I Received Messages From Future Self!
Chapter 574 - 570: Tom’s Useless Title

Chapter 574: Chapter 570: Tom’s Useless Title

"Die for me already!"

Taotie roared furiously.

His arms bulged with veins as he swung the Strange Dagger with all his might. Under the moonlight, the blade gleamed coldly, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, carrying the unstoppable momentum of the Tang Dynasty blade wielder. The strike headed straight towards the Tiger King, aimed squarely at its crown.

"Cool!"

Fang Xiaocao exclaimed in awe.

That strike from Taotie was simply too impressive.

Coupled with Taotie’s tall and imposing stature, it amplified his masculinity to the extreme.

Crunch—

The Strange Dagger struck violently against the Tiger King’s forehead.

The crisp sound of bones cracking echoed clearly within a ten-meter radius, and the character "King" on the Tiger King’s forehead visibly collapsed inward by a significant margin.

The Tiger King froze as if struck by lightning, its entire body stiffened in an instant.

Blood flowed down its forehead, and within moments, the Tiger King’s head and face were covered in crimson.

Thud—

With a muffled sound, the Tiger King’s massive body collapsed to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Wheezing wheezing—

The Tiger King lay on the ground, its body twitching repeatedly.

Its heavy panting and pitiful whimpers vividly portrayed its agony.

Taotie, his face expressionless, flicked the Strange Dagger, sending the Tiger King’s blood splattering onto the surrounding grass blades.

"Die for me already!"

Taotie shouted his trademark catchphrase.

Once again, he swung the Strange Dagger forcefully at the Tiger King.

The Tiger King lifted its head to gaze at Taotie.

Its eyes were filled with desolation and despair.

If it had been anyone else facing the Tiger King’s gaze at this moment, they might have felt a sliver of pity.

But who was Taotie, after all?

How could he ever feel pity for the Tiger King?

Let alone for this beast – Taotie didn’t even possess sympathy for humanity itself.

Taotie: I am without morals, and I will never pity my enemies.

Aooo—

Amidst the Tiger King’s desperate wails, Taotie’s Strange Dagger mercilessly came down once more.

Splash—

The blade tore through flesh, spraying blood everywhere.

A massive tiger head rolled away.

The eyes, bulged wide in death, stared blankly.

Only, they had lost all their former brilliance.

Taotie walked up to the severed tiger head and crouched down.

He pulled out a dagger from his waist and started tinkering with it.

In no time, his hands held four tiger teeth.

Taotie tossed the tiger teeth up and down, grinning: "Now this is top-notch stuff."

Taotie stashed the tiger teeth into his pocket.

"Princess Your Highness, fancy some tiger meat?"

Taotie asked with a cheeky grin.

Fang Xiaocao rolled her eyes at Taotie: "All you ever think about is eating. We’ve serious business to attend to. Stop fooling around and take the hide along with us. Just carve some meat while you’re at it, we still need to hurry."

Upon hearing Fang Xiaocao’s words, Taotie pursed his lips.

But he still obediently carried out the orders.

Using the dagger in his hand, he began skinning and cutting up the meat.

"Tom, the map."

Fang Xiaocao called to Tom.

Tom nodded and pulled out the map he carried with him, unfolding it before Fang Xiaocao.

"Princess Your Highness, the headquarters of the pawnshop marked on the map is still about three hours’ worth of mountain road away. If we press forward, we can reach the vicinity of the headquarters by early dawn."

As Tom spoke, he gestured across the map, pointing out the route to Fang Xiaocao.

Fang Xiaocao nodded: "Almost there."

"In three more hours, it’s time to settle the score with the pawnshop."

"I’m really looking forward to it."

A cold smile spread across Fang Xiaocao’s face.

The long-standing grudge with the pawnshop was finally nearing its end, and there was no way Fang Xiaocao wouldn’t anticipate that.

Once the pawnshop was dealt with, Fang Xiaocao’s next target would be the Blacklist.

Beyond the pawnshop and the Blacklist, Fang Xiaocao wanted nothing more than to wipe out the Goddess of Vengeance who had aided Han Xue.

But since the Goddess of Vengeance’s collaboration with Ragnarok in the previous encounter, Fang Xiaocao had taken the opportunity to destroy her, avenging Han Xue, and she had vanished without a trace.

For so long, not a single sign of the Goddess of Vengeance or her faction had surfaced in Tang City or all of China.

It was as if such a force had never existed.

Taotie dismembered the Tiger King like a butcher handling beef, wrapping up its meat in waterproof cloth and stuffing it into Tom’s backpack before Fang Xiaocao’s group continued their trek.

With so much meat added, it was a real burden on Tom, who carried the backpack. In the past, Fang Xiaocao would have certainly tasked Taotie with carrying it. But since Taotie had crossed the ever-forgiving Fang Xiaocao, he had been saddled with this task.

One moment of misstep had led to enduring lifelong regret; right now, Tom deeply regretted, wondering why he hadn’t been bold enough to kiss back then.

And now, it had come to this—Princess Your Highness bore a grudge against him, which meant his days of suffering had officially begun.

Little did Tom know, this grudge would last for over a century. Even two hundred years later, Tom would still carry the "useless" label; any incident would prompt Taotie to quip sarcastically and laugh: "I gave you a chance, but you couldn’t make use of it, huh?"

Even his adorable Princess Your Highness would, from time to time, drop subtle hints, implying his incompetence in both overt and covert ways.

At such moments, Tom would always regret his original hesitation, wishing he could slap himself twice.

Cursing himself inwardly, he wondered: "Why didn’t I just kiss her back then?"

Fang Xiaocao’s group of five continued their journey through the forest.

They traveled for another hour.

Still scouting ahead was Unhappy.

Fortunately, Unhappy wasn’t seriously hurt.

Taotie had deliberately held back the force of his kick.

Unhappy only ended up with some bruising.

Along the way, Fang Xiaocao’s group didn’t encounter any more significant threats. The occasional large predators were merely ordinary wild animals.

Unhappy took care of them with ease.

The only slightly challenging beast was a black bear with the strength of a first-class expert.

But it hadn’t gained any sentience—it was just an ordinary oversized fool of a bear.

It got kicked into a ball by Taotie and rolled down the mountain slope like an oversized wheel.

Fang Xiaocao didn’t even know where the black bear ended up.

She figured it must have vanished somewhere in the dense forest after rolling down for around ten seconds.

"Princess Your Highness, there’s about one hour left before we reach the pawnshop headquarters."

"Should we take a break?"

Mantis held up the map and sought Fang Xiaocao’s input.

The map was the one Tom had been carrying.

Fang Xiaocao had generously transferred the map from Tom to Mantis on grounds of "lightening the load."

With Tom already burdened by a backpack weighing hundreds of pounds, Fang Xiaocao had only reduced his load by the weight of a single lightweight map.

A sentimental Tom felt bitterly amused, experiencing a "silent eater of bitter herbs" moment where he struggled to express his feelings.

"Just this?"

"Might as well not lighten the load at all!"

"Do I really care about the weight of a single map?"

"The problem isn’t the map; it’s the hundreds of pounds on my back!"

Fang Xiaocao saw through Tom’s bitter expression.

She inwardly chuckled to herself.

A sense of delightful revenge welled up inside her.

Fang Xiaocao glanced at the time; it was still dark, and they had already traveled half a day, climbed through the night, and had been startled by the Tiger King.

Fang Xiaocao undeniably felt fatigued.

So, she nodded: "Let’s take a thirty-minute break."

"Bring out the tiger meat, roast it to replenish our strength—otherwise, when we reach the pawnshop headquarters, someone useless might turn into a wet noodle during the fight."

While speaking, Fang Xiaocao intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Tom. Everyone present understood perfectly who the "wet noodle" was referring to...