Can't afford to pay for the takeout? Stunning CEO: Then pay with your body!

The images of the Reaper Alliance's three Star Destroyers being cut into six pieces spread on the Space Channel faster than Zhang Yan got home.

Before he even landed, thirty-seven diplomatic requests from different civilizations, nine apology letters, two statements that the previous bounty offers were mistakenly issued and had been withdrawn, and a formal letter from the Supreme Court of the Cosmic Sea appeared on the channel.

The letter was unanimously approved by the Tribunal Committee, and Earth's civilization rating was immediately upgraded from the potential level to the S level, granting it independent star domain sovereignty and immunity from the use of force for self-defense.

An S-level civilized diplomatic relations template is attached.

Zhang Yan glanced at it, didn't reply, and muted the channel.

The final masterpiece landed on the lawn in the backyard of the Jinghai Villa.

The mecha's outer frame retracted, and Zhang Yan stepped out of the cockpit, his feet landing on the grass.

The kitchen light was on.

When he entered, Nie Qingcheng was standing in front of the stove, and the water in the pot had not yet boiled.

She changed her clothes, tied her hair up again, and replaced her off-white loungewear with a dark gray dress.

She didn't turn around when she heard footsteps.

"Change your shoes before you come in."

Zhang Yan looked down at his shoes, which were covered with a layer of salt crystals from the evaporated seawater.

He went back to the entryway, changed into slippers, and sat down at the bar.

Nie Qingcheng is eating noodles.

Zhang Yan stared at her retreating figure for over ten seconds.

In those ten seconds or so, his mind was recalibrating.

The information obtained through video recordings and holograms over the previous eleven days is now aligning with the real memories that have just returned.

Information is cold, memory is warm; when the two are stacked together, there is a strange sense of fulfillment.

"Don't stare at me." Nie Qingcheng's voice came from the direction of the stove.

How did you know I was watching you?

"Your brain just came back to normal, and you're full of feelings, aren't you? I don't want to hear it."

"I wasn't planning on saying."

"Then you can sit and wait for your noodles."

When the noodles were served, Zhang Yan lowered his head and took a sniff.

"Did you add vinegar?"

"You mentioned before that you wanted to try sour soup noodles."

prior to.

Zhang Yan searched his memory and found that one night a week before he set off for Guixu, he had indeed casually mentioned it.

He ate noodles.

Nie Qingcheng sat opposite him, holding a glass of water, watching him eat without saying a word.

When I was halfway through eating my noodles, my wristband rang.

Qin Xiao.

Zhang Yan answered the call with one hand.

"Brother Yan! That S-level rating..."

"understood."

"The arbitration panel also issued a template for establishing diplomatic relations..."

"I saw it."

"The military is in an uproar. The old man himself called to ask if you wanted it..."

"don't want."

"You're not even going to listen to the end?"

"I'm eating noodles."

Qin Xiao choked for a moment before replying.

"Alright, then I have a question: what should we do with the Reaper's wreckage? The six sections of the ship are drifting in lunar orbit."

"We salvaged it, dismantled it, used what was usable, and melted down what wasn't."

"Okay, um, there's one more thing."

"What is it?"

Qin Xiao's tone changed, becoming somewhat cautious.

"Stargazer said that an S-class civilization needs an official representative to the outside world, and the Tribunal needs to register the identity. The military's idea is that you should be the one."

Zhang Yan finished the last bite of noodles and put down his chopsticks.

"Qin Xiao".

"what?"

"I've sent you the highest-level access key for the network."

Qin Xiao's voice faltered instantly, and after a two-second pause, he managed to utter a single word: "Huh?"

"Command authority for all 108 Ink Soldiers has been transferred simultaneously, and your biometric information has been written into them."

"wait."

"Let Guan Xing handle the interstellar technology docking; she's more familiar with the other side of the cosmic sea than I am."

"Brother Yan, you..."

"I'm on vacation. From now on, don't come looking for me if the sky falls."

Communication was cut off.

Nie Qingcheng sat opposite him, holding her water glass to her lips, looking at him.

"You really can bear to part with it?" Zhang Yan pushed the bowl aside. "Bear with what?"

"MenNetwork, MoBing, you've been working on those things for half a year."

"The network has entered self-sustaining mode and doesn't need me. Mo Bing and Qin Xiao can command it, and Guan Xing is better at socializing than me."

"So what are your plans next?"

Zhang Yan looked at her.

Nie Qingcheng put down her cup because he was staring at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I still owe you three of the five meals I owed you before."

Nie Qingcheng raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"And Hokkaido, I checked your previous itinerary, you paid the flight change fee, right?"

Nie Qingcheng's expression didn't change much.

She put the glass back on the table and tapped the inside of the glass twice with her finger.

"The flight is next Thursday."

"OK."

"Are you sure you don't need to go back to the lab and mess around with anything anymore?"

"Sure."

"And what about the final stage of the Heavenly Craftsmanship?"

"I've put it away and placed it on the seabed. We'll talk about it later."

Nie Qingcheng stood up to collect the bowls, took two steps, and then stopped.

"Zhang Yan".

"Um."

"You really remember everything?"

"all."

"Do you remember that you owe me something?"

Zhang Yan thought for three seconds.

"A guarantee?"

Nie Qingcheng glanced back at him, neither saying he was right nor wrong.

She put the bowl in the sink and turned on the tap.

I've seen your video.

Which section?

"That 47-minute segment, the one you recorded for yourself to prevent amnesia."

Zhang Yan leaned back in his chair. "So what if I saw it?"

"You said something in there." Nie Qingcheng turned off the water. "You said if you lost all your memories and could only keep one, you would stay and go home to find her."

Zhang Yan remained silent.

"What you did today matches that saying." Nie Qingcheng wiped her hands, turned around, and leaned against the pool to look at him. "You came back right after the fight, you didn't want power, you didn't want your position, and you wouldn't even let me reheat the noodles a second time."

"The noodles really can't be heated twice."

Nie Qingcheng walked up to him and looked down at him sitting in the chair.

"So, you remember who I am."

"You are Nie Qingcheng."

"What is your identity?"

"An identity I can't afford to mortgage."

Nie Qingcheng's right corner of her mouth moved first.

She didn't laugh out loud, but her lips twitched slightly. Then she reached out and patted his shoulder with considerable force.

"You wash the dishes."

"it is good."

"Come up after you're done washing, and rewrite that guarantee. I tore up the old one while you were suffering from amnesia."

"Why are you tearing it?"

"I think it's useless."

Zhang Yan stood up to wash the dishes.

Nie Qingcheng walked to the top of the stairs and paused for a moment.

"Zhang Yan".

"Um."

"Don't lose it again."

She went upstairs after she finished speaking.

Zhang Yan stood in front of the sink, his hands still covered in dish soap foam.

He washed the bowls clean, arranged them neatly, wiped the stove with a cloth, poured out the water Nie Qingcheng hadn't finished and replaced it with a new one, then placed it on the table.

Then go upstairs.

As he passed the study on the second floor, he saw Nie Qingcheng sitting at the table, signing a document in front of her.

The company's property, the redemption procedures at those three ports.

He didn't go in to disturb them, and continued up to the third floor.

The master bedroom door was open.

On the bedside table sat the metal box, the USB drive, and a note in Nie Qingcheng's handwriting.

"I've printed out the guarantee form for you; it's in the printer. Just take it out yourself."

Zhang Yan pulled the paper out of the printer.

There is only one line of preset content above.

"I am Zhang Yan, and I guarantee this." The rest of the text is blank.

Zhang Yan picked up a pen and wrote a line in the blank space.

After writing, I put it back on the bedside table.

He drew back the curtains and glanced at the Moon Shadow bonsai on the balcony. Its silvery-gray leaves swayed gently in the evening breeze.

Nie Qingcheng's voice came from downstairs.

"Are you finished writing?"

"Finished writing."

"Just leave it there, I'll watch it tonight."

Zhang Yan stood by the window, looking at the night view of Jinghai outside.

The distant horizon was calm, the sea was calm, and there were no star destroyers or Matrix clusters in the sky.

The bracelet vibrated again. Qin Xiao.

He glanced at the message.

"Brother Yan, the people from the Tribunal insist on coming to Earth for a face-to-face meeting, are you really not going to do anything about it?"

Zhang Yan typed a message back.

"Looking up for stargazing. I'm on vacation."

After sending, turn off the computer.

The note on the bedside table flipped open in the night breeze, revealing the line he had written.

I will make sure I go home every day.