Great, we're doomed now!

"Really?" Maria was overjoyed and immediately turned into a puppy, rubbing her face against Ye Shou's trouser leg repeatedly—it seemed that Ye Shou would be willing to lick her shoes even if she asked him to.

"As expected, Lord Ye Shou is the best to me, I knew it!"

"Stop! Shut up!"

Ye Shou wouldn't forget that beneath that cold and beautiful exterior lay a dog-headed man, and immediately pulled his foot out roughly.

"Don't just pick me up like that!"

"Good~"

Maria squatted on the ground, obediently raising her smiling face, almost sticking out her tongue and wagging her tail—Ye Shou felt the gazes around him becoming increasingly piercing.

"You should look like a jackal, not a dog... Anyway, answer me first, why did you come to me instead of Polnareff? He's the one who's fighting alongside you, isn't he?"

"I am grateful to Lord Polnareff and respect his ability and integrity as a swordsman, but if I may be so bold, he doesn't look like a wealthy man at all!"

"It's also..."

Maria said smugly, "From my observations these past few days, I've found that human females can get almost anything by using this kind of coquettish behavior to woo males, but things can get quite awkward if the male is short of money."

I'm a Stand who understands human nature perfectly! I will absolutely not let Lord Polnareff be put in a difficult position!

"...Do I look like a rich person?" Ye Shou was puzzled, as he had been keeping a low profile lately.

“Yes, my former master was a craftsman who made swords for the upper class. I have seen those nobles who spend lavishly, but even the most distinguished among them do not have your kind of temperament.”

temperament?

Ye Shou raised an eyebrow: As a substitute, Anubis's view of the world may be different from what ordinary people observe with their naked eyes.

Thinking about it carefully, this guy doesn't have sensory organs in the usual sense, but he can choose hosts according to his own standards, so perhaps he has some kind of perception and can distinguish a person's aura, talent, or something like that.

"Okay, I'll order one for you when I'm done with this. If you can't wait..."

Wow~

Ye Shou took out a small box from his "pocket". When he opened it, he could see a row of uniformly sized gems of various colors neatly arranged inside, which made Anubis' eyes widen.

Perhaps because it was possessing a woman's body, it couldn't help but tremble, and its breathing became much more rapid.

"These are some of the emergency measures I prepare for certain moments. They are not particularly expensive, but they are more than enough for decoration."

Ye Shou shook the box: "Want it?"

"Ok!"

Mariah had just reached out her hand when she forcefully pulled it back: "No! I have to hold back!"

"After defeating Dio, Lord Ye Shou will definitely give me something even better!"

"……Oh!"

Ye Shou shook his head, smiled, and put the box back.

Before this, he never imagined that a substitute for a knife would have a love of beauty... However, its antics did remind Ye Shou.

"Anubis, do you know what Mr. Joseph's family does?"

"It looks like some kind of conglomerate?" Maria looked up. "What's wrong?"

“The SPW Foundation, strictly speaking, is not his family’s business, but it’s not wrong to understand it that way.”

All of our logistical support along the way has been provided by the SPW Foundation, and will continue to be so in the future.

Their plan was to transport equipment for fighting vampires to Egypt to meet us, but besides that, they also brought a very beautiful natural gemstone.

"A gemstone?" Anubis's interest was piqued. "What kind?"

“I’ve never seen one either,” Ye Shouyi smiled. “But if nothing unexpected happens, that kind of gem will become a hidden trump card… If you have any extras, put one on the hilt of your sword—you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

"Oh! Long live Lord Ye Shou!"

"Don't come any closer! Sitdown!"

-

Duwuwuwuwuwu!

As the cruise ship sailed away from the port of Sri Lanka, the SPW Foundation also took away the two Stand users. The five people hidden in the crowd watched the steel behemoth leave, showing nostalgic expressions, but they became serious again after only a moment.

"Okay, now we'll change course and cross Sri Lanka by land, using the 'Adam's Bridge' to enter the South Asian subcontinent!"

Leaving the port, Joseph seemed very excited: "That guy Dio has taken over my grandfather Jonathan Joestar's body, so he can probably sense the location of the connected bloodline, which is why we can't shake off his men no matter what."

But now things have taken a turn for the better!

Joe pointed with his prosthetic finger to the Egyptian dagger worn by Popo at his waist.

"Thanks to the god Anubis, we have obtained a prisoner."

Maria! One of Dio's trusted 'Nine Gods', they are elites directly appointed by Dio. Generally, these people are either Dio's fanatical worshippers or have been implanted with flesh buds, making it difficult to pry them open their mouths.

But Dio never imagined that we would have an extra body that could possess us. Thanks to the cooperation of the god Anubis, I was able to successfully obtain the information in Maria's mind.

In other words, we now have Dior's 'orders'!

Abuder showed the crowd a radio transceiver the size of a suitcase—it had been found in Maria's room.

"Radio stations, codes, outposts, ciphers, secret numbers—all the key information in the intelligence network has been obtained!"

Even if Dio realizes there's a problem, it will take some time to get all the assassins to switch to new communication methods. This fleeting chaos is enough for us to do a lot!

According to the decoded text, the last order the assassins, including Maria, received was to go to the port of Calcutta, India, to ambush us.

"Now's a window of opportunity. We don't need to evade Dio's pursuit; we just need to be faster than those assassins!"

"Great, that gets me all fired up!"

Bobo clasped his hands in a fist salute: "I can't wait to get to Cairo and give him a good beating!"

“There will be that opportunity, Polnareff.”

Ye Shou patted Bobo, then looked at the rising sun in the east: "It's a good day. If all goes well, we should be able to reach Adam's Bridge by evening."

-

Adam Bridge, connecting Manna Island in Sri Lanka and Rommesvale Island in India, is not a man-made bridge, but a series of limestone sandbars at the bottom of the strait.

The depths are seven or eight meters, while the shallows are just above ankle level. Depending on the tidal cycle, there are even periods when large areas of coral reefs are exposed, stretching for 48 kilometers, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden.

Looking down from the air, you'll see a striking sand dune, a blend of light blue and white, stretching across the deep blue sea. It relentlessly connects Sri Lanka with the Indian subcontinent, showcasing the magnificent artistry of nature.

It is now known to Western tourists as the "Adam's Bridge," but in twenty years, as we enter the new century, it will receive a new name—the "Rama's Bridge."

This is because the Indian government discovered from US satellite photos that this series of sandbars perfectly matched the description of "Rama Bridge" in mythology, so it took it upon itself to name it and claimed that there were human remains here from millions of years ago, which just matched the records in the Ramayana, thus proving that India is a country with a million-year history of civilization.

This claim is opposed by many religious figures even within India, and is generally not recognized internationally.

Of course, there hasn't been a series of farces surrounding this sandbar yet, and Adam's Bridge isn't among the most famous tourist attractions in Sri Lanka.

Ye Shou and his group of four boarded a speedboat and headed towards the mainland across the sandbar. Although it was a perilous journey, the sunset painted the shimmering sea with a lonely tranquility, as if only a small boat remained in this vast world.

At first, Bobo was chatting and laughing, but he gradually became infected by the scenery and fell silent.

“Mr. Joseph, it’s time,” Avdol reminded him, taking the box out of the storage compartment.

Sizzle... sizzle...

"Ok?"

The radio noise caught Joseph's attention. He handed the driver's seat to Ye Shou and went to the back seat. Together with Avdol, they opened the box, took out the radio device, and carefully adjusted it according to the frequency they had obtained earlier.

Buzz... Ding!

"it is good!"

As Er Qiao put on his headphones, everyone held their breath, except for him, who was writing and drawing with a pen and paper.

After a long while, the radio broadcast ended, and Er Qiao carefully browsed the information on it before letting out a sigh of relief.

"As expected, Dio hasn't used the new means of communication yet. This message is an order for the Stand users who were heading to Calcutta to cease their operations and instead blockade the sea area from Sri Lanka to India... Ha, by the time they reach their positions, we'll already be in India!"

Abdel was relieved to hear this. Traveling from India to Iran was very convenient, and jumping to Egypt would be much simpler. As long as they kept going, they shouldn't be caught by the assassins.

"That will make our journey a little easier... Ouch!"

It was probably static electricity; when he took off his headphones, Joseph got a little bit of a shock, but he didn't think much of it, put away his radio, and returned to the driver's seat.

As darkness fell, the speedboat moved forward steadily. In the hazy distance, a huge shadow stretched between the sea and the sky ahead, and Joseph couldn't help but yawn due to the long drive.

"Let me give it a try!"

Bobo rubbed his hands together, looking eager to try it out: "It doesn't look difficult. I've already memorized your instructions, so it'll be fine."

"Huh? That won't do."

Joseph refused Bobo's offer, his eyes fixed on the increasingly clear coastline ahead: "Sailing at sea is easy, but getting to shore will be a problem. If I give it to you, you'll probably just head straight for the dock, won't you?"

"Don't you trust me at all?"

"I'm just trying to avoid any unnecessary complications."

"Tsk, forget it, you stingy guy, hmph!"

"Polnareff...you're not a kid anymore, learn to be more mature."

Joseph sighed and continued to focus on the distance ahead. He could now see the outline of the dock and estimated that they would be able to dock smoothly in a few dozen seconds.

His gaze was so focused, he was practically a statue...

Ye Shou was lying on the ship's railing enjoying the sea breeze, but he gradually realized something was wrong: "Shouldn't we slow down now?"

It was difficult to judge direction in the darkness, but the lights on the dock were becoming increasingly dazzling. The speed of the small boat did not decrease at all, nor did it adjust its angle or trajectory. It rushed straight ahead like a torpedo!

"wrong!"

Avdol also stood up: "Mr. Joestar?"

"Don't worry about him, he's a 'mature man,' he'll be fine."

Popovich was still joking when Aboudal strode forward and grabbed Joe Jr.—

"He... he actually fell asleep with his eyes open?!"

Avdel found it hard to believe, but Joseph's steady breathing and unchanging expression proved that the old man had entered a deep sleep.

"Huh? Sleeping? No, who's sailing the boat now?"