Chapter 966: Bao |
When it came to Mai Yuqiang, Dio couldn’t help but shake his head and say, “Mai Yuqiang is a good guy in almost every way, but he has a bit of... to put it nicely, he's confident; to put it bluntly, he can be somewhat arrogant. That's why Mai Yuqiang is still looking for opportunities to monitor Bai Liang, even though Bai Liang hasn't shown any anomalies over the years. So, Liu Xing, you all need to be prepared because you might end up wasting your efforts.”
Liu Xing nodded and asked, “Dio, have you determined your final target in Morio Town yet? We can also allocate some manpower to help you investigate.”
“Heh, Liu Xing, since you and I have known each other for years, let’s not beat around the bush... Liu Xing, to put it plainly, you want me to give my target to Mai Yuqiang so that he can easily leave Morio Town with you. That’s right, Mai Yuqiang once told me that his presence in Morio Town was thanks to someone’s favor, and he intends to repay that favor in the future by leaving Morio Town to help someone, even if it means he might be harmed by the Swollen Woman,” Dio said with a smile.
Having his true thoughts exposed, Liu Xing scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, “I didn’t expect you to see right through me, Dio. Alright, I’ll be straight with you. The reason I came to Morio Town this time is that someone asked me to recruit Mai Yuqiang. Although Mai Yuqiang theoretically might need another year or so to repay this favor, he might be able to do so in a month or two. Therefore, I think it's best for Mai Yuqiang to leave Morio Town as soon as possible. So, Mr. Dio, what do you think?”
Dio sighed and nodded, “I thought we were like life-and-death friends, but I didn’t expect you to side with Mai Yuqiang. This is really disappointing. Fine, I’ll stop pretending. Actually, after learning that you came to Morio Town, I already guessed your purpose. So, I planned to share all the information I know with you. I’m not in a hurry to leave Morio Town anyway. However, I still hope that when you encounter Chris in the future, you can speak a few good words on my behalf.”
Hearing Dio say this, Liu Xing immediately patted his chest and said, “Of course. But speaking of which, Dio, have you actually found your target?”
“Yes, and I’ve found two,” Dio replied seriously. “Here’s the situation: Currently, I’ve identified two targets—one assassin and one undercover agent. The assassin’s identity is basically locked down. Once he makes a move, we can send him to meet the Swollen Woman. However, I’m not the only one eyeing this assassin. I’ve confirmed that at least two other groups are interested in him, and among these groups, there are three people just waiting to take him out. So, the competition is quite fierce.”
At this point, Li Hanxing couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t people who leave Morio Town supposed to be captured by the Swollen Woman? So why are these people so eager to leave Morio Town one by one? Wouldn’t it be better for them to stay in Morio Town and retire? After all, those assassins and undercover agents aren’t particularly strong, and the Morio Town Protection Association should find it easy to eliminate them promptly, right?”
Dio shrugged and smiled, “Morio Town is indeed a good place to retire, and with the Morio Town Protection Association around, those assassins and undercover agents can’t really stir up any trouble. But people with abilities tend to have wild ambitions. They don’t want to spend their entire lives in a small town like Morio Town, living unnoticed like ordinary people. Most importantly, many are the type who won’t realize their predicament until it’s too late. They all think that with their own strength, escaping the Swollen Woman’s pursuit isn’t that difficult, even though those who tried before have already failed.”
“Alright, if it were me, I would do the same,” Li Hanxing sighed. “If I were just an ordinary person, I’d be quite happy to spend a peaceful life in a slow-paced small city. But after discovering the truth about this world, I feel like my journey lies in the stars and the sea. A single town can’t hold me back.”
Sun Huiwen, who was nearby, couldn’t help but sigh, “Yeah, humans are such easily inflated beings. Once they gain a bit of power, they develop ambitions that don’t match their actual abilities. Of course, I’m no better. Nowadays, even ordinary people inevitably feel like they’re the only sober ones among a drunken crowd, thinking they’re superior to others.”
“Same here,” Liu Xing admitted a bit shyly. “Let’s get back to the main topic. Dio, can you tell us more about this assassin?”
Liu Xing had a feeling that he might have heard of this assassin’s name before...
“This assassin is named Bao. From the information we’ve gathered, Bao is a Scottish man born in the Island Nation. His parents died in a plane crash when he was very young, so Bao was raised by his parents’ friend, a Chinese businessman. Since the Chinese businessman had no children and had a very good relationship with Bao’s parents, he treated Bao very well. Bao has always been grateful to his adoptive father and has a great love for the Chinese language.”
“Therefore, Bao chose to major in Chinese during university. He originally planned to return to China with his adoptive father after graduation to settle down. However, fate had other plans. Bao’s adoptive father suddenly fell seriously ill and couldn’t be saved, ultimately dying in the Island Nation. Before he died, Bao’s adoptive father revealed the truth about the plane crash. In short, Bao’s parents were actually important members of an organization called the Anti-Secret Church. They came to the Island Nation with the purpose of destroying a secret cult.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of this secret cult because it’s now quite notorious. After all, it controls Cosmic Country—yes, the Deep Diving Society! So, Bao’s parents trying to overthrow the Deep Diving Society was almost impossible... Getting back to the main topic, Bao’s parents left the Island Nation to return to Scotland and call for reinforcements, but unfortunately, the Deep Diving Society struck first, sending several Deep Ones to hijack the plane and make it crash.”
“You can probably guess what happens next. Knowing the truth, Bao must have sworn revenge against the Deep Diving Society. So, he found his parents’ notes and began extensive research, using the substantial inheritance left by his adoptive father to fund his studies. However, we don’t know the specific direction of his research yet because it involves Bao’s abilities, which the Swollen Woman certainly wouldn’t let us know immediately.”
“In summary, Bao ultimately succeeded in destroying an important stronghold of the Deep Diving Society, but he himself went missing for a long time. He then suddenly arrived in Morio Town and took on the alias Araki Ikuo, opening an art studio in the new district to recruit students of all ages to learn painting from him. As for why we suspect he’s an assassin, it’s because this Bao doesn’t seem to fit the profile of a painter at all. His physique is on par with Mai Yuqiang’s.”
When Liu Xing first heard the name “Bao,” he felt it sounded somewhat familiar but couldn’t immediately recall where he had heard it. However, when he heard that Bao had changed his name to Araki Ikuo and had a physique comparable to Mai Yuqiang, he finally remembered who this Bao was.
First of all, Bao isn’t a character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but he has an inseparable connection to it because his work, Visitor Bao, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are created by the same person—Hirohiko Araki.
Although Visitor Bao isn’t a prequel to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, many character designs from Visitor Bao appear in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Bao is the original form of Kujo Jotaro’s Stand, Star Platinum. Since Kujo Jotaro is referred to as the humanoid Star Platinum, it can be inferred that Bao is Kujo Jotaro (Daiwage).
As for Bao’s design, it’s quite simple: he is a bio-engineered weapon with exceptional physical abilities, reaching and even surpassing human limits in almost every aspect.
From this perspective, the Bao currently in Morio Town must have undergone human modifications. In terms of melee abilities alone, he should be superior to Mai Yuqiang because Mai Yuqiang is, after all, still human.
At this point, Dio continued, “The reason we’re certain Bao is an assassin sent by the Swollen Woman took quite some effort. Bao is similar to Bai Liang in that, although he appears somewhat peculiar, he hasn’t shown any flaws, so over time, many people gave up monitoring him. One major reason we stopped monitoring him was the backstory the Swollen Woman assigned to him. Although we can’t leave Morio Town, we’ve developed several branches outside to gather intelligence, mainly to determine if anyone coming to live in Morio Town has any anomalies. This initially gave us an advantage, allowing us to identify multiple assassins and undercover agents. Unfortunately, the Swollen Woman quickly patched this loophole.”
“So, after investigating Bao’s background, we believed he, like us, was a down-and-out person who, after destroying that branch of the Deep Diving Society, had no choice but to hide in Morio Town. Therefore, we planned to observe him for a while longer before deciding whether to absorb him into the Morio Town Protection Association. I should clarify here that joining the Morio Town Protection Association is voluntary. After all, once you join, even if the Swollen Woman targets you, you’re on a point of no return. We don’t dare to lure people into the Morio Town Protection Association only to have them fight us desperately once they learn the truth. So, there are still many experts in Morio Town who haven’t stepped forward yet. However, once they take action, they automatically become members of the Morio Town Protection Association.”
“As a result of our detailed observations, we found that Bao’s mental state wasn’t very good. When he wasn’t teaching classes, he would zone out in his studio. Besides teaching students, he showed no interest in interacting with others. He wouldn’t even acknowledge parents coming to pay tuition fees. If his teaching level wasn’t high enough, his studio would have closed long ago. So, we suspect that Bao suffered some trauma while escaping the Deep Diving Society’s pursuit, affecting his mental state. Consequently, we determined he wasn’t suitable to join our Morio Town Protection Association. After that, we paid less attention to him, only occasionally glancing at his studio when passing by. Recently, one day, a few of my friends from Europe and America and I were having a barbecue party by the seaside when we saw Bao.”
“At that time, Bao was quite far from us, with a reef obstructing our view. So, we didn’t notice each other immediately. After the party ended and we started packing up, we suddenly heard an unnaturally loud noise from afar. We immediately realized something was wrong, so instinctively and cautiously approached that area. Then we saw Bao—or rather, the transformed Bao—hammering the reef with his bare hands. Honestly, from that moment on, I felt Bao could easily crush me into pulp with his fists, leaving no bone fragments, while I had no means to resist... I can’t even describe that scene properly. It was truly shocking! After a while, Bao reverted to his original form and quietly returned to Morio Town.”
“After that, we started tracking Bao again, but the rest of us didn’t disclose this incident because we realized Bao was likely an assassin sent by the Swollen Woman. Although we were all from Europe and America, we belonged to different squads, so we began competing with each other covertly. Everything went smoothly until we noticed that Bao’s mental state had reached a critical point. He could collapse into a battle state at any moment, unconsciously attacking everything around him until he regained his sanity. We all knew he wouldn’t be able to maintain his sanity for long and would soon become a completely rational, yet crazed destroyer. At that point, he would be an assassin for the Swollen Woman, and we’d have to take him out.”
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Chapter 967: Special