Toshihiko Ogisawa

Gemstone, the Mermaid's Scale, appears in a secret, underground auction. The queen of the underworld coerces Lupin into stealing the rock for her. Quickly discovering not only that the stone is a forgery, but that the real Mermaid's Scale is part of an unsolved riddle that leads to transcending mortality!

After his mother dies, Jiantan has to leave Xi'an to live with his father on the Tibetan steppe, where he meets a golden dog that helps him cope with the new challenges ahead.