Chapter 164: Mental Hospital
After dealing with the doll, Jon intended to open a portal and send the blonde woman out of Silent Hill. As he recited the spell, he whipped out a portal with flaming chain, and on the other side of the portal was the outside world. The air seemed to shimmer with an ethereal quality, the boundary between nightmare and reality visibly tearing apart before their eyes.
"Go, and don't look back." Jon said indifferently, his voice echoing slightly in the thick, fog-laden air of Silent Hill. It was a place where even the bravest souls found their resolve tested.
The blonde woman looked at the outside world, which seemed like a road to a beautiful dream. No, it should be said a way to escape a nightmare. During this time, she even thought the outside world was just a beautiful dream she had. She hesitated, her heart pounding, as memories of her life before the horror flashed through her mind—a life filled with mundane worries now seemed like a distant paradise.
"Thank you, I don't know how I could ever repay you!" the blonde woman said, her voice breaking with emotion. It wasn't just the terror of Silent Hill she was escaping; it was the return to hope, to light, after being submerged in despair.
"There's an exorcist's office on Cranberry Street in the Brooklyn area of New York. Go there and look for a girl named Nancy. She can check if there's any residual black magic on you. Then, you can settle the reward there; consider it hiring me to solve your problem." Jon explained, offering not just a way out, but a path to healing.
The blonde woman nodded and then stepped through the portal, her steps hesitant at first but growing more confident as she moved towards her salvation.
Afterwards, Jon turned to Cybil and said, "See, this is something you can't solve. It's better to leave it to the professionals~!" His tone was teasing, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness. Silent Hill was no place for the uninitiated, its horrors not just physical but deeply psychological, attacking the very essence of one's being.
By professionals, Jon naturally referred to himself. He had seen things, battled demons both literal and metaphorical, that would have broken lesser men. Yet, here he stood, a testament to resilience.
Cybil hesitated, but Jon had anticipated this, saying, "You must have realized by now that signals can't get out from here, so it's impossible to call for other police. I suggest you go out first and then come back with outside help. There is now way out from the way you came in." His words were a gentle nudge, a reminder of the reality of this place. Silent Hill was a puzzle, its pieces scattered and hidden in the darkest corners of the mind.
Hearing this, Cybil thought it made sense. In her understanding, this place was supposed to be one where you could enter but not leave. It wouldn't be difficult for her to call police to join her later. Yet, as she prepared to step through the portal, a part of her knew she was leaving a piece of herself behind. Silent Hill had a way of marking one's soul, a brand that would never fully fade.
After pondering for a moment, she nodded and said, "Then, take care." Her voice was steady, but her eyes betrayed a storm of emotions. With that, she walked into the portal, stepping from darkness into light, from a world of shadows into one where the sun still shone, albeit a little less brightly for her now.
Of course, she couldn't come back. In fact, Alessa's purpose was to lure Rose and Sharon into Silent Hill, and after this plan succeeded, allowing others to enter would only lead to accidents. Therefore, Alessa would seal the entrances to Silent Hill's inner and outer worlds. The machinations of fate and the designs of malevolent forces were at play, their threads weaving a tapestry of despair and darkness.
Even if Cybil came back with her companions, they could only enter the reality of Silent Hill, which is just an extremely ordinary abandoned town with no horrors, unable to enter to the Silent Hill Darkness world full of horrors and eerie creatures. It was a cruel trick, a mirage of safety and normalcy in a land that knew neither.
"Now, where to next?" Jon mused aloud, his voice breaking the silence that had descended once again. After sending the two of them away, Jon began to ponder his next destination. Silent Hill was a labyrinth, its secrets cloaked in mist and shadow. Every corner held a story, every shadow a whisper of the past.
When he first arrived in Silent Hill, he found that his sensing abilities were greatly weakened. In a small town where sins and even the breath of life were easily sensed, but in Silent Hill, he was clearly restricted somehow. It was as if the town itself was a living entity, its will imposing limits on those who dared to traverse its cursed streets.
That is to say, he had greatly underestimated Alessa's abilities before. After all, being able to create two bizarre worlds was no ordinary feat. Alessa's power was a malignant bloom, fed by the darkest desires and deepest fears of the human heart. Jon knew he was walking a tightrope, a thin line between control and chaos.
"hmm?" Jon's gaze suddenly drifted to a vent. The ordinary metal grate seemed out of place, a discordant note in the symphony of horror that was Silent Hill. Yet, it was this very normalcy that marked it as significant, a clue hidden in plain sight.
He suddenly remembered that in the original movie's second part, an adult Sharon returned to Silent Hill and came to this puppeteer. To avoid the puppet's attack, she climbed into this vent, and after crawling out, she arrived at the mental hospital. It was a path forged by desperation, a journey through the bowels of hell itself.
The mental hospital housed many who were imprisoned by Claudia for violating the doctrine. Not only were there many people with deep sins, but it was also possible to obtain some information. It was a place of sorrow and madness, where the walls whispered secrets and the air was thick with the scent of despair.
Jon stepped forward, removed the iron cover of the vent, and then crawled inside. The narrow space was oppressive, the darkness almost tangible. As he moved forward, the sound of his own breathing seemed loud in his ears, a steady reminder of the life he yet held amidst so much death.
After a while, he reached the end and removed the iron cover on the other side. Emerging from the vent was like being reborn, stepping from the womb of Silent Hill into yet another layer of its endless nightmare. The mental hospital loomed before him, a monolith to human suffering and the cruelty of fate.
After coming out of the ventilation duct, it was still dark outside, with few creatures wandering. The night was alive with unseen threats, the darkness a cloak worn by predators unseen. After walking past the abandoned iron fences, a large building appeared in front of Jon, clearly a mental hospital. It stood silent, a tomb for the living, its windows dark eyes that watched and waited.
Jon jogged all the way to the mental hospital, where the environment was still dark and eerie, with a chaotic and dilapidated layout, and the white lights flickered intermittently. The lights, struggling against the overwhelming darkness, served as a metaphor for Jon's own battle. Inside, the air was heavy, charged with the residue of pain and terror that clung to the peeling walls.
Just then, a flashlight's beam swept by. Jon turned his head to see, behind a wire fence, a few people in black hazmat suits, wearing gas masks, slowly pushing a stretcher past. They moved with a purpose, their steps echoing in the empty corridors, a macabre parade in the heart of darkness.
They didn't notice Jon but seemed to be in a hurry to push the person inside. Their urgency was a palpable thing, a current that flowed through the stale air of the hospital. They were survivors of the Silent Hill world, members of the church, cursed by Alessa's dark powers, unable to leave Silent Hill. For them, except for the church, every inch of Silent Hill was unclean land, so they had to be fully armed, not exposing a single inch of skin to the air. They were the living damned, souls trapped in a purgatory of their own making, their faith twisted into chains that bound them to this place of torment.
And they were the best choice for Jon to obtain information. Although their sins were not enough to meet the conditions of deep sinfulness to earn some penalty points, he could obtain their memories, and also by using the Darkhold he can cast a soul capture spell, Jon could know the information he wanted. It was a grim task, but necessary. Knowledge was power, especially in a place as treacherous as Silent Hill.
With this thought, Jon apparated, appearing in front of them. The suddenness of his appearance was a shock, a specter emerging from the shadows to confront the living.
"W… Who's there?!" The people were immediately startled. Their fear was a tangible thing, a scent that filled the air. However, before they could finish their words, several chains pierced through their chests, instantly killing them, leaving only one person. Jon prepared to use the soul capture spell on him to search his soul. It was a swift, brutal act, the necessary cruelty of survival in a world gone mad.
[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 5 penalty points obtained]
[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 5 penalty points obtained]
[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 5 penalty points obtained]
"Only five? a bunch of useless ones~!" Jon cursed under his breath. His frustration was a fleeting thing, quickly replaced by the cold pragmatism that had kept him alive thus far.
He then stepped forward and grabbed the remaining church member, who had been scared silly by the scene just now, constantly looking at Jon and chanting, "Demon, you are a demon!" His voice was a whisper of madness, a testament to the power of fear.
"You guessed it right!" The hellfire burned in Jon's eyes, a reflection of the inferno that raged within his soul. He placed a hand on the man's head to use the soul capture spell on him. The man's memories flowed into Jon, a torrent of images and emotions that painted a picture of life within the twisted faith of the church.
After a moment of searching the soul, the memories useful to Jon flowed into his mind. It was a glimpse into the abyss, a peek into the darkness that lay at the heart of Silent Hill.
Then, he burned him with a burst of fire. It was a mercy, in its way, a release from the torment of existence in a world that had forsaken all semblance of hope and light.
[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 5 penalty points obtained]
Afterward, Jon looked towards the stretcher, where a young man was lying. His limbs were tied to the stretcher, and his mouth was sealed shut, but he looked at Jon with pleading eyes, begging to be let go. It was a silent plea, a wordless appeal to the remnants of humanity that might still exist within the heart of a demon.
However, after scanning him with the Penance Stare, Jon found that this person also had many sins. Those sent to the mental hospital were all church members who had violated the doctrine. Although the church was no good, this young man as a former follower, he naturally had done many bad deeds. It was a sad truth, a reflection of the cycle of sin and retribution that seemed to be the only law in Silent Hill.
"You're no good either!" Jon's voice was a death knell, the final judgment in a court where mercy had no place. After saying this, Jon did not hesitate to release the hellfire, scattering them over the church member on the stretcher. Immediately, the church member was consumed by the flames amidst screams, burnt to ashes. It was a grim task, but in Silent Hill, the lines between justice and vengeance, right and wrong, were blurred beyond recognition.
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