Chapter 1 I Broke Out of My Shell
“How much did you bring?”
“500 gold coins.”
The underground trading room resembled a tavern, but it was dimly lit. Only small oil lamps hanging from the ceiling provided some light.
Two middle-aged men sat outside the counter, breathing heavily. Their old faces were covered in dust, looking as if they had just fled from disaster.
“Boss lady, do you know how much effort it took us to get this thing?”
One of the men, holding a large round bundle, placed it on the counter. “We almost lost our lives stealing this from that monster!”
Behind the counter sat a young woman in her twenties.
Her name was Jocelyn O'Casey, the proprietress of this place. She had long black hair like a waterfall and wore a vest-style leather top, leaving her fair arms exposed. On her shoulders was a tattoo resembling a pair of blood-red wings.
Under her arched brows were captivating bright eyes, but her gaze remained indifferent, as if uninterested in their complaints.
She slowly picked up a pipe and placed it between her lips. With a gentle flick of her slender fingers in the air, a small flame lit up at her fingertip, casting a glow on her delicate face.
“Hss~ Hoo~”
She exhaled a puff of thick smoke.
“What I mean is…”
Before she could finish, one of the men across the counter barked, “800 gold coins! Take it or leave it!”
“No, I meant to say…”
“800 gold coins, deal or not?”
“I was just trying to say…”
“800 coins, yes or no! If yes, pay up, and we’ll be on our way!”
“Fine.”
Raising an eyebrow, Jocelyn reluctantly took out a bag of coins from under the counter and handed it over. The man, overjoyed, weighed the bag before pocketing it.
Right in front of them, Jocelyn slowly unwrapped the large round bundle to reveal—an egg!
The egg was nearly the size of half an adult’s body. It was hard to imagine what kind of terrifying creature could be incubating inside.
Taking another puff from her pipe, Jocelyn inspected it with her eyes. Satisfied, she moved the egg behind the counter.
The two men who had received the coins were now content. Even their heavy breathing seemed lighter under the influence of money.
“By the way, boss lady, what were you trying to say earlier?” one of the men asked, now more relaxed.
“I meant to say, seeing how hard you worked, I was going to give you 1,000 gold coins this time as an exception.” Jocelyn shrugged. “Money means little to me.”
“???”
Hearing this, the two men were dumbfounded.
The one who had been relaxed suddenly twitched, then slapped the other across the head. “You piece of sh*t! Can’t even haggle properly!”
The latter didn’t dare argue, wearing a pitiful expression.
They knew this woman wasn’t ordinary and didn’t dare ask for more. But just like that, they had lost 200 coins—it felt like a huge loss.
“Hoo…”
With the gloomy silence settling in again, one of the men tapped his fingers on the counter, making a “da-da” sound.
“Boss lady, considering we risked our lives for you, a couple of drinks isn’t too much to ask, right?”
“Sure.”
Jocelyn brought out two glasses of fragrant wine and set them before the men. She returned to her chair, crossed her snow-white legs, and rested her elbow on the counter with her pipe in hand, looking relaxed.
“Tell me, about that monster—what did it look like?”
“It was terrifying! I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! But… I guess you could say it was a particularly sexy woman.”
Talking about the monster, the two men perked up. One of them took a big swig of the wine before continuing, “She had a great figure, very charming, the kind of beauty that could captivate thousands of men—comparable to you, boss lady.”
“Get to the point.”
“We figured any woman living in a place like that had to be dangerous, no matter how pretty.
She was holding that egg like she was incubating it with her body. It looked eerie… and oddly seductive…”
“So how did you steal the egg from her?” Jocelyn asked again, puffing on her pipe.
“We’re professionals. Stuff like this is nothing to us.”
One of the men patted his chest proudly. “I use a kind of hypnosis technique. Anyone who falls under it will be unconscious for at least a day. I’ve used it on plenty of women—works like a charm.
That woman looked weak at the time, so it was easy to take her down.
But right after we got the egg, she suddenly woke up—in less than three minutes! It was really weird!”
Jocelyn chuckled. “Maybe your hypnosis isn’t that good.”
“It’s not that! That woman… wasn’t human!”
“You know what? When she caught us stealing the egg, she revealed her true form.”
As he spoke, the man recalled the scene, a trace of terror flashing across his face. “She grew horns on her head, wings on her back—looked like a giant bat… No, she also had a tail, like a lizard.”
“That should be a dragon.”
The other man interrupted with a grim tone. “I once read in an ancient book that dragons capable of transforming into humans are called Calamity Dragons. Their appearance heralds impending catastrophe—mankind could face a massive disaster.
But according to that book… those creatures went extinct over 200 years ago. Why would one show up in Ivory Mountain… I can’t make sense of it.”
Hearing their description, Jocelyn’s beautiful face lit up with interest. “Then how did you escape from her?”
“We used invisibility. It’s a must-have survival skill for thieves!”
The man rubbed his temple. “Luckily, we’ve trained since childhood. That monster was too weak to find us right away.
Our old man was right—nothing is more important than staying alive. To be a thief, you have to know how to survive first.”
“Bang!”
Suddenly, as the group chatted, the door to the trading room was kicked open.
A beautiful woman in white entered, but her expression was cold as ice.
Her skin glowed like white light, her blue eyes cold as permafrost, and the high bridge of her nose gave her a fierce profile.
Her dark hair, streaked with white, fell in soft waves, and her cold, elegant oval face exuded an aura as frigid as a snow-capped mountain.
All eyes turned to this unexpected intruder.
Upon confirming the identity of the two men, the ice-cold beauty’s expression changed. Her pupils shrank into sharp points like a beast’s. Horns sprouted from her head, wings unfurled from her back, and a lizard-like tail swayed behind her.
As she transformed, the temperature in the room plummeted, a bone-chilling cold spreading through the underground chamber.
The two thieves widened their eyes and mouths in sheer terror.
The air seemed to freeze…
“Monster!”
“Monster!”
“Monster!”
Three horrified shouts rang out almost at once.
The first two came from the thieves.
The last one…
Seemed to come from the egg behind the counter.
“???”
Everyone turned in shock.
Inside the broken egg, a small head peeked out—it was a little girl!
The sight made everyone instinctively blink.
Her long grayish-white hair draped smoothly over her shoulders. Her small nose had a hint of pink, and her delicate mouth showed two tiny fangs—just right and perfectly placed.
Her eyes, though large, glowed brightly with beast-like crimson pupils.
Altogether, her petite and exquisite appearance was breathtakingly beautiful.
But just like the icy beauty at the door, she too had two small horns on her head, a pair of small wings behind her, and a thin little tail extended from the egg.
Completely unaware of everything, the little girl didn’t understand why everyone was staring at her. She just pointed in fear at the icy beauty at the entrance.
“Monster at the door!”
“???”
As soon as she said that, she instinctively raised her sticky little hand from inside the egg and covered her mouth.
Because in her memory, this soft and light voice… didn’t belong to her.