Chapter 66: Underground Catacombs

The underground catacombs could also be considered one of the specialties of the Church.

To put it plainly, it was very simple—just dig a basement underground, then put people inside.

Of course, the catacombs beneath a church were very prestigious; not just anyone could be placed inside.

To be buried in the underground catacombs beneath the church, one had to either have money, power, or fame.

As for ordinary common folk… a hole dug at the edge of a graveyard with a tombstone stuck in it was about as good as it got.

For this reason, most churches were built in peripheral areas, one reason being to allow for the expansion of graveyards.

Only, since the Steam Industrial Revolution, the speed of urban expansion had far surpassed the Church’s planning.

Take the haunted house case Levi had worked on previously: that location had originally been in the countryside, but now it had been zoned into the Seventh Ring.

It could be seen from this that buildings like churches had naturally long since been completely swallowed by the urban forest.

Forget about expanding—if they weren’t forced to shrink, that already counted as the Lord’s blessing.

Therefore, the Church had no choice but to find another path, digging catacombs directly beneath the ground.

Naturally, even these were divided into “rich districts” and “poor districts.” The closer to the church, the richer; the farther away, the poorer.

The tomb chambers in the rich district were like a one-bedroom flat, at least having a separate burial chamber and a bed.

As for the poor… they could only be piled together, sleeping in a common hall.

It could be seen from this that in life or in death, reality remained the same.

Alexander belonged to those with some money, so the Church had arranged for him a place above ground.

If there had been no vacancy, then he would have been assigned below.

But it was not without drawbacks.

Recently, Levi often saw discussions in the newspapers, stating that the Church’s underground catacombs carried hidden dangers.

On one hand, doctors argued that piling corpses together this way carried the risk of plague outbreaks.

On the other hand, the Church was not exactly specialized in digging tunnels.

One mistake could cause a collapse all around.

A similar incident had happened before, where half a street had sunk.

The people were deeply resentful—after working so hard to buy and build their houses, to have them suddenly collapse inexplicably—who could endure that?

Yet death was inevitable.

In the end, corpses would only grow more numerous, never fewer.

Therefore cremation had become a focal point of debate in the Council.

After all, once cremated, a person’s remains took up far less space, making storage easier.

But whether the public could accept it… that was another question entirely.

In any case, none of this concerned Levi.

For him, the only fortunate part was that in recent years, no new bodies had been buried in the catacombs, so the air quality inside was still barely tolerable.

The entrance to the catacombs was likewise tightly locked, but not securely.

Levi now had his own little lock-picking trick—he extended his hand, manipulated the Black Cat Puppet, let it slip inside the door with a Shadow Step, then leapt up, pounced with its claws—click—the door opened.

Yes, that counted as a lock-picking technique too.

Don’t ask how it was done.

Just look at whether it opened or not.

“Ugh… the smell is horrible.”

Stepping into the catacombs, Katie covered her nose and gave a small complaint.

“That’s how it is down here, bear with it.”

Levi lifted the gas lamp and walked in front, with Katie following behind.

Under the dim light, visibility was not great.

All around were dug-out burial niches, corpses lying inside like the upper, middle, and lower bunks of a train’s hard sleeper carriage.

Fortunately, these had lain here a long time, already decayed into skeletons.

Otherwise, encountering half-decayed corpses would have been even more revolting.

Levi walked ahead, Katie behind him, but in truth the very front was taken by the Black Cat Puppet.

The catacombs stretched in all directions, full of turns and corners.

Levi certainly did not wish to be jumpscared like in a horror game.

Therefore, he sent the puppet ahead first.

At each turn it carefully scouted; only after confirming safety did Levi and Katie follow.

“Where exactly are we going, Detective?”

Katie whispered beside Levi.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.

But there are footprints.”

Levi lifted the gas lamp and shone it on the ground.

Nuns and priests would sweep the church above, but the catacombs below were left alone.

Besides, they could not keep up.

After all, the more the dead, the deeper the tombs dug.

At best, they swept the entrance; to clean the entire catacombs would take at least a month.

Dust filled the underground air, covering the floor, so footprints stood out clearly.

They weren’t crystal clear, but Levi’s 【Investigation】 was no joke.

Focusing carefully, he quickly locked onto them.

“And not just one person. Be careful.”

The information from Levi’s 【Investigation】 told him that people frequently entered and exited the catacombs—more than once, and more than one person.

At least four.

Of course, in a catacomb, four carrying a coffin would not be strange.

Though the tunnels were narrow, unsuitable for coffin dances.

But judging by the freshness of the tracks, they had not entered long ago… Considering that Levi’s “unmanned scout” had not detected them earlier, it was very possible these people were deeper underground.

“Tap… tap… tap…”

With the puppet scouting ahead, Levi moved quickly.

The two followed the footprints, twisting and turning, until the surroundings changed—from hard sleeper bunks, to soft sleeper bunks, to compartments, and then… common dormitories.

“Uwah…”

Before them stretched a corridor lined with “common dormitories.” Katie stood dumbfounded, even Levi was surprised.

One had to admit, when both sides of the corridor were packed with common chambers, crammed with skeletons, it gave an overwhelming sense of… well, trypophobia.

This shock far exceeded that of the bunks and compartments earlier.

Each chamber was crammed full, densely packed with bones.

Under the dim gaslight, there was even a strange vitality to the scene.

The skulls all stared from every direction at the corridor, as if still alive.

“D-Detective… there aren’t ghosts here, are there?”

Katie shrank in terror under the gaze of those hollow-eyed skulls.

“Don’t panic. There shouldn’t be…”

Levi reassured her, then activated 【Soul Sight】 and swept the surroundings.

Suddenly—

“Hm?”

Through Soul Sight, he saw a faint red glow appear deeper within the tunnels.

Very faint, but visible at once.

Could something be there?

Levi immediately grew alert, quickened his pace, and advanced further.

After three more turns, he reached the exit of a tomb passage.

Seeing firelight flickering from ahead, Levi first extinguished the gas lamp, then cautiously maneuvered the Black Cat Puppet closer.

After a quick sweep confirming no one was around, Levi crawled out.

This place looked like a newly-dug burial site, not yet occupied.

Pits had been dug, likely awaiting simple arrangements before “welcoming new residents.” The whole chamber was about the size of a classroom, fairly large for a catacomb.

But Levi’s attention was not on the graves, but on what was placed in the center.

“What on earth is this?”

In the center stood something like an altar platform.

Strange runes were drawn around it, candles lit—clearly whoever set this up felt safe from prying eyes down here, and so did whatever they pleased.

But none of that mattered.

What mattered was what sat upon the altar.

It was an architectural model.

It looked like a miniature bridge, exquisitely crafted, enclosed in a glass case.

As a museum exhibit or home ornament, it would have been splendid.

But… why place this on a sacrificial altar?

Staring blankly at it, Levi was confused.

Through 【Soul Sight】 he could see the red glow right inside this model.

But still…

This was far from ordinary.

In regular sacrifices, one might expect a human head, entrails, gemstones, or even a living person.

But an architectural model? What kind of offering was this?

“Ah, I’ve seen this model before.”

At that moment, Katie spoke, staring at it.

“You’ve seen it?”

“Yes.”

Katie nodded.

“This is the model of the Imperial Bridge.”

“The Imperial Bridge… you mean the one under construction?”

Hearing this, Levi recalled the Empire’s Imperial Bridge currently being built in Mist City, reported in the newspapers.

“That’s right. When they first proposed building it, the architect presented this model. I thought it was so beautiful—I even wanted to take it home to play with.”

To be fair, had Levi seen it in a toy shop, he would have wanted to buy it himself.

The craftsmanship was stunning.

“And then? What happened to the model?”

“That I don’t know. Should we take it with us now?”

“Hmm…”

At her question, Levi hesitated.

The two previous times he had seen red glows, they had not been good things.

By that logic, shooting and destroying it immediately seemed safest.

But the way it had been placed here so ceremoniously… could there be more to it?

And if they did take it, it would surely alert the Church…

“Tap… tap… tap…”

Just then, the Black Cat Puppet scouting ahead sharply caught the sound of footsteps.

At the same time, on Levi’s minimap, a glow appeared!

Someone was coming!

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