Chapter 69: Dio: Suddenly, I have a bad feeling...

The surrounding scenery shifted once more. Unlike the inter-world teleportation of the God's Main Space, Chen Mo felt no semi-conscious, dreamlike transition. It felt simply as though he closed his eyes and opened them again, finding himself instantly in another world.

Chen Mo looked around. Aside from the Stardust Crusaders he had seen earlier, the rest were fellow members from the chat group:

Tokisaki Kurumi, wearing a black Gothic dress;
Emiya Shirou, a young man with brownish-red short hair;
Valon, the leader of the Syndicate dressed in a green suit;
Han Li, a plain-looking man in traditional ancient attire;
Aqua, a young girl with long blue hair as ethereal as water;
Xiao Yan, a young man carrying a gigantic black heavy ruler;
And Lu Mingfei, a youth hiding among the crowd, looking somewhat timid and submissive.

One could easily guess who was who simply from their attire and appearance.

Wait, was there someone else missing?

A delicate, slender hand reached out and gently patted Chen Mo's shoulder. Chen Mo turned back to see a young woman with waist-length straight black hair, wearing a traditional two-piece outfit and possessing an extremely stunning appearance.

Even with the formidable mental strength and willpower Chen Mo had forged over the past few days, he could not help but be momentarily dazzled by such breathtaking beauty. Recovering quickly, Chen Mo nodded politely toward the woman.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Kaguya."

"Mm-hmm, a pleasure."

Mount Houraisan Kaguya displayed a gentle smile, withdrew her hand back into her wide sleeves, and looked toward the group.

"I am Houraisan Kaguya."
"This humble one is Han Li."
"I am the goddess Aqua..."
...

After everyone finished introducing themselves, the younger Joseph led the group to rent an entire inn. After all, the scorching Egyptian sun was still blazing outside, and gathering a dozen people on the main street was far too conspicuous.

"Modern society after such a long time... yet it's Egypt." Xiao Yan looked around curiously at the surrounding environment. "However, the environment is much better than I expected?"

"Egypt has its wealthy districts too. After all, we have a princess among us, so we certainly can't slack on hospitality," Joseph said with a smile.

"Hey, are you treating me like some pampered young lady who doesn't lift a finger?" Kaguya puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. "I'm not that delicate, you know. Have you people not read *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*?"

" *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*... Mr. Joestar mentioned that the members of his 'chat group' all come from other worlds," Kakyoin Noriaki stepped forward, asking curiously. "Could it really be, as the story says, that you are a princess from the moon?"

"That's right, genuine and true... But let's save these topics for later. We've come here this time to deal with that man named Dio Brando. Social chats and discussions can wait until the matter is resolved."

Chen Mo turned to look at Han Li beside him and asked, "Brother Han, can you use your spiritual sense to locate Dio's whereabouts?"

"I can."

Han Li nodded and drew a circle on the map laid out on the table before them.

"If the intelligence is accurate, according to my spiritual scan, Dio is inside the house indicated right here on the map."

"It's certainly convenient when a mental-type cultivator searches for people," Chen Mo said with a trace of envy. "My team is currently lacking a mental-type specialist."

The next reincarnation world would likely feature a pair of twin girls, one of whom possessed innate talent as a mental-type combatant, but those two had rather poor personalities and would probably find it difficult to integrate into the Northern Ice Continent Team. Most likely, they were not the type he could put to use.

"Not at all. I am far inferior to the mental-type cultivator Brother Chen mentioned," Han Li shook his head, speaking with modesty. "Compared to the mental-type practitioners in your world who can easily sweep across a radius of hundreds or thousands of miles with their awareness, my clumsy spiritual probing seems rather crude. Still, it should serve its purpose well enough at a time like this."

Chen Mo nodded. "Speaking of which, Brother Han, after arriving in this world, didn't you sense anything unusual? I recall that cultivators in your world require spiritual Qi. Does this world have any?"

"No," Han Li replied. "Though this world does possess spiritual energy, it is extremely sparse and mixed with other foreign elements, making it completely unabsorbable and unusable."

"However, I have not been affected by this. For some reason, my spiritual power is continuously and slowly replenishing. Although the rate is very sluggish—similar to the speed at which I would meditate to recover spiritual power in a regular area of the Chaotic Star Seas—it is indeed being replenished, so I haven't suffered any adverse effects."

"That must be the handiwork of the chat group then," Chen Mo mused thoughtfully.

"The chat group not only transports us freely between different worlds but also allows us to move and fight without restriction within those worlds. Whether it's the spiritual power within you, Brother Han, or my own genetic lock, it's all the same."

"And the selection of who gets pulled across is quite peculiar as well," Xiao Yan chimed in.

"Both myself and the items on my person were brought along, including the materials and tools inside my storage ring, but my teacher didn't come along with me."

"After all, the mission only allows chat group members to participate individually. If it were a world-travel ticket privilege, then one could bring others along," Kaguya explained to them, then glanced around and asked, "Speaking of which, I haven't seen Miss Aqua since just now... Where did she run off to?"

Everyone froze, only to realize that Aqua was nowhere to be seen.

"Um..." Lu Mingfei raised his hand, speaking weakly.

"Just after Han Li pointed out Dio's location, Aqua shouted something about 'Vampire Extermination' and charged straight out. Because you guys were chatting, nobody noticed her leave..."

"..."

A heavy silence fell over the group.

Emiya Shirou wiped the sweat beading on his forehead. "Shouldn't there be any problems? Miss Aqua is a goddess, after all, and she naturally counters Dio that vampire. She won't run into any danger, right...?"

"Dio has a few gatekeeping Stand users under his command, like Cream and Horus; none of them are weak..." Chen Mo pinched the bridge of his nose.

"With Aqua's combat power and luck, winning is practically impossible... Besides, Dio's vampirism leans much closer to a pure biological mutation rather than being an undead or dark entity; where on earth would she get any counter-attribute against him?!"

"Yare yare daze..." Facing the chaotic situation before him, Jotaro let out a helpless sigh.

"Let's hurry and catch up. The abilities of Dio's subordinates, as well as Dio's own abilities, have already been figured out. Combined with our side's ample and powerful combat strength, as long as no unexpected anomalies occur, resolving this shouldn't be too difficult."

"I somehow feel like you just jinxed it," Lu Mingfei muttered softly under his breath.

"Everyone, let's move out," Chen Mo smiled. "After this mission is over, we'll all go out and eat roasted meat together."

"You really did just jinx it, hey!" Lu Mingfei shouted aloud in protest.

...

Deep inside his coffin, Dio Brando abruptly snapped his eyes open.

Just a moment ago, a grim premonition welled up from the depths of his heart, as if some terrible misfortune was about to descend upon his head out of nowhere.

Yet, a second later, he sneered and cast this inexplicable feeling aside.

"Scaring myself over nothing... Still, Jotaro and his group must have arrived in this city by now. It's time to make some preparations to welcome them properly..."