After taking the steam subway to the south bank of the Tasock River, Klein hired a hansom cab and headed to Auston Cemetery on the outskirts of the South Borough, which was managed by the
In the dim twilight, the trees surrounding the cemetery twisted and clawed, blocking out the light like monsters lurking in the darkness.
After receiving the four soli Klein had paid, the driver glanced at the cemetery and grumbled: "Should I wait here for you?"
"No, there's no need. I'm here to visit a friend." Klein lied casually, only to notice the driver's expression change abruptly.
This was a cemetery... visiting a friend... and it was already dark... The driver could hear his own heart pounding.
Only then did Klein realize his mistake, and he added with a smile: "He's the groundskeeper here."
The driver immediately relaxed, but he didn't dare linger, quickly urging his horse forward and departing.
Klein circled most of the way around the cemetery, waiting until night truly fell.
After dark, the amount of smoke and dust in the air had decreased considerably. Combined with the biting cold wind, the haze hanging in the air had thinned significantly. Although few stars were visible, the scarlet moon faintly showed through, draping its gauze-like glow across the ground.
Klein tapped his chest clockwise four times, drawing the Scarlet Moon, then pulled on his gloves and vaulted over the iron fence with a push and a swing, entering the cemetery.
He surveyed his surroundings with heightened alertness, picked a quiet corner at random, and took out the Azik copper whistle, gripping it in his palm.
Not far in front of him stood a tombstone. The photograph on it was already filthy, and the epitaph was quite blurry under the moonlight. Klein squinted at it for several seconds before he could make out what it said: "Passing friend, please give me a hand. Thank you!"
A gentleman with a sense of humor... You'll do! Klein stopped and leaned his back against a nearby tree that sheltered the grave from sunlight and rain, patiently waiting in the cold, eerie night.
He tossed the Azik copper whistle high and caught it steadily, tossed it high again and caught it again, passing the time this way until twenty minutes had elapsed.
No signs of reanimation... Klein snapped his pocket watch shut and surveyed his surroundings, confirming the result.
"I'll come back in a couple of days to check for any additional changes. If there are none, then it means Mr. Azik's copper whistle can't affect bodies that have undergone the priests' rites of passage," Klein murmured to himself, tucking the ancient, exquisite copper whistle back into his pocket.
In the
The third type belonged solely to the poor, who could neither afford coffins nor wanted cremation, so they were simply wrapped in something and buried.
And Klein had already determined from the shape of the tombstone and grave that his test subject was of the first type—a coffin with a body inside.
If the Azik copper whistle could truly cause reanimation, even if the target had long since decayed into bones, there should be some reaction. Even if the coffin lid, pressed under heavy earth and stone slabs, couldn't be thrown open, there should at least be some muffled thumping sounds.
Stepping toward the fence, Klein suddenly thought of a flaw in his earlier experiment: "Hmm, I need to categorize. That was a body buried a long time ago. I also need to find a target that was recently buried."
"Only then can I make the most accurate judgment."
After that, Klein played cat and mouse with the groundskeeper and found a grave where the burial ceremony had been completed just that day.
This time, he waited for half an hour, but still observed no unusual phenomena.
"Phew. It's basically confirmed that Mr. Azik's copper whistle can't affect bodies that have undergone the rites of passage. That's rather underwhelming... No, wait. This copper whistle wasn't designed to cause reanimation in the first place. Its purpose is to summon a messenger. The reanimation effect is just a side effect!" Klein buttoned up his double-breasted overcoat more tightly and walked toward the iron fence.
He planned to go home, change clothes, and conduct the second group of experiments.
The targets for the second group were bodies that had not undergone the rites of passage and had died recently.
Such targets were typically found in hospital morgues!
Climbing back over the fence, Klein made his way step by step back toward the South Borough in the desolate, profound darkness of night. The surroundings were deathly silent and still, with only the evergreen trees, covered in dust, swaying gently.
This reminded him of the night he had died and come back to life, when he too had walked from a cemetery toward the city.
Sigh... Klein sighed, then suddenly broke into a run, as if trying to leave that sense of melancholy far behind him.
After a good half hour, he hired a hansom cab in the South Borough, with the destination being the nearest steam subway station.
There was still nearly an hour before the steam subway stopped running, which would save him quite a bit of money.
..........
In the early hours of the morning, Klein changed into a pair of gray-blue worker's overalls and a peaked cap, and went out of his way to reach Saint Astin Hospital in the
This was a charitable hospital run by the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.
Many impoverished people from the lower classes died of illness here, and with nowhere to keep the bodies at home, they were left in the hospital's morgue, awaiting government cremation or donation to medical schools. This phenomenon was particularly common in summer, but less so once the weather cooled in autumn and winter.
However, in an era without air conditioning or refrigeration units, hospital morgues didn't keep bodies for long. Those willing to donate had their bodies embalmed as quickly as possible, and those to be buried were cleared out the next day. Of course, these were summer rules—autumn and winter were considerably more relaxed, so during that period, there were still plenty of bodies spending the night in the morgue.
The morgue of Saint Astin Hospital was located on the basement level. Even in summer, it was quite cool down there, and in autumn and winter, it was bone-chillingly cold.