The fourth bullet, the fifth bullet—one by one, Beatrice Bliss expertly extracted each slug. Beatrice’s skills were top-notch; after all, practice is the best teacher for a doctor, and she’d walked through countless epidemic zones and war zones, gaining experience the hard way.
But none of this did anything to lessen Jill Young’s pain. In fact, Beatrice’s battlefield methods were fast but a bit rough, making it even more intense for Jill. Without anesthesia, slice after slice, flesh and nerves sent signals to her brain like endless crashing waves.
Jill felt like she was about to be tortured to death—this treatment hurt way more than the gunshot itself. Her mind grew fuzzy, her whole body burned up, and sweat poured down. A primal force awakened inside her, something called "restoration," swirling around to heal her wounds while making her body feel like it was on fire.
"Alright, sixth one." Beatrice Bliss plucked another slug from Jill’s shoulder. "Your bones are seriously tough—this shot couldn’t even get through your shoulder. Okay, just one left, right at your back near the scapula. Fran, help her turn over." Fran Adler helped Jill switch from lying on her back to lying face down.
"Hey, don’t pass out, don’t go into shock!" Beatrice gave Jill’s cheek a little slap. "You better grab onto something, because this is gonna hurt—a lot. I’m guessing this bullet’s stuck right in your bone."
"Hurt?" Jill asked, drenched in sweat. "How bad could it be? I’m starting to get used to this."
"Trust me, it’s pain beyond imagination—worse than giving birth."
"Giving birth?" Jill jolted in shock. Having grown up around the OB-GYN ward, Jill had a pretty vivid idea of what childbirth pain looked like: endless screams during labor and, afterwards, a basin full of bloody sheets. Worse than that? How bad could it be?
Just as she thought that, Beatrice was already cutting in. "Yep, it’s really wedged in the bone." Once in her element, Beatrice was all business—cold and professional, saying scary stuff: "Honestly, if it had gone straight through, it might’ve been easier to deal with. But now, we’ll just have to yank it out."
Yank!
All this time, Jill Young had been consuming plenty of life essence, but she was always just a hair's breadth from advancing. She figured she wouldn’t break through until her next dream-world trip, but today, the never-before-felt agony awakened all that dormant, unused energy inside her, helping her break through to the Titan Spirit Method: Fourth Level!
With a flip of her right hand, a metal ball appeared—Jill tossed it up and down with one hand. The fifty-kilogram orb felt light as a feather. She quickly estimated: she could now hit double the standard for Titan Spirit Method: Fourth Level, meaning she could chuck a hundred-kilogram object three stories high!
In this bizarre base, who could possibly stand in her way now?
"Whew, I really thought I was gonna die from the pain just now. But nice job, ladies!" Jill grabbed something to wrap herself up—finally living the wild caveman life. "Since I’m not dead, that means they are. Oh, and I just remembered something—let’s see if it works here."
With a quick motion, Jill whipped out her phone. Signal check—two bars! In this tightly-guarded base, even guests had to surrender all electronics, so they confidently installed a wireless transmitter. What the organization didn’t expect was that Jill’s handy little storage space gave her the ultimate tool for outside contact.
"Where’d you get that phone?" Fran couldn’t help herself. "And all that meat and stuff—where’s it coming from?"
"That’s a little secret. Maybe I’ll tell you someday." Jill scrolled through her contacts and dialed a number. Ring, ring, ring—finally, someone picked up. The voice on the other end was ecstatic: "Your Majesty, is that you?" Yep, when in doubt, call Apo. Jill was used to it by now.
"Yeah, it’s me." Jill replied, and immediately there were cheers and shouts from the other end. Then the phone was handed off and Jonathan’s voice came through: "Where are you now? What’s going on?"
"I’m in some mysterious base or whatever, surrounded by a bunch of psychos waiting to kill or eat people. There’s even a show called ‘Happy Six’ trying to buy me and cash in."
"Figures it’s the SD Syndicate—those sons of bitches!" Jonathan cursed, then got serious: "How are you holding up? Everything okay?"
"Me and my three girls crashed the auction and killed a bunch of idiots. I took a few bullets, but thanks to my new sisters, I’m totally fine." Jill grinned at the three and asked, "Where are you now? Sounds like you’re in a car."
"I’m in Eastern Ukraine—where we’re at now. The SD base is super hidden, so it took a while to track down. I’m bringing people over now. I’ll get you out!"
"Rescue me? Fine, but here’s a tip—step on it. We’re about to go kill the rest of those idiots, so if you’re late, you’ll just be the getaway driver." Jill hung up and turned to the others: "Let’s go, ladies!"
"Let’s go!" Hope gives people endless energy. Even the nun got excited: "Let’s go take down those idiots!"
Jill gave a thumbs up: "The Lord will appreciate that."
Meanwhile, in the night wind, Jonathan stared at the hung-up phone, stunned. After a while, he sighed, "Maybe from the start, that whole ‘rescuing the princess from the evil dragon’ thing was wrong. The Queen isn’t a weak princess—the Queen is the terrifying dragon. In a way, that’s good news."
"Yeah!" Apo nearly jumped for joy.
"Alright, the Queen’s gone hunting, but we’ve got our own job." In the distance, the abandoned factory loomed. Jonathan’s voice was determined: "The SD Syndicate is huge—this base is just the tip of the iceberg. To keep them from coming after us, we can’t let any personal info slip. The Queen is a registered 'commodity,' so we have to wipe her file completely. Apo, you handle the computer stuff. And anyone at that factory tonight—don’t let them escape. Kill them all, send their memories and souls to hell. Got it?"
"Got it!"
"Alright, set up the net and get moving!" (Author’s note: Overtime today, didn’t have time to proofread typos.)
Jill felt a surge of electricity shoot through her back and flood her whole body, overwhelming pain swallowing her sanity.
"Fran, you give it a shot. Her bones are too tough, I can’t pull it out." "Got it!" Fran was no stranger to battlefields or emergencies—she grabbed the forceps and braced herself. "One, two, pull!"
Jill grabbed the iron bar under the table, pain making her eyes roll and teeth clench. The iron started to bend with her grip.
"Damn, still not working. We need a different tool—wait, I’ve got it!" Beatrice grabbed a hemostat and clamped it onto the bullet. "Alright, everyone, together—one, two, three!"
Three—pull!
With a snap, Beatrice and Fran stumbled back—the bullet was finally out. "Done! Now stop the bleeding!" Beatrice rushed over, only to find Jill’s skin burning hot. "Oh no, is it infected? Surgery in this place, infection’s no surprise. We need meds!"
Just as Beatrice was about to go search for medicine, Fran stopped her. "Wait, look." Beatrice looked over—Jill, who seemed half-dead, had a wound on her back that was shrinking and sealing itself. Cracking sounds echoed from every corner of Jill’s body, like bones shifting and muscles moving.
Next second, Jill sat up and looked at the three, wearing the expression of someone who’d just had a great nap.
"How’re you feeling?" Beatrice touched Jill’s forehead—no more fever, color looked normal.
"I feel..." Jill clenched her fist. The surging power, the fresh sense of breakthrough—no mistake, this was the Titan Spirit Method: Fourth Level. "I feel amazing!"