A FRIEND FROM THE PAST

Hutton's breath hitched as he stared at the man before him, the name "Hughes" lingering in the air like a ghost of his past. His surroundings—the dim corridor, the shocked faces of his allies—blurred for a moment as memories he had long buried surfaced like a tidal wave.

In his mind, he was no longer Hutton Maxwell, a reincarnated cultivator standing in a worn-out building in Houston. He was Taylor Grayson, a captain leading his regiment during the chaos of World War Three.

The scene shifted to a battlefield. Explosions rocked the earth, and the sky was veiled in ash and smoke. Amid the carnage, Taylor stood side by side with Hughes, a lieutenant from another regiment. Hughes had always been a steady presence, a man of unwavering loyalty and courage. They had fought shoulder to shoulder, their camaraderie forged in the crucible of war.