"It hurts like hell! Those bastards! I'm definitely going to kill them! ... Shaw, be gentle! Gentle!"
Bella's self-healing ability wasn't exactly weak, but it wasn't particularly strong either. It was merely a secondary healing effect resulting from her enhanced physical constitution.
She couldn't compare to the likes of Deadpool or Wolverine, who practically had infinite regeneration. By comparison, she was probably on the same tier as Captain America.
She hadn't reached the level where her muscles could just squeeze the bullet out on their own. In fact, because of her self-healing capabilities, if she didn't remove the bullet in time, her flesh would simply grow over it.
Upon leaving the church, she immediately asked Shaw to help extract the bullet. Little Sharon, face pale, was very well-behaved; she busied herself handing over gauze or wiping the injured policewoman's wounds.
Bullet extraction, debridement, and bandaging—Shaw's craftsmanship was genuinely impressive. The shoulder and arm were bandaged up in under five minutes.
Since the car was filled with girls, a female ghost, and an unconscious policewoman, Bella had no reservations. She stripped off her blood-stained shirt, balled it up, stuffed it under the rear seat, and changed into a bright yellow T-shirt. After getting her bearings, she set off again, following Comrade 006's trail.
Driving along an east-west road in the town, they tracked the footprints.
Originally, Bella wanted to get the policewoman out first. Although the adrenaline was keeping her going, the officer's condition was not optimistic.
With such extensive burns followed by a gunshot wound, her muscle tissue was carbonized. Shaw couldn't even extract that bullet. She was running entirely on adrenaline now. Even if she were rushed straight into an ER, there was a high probability she wouldn't make it.
But the policewoman refused. She wanted to help find Rose, and then they would all leave together.
Bella didn't insist further. In her heart, the policewoman held a similar status to Rose and Sharon; she didn't subscribe to the idea that the main character must be saved while the supporting characters could just die at random.
However, if she was going to save the policewoman, she had to drive her all the way to a hospital. If she just broke through the barrier of the Surface World and dumped her in the wilderness? That would be crueler than shooting her.
Going to the hospital meant filing a report. If the police took it seriously and detained Bella, by the time she called in favors and contacts to get released and returned to Silent Hill, 006 and Rose's bodies would likely be cold.
For Bella, the only option was to do her utmost to save people now, rather than calculating it like a math problem—save one as a baseline, then rush back for another? Life couldn't be calculated that way.
"Alright then, please hang in there a bit longer. Once we find Rose, we're leaving this place." She drove the pickup truck at breakneck speed while Shaw focused on tracking footprints and navigating. Soon, they charged toward the edge of Silent Hill, arriving at Brookhaven Hospital.
"Bella... I feel... so much pain?" Little Sharon said hesitantly.
Is it because Alessa's main body is inside the hospital?
In Bella's eyes, this 'main body' was completely pitiable.
Her mother had become pregnant out of wedlock. While this was a normal occurrence in the broader American environment, in this closed-off and stubborn small town, it was viewed as a terrible blasphemy.
Alessa had been ostracized by the other children from a young age, abused by the school janitor, and subsequently, the cult's Bishop had declared her impure and attempted to burn her alive publicly.
Alessa already possessed higher psychic power than the average person. Suffering so much injustice caused her will to collapse, detonating the ancestral spirits of the Native Americans buried deep beneath Silent Hill.
Alessa didn't die in the fire, but the person who survived wasn't her anymore.
Her malice was separated from her body, and she subsequently cast aside her kindness. Alessa was essentially a walking corpse—or rather, a lying one. Due to extensive burns over her entire body, she lacked even basic mobility.
She lay alone in a hospital bed for thirty years, without food or water. At this point, Alessa could barely be considered human.
"Don't worry. I don't think the guy inside will hurt you. Let's go find your mom and dad," Bella comforted Sharon in a coaxing tone.
She then took Sharon into the hospital to search, while Shaw stayed behind to look after the injured and comatose policewoman.
As for why she took Sharon instead of leaving her in the pickup, Bella was mainly worried that the little girl would be easily influenced by Alessa's thoughts. Sharon had almost no resistance to the call of the main body; only Bella, who was skilled in psionics, could help shield her from those summons.
They held up the megaphone, which was still blaring "Rose—Sharon—", and carefully walked into the hospital.
The little girl held the pink megaphone, while Bella held her gun, alert to her surroundings.
"Rose—Sharon—"
"Rose—Sharon—"
Comrade 006's deep voice was amplified by the device, echoing far into the empty hospital.
Bella, with her keen hearing, faintly heard a weak cry from upstairs: "Christopher?! Is that you? Honey?"
Who is she calling? Bella didn't react for a moment. Two seconds later, it dawned on her—that must be what she calls 006. Too many aliases and too oppressive an environment; she hadn't made the connection immediately.
Ten minutes later, she saw 006's wife, Ms. Rose.
She was a fierce woman. No superpowers, no magic, no weapons. A weak woman who wouldn't even count as "combat level 5" had been running wild in Silent Hill. Although she looked covered in blood and grime, and her appearance was wretched, she actually didn't have a single scratch on her!
Bella was just surprised. She had found Rose and Sharon, but where was 006?
"Mom!" Little Sharon ran over excitedly. The joy of reunion made the mother and daughter hug each other tightly. Rose held her daughter close, as if afraid she would suddenly disappear.
It took a while before she noticed there was an outsider present.
"Excuse me, may I ask who you are?" She initially thought Bella was a police officer, but then felt she was too young—she didn't look the part. And the gun in Bella's hand made her very hesitant.
Right, what is my identity?
Bella realized she really should get some credentials.
Not an LAPD badge, and certainly not Natasha's S.H.I.E.L.D. credentials, but getting an FBI badge wouldn't be too much to ask, right? Pulling out a Stanford student ID while hunting demons was just too inappropriate...
"I am..." The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she forgot 006's alias again. She hadn't heard it clearly earlier, so she just glossed over it: "Your husband hired me to find you. It's dangerous here, leave with me first."
In her view, 006 was an elite MI6 agent armed to the teeth; he wouldn't die that easily. Comparatively, Rose and Sharon were in a very dangerous situation. Once enemies appeared, it would be hard to protect both of them simultaneously. Plus, there was a heavily injured policewoman outside. The priority was to get them out of Silent Hill, then come back for 006.
Just as Bella was preparing to retreat, a figure sprinted past a corner at the edge of her vision. She paused. Speak of the devil—006 had appeared?
Bella had excellent eyesight. She saw that chasing behind 006 was a female figure in a white dress, crawling along the ceiling like Spider-Man.
Looking at the face, that seemed to be the lawyer, Jeri Hogarth. But what was she doing running around Silent Hill?