Amor worked for Italy's most promising "company." He had a stable, high-paying job, underlings who respected and trusted him, a gentle and virtuous wife at home, and adorable, sensible children.
From an ordinary person's perspective, Amor truly had everything.
But—
He had always felt that something was missing.
What was it?
Amor had forgotten before, but seeing Li Qing, this "Stand User," today made him remember—
A dream.
He wanted to become a Gang-star.
Yet after Amor officially joined the Passion Organization, that dream had shattered:
Only Stand Users with supernatural abilities were qualified to become core members of the organization and challenge for the position of capo.
Amor was merely an ordinary man.
However, as an ordinary man, Amor had actually had two choices back then:
First, go to Naples and find the organization capo Polpo, then undergo an initiation trial rumored to have a 99% fatality rate. If he succeeded, he could become a core member of the Passion Organization as he wished.
Second, make use of the skills he had honed in other gangs and serve as an external cleaner—a low-status but high-paying job that was not particularly demanding.
Afraid of death, Amor gave up on his dream and chose the second option.
Thus, he honestly collected his pay, trained apprentices, and helped the organization dispose of corpses day after day.
Until just now:
That bald "Stand User" had seen through his final scheme and firmly struck a "targeting orb" onto his arm.
After the white orb hit him, a glowing white target mark immediately appeared on his right forearm.
What he had observed during the earlier battle made him understand:
Anyone marked by that white light would absolutely be unable to evade Li Qing's Echoes Act and its high-speed, lethal assault.
If nothing unexpected happened, today would be the day he died.
"Damn it."
Amor stared fixedly at the white mark on his right arm and roared through gritted teeth:
"I joined the mafia to become a Gang-star, not to come here and haul corpses!"
"I've lived half my life in mediocrity, and in the end—"
"Am I still going to die as some lowly grunt?!"
At that instant, blazing flames ignited in his eyes.
Then Amor suddenly extended his left hand, the one not marked by the orb, and swiftly drew an incomparably sharp dagger from his waist.
"What are you trying to do?"
For the first time, ripples appeared on Li Qing's calm expression.
"Ha ha ha!"
Amor laughed wildly.
"Baldy, I thought you were just an idiot with Stand powers but no tactical sense."
"I never expected you to perform so unexpectedly."
"Good. Very good."
"This is the battle I've longed for. This is the life I've longed for!"
"Then—"
Amor gripped the dagger tightly and roared himself hoarse:
"Let me tell you, Baldy!"
"If you want the glory of victory, you need more than brains—you also need resolve—"
"The resolve to cast everything aside!"
As soon as the words left his mouth—
A shrill whistle of a sharp weapon tearing through the air rang out from his hand, followed by the metallic hum of a blade trembling faintly within the swirling air currents.
Li Qing had never anticipated Amor's desperate counterattack.
The instant Sonically Enhanced Wave struck Amor, he had instinctively activated the second stage of Echoes Act. Now, in a posture he could not restrain even himself, he rapidly lunged toward that target mark.
Then Li Qing finally understood what Amor had done:
He had cut off his own hand.
With all his strength and at the fastest speed possible, he had severed his glowing, marked right forearm cleanly at the root with one slash.
Amor's blade was so fast that his right forearm separated from his body in an instant.
Then—
Amid the spraying blood, all the force of Li Qing's Echoes Act charge struck the severed arm before it could even fall to the ground.
The force of Echoes Act's dash was so tremendous that Li Qing even rammed the arm, which he had blasted into pulp with a single strike, straight into the wall of the nearby alley.
In the end, Li Qing hurriedly turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with the dark muzzle of the gun in Amor's hand, aimed firmly at the center of his brow.
The muzzle had already locked onto his head. Under these circumstances, his ability to dodge bullets by predicting the gun's direction was completely useless.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Amor endured the pain of his severed arm and did his utmost to steady the pistol clenched in his hand.
"Just as I thought."
"I was right!"
"Your charging ability doesn't lock onto people—it locks onto that mark!"
"As long as I cut off the marked part, you'll stupidly ram straight into that severed arm!"
"Now, your 'Stand ability' has entered its 'rest period.'"
"We're five or six meters apart now. Before you can rush over, I can definitely empty my magazine!"
"Your speed is limited. Even if your senses are sharp, how many bullets can you dodge?"
"And you—"
Amor glanced at the health bar above Li Qing's head, which had only 48% remaining.
"With less than half your health left, how many shots can you take?"
Li Qing remained silent, as though he had already fallen into despair.
At the sight, a surge of irrepressible excitement and fervor finally welled up in Amor's usually calm eyes.
"Boss, Boss, did you see that?!"
"I, Amor, defeated a Stand User with a mortal body!"
"I—I have what it takes to enter the organization's core and become a Passion capo!"
Amor used the world's rule of "exposition time stop" to voice his lofty ambitions. However—
What answered him was Li Qing's incomparably calm voice:
"Amor, that move of yours really was unexpected."
"But."
"But what?!"
Amor had a bad feeling.
This instinctive fear reminded him of his former self—the mediocre, death-fearing middle-aged thug.
The feeling disgusted him.
So Amor roared in near-unbearable fury:
"My gun won't miss!"
"Even with one hand severed, even while enduring this tremendous pain, my gun won't miss!"
"Heh."
Li Qing smiled noncommittally and merely continued:
"But."
"Everything you just said rests on the condition that 'my skill is on cooldown and I have no other ranged attack methods.'"
"What?!"
Amor's heart rippled again.
"Don't tell me you have another 'Stand ability'?"
"No, I don't."
Li Qing shook his head frankly.
After killing those four men in black just now, the experience bar on his system interface had indeed risen considerably.
But the experience contributed by the four men in black had merely brought his experience bar close to full. It was still not enough for him to reach level two and gain a new skill point.
"But."
Li Qing smiled faintly, and as if performing a magic trick, produced a gun in his hand.
"Amor."
He awkwardly aimed the muzzle at Amor's twisted face and said with a smile:
"Before I came downstairs, I took some toys from your underlings."
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