I Received Messages From Future Self!
Chapter 582 - 578 Continue Forward

Chapter 582: Chapter 578 Continue Forward

Planted a deadly kiss on the Store Manager, Unhappy habitually wiped the fresh blood from his lips, looked up at Tom, and grinned.

Tom’s mouth twitched, he instinctively took two steps back, putting some distance between himself and Unhappy.

Unhappy was genuinely terrifying right now.

Especially in the dim pre-dawn light.

The faint-hearted might instantly freeze into a meme-worthy expression.

With Unhappy’s current look, if recorded in a short video, it would definitely need to be heavily censored.

Seeing Tom backing away, Unhappy became Unhappy again.

A second ago, Unhappy was giggling.

The next moment, Unhappy wasn’t giggling anymore.

Switching facial expressions with frame-by-frame precision.

"Ahem, ahem..."

Seeing Unhappy’s expression, Tom felt a bit awkward and coughed twice to cover it up.

Recently, Tom felt a little off his game. As someone who had seen considerably more of the world, how could he be startled by Unhappy?

This really shouldn’t have happened.

Tom forced a smile, walked up to Unhappy, and reached out to ruffle his head—bristling with freshly sprouted hair stubble and somewhat prickly to the touch: "It’s alright, alright, be good now, Unhappy."

In a tone meant to placate a child, Unhappy was delighted, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Done and dusted!"

Tom secretly felt proud.

"Unhappy, let’s head back."

Tom gently patted Unhappy’s head.

Like patting his own dog.

Unhappy nodded and obediently followed behind Tom, crawling forward in the shadows.

Despite all this time, Unhappy still preferred to move around in a beast-like crawl, unless specifically instructed by Fang Xiaocao. Otherwise, given the choice, Unhappy never opted for walking upright if he could slink in shadows.

It’s all about maintaining that savage, animalistic state.

A statement to everyone: I haven’t fully evolved yet.

Tom hadn’t gone far with Unhappy when he suddenly heard footsteps ahead.

Tom instantly became alert and drew his dagger.

"Unhappy, stay vigilant."

Tom didn’t forget to caution Unhappy that there might be trouble up ahead.

Unhappy, unaffected, gave Tom a look as though he were staring at an idiot.

The next moment.

Unhappy, with a bizarrely intricate posture, crawled forward in the shadows while merrily springing toward the source of the footsteps.

Tom blanked for a moment at Unhappy’s behavior.

Then he realized—it wasn’t anyone else ahead, but his Princess Your Highness.

Recalling Unhappy’s earlier look at him as if mocking a fool, Tom couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile.

Bright as he had been all his life, how had he ended up being disdained by a creature?

Tom sheathed his dagger and quickly followed after Unhappy.

Silently, he rejoiced that fortunately, no one had witnessed that scene just now—otherwise, his handsome reputation might have been dragged through the mud back home.

Tom’s thoughts proved accurate. After following Unhappy for just a few meters, three figures emerged from the woods ahead.

Tom focused his gaze—it was none other than Fang Xiaocao’s group of three.

"All taken care of?"

"Sounded pretty lively back there."

Seeing Tom somewhat displeased, Fang Xiaocao asked cheerfully.

At Fang Xiaocao’s words, Tom nodded: "All handled, not a single Store Manager left standing among the eight."

Fang Xiaocao nodded approvingly: "Nicely done—let’s keep moving."

"Unhappy, pave the way ahead."

Fang Xiaocao ordered Unhappy.

Unhappy followed Fang Xiaocao’s words the best.

Upon hearing the command, he immediately nodded and scampered off ahead, crawling at a brisk pace.

With a few bounds and leaps, he was up in a tree, like a large weasel.

"How much farther to the Pawnshop headquarters?"

On the way, Fang Xiaocao asked Mantis.

Mantis unfolded the map and pinpointed their location: "At our current pace, it’s about a quarter of an hour away."

Fang Xiaocao nodded: "Not too far then."

After thinking briefly, he looked at Tom: "Tom, you go scout ahead with Unhappy."

"Take care of any ambushes from the Pawnshop along the way as you see fit."

"If there are none, scout out the Pawnshop headquarters’ entrance in advance."

"Given the Pawnshop’s cunning, even if their base is hidden in deep forest, the headquarters certainly won’t be ground-level buildings."

Fang Xiaocao appeared ready to start preparing for a full-on assault against the Pawnshop.

The first step of a full-on assault is finding the entrance to the Pawnshop headquarters.

"As you command, my Princess Your Highness."

Tom nodded, responding in a deep voice.

Without awaiting further instruction, Tom turned and hurried after Unhappy.

After Tom left, Taotie smirked and muttered: "Princess Your Highness, why don’t you send me instead?"

"Ever since entering the mountains, I’ve only managed to slaughter a big dumb tiger—haven’t had the chance for a proper fight. My bones are practically rusting."

Taotie stared enviously at Tom’s retreating figure.

Upon hearing Taotie’s words, Fang Xiaocao couldn’t help but give Taotie an irked side-eye.

"You oaf, is there nothing you don’t crave?"

"Don’t you know you shouldn’t use a sledgehammer to crack open an egg?"

"You’re already a Super Master—can’t you act with a little composure?"

Getting increasingly annoyed, Fang Xiaocao stomped hard on Taotie’s foot.

Taotie grinned cheekily: "Princess Your Highness, are you saying Old Tom is just an egg-cracking knife?"

At Taotie’s words, Fang Xiaocao shot him another fierce glare.

"Stop your nonsense—move along already."

Fang Xiaocao truly wanted to leap up and thump Taotie on the head.

Glancing at the time and estimating that Tom and Unhappy must have gotten a fair distance ahead, Fang Xiaocao immediately led Taotie and Mantis onward, following the path Tom and Unhappy had taken.

This arrangement was mainly out of consideration for Mantis.

With injuries still on his body, letting Tom and Unhappy scout ahead gave Mantis more rest.

It ensured that once they entered the Pawnshop headquarters and faced off against the enemy, Mantis wouldn’t exhaust himself prematurely in the chaos of battle.

——

Tom and Unhappy forged ahead through the gloomy forest, or more accurately, Tom walked while Unhappy crawled through the shadows.

Just this oddball duo of Tom and Unhappy—if spotted by some city-dwelling hikers with overactive imaginations in these isolated woods, it would certainly spark eerie and legendary tales of mountain village mysteries.

Whoosh—

A faint, sudden noise broke out.

Both Tom’s and Unhappy’s steps halted simultaneously.

Tom exchanged glances with Unhappy: "Unhappy, you heard that too, didn’t you?"

At Tom’s question, Unhappy nodded, raising a hand to point toward a patch of forest nearby, indicating the sound had come from there.

Tom followed Unhappy’s direction and looked over.

What met his eyes was pure darkness—the waving branches of trees swaying in the mountain breeze just enough to resemble demons clawing ominously in wait to leap out and devour them both.

"Can you tell whether it’s human or beast?"

Tom, keeping his guard up, asked Unhappy in a hushed tone.

Unhappy pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

Seeing that even Unhappy couldn’t discern what had fleetingly passed just now, Tom swiftly let out a sharp "shing" and drew his dagger.