"She isn't going to kill us? Isn't she allied with the monsters?" Countless questions swam through our minds.

But the figure paid absolutely no attention to our confusion, merely walking toward the door as if we weren't even there, not glancing back at us once.

"I get it," Nobita seemed to have a sudden realization. "That ice staircase wasn't for us; it was for her. She needed it to come down..."

I disagreed with Nobita's assessment. At the level that person had reached, did they really need to use stairs?

"You... you all are quite amusing. A very big surprise awaits you."

Just as we hesitated to make any sudden move, the person suddenly spoke, using perfectly fluent English.

Seeing her speak, we all turned our heads. We discovered that the figure was actually a young woman with golden hair. Although she was wearing a suit, her figure was undeniably spectacular; judging by her chest, it was at least a D-cup.

The dress shirt beneath the suit could barely contain the majestic peaks threatening to burst forth, framed by an exquisite V-shaped face marked by a mole on her chin. Unfortunately, she wore sunglasses, obscuring her eyes entirely.

However, the moment I took in her appearance, the aura of an 'expert' or 'master' diminished somewhat. Instead, I felt like I was looking at a celebrity.

After delivering her last line, the foreign woman backed out of the doorway.

Once outside, with a delicate wave of her slender hand, a tremendous, loud kaka sound erupted at the entrance, and the entire door was sealed shut by a layer of ice even thicker than before.

"Ice Queen..." Nobita finally managed to stammer out after a long moment of stunned silence.

Nie Chuan, however, frowned and said, "I feel like she never saw us as people at all. In her eyes, we seemed to be nothing more than game pieces. By sealing the door, she just wants to see how we play out this round."

I nodded in agreement. "Indeed, this person is a profoundly dangerous individual. If we meet her again, we must be extremely cautious."

"So... what do we do now?" Nobita asked me uncertainly.

I looked at the firmly sealed main door and said, "What else can we do? Since the door is locked tight, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and force our way through."

Actually, most of our prior concerns revolved around that foreign woman. Now that she was gone, we felt considerably more relaxed.

Even in this dangerous situation, it couldn't be more perilous than dealing with her.

With that thought, I took the lead again, stepping onto the icy staircase to ascend.

Halfway up, Nie Chuan suddenly asked me, "What relationship do you think this woman who can conjure ice has with the Thunder Cloud Monk who can unleash electricity at will?"

His question reminded me that perhaps this foreign woman had come here specifically to find the Thunder Cloud Monk.

"I bet they're forming a new superhero collective, the Fantastic Four," Nobita interjected nonsensically.

Before I could respond, he continued, "We could join too, since your Heavenly Eye, when you get right down to it, is a type of superpower."

I wasn't sure if Nobita was flattering me or mocking me. Aligning myself with such dangerous characters certainly couldn't be labeled as heroism.

I knew clearly that once people truly possessed superpowers, the majority wouldn't use them for righteous deeds.

I once watched a movie called Chronicle, where the protagonist, after gaining powers, ended up unleashing deeply buried wickedness.

It's quite simple, really. Say I tell you that you can become invisible. Probably eighty percent of men would immediately check out the women's bathhouse, especially those women who are usually aloof and unreachable—that would most satisfy male desire. Then many would rob banks because surveillance cameras wouldn't catch you, and the police couldn't apprehend you.

This isn't to say human nature is inherently evil; it's connected to human inertia. Most people wouldn't go out searching for crime or fighting villains on the streets, unless they happened to run into trouble and might intervene to help.

The Thunder Cloud Monk we just faced, and the arrogant foreign woman from before, clearly relied on their superpowers to become conceited and powerful figures, not selfless heroes driven by justice.

My thoughts circled for a while before leading me back into this dilapidated Dragon Tower.

Treading carefully on the slightly slippery frozen steps, I ascended to the second floor of the attic one step at a time.

To my surprise, the second floor was far more magnificent than I had imagined.

This entire level was circular in shape, paved with red square tiles that looked neat and clean.

We stood at one end of the circular hall, gazing toward the opposite end. On the foremost wall, a massive bronze dragon head was mounted, its head held high, its whiskers slightly flared, projecting an imposing presence.

On the wall beside the dragon head was a bas-relief sculpture of a dragon's body winding its way across the surface.

The dragon’s body was incredibly long, almost encircling the entire wall of the circular hall, giving us the sensation of being surrounded by a giant serpent.

The dragon imagery in Japan was imported from China, so its appearance was nearly identical to Chinese dragons, though the Japanese version often had a leaner, longer face, very large, high horns, and long, flowing whiskers.

Most importantly, Japanese dragons were often depicted with eyes made of precious gems like crystal or pearls.

The statue before us was no different; its pair of eyes were crafted from luminous pearls—Yemingzhu—and their glow was so intense that one might mistake them for incandescent bulbs.

These two dragon eyes acted like spotlights, casting circular patches of light onto the red floor. Within these light pools were painted images of a Green Dragon and a White Dragon, looking fiercely dominant.

I knew that such elaborate design couldn't merely be decorative; it must hold some special significance, perhaps indicating a mechanism.

Besides these three prominent dragons, I also noticed several doors set into the walls of the circular hall. I wondered what lay inside those rooms—and if Jie Yuting and the others were hidden within.

We advanced cautiously, first moving toward the enormous dragon head.

This wasn't because we intended to trigger a mechanism, but because the object was too conspicuous. If we didn't investigate it first, it might cause unnecessary trouble later.

As we moved closer, the two dragon totems on the floor were less than five or six meters away from us.

At this moment, Nie Chuan remarked, "Look, the floor tiles where the dragon totems are painted seem different from the other red bricks."

I looked and confirmed it: the two circular areas were solid black masses. At first, I couldn't clearly discern what they were, but as we drew nearer, I saw they were two panes of black crystal—or, to put it plainly, two mirrors.

Ancient mirrors were usually bronze, but wealthier households might possess crystal mirrors. Black crystal was an extremely rare type; when highly transparent black crystal was polished, red pigment applied to the back created a reflection effect similar to modern mirrors.

The two crystal mirrors beneath our feet were highly reflective, and the dragon patterns were painted on the red lacquer backing the glass. This construction was most likely designed to project images onto something else.

However, when we looked up, we noticed two large holes in the ceiling. The images of the two giant dragons that should have been projected upward were nowhere to be seen.

If that was the case, what was the purpose of this projection apparatus?

I considered that this device might only function at night, as the luminous pearls wouldn't be bright enough during the day. Therefore, its purpose must relate to nighttime activities. But after racking my brain, I couldn't figure out what this thing was actually for.

Squatting down for a closer look at the crystal mirrors, I saw they were covered in a thick layer of dust, and parts of them were cracked. They appeared to have seen heavy use in the past, accounting for the significant damage.

"Look here, it seems like there's a handle..." Nie Chuan said at this point.

I turned and saw that beside each of the two mirrors, there was a small, round control mechanism resembling a ship’s helm, though much smaller.