Chapter 233: Intuition

Su Mu’s intuition had not lied to her. 

The moment she saw the endless spiral staircase, she wanted to swear.

It was one floor, yes, but no one had said how high that one floor was, had they?

The surrounding circular scenery was dizzying. 

After walking for a while, she could no longer see the bottom. 

All that met her eyes were gray steps without even a handrail. 

If she wasn’t careful, she might fall straight down. 

However, in a place like this, she probably wouldn’t fall to her death, so Su Mu wasn’t worried.

But right now, she was like Sisyphus, having no idea how long she would have to walk. 

‘Isn’t this a deliberate trap?’

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. 

Su Mu simply summoned her gloves again and made a Spider-Man gesture toward the deep, invisible ceiling. 

The silk threads on the back of her hand, tougher than steel wire, immediately understood her intent and shot toward the top.

A moment later, feeling the impact from the end of the threads, Su Mu was overjoyed. 

She tried to use the threads to pull herself up. 

However, the moment her feet left the ground, the tension in the thin threads suddenly vanished. 

Suspended in mid-air, Su Mu immediately lost control of her body and fell straight toward the abyss below.

Su Mu’s voice echoed through the stairs, reaching all the way to the top.

“Tang Nai, you — “

However, it didn’t take long for Su Mu to make contact with a hard surface again. 

Although she landed on her backside, it didn’t cause her any pain. 

It was like falling into water; the impact was completely cushioned.

Su Mu patted her rear and stood up, only then noticing that her surroundings had changed. 

Countless gray reliefs filled her vision on the pillars, the walls to her left and right, and the ceiling. 

The entire space was exceptionally spacious, as if she had stumbled into a royal palace, but the simple furnishings made it seem overly monotonous.

Black and white checkered tiles were laid beneath her feet, cold and smooth, almost clear enough to reflect a person’s figure. 

The shadows of the pillars converged where Su Mu stood, as if several tall giants were staring down at her. 

Grayish-white human statues could be seen everywhere, some standing and others kneeling. 

Their expressions varied, but they all turned their gaze toward the same direction, looking like intruders who had been turned to stone by Medusa’s gaze.

The most intuitive feeling this place gave Su Mu was that of a chessboard.

The moment she stepped into this space, she had become a piece on the board. 

The King piece was located at the farthest end of the board, sitting high upon the main seat, looking down with disdain at everything beneath her gaze.

Su Mu took note of the stone sculptures around her, looking at their praying gestures and lifelike expressions. 

She felt a chill gradually seeping into her spine.

Everything she had come into contact with regarding Tang Nai since returning to the past seemed quite foreign. 

Although she could still vaguely see a few familiar shadows, Su Mu began to feel uneasy.

This unease reached its peak at this moment. 

Although she hadn’t seen Tang Nai’s face yet, Su Mu had already confirmed one thing with her own eyes: these figures around her, most of whom were likely no weaker than herself, could do nothing but clasp their hands and beg for mercy in front of Tang Nai.

And then, with despair, they turned into eternal stone sculptures.

“Yo, you’re here.” A crisp voice suddenly echoed through the hall, offering a casual greeting. 

Although the tone was quite youthful, the cadence was excessively steady, as if a weathered soul resided within that silver-haired girl’s shell.

In Su Mu’s words, she sounded like someone who was half-dead.

After Tang Nai spoke, the shadows that had originally shrouded her side suddenly dissipated, causing the entire chessboard palace to brighten. 

Su Mu finally saw her appearance — she looked exactly the same as she had in Lando’s Dream World, with black hair and black eyes, elegant and ethereal. 

A smile touched her cherry-blossom lips, but her eyes held an unfathomable depth.

Wrapped around her petite figure was a heavy, pure white dress that didn’t quite suit her. 

Complex and exquisite patterns and accessories covered it, yet the most important parts of the skirt were left blank. 

The shadows between the folds interlaced with the porcelain white of the fabric, creating a silent gray.

“First meeting, Irina. I am Tang Nai.”

This indifferent and proper tone made Su Mu a bit uncomfortable, but she couldn’t say what was wrong. 

She could only shake her head simply.

“My name isn’t Irina.”

“Do you hate being called that? It took a lot of effort for me to remember that name.”

‘Is remembering someone’s name really that difficult?’

“Call me whatever you like.” Su Mu frowned slightly, not dwelling on the topic she asked, “You said you could make me a Magical Girl. Is that true?”

Tang Nai remained seated on the throne that floated in mid-air, though she lowered her crossed leg.

“That depends on you. If it’s just becoming a common Magical Girl… anyone can do that, but it’s meaningless.”

“What do you mean by a common Magical Girl?” Su Mu was somewhat puzzled.

“It refers to a Magical Girl who will eventually become a Witch. If you just want to become a Witch, you don’t need to go to all this trouble.” Tang Nai spread her hands dismissively, showing a mocking smile. 

“Of course, I didn’t have high expectations to begin with. After all, that kind of thing only exists in theory.”

“In other words, you do have a little bit of expectation for me.” Instead of being dissatisfied with Tang Nai’s attitude, Su Mu keenly noticed the point.

“Heh.” Hearing this, Tang Nai’s smile deepened, “Exactly. Otherwise, I would have no reason to seek you out.”

With that, Tang Nai rose from the floating throne and took a step forward. 

Immediately after, the throne behind her scattered like loose sand, as if it had never existed. 

Tang Nai landed lightly on the ground, standing steadily.

“Speaking of which, have you seen this pile of trash?”

Tang Nai gave a casual wave of her hand. 

The stone sculptures beside Su Mu all shattered, crumbling into countless tiny grains of sand on the floor. 

However, inside each one was a brilliant prism — a Magic Power core.

Among these Magic Power cores of various sizes, Su Mu could clearly feel that many of them contained fluctuations of Magic Power that startled her. 

Some even gave her a sense of pressure no less than that of Edma. 

Yet, they had all been turned into a handful of sand, unable to resist or even cry out before Tang Nai easily harvested their lives.

Seeing this, Su Mu’s pupils shrank slightly, but she still showed no intention of retreating.

She had long expected that Tang Nai would be strong, but seeing it confirmed still surprised her.

“There is no fear in your eyes. Instead, there’s some disbelief… Is that so? In your imagination, should I not have acted so coldly?”

Su Mu nodded hesitantly. 

Although she was a bit reluctant, she had to admit that the Tang Nai she knew was much gentler than this.

“You noticed before you came up, didn’t you? Those guys all stayed silent and didn’t dare to move recklessly. No one would completely ignore the possible taboos and act as recklessly as you did. Do you know why?”

Su Mu shook her head.

Tang Nai’s finger moved slightly. 

In the next moment, a figure “fell” upward out of a black tile beside her, and was then pressed back down to the ground by another force.

The man looked terrified. 

Seeing Tang Nai was like seeing a plague god. 

He tried to turn and leave, but before he could take two steps, his body suddenly stiffened. 

The petrification spread upward from his feet, engulfing his entire body and swallowing the despair in his eyes, turning him into a cold, hard statue.

Yet Tang Nai, who had completed all of this, didn’t even bother to show her signature smile. 

She just coldly walked around the statue and came to stand in front of Su Mu. 

She stood on her tiptoes, bringing her face extremely close to Su Mu’s, staring into those bewildered blue eyes.

“Because they have no idea who will die or why in this tower, so they can only do nothing…” Tang Nai gave a light laugh. 

“How about it? Do you feel a hint of fear now for your recklessness down there?”

However, Su Mu pushed back without hesitation.

“No. I don’t think you would do that.”

“Reason?” Hearing Su Mu’s answer, Tang Nai’s interest grew even more intense.

Su Mu blinked.

“Intuition.”