Another jade pendant

The first thing he saw was a fine jade bracelet, different from the container of the spatial artifact from before.

Each bead of this jade bracelet was of imperial green color with excellent translucency, clearly an extraordinary item.

Gu Lin couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.

This was indeed a good item, but unfortunately, it was now the end of the world.

If it were before the apocalypse, Gu Lin could have sold it for a fortune.

With such quality and translucency, this imperial green jade bracelet could easily fetch tens of millions, if not more.

But now, money and jewelry were useless, worth less than two bags of rice.

Nevertheless, as a tycoon's treasured collection, it was still a valuable item.

Gu Lin casually set the priceless jade bracelet aside and continued to rummage through the safe.

The safe had three layers.

Besides the imperial green jade bracelet on the first layer, there was also an icy jadeite bangle of exceptional quality, almost transparent.

Any girl would be enamored by it.

However, Gu Lin wasn't one for wearing gold and silver jewelry, so he wasn't particularly fascinated by it.

He simply felt it was a pity that he hadn't discovered these valuable items earlier to trade for food.

If converted to an equivalent amount of food, its purchasing power in the later stages of the apocalypse would be immense.

Regretfully setting aside a few other jade ornaments with excellent translucency and color, Gu Lin opened the drawer of the second layer of the safe, and his eyes were immediately dazzled by a flash of gold.

Gold!

Neatly arranged gold bars filled the entire second layer, completely packed.

Gu Lin finally showed a satisfied smile at the corners of his mouth.

In times of peace, antiques; in times of chaos, gold.

Paper currency would soon become worthless, but gold could still be used as currency, even ten years into the apocalypse, it remained valuable.

It wasn't all in vain!

Gu Lin nodded in satisfaction and removed the panel from the third layer of the safe.

No wonder there was an extra panel installed so securely.

This layer actually contained guns!

Besides a small handgun, there were two submachine guns and a shotgun, all with matching ammunition, and quite a lot of it.

Pleased, Gu Lin accepted the items with a smile.

With a casual wave, the little butler stored all the gold and guns in their designated places, leaving only the valuable jade items aside.

In high spirits, he picked up the chainsaw and started on the next safe.

As soon as the safe was cut open, a pile of small red booklets spilled out.

Huh? Property deeds?

Gu Lin flipped through them and found that they were indeed property deeds, for properties all over the country.

Damn, these greedy capitalists!

Gu Lin initially thought of tearing them up to use as kindling, but just as he reached out, he paused.

The extreme cold hadn't ended yet, but the national bases had essentially been established, and numerous bases of various sizes were springing up all over the country.

If he was lucky, and any of these property deeds were located within a national safety base, he could get a house allocated by the base.

The state still adhered to some principles.

Even if the house on the deed was occupied or allocated to someone else, he could still get another house within the safety base area.

Thinking this way, these property deeds couldn't just be used for firewood.

They might be useful later on.

Who knows what method Bai Weiwei used to get hold of the property deeds of that tycoon.

Anyway, they all benefitted Gu Lin now!

He had the little butler store the property deeds separately, together with the ones he already had, and continued searching through the safe.

Unfortunately, this safe contained only property deeds.

Gu Lin examined the imperial green jade bracelet in his hand and, instead of picking up the chainsaw, called out to the little butler in his mind:

"Can you open this box without damaging the contents inside?"

A moment later, the little butler's voice responded:

[Yes.]

Gu Lin, feeling conflicted, pressed his lips together and picked up the jade ornaments, giving a simple command: "Hmm, open it."

What a miscalculation!

If he had asked earlier, he wouldn't have had to work himself to the point where the chainsaw was smoking.

Holding the jade ornaments, Gu Lin used his mind to control the two safes and tossed them directly into the waste conversion box before returning to the bamboo house.

On the second floor, there was a bedroom with a separate room that Gu Lin used to store these jade and gemstone ornaments, along with some small antiques.

At this point, these items already filled half of the display cabinet.

Since he had given special instructions, the little butler hadn't thrown these items into the synthesis station.

Gu Lin didn't have any special quirks; it was just that these expensive gems often appeared as spatial items in various apocalyptic disaster novels.

That's why he created this collection room.

Although these jade and gemstone items weren't special now, displaying them neatly was better than tossing them in some corner.

When Gu Xue grew up, she would surely like these shiny, pretty things.

Gu Lin placed the jade ornaments he had just retrieved from the safe into the display cabinet and closed his eyes, using his spiritual sense to check for any unusual fluctuations.

Finding none, he didn't mind.

After all, most survivors developed abilities and plants and animals began to mutate after a global acid rain event.

These items might not be useful now, but who knows?

Perhaps washing them with some acid rain might cause a change.

Thanks to the apocalyptic disaster novels Bai Weiwei had downloaded onto her tablet, Gu Lin knew that many fictional spaces could upgrade almost indefinitely.

The "nutrients" needed for upgrades were often jade, gemstones, and gold.

So, the more treasures in this collection room, the better.

After "inspecting" the collection room, Gu Lin was about to take a bath when the little butler's voice sounded again:

[Master, the box has been opened.]

With a slight thought, the black metal box that had been opened appeared in Gu Lin's hand. He glanced down and couldn't help but be impressed.

The entire side of the box had been neatly cut off, the cut smooth and even, showing how cleanly the "person" had worked.

If he'd known the little butler was this capable, he wouldn't have bothered opening the two safes himself!

From now on, he'll leave such tasks to the little butler.

He pressed his lips together, casually tossing the cut-off piece aside, and the contents of the box were laid bare.

The box was only palm-sized, with solid sides and just about a third of the space in the center. Inside was a black velvet pouch.

Gu Lin took out the velvet pouch, weighed the metal box, and decided not to throw it into the waste conversion box.

This unknown black metal was quite hard, so it was better to keep it for now.

Inside the velvet pouch were some cotton fillings.

After removing most of the cotton, Gu Lin felt something cold.

Unlike the chill of metal, this was the coolness of jade, which delighted him. He quickly pulled out the item.

When he saw it clearly, Gu Lin was astonished.

It was a pendant, entirely black, of an unknown type of jade, with an exceptionally cool touch, like holding a piece of ice.

What surprised Gu Lin was that it looked almost identical to the pendant that was the vessel for his bamboo house space.

The only difference was in color.

The pendant for the bamboo house space was pure white and had disappeared into the space without a trace.

Gu Lin had never been able to sense it.

He remembered placing it in the bamboo house space, but it had always been elusive.

However, given the operational regions and functionalities of the space, the pendant wasn't lost; it was merely functioning.

The black jade pendant in his hand exuded an icy coldness, snapping Gu Lin back to reality.

He looked at the black jade, suppressing his surprise, and called out to the little butler in his mind:

"Is this identical to my white pendant?"

Jade pendants typically look quite similar, but Gu Lin remembered a special pattern on his.

Though this one was entirely black, it wasn't hard to see that it also had a unique pattern, though the dark color made it less visible.

Since the white pendant had been with Bai Weiwei for some time and he hadn't had a chance to examine it closely after retrieving it, he couldn't be certain if the patterns were the same.

So, it was best to ask the little butler.

This time, the little butler didn't respond immediately.

It wasn't until Gu Lin was about to lose patience that its voice finally sounded:

[It's the same, Master.]

Gu Lin lightly furrowed his brow.

"But I can't sense any space in this pendant."

In his previous life, Gu Lin's ability level was quite high, and his corresponding spiritual power was also significant.

After being reborn, even without a blood bond, he could sense the space inside the white pendant.

He could also use his spiritual power to probe other spatial artifacts.

That's why he chose to let his space devour the jade bracelet instead of the ancient coin, as the space within the old coin was not only larger but also contained a small wooden house, indicating greater potential for growth.

But now, holding this black pendant, Gu Lin couldn't sense any space inside.

Only a cold killing intent seemed to emanate from it, filled with an ominous aura.

[Master, you might try binding it with a drop of blood.]

After a long silence, the little butler offered this suggestion.

Gu Lin pressed his lips together, and with a wave of his hand, a small dagger appeared.

Although the black pendant exuded a cold and ominous aura, as if it had been dug out from beneath countless corpses, he trusted his little butler wouldn't harm him.

With a sharp point, he pricked his finger, causing a bead of blood to well up.

He pressed the bleeding wound against the black pendant and immediately felt a bone-chilling cold spread from his fingertip, swiftly engulfing his senses.

The icy feeling crept up to his wrist before melting away like thawing ice.

Suddenly, the black pendant turned into a misty haze and disappeared into Gu Lin's hand.

Gu Lin only furrowed his brow slightly without making a sound.

Soon, the cold sensation dissipated, and he regained feeling in his right hand.

When he looked at his wrist, he found a small, black mark shaped like a dagger on the inside.

Gu Lin gently touched the black dagger mark on his wrist, and had a fair idea of what this pendant was.

He couldn't help but wonder who had hidden such a unique item in this house.