomplices. But the weapons and explosives he stole seem to be hidden in a port warehouse somewhere in Naples."

Diavolo on the other end of the phone frowned as he listened.

He was currently focused on dealing with Li Qing, who had successfully escaped by sea, and had no time to investigate the secondary matter of the stolen supplies.

"That's not important."

Diavolo completely forgot what he had just heard:

"He's just a petty thief; you don't need to investigate further."