Driving Improperly

The situation had devolved into an absolute disaster.

Ordinarily, even if one couldn't see the flesh lump itself, they'd at least notice the bizarre tracks it left behind as the colossal monster moved across the land.

But this punk had suddenly burst out from a side street and maneuvered himself into an awkward position directly behind Li Qing, and in front of the flesh lump.

At the time, he'd only seen Li Qing on the motorcycle flash past the intersection. He hadn't seen the invisible monster, about 70 to 80 meters behind Li Qing, relentlessly pursuing him and devouring everything in its path.

Even worse, the motorcycle he was riding seemed to be one of those "loud pipes" modified by those biker gangs.

Its engine roar was loud enough to drown out all other sounds.

This deafening noise, which normally made the surrounding residents complain incessantly, was now backfiring on the punk riding the motorcycle—

The flesh lump, currently the size of a detached villa, was right behind him, yet he was so disoriented by the engine's roar that he couldn't hear the massive commotion of the monster approaching from behind, uprooting trees and toppling mountains.

At this very moment, all he could see was Li Qing speeding away in front of him:

"Stop the bike!"

"Or I'll shoot!"

The punk waved his revolver in a show of intimidation while frantically accelerating to close in on Li Qing.

"Damn it!"

Li Qing knew the flesh lump's aggro must have been diverted to the faster punk.

And the flesh lump was too close to the punk; it would probably swallow that minivan that had suddenly appeared before it in less than two seconds.

"Giorno, hurry up and help!"

He loudly called out to Giorno, who was currently on another street, to come back and help.

However, this wasn't an open plain. Due to the unfavorable road and terrain conditions, Giorno couldn't return to the flesh lump's perception range quickly enough to help resolve the predicament.

With no other choice, to save the unfortunate kid about to be swallowed whole by the flesh lump, Li Qing had no choice but to slam on the gas, pushing his speed to the point of license revocation.

Soon, his speed reached an astonishing 90 km/h.

The flesh lump, which had been inches away from extending its tentacles to its prey, suddenly paused and refocused its attention on Li Qing ahead.

"Hey!"

Having successfully re-attracted the flesh lump's aggro, Li Qing had to maintain his speed while looking back and shouting at the punk:

"Idiot, stop chasing!"

"Slow down and stop right now!!"

"Huh?"

The punk's ears were almost deafened by his own motorcycle's engine. He couldn't hear Li Qing's urgent and angry warning at all.

On the contrary, seeing Li Qing's overly agitated expression, he mistook it as the car thief provoking him:

"Alright!"

"You dare to be so arrogant? Just wait and die!"

With that, he unhesitatingly pushed his speed even higher, intending to catch up to Li Qing in one go.

"."

Li Qing knew he had fallen into a stalemate:

If he increased his speed, the enraged punk would definitely pursue him even faster, and the flesh lump's aggro would immediately be drawn back to that foolish nuisance.

If he slowed down, the punk would definitely catch up to him first before slowing down to force him to stop.

Giorno wouldn't reach the flesh lump's perception range within these two seconds, and the flesh lump's target remained this clueless guy.

And he was too close to the flesh lump. If he truly managed to re-attract its aggro, he'd likely be instantly killed in less than a second.

Li Qing couldn't even warn that idiot to look back at the "invisible monster" behind him:

If he saw the bizarre sight of the ground cracking and collapsing behind him "with absolutely nothing there," he would undoubtedly panic and accelerate even more.

"."

Li Qing was so frustrated he couldn't even speak:

Not only was his driving skill mediocre, but the motorcycle he was riding was also much worse in performance than the punk's current ride.

No matter how much he revved the engine, this motorcycle could only reach around 100 km/h.

The punk chasing behind him, after just a slight increase in speed, had steadily surpassed Li Qing.

This way, even if Li Qing wanted to re-attract the flesh lump's aggro, he didn't have the qualifications to play a life-or-death race with the other party.

More importantly, there was no time:

Given that the punk's current speed was 110 km/h, and the flesh lump was about 5 meters behind him, how many seconds of remaining lifespan did this person have?

In conclusion...

"You might as well just wait for death!"

Li Qing thought with some helplessness.

In fact, he and Giorno had briefly discussed beforehand how to deal with "disruptors" like the street punk, who were difficult to eliminate during the operation.

The result of their discussion was: don't deal with them.

This wasn't because they disregarded life, but rather the best conclusion they reached after a moment of thought:

Forcibly trying to save these hard-to-eliminate "disruptors" might not succeed, and could instead put them in danger, causing their "luring the monster to the sea" operation to fail.

Conversely, as long as they didn't interfere, these one or two "disruptors" with minor impact would at most delay them for a few seconds before being swallowed by the rampaging mass of flesh.

After the mass of flesh consumed the "disruptor," it would quickly be re-attracted by Giorno and Li Qing, returning to the right track towards the vast ocean.

"Don't blame me."

"It's just your bad luck."

"You didn't pay attention to such a huge commotion and walked right into that mass of flesh's mouth."

"Speeding and causing a disturbance, driving recklessly, even God can't save you."

In that split second, in the final moments of the street punk's life, Li Qing had these self-comforting thoughts flash through his mind.

And his final decision was...

"I'll save him!"

Li Qing turned back to look at the street punk about to be devoured by the mass of flesh, his eyes suddenly becoming firm:

"The reason this guy is here, in the end, is because I took his stuff."

"I said it, I, Li Qing, am not the kind of trash who needs others to clean up my mess. So..."

"Since I started this, I'll finish it!"

With that, he casually tossed aside the motorcycle he was riding at high speed, shifting his attention to Giorno, who was now within his skill range.

At this point, the street punk's speed had exceeded the limit of Li Qing's motorcycle. Li Qing couldn't outpace him on the bike, so he could only rely on his skill to redirect the monster's aggro.

"Golden Bell Shield!"

Li Qing's figure suddenly soared into the air at a terrifying speed that left others in the dust.

His speed surpassed the motorcycle and everything else around him.

"W-what is this?"

The street punk, who was closely pursuing, was instantly stunned:

"He can fly?!"

In his inexpressible shock, he subconsciously slowed down his speed and looked at Li Qing, who was "flying with the wind," from a distance as if he were an alien.

Then, something even more shocking happened to the street punk:

A gust of wind, a tsunami-like blast of air, suddenly erupted not far behind him.

It was the air turbulence caused by a massive object moving at ultra-high speed.

It was as if he had foolishly stood within the safety yellow line at a high-speed train station. The street punk felt an immediate change in air pressure behind him, almost sweeping him and his motorcycle away.

Immediately after, a giant dark shadow blocked the sunlight above him, but it instantly flashed past in that gust of wind.

At this moment, the young hoodlum, who had been living a careless life, squandering his precious life like toilet paper, tasted the weight of the word "death" for the first time.

I'm going to die, I'm going to die...

In the vortex of wind and phantom, he fell into despair.

But soon, the storm quickly subsided, and the phantom flashed past.

Bang!

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed nearby. The hard ground, paved with reinforced concrete, instantly cracked into dust.

"Ahhh!"

The street punk cried out in alarm, hastily stabilizing his motorcycle and braking to a stop.

Then, he finally saw clearly the cause of that strange gust of wind, saw the giant dark shadow that had almost swept him away:

"My god..."

He sat dumbfounded on his stalled motorcycle, the hand holding his revolver trembling slightly.

"That's... that's a huge chunk of flesh!!"