I Received Messages From Future Self!
Chapter 556 - 552: Taotie Awakened by Drawing

Chapter 556: Chapter 552: Taotie Awakened by Drawing

Fang Xiaocao executed a Praying Mantis Fist, forcing Zuo Ci to retreat step by step. Zuo Ci stared at Fang Xiaocao in shock.

His gaze carried a hint of existential doubt.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"How can your consciousness travel from the future back into a body in the past?"

Zuo Ci glared at Fang Xiaocao in disbelief, shouting angrily as he questioned.

Even with the undeniable truth standing before him, Zuo Ci remained unwilling to accept it—Fang Xiaocao could actually use consciousness to return from the future to the past.

To Zuo Ci, this was absolutely absurd. That technology—he was supposed to be the only one who mastered it.

Back when he pioneered this technology, it had shaken the entire scientific community, advancing the current state of technological development by over a century.

Even so, the technology was still unstable, forcing Zuo Ci to escape from Fang Xiaocao’s assassination attempts by traveling two hundred years into the future and then into The Late Eastern Han Dynasty.

He schemed for a thousand years to kill Fang Xiaocao in the future.

Through repeated cycles of suspended animation, he barely endured to the present day, almost oversleeping and missing his chance to hunt down Fang Xiaocao.

This wasn’t Zuo Ci’s first time crossing eras to chase him down—it had happened countless times before. Yet this attempt, the most successful one, was suddenly derailed by Fang Xiaocao’s consciousness traveling from the future back to the past.

Hearing Zuo Ci’s words, Fang Xiaocao casually halted in front of the car’s trunk, hands behind his back, with a faint smile: "Sun, combine hypnosis with technology to transfer consciousness—every one of these academic ideas was proposed by Grandma. You think you could pull it off, but Grandma couldn’t?"

"Have you never wondered why every time you traveled back in time to assassinate Grandma, you failed miserably, endured till the future, and painstakingly guided your future self, only to repeat the same cycle over and over again? Why is that?"

Fang Xiaocao’s gaze at Zuo Ci resembled that reserved for an idiot.

In the very next second—

Bang—

Fang Xiaocao swung his palm and harshly slapped Taotie, who was lying inside the trunk, across the face: "Damn food-gobbler, how long are you planning to sleep? Get up and start working!"

Smack smack smack—

Fang Xiaocao unleashed slap after slap on Taotie, who was struck with his favorite signature move—a flurry of loud, resounding slaps.

As long as Taotie didn’t wake up, Fang Xiaocao just kept slapping.

The intention was clear: to slap Taotie awake, no matter how long it took.

Meanwhile, Zuo Ci didn’t intervene. He had been so shocked by Fang Xiaocao’s words that he spiraled into existential doubt.

All his previously failed attempts flashed before his eyes, triggering an increasingly vibrant mix of expressions on Zuo Ci’s face over time.

"Impossible..."

"I don’t believe it..."

"Those scientific breakthroughs were clearly all completed by me alone—how could it possibly be..."

Zuo Ci muttered to himself repeatedly.

As Fang Xiaocao kept slapping Taotie, he kept an eye on Zuo Ci’s every move. Seeing Zuo Ci in a dazed and defeated state, Fang Xiaocao sneered coldly.

"Who?"

"Who slapped me?"

When Taotie’s face was swollen like a pig’s head, he finally woke up.

He jumped up from the trunk, shouting loudly.

Fang Xiaocao scoffed at Taotie, casting a sidelong glance: "Me, your Princess Your Highness. Now stop babbling and pay up..."

"Bah, I meant—go beat up Zuo Ci instead!"

Fang Xiaocao pointed at Zuo Ci, issuing her command.

Hiss—

Taotie covered his own face and sucked in cold air.

It hurt far too much.

His face had swollen multiple layers thick.

Taotie could guarantee that even Jiang Xinyan wouldn’t recognize him in this mangled state—this pig-headed mess was supposed to be her husband, Taotie.

"You idiot, hurry up and get moving."

Fang Xiaocao booted Taotie in the shin to urge him forward.

Taotie gathered his wits.

He jumped out of the trunk.

"What the—?"

"Old Tom?"

"Mantis? Unhappy?"

"Who the hell beat you up so badly?"

Seeing the pitiful state of Tom and the others, Taotie looked as if he’d seen a ghost and cried out in horror.

Tom, sprawled on the ground, heard Taotie’s voice and blinked. Struggling to lift his hand, he pointed feebly toward Zuo Ci.

It seemed he was trying to convey to Taotie: "It’s him, him, it’s definitely him..."

Catching the gist of Tom’s gesture, Mantis unhesitatingly followed suit, raising her hand to point at Zuo Ci.

Today, Zuo Ci would bear the blame, whether he wanted to or not—there was no room for negotiation.

Tom and Mantis had reached a silent agreement—the culprit responsible for their injuries today had to be Zuo Ci.

"Why are you talking so much nonsense,"

"Didn’t I tell you to go beat him up? Did you not hear me?"

Fang Xiaocao booted Taotie again, scolding him.

Taotie grinned sheepishly: "I’m on it right now."

Taotie answered while fixing his gaze on Zuo Ci.

"You’re so ugly!"

Looking at Zuo Ci, Taotie couldn’t help but comment aloud.

Fang Xiaocao couldn’t hold back her laughter and nodded in agreement.

Taotie’s judgment was one she wholeheartedly endorsed.

At this moment, Zuo Ci indeed looked outrageously hideous.

He resembled a carp demon straight out of Tongtian River.

Taotie stretched his muscles and joints, and the cracks of bone echoed crisply in the air.

Zuo Ci snapped back to reality.

When his gaze fell on Taotie, his expression turned to one of shock once again: "Impossible, how did he suddenly break through?"

In Zuo Ci’s timeline, Taotie still had several years to go before he could achieve the level of a Super Master.

How could Taotie unexpectedly break through today?

Zuo Ci felt like today was full of anomalies.

It felt as though an invisible net had been cast over him, with everything converging to trap him like a masterfully staged setup.

"Could it really be as she says?"

Zuo Ci instinctively looked toward Fang Xiaocao.

And saw her grinning back at him with narrowed eyes.

Fang Xiaocao opened her mouth and silently mouthed her words.

"Sun, you’re done for."

"A thousand years of scheming, undone in one day!"

Deciphering Fang Xiaocao’s lip movements, Zuo Ci’s body began to tremble.

A deep fear rose in his heart.

He couldn’t accept that a thousand years of planning could crumble in an instant. Zuo Ci had a haunting feeling that this time, he might truly be finished.

Throughout all his previous failures, he had never felt this sense of impending doom before—but today, it weighed heavier than ever. This was the foreboding presence of catastrophe.

"You ugly freak, you dared bully my Princess Your Highness and Old Tom?"

Taotie clenched his fists, as large as sandbags, until a series of cracks filled the air. He bellowed at Zuo Ci.

Hearing Taotie’s roar, Zuo Ci looked at him, and childhood memories floated back to the surface.

Taotie had been fierce even back then. But every time he faced the young Zuo Ci, he’d always summon a ferocious yet fatherly smile: "Little Zuo Ci, come to your grandpa, let me see who dares to bully my little Zuo Ci..."

That was one of the rare warm memories of Zuo Ci’s childhood—even after thousands of years, he never forgot it.

Now, he was about to fight the figure from that cherished memory in a battle to the death. Zuo Ci’s emotions were a complicated turmoil.

His heart was in knots, filled with unwillingness and conflict.

If they fought, there was no guarantee he’d win.

If they didn’t fight, he wouldn’t stand a chance of survival.

Zuo Ci felt trapped, caught in a dilemma beyond his control.

"Die for me!"

Just as Zuo Ci hesitated over whether to flee, Taotie, who had finished his warm-up, suddenly roared in fury, unleashing a charge like a tiger descending the mountain, heading straight for Zuo Ci.

His massive fists, swinging violently through the air, left trails of whistling gusts and carried the full wrath of their owner.

Taotie didn’t have that many things that could trigger his rage, but Fang Xiaocao and Tom just happened to be counted among them.