The situation had become disastrous.
Even if ordinary people could not see Meat Chunk itself, they could still see the bizarre trail left by that enormous monster as it moved across the land.
Yet this young thug had suddenly charged out from a side street and slipped directly into the awkward position behind Li Qing and in front of Meat Chunk.
At the time, he had only seen Li Qing flash past the intersection on his motorcycle. He had not seen the invisible monster seventy or eighty meters behind Li Qing, relentlessly pursuing him and devouring everything in its path.
Worse still, the motorcycle he was riding seemed to be one of those specially modified, ear-splitting models favored by street racers.
Its engine was loud enough to drown out every sound around it.
That deafening noise usually made nearby residents miserable, but now it had come back to bite the young thug riding the motorcycle—
Meat Chunk, now as large as a detached villa, was right behind him. Yet the engine's roar had made his ears ring, preventing him from hearing the massive commotion as the monster uprooted trees and smashed through obstacles behind him.
Right now, all he could see was Li Qing fleeing ahead of him:
"Stop!"
"Or I'll shoot!"
The young thug waved the revolver in his hand as an empty threat while frantically accelerating toward Li Qing.
"Damn it!"
Li Qing knew that Meat Chunk's aggro had definitely been drawn away by the young thug, whose vehicle was faster.
And with Meat Chunk so close to him, it would probably take less than two seconds for it to swallow that little bread roll that had suddenly appeared before it.
"Giorno, get over here and help!"
He shouted for Giorno, who was currently traveling down another street, to come back and assist him.
But this was not some open plain. Restricted by the roads and terrain, Giorno could not return to Meat Chunk's detection range in time to deal with the problem.
With no other choice, Li Qing had to save the unlucky idiot who was about to be swallowed whole. He fiercely twisted the throttle, pushing his speed further into license-revocation territory.
Soon, his speed reached a shocking 90 km/h.
Meat Chunk, which had been mere meters away from reaching its tentacles toward its prey, suddenly paused and shifted its attention back to Li Qing farther ahead.
"Hey!"
Having reclaimed Meat Chunk's aggro, Li Qing had no choice but to maintain his speed while turning back to shout at the young thug:
"Idiot, stop chasing me!"
"Slow down and pull over now!!"
"Huh?"
The young thug's ears were practically deafened by the motorcycle engine beneath him. He could not hear Li Qing's urgent, furious warning at all.
On the contrary, seeing Li Qing's overly agitated expression, he took it as the motorcycle thief provoking him:
"Fine!"
"You still dare act so arrogant? Just wait to die!"
With that, he unhesitatingly increased his speed even further, clearly intent on catching Li Qing in one burst.
"..."
Li Qing knew that he had fallen into a deadlock:
If he sped up, the enraged young thug would definitely chase him even faster, and Meat Chunk's aggro would immediately be drawn back to that foolish troublemaker.
If he slowed down, the young thug would absolutely catch up to him first, then slow down and force him to stop.
Giorno still could not reach Meat Chunk's detection range within these two seconds, and Meat Chunk's target remained this reckless fool.
And he was simply too close to Meat Chunk. If he drew its aggro again, he probably would not last even a second before dying on the spot.
Li Qing could not even warn that idiot to turn around and look at the "invisible monster" behind him:
If he saw the bizarre sight of the ground constantly cracking and collapsing behind him despite there clearly being nothing there, he would definitely panic and crank the throttle even harder.
"..."
Li Qing was so frustrated that he could not speak:
Not only were his driving skills mediocre for a blind driver, but the motorcycle beneath him was also far inferior to the young thug's ride in performance.
No matter how hard he twisted the throttle, this motorcycle could only reach around 100 km/h.
The young thug chasing behind him only needed to get slightly serious and accelerate a little to steadily surpass Li Qing.
As a result, even if Li Qing wanted to reclaim Meat Chunk's aggro, he was not qualified to play any life-or-death race with the other man.
More importantly, there was no time left:
Given that the young thug was currently traveling at 110 km/h, while Meat Chunk was roughly five meters behind him, how many seconds did he have left to live?
In short.
Just wait to die.
Li Qing thought helplessly.
In fact, he and Giorno had briefly discussed how they should handle "interferences" like this young thug that might be difficult to remove during combat.
Their conclusion was: do not deal with them.
It was not that they were indifferent to life, but that after a brief consideration, they had concluded this was the best option:
Forcing themselves to save "interferences" that were difficult to remove might not save them anyway. Instead, it could easily put themselves in danger and cause their plan of luring the monster into the sea to fail completely.
On the other hand, if they did not meddle, one or two minor "interferences" like this could at most delay them for a few seconds before being swallowed by the rampaging Meat Chunk.
And once Meat Chunk had eaten the "interference," it would quickly be drawn back to Giorno and Li Qing, returning to its proper course toward the vast sea.
Don't blame me...
Your luck was just bad.
With such a huge commotion, you still failed to notice it and even delivered yourself right into Meat Chunk's mouth.
You were speeding and making all that noise. If you drive recklessly, not even God can save you.
In that lightning-fast instant, at the final moment of the young thug's life, these words of self-consolation surfaced in Li Qing's mind.
And in the end, his decision was—
"I'll save him!"
Li Qing turned to look at the young thug who was about to be devoured by Meat Chunk, his eyes suddenly growing firm:
"This guy is here because I took his things."
"I said it before: I, Li Qing, am not some useless bastard who needs others to clean up his mess. So..."
"Since I started this, I'll solve it!"
As he spoke, he casually abandoned the motorcycle speeding beneath him and instead locked his attention onto Giorno, who was already within the range of his skill.
The young thug's speed had already exceeded the limit Li Qing's motorcycle could reach. Li Qing could not outrun him with the motorcycle and could only use his skill's effect to shift Meat Chunk's aggro:
"Golden Bell Shield!"
Li Qing suddenly shot into the air at an incomprehensibly terrifying speed.
He was faster than the motorcycle, faster than everything around him.
"Th-This?"
The young thug pursuing him immediately froze in stunned disbelief:
"He can fly?!"
Overwhelmed by indescribable shock, he instinctively slowed down and stared from afar at Li Qing, who was "riding the wind through the air," as though looking at an alien.
Then something even more shocking happened:
A violent gust and a tsunami-like blast of air suddenly erupted not far behind him.
It was the air current stirred up by some massive object moving at extreme speed.
It was like recklessly standing beyond the yellow safety line on a high-speed rail platform. The young thug felt the air pressure behind him suddenly shift, nearly sweeping both him and his motorcycle away.
Immediately afterward, a massive black shadow blocked the sunlight above his head, only to flash past in that fierce wind.
At that moment, this young punk, who had drifted through life in muddleheaded comfort and squandered his precious life like toilet paper, tasted the weight of the word "death" for the first time.
I'll die... I'm going to die...
Amid the whirlwind of gale-force winds and phantoms, he fell into despair.
But soon, the storm rapidly subsided, and the phantom streaked past.
Bang!
The sound of something heavy striking the ground rang out nearby, and the hard steel-and-concrete pavement instantly cracked apart like mud.
"Ahhh!"
The young thug cried out in alarm, hurriedly steadied his motorcycle, and slowed to a stop.
Then, at last, he clearly saw what had caused that demonic wind, clearly saw the enormous black shadow that had nearly swept him away:
"My God..."
He sat blankly on the stalled motorcycle, the hand holding his revolver trembling slightly:
"Th-That's such a huge lump of meat!!"
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