Meng Chao coughed so violently that every artificial organ in his body trembled at high frequency, as though they were about to fly apart—or even explode.
It felt as though not only his internal organs were about to gush from his burning throat.
Even his soul seemed ready to be coughed out of his body.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside.
It seemed that someone very close to him had heard his violent coughing and, without waiting for permission, burst through the door.
"Teacher, what's wrong?"
A sincere, deep voice came from behind Meng Chao.
Meng Chao drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the dizziness brought on by the violent coughing. With the back of his hand, he wiped away the blood-tinged saliva he had just coughed up.
When he turned around, he was first slightly startled by the visitor, then overwhelmed by a flood of emotions.
It was Gu Shao Yu.
In the "previous future," Gu Shao Yu had been adopted and painstakingly groomed by him, treated as his right-hand man and even his successor—only to betray him at the critical moment.
However, the Gu Shao Yu before him was different from the successor and traitor of the previous future.
—Since Meng Chao himself had undergone earth-shaking changes in different futures, the relatives, friends, closest disciples, and subordinates around him had naturally changed as well.
Like Meng Chao, this Gu Shao Yu was covered in crisscrossing scars. Many of his limbs and organs had been replaced by rune components. Though he was a middle-aged man in the prime of life, frost had prematurely touched his temples. Apart from scars, his face was layered with wrinkles, and an air of frustrated ambition and indignation clung to his entire being.
From the memory fragments that had just surfaced, Meng Chao learned that this