We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

"Father? Why... do you say that?!"

Li Che subconsciously wanted to deny it, but when he met Emperor Qing's eyes that seemed to see through everything, all his words of defense were stuck in his throat.

"I... am not stupid."

Emperor Qing smiled bitterly.

At this moment, he felt relieved as if he had taken off all disguises.

He no longer used "朕" to refer to himself. Now he was just an ordinary father.

"Since you were granted the title of Prince and traveled to the border, I have witnessed every move you made."

His eyes were sad, as if he saw another figure through Li Che in front of him.

"As for Che'er... I mean, my old Che'er, I've seen everything he was like."

"He's a kind and filial child, with a pure heart, even a little too kind. But a child like him shouldn't have been born into an imperial family..."

Emperor Qing's voice choked for a moment, and he continued:

"He carries the blood of the previous dynasty, yet he pleads for the remaining ministers of the previous dynasty; he is born into an imperial family, yet he cares about the common people and sympathizes with their poverty."

"With a personality like his, he was destined to become a thorn in the side of the aristocratic families and the civil and military officials in the court. And I was at that time."

Emperor Qing paused, his voice filled with pain.

He paused for a long time, as if he needed to gather his strength before saying the rest.

"At that time, in order to maintain the so-called balance of power and to stabilize the empire I had just conquered, I had no choice but to ignore him, distance myself from him, and even acquiesce in others' suppression of him..."

"But I didn't expect that child to have such a strong temper!"

"He would actually use the most ruthless method possible, sacrificing his own life to fight against what he saw as injustice!"

"From the moment he crashed into the temple pillar... I knew I had lost a son forever, a kind-hearted son who deserved no such fate."

Li Che felt mixed emotions, like the world was turning upside down.

He listened silently to the old father's tearful confession, his eyes becoming hot and red uncontrollably.

Emperor Qing exhaled with difficulty, trying to suppress his surging emotions and regain his composure.

"And then... you came."

"At first, I was ecstatic. I thought it was a blessing from heaven, a manifestation of my ancestors, returning my Che'er to me. It was my great fortune!"

"But gradually, I began to notice... that Toru had changed."

"Even if Che'er suffered injustice, he would have endured it silently and would never have said something so unorthodox as 'I intend to rebel.'"

"Che'er once had a heart full of love and was well versed in poetry, literature, and strategy, but he had no knowledge of military affairs, and there was no way he could have conquered a piece of territory in the land outside the Great Wall, surrounded by dangerous enemies, with only a few thousand criminals."

"The former Che'er was certainly intelligent, but the things you brought with you... that different military system, the so-called 'science', those unheard-of policies, and the astonishingly powerful gunpowder..."

"All of this couldn't be created out of thin air by intelligence alone. It's more like it came from another completely different world and was brought here by you."

Emperor Qing's eyes were completely red.

He stared at Li Che intently, with no anger or questioning in his eyes, only an almost pleading inquiry: "More importantly, do you think a father...really can't recognize his own child?"

"The look in your eyes is completely different from the feeling I get when I'm with you!"

Li Che was shocked.

The Emperor Qing before him, who had taken off his imperial halo, was now just a sad old man trying to find his son.

All his words were stuck in his chest, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

Secrecy is no longer necessary.

No matter what he said, this old man, whose life was about to end, obviously would not and could not reveal anything to the outside world.

Even with his current identity and strength, what would it matter even if he announced to the whole world that he was a time traveler?

On the contrary, it may increase his subordinates' worship of him and even establish a theocracy.

What made Li Che even more difficult to speak was that Emperor Qing's tearful words made him feel dazed.

Since traveling through time, the memories of the previous life have begun to become blurred.

It was so blurry that he sometimes couldn't tell that he was Li Che, the science and engineering man whose soul was transported here due to an accident.

Or was he actually the Sixth Prince Li Che, but he had a bizarre dream of his past life in his mind.

Zhuang Zhou dreamed of a butterfly, or the butterfly dreamed of Zhuang Zhou? Which is true and which is false? It seems...it really doesn't matter.

Li Che looked at Emperor Qing who was pleading in front of him, and finally remembered that he was not only the emperor, but also a father.

What father doesn't love his son? It's just that he was forced into a lonely life because of this imperial robe.

Thinking of this, Li Che had already made a decision in his heart.

"My son, I have always been your son, and I have always been your son..."

A look of surprise flashed across Emperor Qing's eyes: "At this point, there's no need for you to lie to me anymore..."

Li Che smiled bitterly, raised his finger, and gently tapped his head:

"At that time, when I woke up from my coma, I inexplicably had an extra memory in my mind."

"A very long memory, as if I had experienced the complete memory of another life."

Emperor Qing's eyes widened, his breathing suddenly quickened, and he said in disbelief, "You mean...memories from a previous life?!"

This statement was too bizarre, but it gave him a glimmer of hope, and even his violently heaving chest calmed down a little.

Li Che nodded slightly: "Maybe it was in the previous life, or maybe it was in an even more distant life."

"In short, it's an extremely old memory."

Emperor Qing seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw. He was so excited that he struggled to sit up straighter.

"Ancient? Could it be the Warring States Period, the Spring and Autumn Period? Or even the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties?"

"No, no!" He immediately denied himself, "The knowledge and creations you have displayed are unheard of even by the most learned sages of the Hundred Schools of Thought!"

"How could those be possessed in ancient times?"

Li Che shook his head and denied his guess:

"It's much older than the Xia Dynasty. As for why it hasn't been passed down..."

"I think it's possible that over the long years, human culture has experienced an unimaginable gap, causing all its glory to turn to dust."

Emperor Qing's body trembled slightly with excitement. He gasped for breath and asked urgently, "Then go on, what kind of world is that?"

Li Che's gaze became distant, as if he was describing a real dream:

"In the life I 'saw,' there was still Huaxia, there was still China."

"Moreover...it was a prosperous and majestic country, far surpassing the current Daqing, and even surpassing all the dynasties in history!"