Chapter 196 Touched in the Palm

Ning Shuyin was certain that she had never seen this thing before.

But Yuanjing's strange reaction when she got close made her feel uneasy.

"Don't know?" Zhou Zhiheng played with the shimmering crystal. "This is the core of the spacetime repair pod—to be precise, it's a corpse."

Ning Shuyin was startled.

The time-space repair pod is a technology coveted by the Zhou Consortium, its value immeasurable. Now he's telling him that the thing has become a corpse.

"What does this have to do with me?" she asked, puzzled.

"During the Dark Sphere Crisis, all three spacetime repair pods secretly deployed by the Zhou Group throughout the galaxy overloaded and exploded."

Zhou Zhiheng stared into Ning Shuyin's eyes: "Do you know what this means?"

Ning Shuyin shook her head blankly.

She really didn't know.

“You’ve been inside the Deep Repair Chamber, so you should know that its function is to control the flow of time, making time inside the chamber almost stand still.” Zhou Zhiheng stood up and walked step by step to her. “However, there is an absolute taboo in the Deep Repair Chamber.”

"Time inside the cabin forms its own coordinate system. The flow of time can slow down or stop, but it can never surpass the external time."

Ning Shuyin's heart skipped a beat.

Zhou Zhiheng continued: "Once external time reverses, internal time becomes the future. This is a serious bug that the logic of the submersible repair module cannot accept, and this explosion originated from this."

Ning Shuyin suddenly understood the reason.

After the Dark Sphere devoured the Alliance Conference Center, she used the system item called the [Key of Reversal] to forcibly rewind time by one hour.

Zhou Zhiheng keenly noticed the panic in her eyes.

"It seems you've remembered."

He handed the crystal core to her, and as soon as it got close, it started flashing rapidly again.

“This fragment of a crystal core records the source of the abnormal fluctuations in time.” Zhou Zhiheng looked at her. “Look, it’s pointing out the culprit.”

Ning Shuyin was at a loss for words.

Is this the technology tree of a top conglomerate? It's clearly a magic trick of the system that goes unnoticed, yet it has left a flaw in this world.

"The core crystal of the submersible repair pod is a unique item in the universe, priceless and unavailable. Three of them were destroyed..."

Zhou Zhiheng stood in front of her, his tall figure casting a shadow that obscured her: "Ning Shuyin, what will you give me in return?"

Ning Shuyin leaned back against the sofa.

Unlimited debt.

If it were a specific number, she might be able to find a way to earn money to cover the loss.

But now, she can't think of how to compensate.

The relaxed mood I had after the dinner was completely ruined.

First, she almost exposed herself in front of Situ Linchen, and now Zhou Zhiheng has discovered her secret of time reversal. How did she end up with so many flaws?

She's on the verge of tears and just wants to give up now.

"I'll compensate you with my own money." Ning Shuyin weakly reached into her coat pocket and rummaged around for a while.

Zhou Zhiheng raised an eyebrow, watching her movements.

Ning Shuyin reached into her pocket and opened her palm. There lay a fruit hard candy bearing the logo of the Royal Grand Hotel. It was a complimentary candy given to her by the receptionist when she checked in, as she had to wait a while due to a room issue.

"This is all we have right now." She unwrapped the candy, which was round and translucent. "It looks similar to your crystal core. Take it or leave it."

Zhou Zhiheng: "..."

After years of navigating the business world, this was the first time Zhou Zhiheng had been treated like a cheap candy with a cost of less than one star coin.

"Use this to pay off the debt?" He almost laughed in anger.

"Forget about it." Ning Shuyin withdrew her hand.

Zhou Zhiheng's eyes darkened.

He reached out and grasped her wrist, pulling her back to his face.

He bent down.

Warm breath sprayed onto her palms.

Ning Shuyin tried to pull her hand away, but he held her wrist and she couldn't get away.

He opened his mouth and took the candy, along with her body heat, into his mouth. The moist touch sent a tingling sensation through the soft flesh of her palm.

"Why are you like this?" Ning Shuyin pulled her hand back, her ears turning bright red.

"Crack".

Zhou Zhiheng bit the hard candy in his mouth, and the taste of sweetener lingered between his lips and teeth.

"It tastes awful," he commented. Seeing her helpless expression, the darkness in his eyes lessened somewhat.

"This can only be considered as interest."

Ning Shuyin: "..."

Her palms were slightly damp. She touched the last piece of candy in her pocket and decided not to take it out, lest something strange happen again.

Zhou Zhiheng sat back down on the velvet sofa: "You still need to explain to me what this strange ability to rewind is all about?"

Ning Shuyin knew that this topic couldn't be avoided.

"External forces were borrowed."

"external force?"

"As you know, I've always been quite knowledgeable about ancient civilization ruins," Ning Shuyin began to ramble on. "I once obtained a strange artifact from a ruin. During the Dark Sphere crisis, I activated it in a moment of panic..."

As she said this, she lowered her eyes.

Zhou Zhiheng looked at her. In any case, she had used this power, her initial intention being to forcibly reverse time in a desperate situation.

It was to save the Alliance members.

That includes him.

He casually tossed the now-useless crystal core onto the table.

"Alright, since you played the savior this time, I'll waive the principal for you."

Ning Shuyin was stunned for a moment.

Zhou Zhiheng glanced at her: "Those three repair pods were expensive, but since they were blown up to save my life, I'm not so stingy as to try to charge my savior."

His tone was childish, as if he weren't the one who had just threatened her with endless debt.

Ning Shuyin breathed a sigh of relief and leisurely ate the fruit on the table.

"Where do you plan to go next?" Zhou Zhiheng asked casually.

"Hmm, let's go on an exploration trip to a mining planet," Ning Shuyin said, giving a vague itinerary.

...

One week later.

Star A, the headquarters of the Zhou Group.

Zhou Zhiheng has just signed an acquisition agreement, further expanding his business empire.

But there was little joy on his face.

He rubbed his temples and his gaze fell on a separate screen on his desk.

That was the special attention window that Amanda had set up for him.

At this moment, the screen displays a "tourist photo" that Ning Shuyin posted on her social media account.

In the photo, she is wearing combat gear and standing on the desolate surface of a mineral planet, holding a crystal sample in her hand and grinning foolishly.

Location displayed: [K778 mining area].

"Running all that way just to dig up a few broken rocks? How about I buy a few nearby mining planets and let her explore them to her heart's content?"

Zhou Zhiheng lightly tapped her smiling face in the photo with his fingertip, thinking to himself, "She's been out of control for a week, it's time to bring her back."

"Amanda, prepare the aircraft. I'm going to inspect K778."

"Okay, boss."

After giving the order, Zhou Zhiheng raised his hand. A circle of white light rippled around his body.

It's always best to check the condition of your prey before hunting.

"The Hyperdimensional Ledger can deduce Ning Shuyin's current precise coordinates and asset status."

The data stream in the control room in front of him began to surge.

Zhou Zhiheng sipped his sparkling water casually, pondering what excuse he should use to take her out to dinner when they met.

However, the next second...

The content displayed on the screen in front of him made him pause, slamming the glass in his hand on the table.

[Target: Ning Shuyin]

[Location successfully determined in real coordinate analysis: K101 Ruins.]

[Target Status Prediction: The target is currently undergoing final asset liquidation.]

[Destination Nature: Escaping the physical rules of this universe. Heading to a higher dimension/nothingness/outside the world.]

Regression probability: 0.0000%

For a moment, Zhou Zhiheng's mind went blank. She hadn't gone mining at all.

Those tourist photos are all a smokescreen.

She has been at the K101 ruins for the past week.

He was waiting for her to come back. But the truth was, she was leaving. She was deleting her account and leaving. Going to a place he couldn't reach even if he bought the entire universe.

Zhou Zhiheng lost his composure.

Even if he were the richest man in the galaxy, he would still worry that he might not be able to stop her.

Forcibly suppressing his panic, he stood up and strode towards the private elevator. As he hurried, he opened his personal terminal and found the contact group he had marked as "particularly annoying".

I selected those three names.

"She's leaving, and never coming back. You guys need to meet up at Alice Space Station."