"Hey, hey, look who’s squatting by the gate!"

"Let’s sing the Froggy Song!"

"A little girl sits by the door,

Wearing a coat with some flair,

Oops—slip!

She tumbles right down the well!

Ha! Turns out it’s just a nasty toad!"

A group of seven or eight boys and girls were laughing and chanting their silly rhyme, poking fun at the little girl crouched a short distance away outside the city gate, motionless in the snow.

She looked about ten years old, dressed in a worn gray padded coat. Her sallow face was marred by a big, dark birthmark stretching from her brow to the corner of her mouth—bumpy and uneven, it gave her a frightening appearance. That was why they all jeeringly called her "the toad."

Right now, the girl's slender right hand had a thin, nearly invisible strand tied to her index finger. The other end of the line trailed into a small hole in the snow, about the size of an egg.

Jessica Brown had held this pose for nearly an hour.

The rhyme had been sung over and over, but she didn’t flinch. Still as a rock, wordless, with neither anger nor sadness.

The kids got annoyed.

"What's with her today? Even the toad's ignoring us?"

"Maybe when we pushed her down the steps the other day, she hit her head. Got stupid or something?"

"Easy to find out. Daniel, make a snowball and toss it at her," ordered Amanda Smith, the Smith family’s bratty little heir, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

Daniel Brown hesitated, looking conflicted. He didn't want to do it, but being on the wrong side of the Smiths or the Chens wasn't smart. One bullied Brown in the family was enough.

Slowly, he bent down, scooped up a double handful of snow, and packed it tightly between his palms. Once firm, he wound up and hurled it straight toward her.

Smack!

Right on target—the snowball hit Jessica square on the head, breaking into icy chunks that tumbled down her neck. She simply scrunched her brow a little, still sitting there like a statue.

The crowd was baffled. Huh? No tears? No yelling?

"Let’s go check it out. That toad’s been stuck there all morning. What the heck’s she even doing?"

Suddenly, Jessica's eyes lit up. She stared hard at her fingertip, where the strand subtly twitched. Licking her lips, she whispered, almost cheering herself on.

"Now!"

She shouted, tugging the thread fast and sharp. Dangling from its tip was something wriggling wildly, crying out in thin, sharp yelps.

She’d caught a strange fish, about two fingers wide, its body coated in silver-striped scales. Its wide mouth showed off tiny hooked fangs, snapping in protest.

Jessica's lips curled into a satisfied smile. Carefully dodging the sharp teeth, she pinched its gills and swiftly stuffed it into a bamboo basket slung at her waist.Just as Jessica Brown laid the lid back onto her bamboo basket, she realized—she was surrounded.

“What did you just put in there?” Daniel Brown was shoved forward by the others to confront her.

“Daniel, seriously? You’ve lost it. We’re family, remember? You think you’re a Smith or a Chen now? That fish is for Grandpa. Get out of the way!” Jessica clutched the basket tightly to her chest, shooting her snot-nosed cousin a look full of disappointment.

Something in her clear eyes made Daniel shrink back a little. It hit him—his “ugly” cousin looked kinda different today... tougher.

“You’ve got a bloodsilver fish in there, don’t you? We all saw it.” Amanda Smith brushed past the stunned Daniel, tone flat but certain.

“Do you know how rare those fish are? Snow City hasn’t seen one in, what, five years? That thing’s like a miracle cure.”

Right away, the kids from the Smiths and the Chens burst into excited chatter.

Jessica frowned. This was bad. Just hearing them, she could tell they already saw the fish as theirs.

Facing this greedy bunch, her eyes darted about, then she suddenly pointed skyward and chirped, “Hey, look! There goes a plane!”

“Huh?” Seven or eight kids automatically looked up.

...Plane? What’s that?

“Crap! That frog-faced brat tricked us!” Amanda stomped her foot. “After her!”

Jessica sprinted down the old-fashioned street, holding her basket like her life depended on it, with a mob of angry kids close behind.

The street vendors on either side glanced up and sighed. The Brown family’s really falling apart these days.

Jessica kept running, but her chest throbbed like a boulder was pressing down on it—she could barely breathe. When she heard the footsteps closing in, panic shot through her. Hugging the basket tighter, she bit her lip and spun around—then charged back the way she came!

That move made Amanda pause, satisfied.

She held out her hand, blocking her crew to gloat. “See? I just say a few words and that ugly toad hands stuff over. Didn’t I get the Browns’ guardian jade the same way? I’ll hand the fish in to Lord Smith later, and when he rewards me, I’ll share a little with you guys.”

The Chen kids didn’t look thrilled, but hey—none of them could outmatch Amanda anyway. She was about to break into the Warrior level, already one of the most powerful among Snow City’s kids.

Plus, the Smiths? They basically ran the whole city now.

So regardless of how they felt, everyone chimed in to flatter Amanda.

Too bad her smug moment lasted all of ten seconds—her grin froze.

Because just as Jessica got close, she swerved suddenly and dashed into an old, low-key shop on the left side of the street.

Wait—was she gonna sell the bloodsilver fish? For money? And just let the old man from the Brown family die? Wasn’t he hanging on to life by just a thread?Amanda Smith clenched her fists, her expression stiff. She'd just bragged, only to get slapped in the face right after.

If it were any regular shop, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. As the distinguished young miss of the Smith family, her name usually held weight. But this was the Appraisal Pavilion—its mysterious background meant even her family’s patriarch had to greet the old shopkeeper with respect. Who was she in comparison?

Fuming with nowhere to vent, Amanda turned on Daniel Brown and gave him a few good punches in frustration.

Inside the Appraisal Pavilion.

The moment Jessica Brown stepped in, a wave of aged elegance seemed to hit her. She swallowed hard, trying to recall what she’d heard about this place.

The Pavilion had been around for over a century. No one knew exactly who ran it, but their branches spanned across the entire Lost Continent. Their business? Buying, selling, and appraising rare items. Every shopkeeper here was said to have exceptional appraisal skills and formidable power.

No one dared cause trouble in the Pavilion. Rumor was, each shopkeeper was at least at the Warrior level in combat strength.

While she was still sorting through her thoughts, a hoarse, weathered voice startled her.

"Little girl, you here to sell something? Don’t worry, we treat everyone fair here. We offer honest prices."

Jessica looked toward the voice. An old man, barely taller than the counter and with a hunched back, slowly emerged. He looked kind and genuine, without a hint of condescension due to her age or shabby clothes.

"Sir, do you accept bloodsilver fish?" she asked carefully, lifting the lid of her bamboo basket to show him.

“Oh? That *is* bloodsilver fish!” The old man glanced at her with surprise, stroking his long beard with curiosity. "Even in Snow City, that’s a rare catch. What do you want in return?"

"I want to trade it for a life."

Plenty of people came here looking to make a deal, but asking to trade for a *life*? That was a first. The old shopkeeper looked both amused and slightly helpless, though he wasn’t annoyed.

"A life doesn’t come cheap, girl. You got anything bigger to offer?"

Jessica handed over the basket with a bright smile and said seriously, "I’ll trade you this bloodsilver fish."

The old man assumed she was just a naive kid and kindly tried to explain.

"This one’s decently fresh, sure. But it’s not worth that kind of price. How about I give you some tonic pills that boost energy and health? They’d help you or a loved one stay strong and live longer."

Jessica knew he was being generous. Still, she gently shook her head.

That move made her seem a little presumptuous. The old man’s smile started to stiffen.

"What if I bring you ten bloodsilver fish every five days, for a whole month?" she asked, her voice bright and confident.

"W-What?" The old man blinked, wondering if he’d heard wrong. Ten *each time*? *Every five days*? For a *month* straight? Was this girl joking—or out of her mind?