I Received Messages From Future Self!
Chapter 558 - 554: Taotie Cunningly Captures Zuo Ci

Chapter 558: Chapter 554: Taotie Cunningly Captures Zuo Ci

Future timeline!

Sunshine, ocean, beach.

Hot Noodles lay under a sun umbrella, wearing sunglasses, holding a coconut water in hand, lazily sipping on it. Behind the sunglasses, she was sneakily ogling the handsome guys playing volleyball on the beach.

Quack quack quack——

Just then, Hot Noodles’ phone rang.

Hot Noodles frowned slightly. "Buzzkill."

She muttered a complaint and picked up the phone.

Unlocking the screen, she glanced at the display.

[Old Cao: Noodles, something unexpected happened on my end. The helmet Tom made is just as unreliable as he is. It broke. Keep an eye on Xiaocao’s movements in the past timeline; I’m afraid Zuo Ci might escape.]

Reading Old Cao’s message, Hot Noodles immediately bolted upright from her recliner.

"Tom screwed up again?"

She gritted her teeth angrily.

Old Cao’s text brought back memories of a particular night years ago that had deeply annoyed her.

[Hot Noodles: Beat him to a pulp!]

[Hot Noodles: After all the effort to set up this elaborate plan, how could he mess it up again?]

[Old Cao: I didn’t want this either!]

[Old Cao: The plan was well thought out. Taotie—who had attained Super status in the past timeline—and I were supposed to team up to ambush Zuo Ci, taking him down in the past and then uniting the timelines to eliminate him permanently. But who could’ve guessed that the helmet Tom made was so useless? It started malfunctioning and smoking after just a few minutes.]

As Hot Noodles stared at the message, she could almost feel, through the screen, Old Cao’s utter frustration as he typed.

This painstakingly devised scheme had failed at such a critical juncture.

The "Shu Han Romance" painting was something Old Cao himself had created.

Old Cao had embedded hypnotism into the painting.

He then spent a fortune developing a small projector to deliver it.

After countless failed attempts and blowing through billions, they finally succeeded in deploying the painting.

Although this plan had only been concocted by Hot Noodles and Old Cao recently,

in the timeline, it seemed as though this setup, much like Zuo Ci’s, had been thousands of years in the making. For it to fail due to such a minor issue would leave anyone gutted.

Hot Noodles felt her anger bubbling uncontrollably; she itched to go home and give Tom a beating.

——

Present timeline!

Fang Xiaocao was asleep in a car trunk.

Taotie, however, was battling Zuo Ci.

There was no denying it: Zuo Ci’s bloodline carried Taotie’s legacy. His relentless fighting spirit, growing fiercer the longer the battle went on, was a mirror image of Taotie himself. Even with the upper hand, Taotie found it incredibly difficult to defeat Zuo Ci.

There were even moments when Zuo Ci seized opportunities to counterattack, leaving Taotie deeply frustrated.

Taotie had no choice but to start strategizing.

Engaging Zuo Ci in a few more rounds,

Taotie’s mind sparked with an idea.

He began deliberately exposing weaknesses.

Giving Zuo Ci hope that he could win.

But every time Zuo Ci attacked those weaknesses, Taotie would swiftly counter with airtight defenses, making it seem as though the flaws weren’t intentional but rather due to lapses in combat skill that occurred unintentionally.

Taotie controlled the rhythm of exposing these weaknesses,

baiting Zuo Ci, again and again,

continuously feeding Zuo Ci the belief that victory was within reach.

Initially, Zuo Ci doubted that Taotie’s combat skills would have such glaring flaws.

He was convinced it was a trap and didn’t fall for it, only probing cautiously to see what tricks Taotie might be playing.

But as Taotie’s exposed flaws became more frequent, and each time resolved quickly, Zuo Ci’s confidence began to waver.

He started suspecting that maybe he was being overly cautious, overestimating Taotie’s current mastery of combat techniques. After all, Taotie had trained him 200 years later, when his close-combat skills were at their peak globally. The Taotie he faced now couldn’t possibly match the accomplishments of his future self.

Having weaknesses in his combat technique seemed entirely plausible...

With these thoughts in mind, Zuo Ci regained confidence.

Zuo Ci no longer believed that Taotie’s exposed weaknesses were deliberate traps; instead, he trusted his eye for identifying them, which had been trained under the future Taotie’s guidance since childhood.

And so...

Under Taotie’s calculated provocations, Zuo Ci increasingly let his guard down.

Every time he spotted Taotie’s flaws, he pursued them relentlessly, refusing to let go.

His behavior grew bolder and bolder. At first, he remained somewhat cautious, but over time, as Taotie’s displayed weaknesses became more frequent, Zuo Ci’s vigilance diminished.

Eventually, he stopped being cautious altogether, focusing solely on exploiting Taotie’s apparent vulnerabilities.

Watching Zuo Ci’s change in behavior, Taotie let out a series of cold laughs, his expression growing more sinister.

On the fiftieth intentional flaw,

Zuo Ci once again launched a reckless attack on Taotie’s exposed opening.

Taotie’s gaze turned icy. "Die!"

With a furious roar, Taotie sprang into action!

Evading Zuo Ci’s blow with a swift sidestep, Taotie seized Zuo Ci’s attacking arm and slammed him onto the ground with a shoulder throw.

BANG——

Zuo Ci crashed to the ground under Taotie’s attack.

Zuo Ci was dazed.

He lay there, his face full of shock.

His pupils unfocused.

The asphalt beneath him bore a human-shaped indentation.

This revealed just how much force and fury Taotie had poured into slamming Zuo Ci down.

Without loosening his grip on Zuo Ci’s arm, Taotie sat heavily on Zuo Ci’s waist, using his knee to violently snap Zuo Ci’s arm.

CRACK——

A sickening crack echoed as Zuo Ci’s arm broke.

White bone shards jutted out of his flesh,

gruesome and horrifying.

Zuo Ci let out a muffled groan of pain,

cold sweat instantly soaking through his Black Robe.

The searing pain snapped Zuo Ci out of his daze, making him realize the desperate situation he was in.

He had been outmaneuvered!

And by someone widely regarded as an idiot to boot.

Zuo Ci was unwilling to accept this.

He prided himself on his cleverness; how could he have been fooled?

And by such a crude ploy no less.

Braving the agony of his broken arm,

Zuo Ci struggled to mount a counterattack against Taotie.

But Taotie, sitting squarely on top of him, made effective retaliation impossible.

Taotie didn’t care what Zuo Ci was thinking or how unwilling he might be to surrender.

Taotie’s mission was simple: beat the hell out of Zuo Ci.

That was Fang Xiaocao’s order.

And besides, Zuo Ci had successfully pissed him off.

Forgetting all restraint, Taotie raised his fist and slammed it into Zuo Ci’s head.

BAM——

Taotie’s punch left Zuo Ci dazed and bleeding from the nose.

Grinning widely, Taotie hissed, "That’s for messing with my Princess."

THUD——

"This one’s for bullying Old Tom!"

BAM——

For every sentence, Taotie landed another punch, delivering blow after relentless blow.

Within a few hits, Zuo Ci’s face swelled into an unrecognizable pulp, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

"This one’s for picking on Unhappy..."

THUD——

Before he could finish, Taotie delivered yet another powerful punch. Zuo Ci coughed up a mouthful of blood, teeth mixed in with the crimson spatter...