Flandre stood before the holding tank, her crimson eyes widening in genuine astonishment.
Lungmen was a sprawling inland river port, situated far across the mainland continent, nowhere near the southern ocean. How in the world had a low-tier Seaborn traveled thousands of miles across dry land to end up locked in a glass basin inside a routine district seafood market?
One had to understand that eating standard spoiled fish might give a mortal a terrible case of food poisoning at worst, but consuming a living Seaborn organism was virtually guaranteed to mutate the diner into a newly transformed Sea Terror!
"Little one, this is a commercial stall selling fresh catch! You shouldn't be playing around the tanks!"
Just then, the fishmonger—a middle-aged woman wearing a heavy rubber apron—spotted the two young girls hovering near her display tanks and offered a gentle, well-meaning warning.
Flandre pointed straight down into the murky water at the squirming black creature. "Auntie! Where did this fish with legs come from?"
"A fish with legs? Since when do fish have legs... Wait, that thing really does have legs!"
The fishmonger had been ready to chuckle off the little girl's vivid imagination, but when she followed Flandre's small finger, her jaw dropped. Sure enough, resting right beneath a pile of river carp was a slippery, pitch-black creature supported by a pair of distinct, muscular limbs!
Her sudden gasp immediately caught the attention of nearby shoppers, who crowded around the stall to see what the commotion was about. Within seconds, a dense circle of local residents was peering into the glass tank, exchanging excited whispers.
"I've lived in Lungmen for fifty years and never heard of a river fish growing legs!" a passerby exclaimed. "A rare monstrosity like that must be worth a small fortune to exotic collectors!"
Hearing those words, the fishmonger's eyes instantly lit up with dollar signs.
Just as she was calculating how exorbitant a price she could slap onto the bizarre creature, a low, authoritative cough echoed from the edge of the crowd.
The onlookers parted as a dignified old gentleman stepped forward, leaning lightly on his walking stick. It was none other than the Rat King.
Why had he shown up at this specific stall? Naturally, it was Flandre's doing. The moment she realized the fishmonger's loud voice was drawing an unsuspecting crowd toward a live Seaborn, Flandre had quietly whispered to Koishi to use her subtle movement to fetch the underground master of Lungmen.
The Rat King shuffled over to Flandre's side, asking softly, "What caught your eye, little one?"
Flandre pointed straight at the Sea Terror in the basin. "Grandpa Lin, I want that one!"
The Rat King lifted his head, his sharp eyes taking in the legged aquatic creature. His brows furrowed into a tight frown. In his decades of ruling the shadows of Lungmen, he held a vague, distant recollection of such bizarre coastal abominations, though the details were sparse. Nevertheless, since Flandre specifically requested it, buying it for her was a simple matter.
"Shopkeeper," the Rat King said with a warm, amiable smile, stepping up to the counter. "Since the little girl finds this novel creature amusing, name your price for the fish."
The fishmonger's eyes darted back and forth as she sized up the old man's simple attire. Seeing how eagerly the little girl wanted it, she gulped and blurted out, "This is an extremely rare, one-of-a-kind specimen! It costs five hundred... no, five thousand Lungmen Dollars!"
The Rat King slowly glanced around the humble market stall. The shop sold standard freshwater fish, with the most expensive cuts maxing out around twenty Lungmen Dollars per catty. The strange creature weighed barely five or six catties, meaning even under generous market rates, it was worth barely a hundred Dollars.
Yet she was asking five thousand for a single specimen.
It wasn't that the old ruler lacked the pocket change, but he had zero intention of letting himself be taken for an obvious sucker. He remained silent, merely lifting an eyebrow as his deep, penetrating gaze locked onto the shopkeeper.
Under the weight of that quiet, terrifying aura, the fishmonger swallowed hard, her palms turning sweaty.
Before she could back down, an arrogant, sneering voice cut through the air from behind the crowd: "Bah! You ancient geezer, why act like a big shot if you can't even afford a few grand? It's just five thousand Dollars—I'll take it!"
The crowd turned to see a young man pushing his way forward, sporting flashily dyed hair in multiple neon colors. However, judging from his sleek Feline ears, the distinct golden roots showing through his dye, and his pronounced Victorian facial structure, he was clearly not a native Yanese local.
Extravagantly wealthy, Feline features, golden hair, and fluent Lungmen...
His background was practically stamped across his forehead—he was a junior member of the Swire merchant clan.
The Rat King wasn't surprised in the slightest that a Swire heir could throw around thousands of Dollars for a whim. But that obnoxious, disrespectful tone?
Old Man Lin was thoroughly displeased.
Without a word, he pulled his sleek smartphone from his coat pocket and dialed a direct video call.
The call connected within two rings, and a loud, gruff voice boomed from the speaker: "Hello? You old rat, how do you have time to bother me during business hours?"
Flandre perked up her ears, instantly recognizing the familiar, informal voice coming through the receiver.
"Take a good look through the screen and tell me which branch of your family this spoiled brat belongs to," the Rat King said calmly, turning the phone camera toward the flashy young man. "He just called me an 'ancient geezer' to my face."
"Hey! You really are just an ancient geezer—wait, what?!"
The young man scoffed, but as he glanced at the phone screen, his eyes caught the face of the caller. On the screen, Adams Swire—the formidable head of the Swire Family—was staring right back at him.
"Hiss... he actually really is one of my family's collateral juniors..." Adams Swire grumbled on the other end, massaging his temples in sheer annoyance as he recognized the brat's flashy hair. "Alright, Old Lin, give me some face and spare the idiot's life! I'll host a grand dinner tonight and pour the wine myself to apologize to you, how about that?"
Others in Lungmen might not understand the terrifying extent of the Rat King's ruthless methods, but Adams Swire knew better than anyone. Back when Wei Yenwu consolidated control over Lungmen, Adams handled the city's financial purse strings, while this old rat wielded the lethal blades in the dark.
How on earth had an incompetent junior from his clan managed to directly provoke this living nightmare on a random street corner?!
Fortunately, the old rat had chosen to make a phone call, which meant the situation was still open for diplomatic resolution. According to the Rat King's usual habits in the Slums, he wouldn't bother calling anyone—he would simply have his shadows corner the offender in a dark alley, slide a blade across his throat, and dump the corpse into the sewer without leaving a single trace.
Thus, the Swire patriarch took the opportunity to apologize profusely on behalf of his foolish lineage.
While the two elderly figures chatted casually, the young man had been strutting toward the fishmonger with his wallet out. But as he caught the familiar, terrifying voice booming from the phone, he froze mid-step and looked over.
The Rat King calmly flipped the screen around.
The young man's eyes met the icy, furious glare of his Family Head. His knees buckled, and his entire body began to tremble violently like a leaf in a storm.
"Fa... Family Head?!"
"Apologize to Old Lin right this second, then march your useless legs back to the main estate and lock yourself in the reflection room for three full days!" Adams Swire barked through the speaker, his face dark with embarrassment.
"I... Uncle Lin, I'm so sorry! I was completely blind!" The young man looked like he was about to burst into tears. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that casually picking a fight with an old man at a wet market would result in his grand patriarch calling in to scold him!
With a pale, bitter face, he hurriedly paid the fishmonger, grabbed the packaged container holding the legged fish, and presented it to the Rat King with both hands trembling. "Uncle Lin... I had no idea you were close with the Family Head! Please, be the bigger person and spare a small fry like me..."
The Rat King took the packaged container—which looked like a strange legged fish but was in truth a dormant Seaborn—and handed it directly to Flandre. Then he looked down at the cowering youth and uttered a single word:
"Get lost."
Hearing those two words, the young man didn't even dare to lift his head. He bowed frantically and scurried away as fast as his legs could carry him.
With the annoyance dealt with, the Rat King turned back to Flandre with a gentle, grandfatherly smile. "Little one, is there anything else in this market you want to pick up?"
Flandre shook her head, and the old man chuckled, indicating that he had also finished getting his wife's Tumor Beast meat.
The trio made their way through the exit archway and strolled toward a quiet, leafy boulevard bordering the residential district.
Once they were well out of earshot of the crowds, the Rat King glanced down at the wriggling package in Flandre's hands, his expression turning serious. "Do you know what this creature actually is?"
Flandre nodded solemnly. "Grandpa Lin, have you ever heard of the Seaborn?"
"Seaborn..." The Rat King stroked his white beard, his brow furrowing deep in thought. "I've heard brief reports from coastal intelligence officers, but aren't those horrors confined exclusively to the far southern oceans? How could a specimen manifest here in the heart of inland Lungmen?"
"This specific form is called a Sea Terror—it's one of the basic life forms among the Seaborn hive," Flandre explained, her crimson eyes serious. "Logically speaking, it should be impossible for one to naturally reach Lungmen... That's why I want to take it back to examine it, and then ask Sister Ch'en and the Guard Department to run a deep investigation on that fishmonger and her suppliers. Because this thing cannot be consumed as food—if anyone eats it, catastrophic things will happen!"