These Legs Are Pretty Good!
Karl, standing at the back, hesitated. He glanced at Lina beside him, then tugged her back when she tried to follow the others.
"What are you doing?" she snapped, glaring at him.
"To cause trouble?" Karl shot back.
Lina pouted but fell silent. As much as she hated to admit it, Karl was right. From the very start, she had been under protection the whole way here. If she tagged along now, she'd only drag everyone down.
Karl stepped forward, guilt written on his face.
"I'm sorry, Xu… I can't go with you."
Xu Mo waved him off, exasperated.
"What are you saying? Like we're marching to our graves? Just stay in the church—I don't need your help."
His tone was blunt, but true. Bringing more weak fighters along would only make things harder.
Still, Julie and Jason refused to be left behind.
Xu Mo sighed inwardly. Fine. Let them come.
Moments later, several figures stepped into the fog.
---
Half an hour later, under Christabella's reluctant guidance, they arrived at the gates of an old hospital.
Inside, pale from blood loss, Christabella pointed weakly toward a door in the first-floor lobby.
"The demon you seek… she's in Room 115… two floors underground."
Jason immediately moved forward, pried the rusted door open, and revealed an elevator. Somehow, it still had power.
Xu Mo wasn't surprised. He'd already learned yesterday that in Silent Hill, the rules of science didn't apply where spirits reigned.
They entered one by one.
When Christabella realized she was being taken down as well, panic struck her.
"No! I won't go down there! Let me go!" she screamed, thrashing violently.
She knew better than anyone how much Alessa hated her. Christabella had led the cult that tried to burn the girl alive. Though Alessa survived, her body was left in agonizing ruin. No one else in the world ranked higher on her list of enemies.
The two men carrying Christabella were already exhausted. Her struggling made it worse. One of them lost patience and slapped her hard.
"Behave!"
Her face flushed with rage. These men—her followers, once meek as lambs—dared to strike her now. It was unthinkable. She fought harder, earning herself a flurry of more blows until her eyes rolled back and she went limp, silenced by pain and blood loss.
Xu Mo watched impassively. He hadn't brought Christabella out of mercy. He needed her as bait.
This was Alessa's world—her mirror realm. If she didn't want to see him, there was little he could do. His knowledge of dimensional magic was shallow; forcing her out would risk shattering the space entirely.
But Christabella? Alessa would not ignore her.
The elevator screeched to a halt at the basement. They stepped out into suffocating darkness.
Jason unfolded a floor schematic he'd torn from the wall upstairs and led the way. Xu Mo had prepared—each of them carried a powerful flashlight.
Beams cut through the shadows, lighting up the endless corridor.
After turning a corner, Jason froze.
"…It's huge," he muttered.
Julie followed his gaze—and her face went pale.
The hallway was packed with faceless nurses. Their skin was charred, their heads fused and eyeless, but their short skirts exposed impossibly long, pale legs.
Xu Mo's eyes narrowed. These infamous horrors were already stirring, reacting to the light. They shrieked and rushed forward.
Julie raised her silver crossbow, but Xu Mo stopped her.
With a wave of his hand, glowing purple tendrils of telekinetic energy shot from the walls, coiling around each nurse's throat.
One by one, they were hoisted up, strung against the corridor walls like grotesque puppets.
The others stared, wide-eyed. Even the weakened Christabella gasped.
"What… what is this?" Julie whispered.
Xu Mo's expression didn't change. "I'll explain once we're out of here."
They said no more. This wasn't the place for questions.
The group pressed on.
Jason lingered for a moment as they passed the suspended nurses. His eyes scanned their mutilated faces—skin melted and fused into blank masks.
"So damn ugly," he muttered—then his gaze drifted downward. A crooked grin spread on his face.
"…But those legs aren't bad at all."
With a chuckle, he reached out and brushed one before hurrying to catch up with the others.
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