In the third year of Jinghe, undercurrents stirred in Liujin City, capital of the Dayin Dynasty. Famous for its “Golden Scale Pool,” the city was a bustling center of commerce by day. But after nightfall, seventy-two underground rivers surged beneath its walls. These waterways carried away the city’s sewage, but they also gave rise to legends of a “Water Ghost Market.” On every moonless night, the memories of the dead would condense into golden scales, take human form in the underground rivers, and revisit the places they once knew. While investigating a series of drownings, Lu Huaisha, an agent of the Six Fan Gate, discovers fish-gill-shaped golden markings on the back of every victim’s neck. Following the trail, he finds Xuanying, a young mermaid who can read the memory scales. But in a vision of a case from twenty years ago, he sees the figure of his late mentor...
