Hearing the call bell, the rest of the Bai family hurried downstairs and saw the two of them in a strange posture.
"Brother, Xiao Yunduo stuffed the Jade Pendant in her mouth!"
Everyone looked over and saw that Ye Yunyun's cheeks were indeed puffed out.
They immediately rushed over, anxiously and gently coaxing her to spit it out.
Bai Jiao, relieved for a moment, focused on dealing with Chen Fen. "Chen Fen, I'm sorry, but we can't host you today. Let me see you out."
She quickly saw Chen Fen out and ran back to check on Ye Yunyun.
As soon as Chen Fen was gone, Ye Yunyun spat out the Jade Pendant and clutched it tightly in her hand. Her big, dark eyes darted about, leaving them to wonder what she was thinking.
'I can't just give the Jade Pendant to these clueless adults! What if they lose it?!'
'I need an adult to bind it with their blood, but they don't get it.'
Bai Jiao was young and impulsive, lacking the caution of her elders. After carrying Ye Yunyun into the bedroom, she tentatively reached for the Jade Pendant. "Let your auntie take a look at the Jade Pendant, okay?" she coaxed. "I'll give it right back after I'm done."
The baby gave no sign of agreement, but the grip of her hand loosened.
Bai Jiao turned the Jade Pendant over and over, muttering, "This Jade Pendant doesn't look all that special. Why were Chen Fen and Xiao Yunduo fighting over it? Ah! The center is red... it's red jasper! In the novel I stayed up all night reading, the main character had a jade like this and even got a Jade Pendant Space from it. Was it by blood-binding? That's how it's always written in the novels."
"Let me try it!"
Coming up with a quick excuse, Bai Jiao prepared to give it a try. She'd discovered that even though there was something odd about Ye Yunyun, the baby was surprisingly easy to fool.
'Yes, do it! The only smart auntie in the family.'
She heard Xiao Yunduo's thoughts again!
Bai Jiao made a snap decision and prepared to prick her finger for a drop of blood.
"Wait," Bai Chen stopped her. He took the Jade Pendant and placed it back in Ye Yunyun's hand.
"Yunyun, do you know what's inside this Jade Pendant Space?"
He waited for a dozen or so seconds, but no mysterious voice rang out.
Bai Chen gently took the Jade Pendant back from Ye Yunyun's hand. "I wonder how many people can bind themselves to it with blood."
'I don't know either; the plot never said. If Uncle just binds himself with blood, he'll find out, won't he?'
Bai Chen put it back in her hand and asked another question.
After this happened a few more times, everyone began to understand.
The Jade Pendant could block Ye Yunyun's thoughts!
'What's with Uncle? He's like a malfunctioning robot, just moving back and forth.'
Bai Chen coughed a few times, hiding his embarrassment at hearing Ye Yunyun's roast. "Let's have little Yunyun try binding herself to the Jade Pendant first."
'Little Yunyun is the one who needs it most. While it's convenient to hear her thoughts now, once Ye Yunyun recovers and can communicate normally, we'll need to protect her privacy.'
Ye Yunyun backed away a few steps, dodging her uncle's outstretched hand.
'Me, bind to it?! Then the space would be wasted! It's not convenient for me to stockpile supplies, boo-hoo... Can't Uncle be a little smarter? Just have any adult do the blood-binding to prepare for the apocalypse.'
Bai Chen's hand, holding out the Jade Pendant, faltered. 'Still,' he thought, 'this is an easy problem to solve. I can stockpile supplies even without relying on the Jade Pendant.'
"You do it, Bai Chen," Mrs. Bai said. "Stop passing it back and forth!"
'It's fine if Uncle binds to it. That way, Auntie won't have to go to all the trouble of gathering supplies.'
Bai Chen bit his fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the Jade Pendant.
With a flash of light, he vanished on the spot.
Everyone had been mentally prepared, but they were still startled.
A moment later, Bai Chen reappeared, his expression one of shock. "Inside is a vast expanse of emptiness, and a spring of fresh water with no discernible source."
"The Jade Pendant can only bind to one person, but I have a strange feeling... that Jiao Jiao is an exception."
Bai Jiao immediately grabbed an embroidery needle from a drawer, pricked her finger, and her blood merged into the Jade Pendant.
With a flash of light, she too disappeared inside.
When the others tried, their blood simply rolled off the Jade Pendant.
As for Ye Yunyun—
'It's not my Jade Pendant, so why would I test it? It's supposed to bind to one master, but the female lead has plot armor, hehe.'
After Bai Jiao came back out, Bai Chen once again placed the Jade Pendant in Ye Yunyun's hand.
The child's eyes darted around in confusion, but no thoughts were transmitted.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that it could be used without her having to bind to it.
With their minds at ease about the pendant, they now fully believed that an apocalypse was coming.
"Something this strange... we have to report it to the government." Mr. Bai's expression was grave. "This concerns the fate of humanity. It's not something we can handle on our own."
We can keep the Jade Pendant a secret, but we absolutely cannot be silent about the apocalypse.
"I'm going to step out. I'll call a contact of mine first. The rest of you just act as if you know nothing," Mr. Bai said with a sigh.
Bai Jiao hugged Ye Yunyun tightly. Bai Chen put an arm around his mother's shoulders, and they both agreed.
A few minutes later, Mr. Bai returned, his face grim.
Everyone's hearts leaped into their throats.
'What are we going to do? Are they going to capture us all like monsters? Help, help! Why did they have to tell the authorities about the Jade Pendant?'
Ye Yunyun didn't understand.
'Modern times have vivisection experiments, which are even more painful than what I went through in my past life. Ugh, back then I was treated like a demon and burned for an afternoon before I died. But getting vivisected... that must take a really long time.'
Bai Jiao's arms, holding Ye Yunyun, trembled slightly.
'How could the little one in my arms have had such a tragic past life?'
The words caught in Mr. Bai's throat. He suppressed the wave of heartache that washed over him and continued.
"I couldn't say it. As soon as I mentioned anything related, the person on the other end would lose the signal. Any text messages I sent would just disappear."
'It's probably the plot correcting itself.'
The heavens had allowed a few people a glimpse of a secret, but it would not allow them to interfere with a predetermined fate.
"...What if you just mention a natural disaster?" Bai Jiao asked cautiously.
Mr. Bai shook his head.
Bai Chen pulled out his phone and typed for a moment before looking up. "I'm having my assistant hire some online influencers to post that the weather is getting cold very quickly. Warn people to watch out for extreme weather and to stock up on essentials. That seems to be fine; the posts are going through."
'Looks like as long as you pretend it has nothing to do with the apocalypse, it works.'
Bai Jiao and Mrs. Bai stayed behind to look after Ye Yunyun and play with her. Bai Chen went out to arrange for supplies, while Mr. Bai began making arrangements from his end.
The Bai Family's assets were in the tens of billions, more than enough for them to stockpile goods without having to sell off shares. However, the company had numerous employees, and he couldn't just ignore them completely.
After some thought, Mr. Bai gave an order: the "young miss" was ill. To pray for her recovery, every company employee, including temporary workers, would receive a gift card of varying value. They would also be given staple goods like rice, flour, oil, eggs, milk, and meat, as well as down jackets, with the amount distributed according to family size. Citing the recent drastic weather changes, he added that each employee would also be given a small first-aid kit.
After spending billions, Mr. Bai instructed his assistant to source the goods from multiple regions. He didn't want to empty out the inventory of suppliers in any single area just for employee benefits.
Bai Chen did likewise, having his assistant procure supplies from various locations and ship them to the villa. He also planned to find someone to reinforce their home, as well as a villa he owned in the mountains.