The noise was deafening. The church workers all looked grim, as if something momentous had happened.
At the center of the crowd were Li Wei's three roommates. One of the boys answered the question in a shaky voice.
"We, we went to the cemetery to pay our respects. While we were cleaning the tombstones, we noticed that some of the soil looked fresh. I even tripped over it. When I got back up, I saw that one corner of a coffin that should have been buried underground was sticking out."
"Some people who came to visit graves from outside the Church saw the exposed coffin too. Th-they found that the coffin was incomplete, and there was nothing inside! L-later, they noticed that the soil on their own relatives' graves looked wrong, too. Some of them just dug the graves open. The coffins had been moved, and, and they were empty as well."
The boy stumbled through his account and finally finished. The entire church hall fell silent.
The priests and nannies exchanged bewildered glances. They clearly had no idea why all the graves in the cemetery were empty, but they understood how much of an impact the news would have on Yuguang once it spread.
Ever since the Church had overseen the construction of this cemetery, nearly all the dead in Yuguang had been buried there. Countless people had their parents, wives, husbands, or children laid to rest in it.
Only a few graves had been discovered empty so far. But what would they say to everyone else if they returned and demanded that the coffins be checked, only to find that all the thousands upon thousands of graves in the cemetery were empty?
Every church worker had thought of this. None of them could bear the responsibility for something like that.
"We have to tell the Bishop immediately! We need to find out as soon as possible how many graves in the cemetery are empty!"
A priest hurried away. No one paid any more attention to the three boys. The other nannies and priests knew that something big was about to happen, too, and hurried off to make preparations.
Li Wei watched from a bench, his eyes narrowing.
This seemed to have nothing to do with him or Feng Zi, but would the game's writers have the players stumble upon an event that was completely pointless?
He had serious doubts.
The lunch break had barely ended when, just as the priests had predicted, news of the empty graves spread throughout the Labor District.
Many elderly people who could no longer work, along with laborers who had the day off, poured into the cemetery behind the Church.
It was a public place, usually maintained and tended by Twilight's priests. Anyone with a relative buried there could come for a visit at any time.
Nearly everyone who came carried a shovel. The news about the empty coffins had already gotten out, and no one could sit still at home now!
Because of Twilight, people in this world cared deeply about what happened after death. They dreaded being left with incomplete bodies and feared being exposed in the wilderness.
They had no choice but to endure hardship while alive, so they naturally believed they could enjoy a better life after death.
The incident had thrown the entire Church into turmoil. No one could carry on with their usual work that afternoon.
Even the Choir halted its scheduled training. Everyone headed to the rear courtyard of the Church and watched as hundreds upon hundreds of people climbed the hill to dig up their relatives' coffins.
No one could stop them, and no one dared to try.
Li Wei glanced around and noticed that Nanny Cheng, who usually supervised them, was nowhere to be seen. He wondered what she had been called away to do.
After the laborers had dug up more than a hundred graves, the coffins were opened in front of everyone. Without exception, every single one was empty!
The discovery set off an uproar!
There was hardly any doubt now: someone had stolen every body from every grave in the Church cemetery!
No one believed the coffins had been empty when they were buried. They had all watched their relatives' bodies being placed inside before the coffins were lowered into the ground.
Once it was confirmed that all the thousands upon thousands of graves in the cemetery were empty, all sorts of questions followed.
"Who could have dug up every body in the cemetery right under the Church's nose?"
A laborer shouted the question at the priests.
His words quieted the turmoil. Everyone turned to the church workers, hoping they could give an answer.
But neither the priests nor the nannies had any idea what to say.
No one knew who could have managed to steal all those bodies right under the Church's nose!
And what use could anyone have for the bodies of these laborers?
The Church had always tried to dispel the rumors. Whether a person's body was intact or properly buried had no bearing on the bodies and lives of those remade under the Twilight Project.
But these efforts had little effect. The laborers had received almost no education and lacked understanding. They believed that to be remade in Twilight, they had to keep their bodies intact while they were alive.
As time passed, dusk gradually fell. The distant whistle of a train sounded, and the laborers who had spent the day working in the Barrier Field District returned to their homes under cover of night.
That meant even more people learned what had happened in the cemetery and streamed up the hill behind the Church!
Soon, tens of thousands had gathered there. Laborers from more than forty Labor Districts around Yuguang had nearly torn up the entire cemetery. They had dug up every coffin, and every one was empty!
Such a major incident naturally caught the attention of Yuguang's nominal government, the Labor Union. Tian Yuan, the Police Department chief stationed here because of Li Wei and Feng Zi's case, also arrived at the Church with all his officers.
The laborers might be lowly, but they were vital to the entire Sun City!
If these people rioted, how would the true citizens of Yaoguang live? How could the councilors keep their seats? Who would earn the fortunes of the great factory owners?
By the time Tian Yuan arrived at the Church, his expression had turned grim.
There had been no progress at all in Feng Zi's case over the past few days. The two had seemed to vanish without a trace after fleeing from the Border Market into Yuguang.
Now the laborers were on the verge of rioting over the cemetery. Since he was there, he had to intervene!
Tens of thousands of laborers had gathered, and the situation was already slipping out of control. Tian Yuan ordered the officers to act immediately and fire into the sky.
Only after the shots rang out did the laborers' fear of guns quiet the disorderly crowd.
At that moment, the aged Sun Bishop appeared before the crowd, pushed in a wheelchair. He had once personally overseen the Church cemetery's construction, and his prestige was immense in the Council, Yaoguang, and Yuguang alike.
When the wheelchair stopped and tens of thousands of eyes turned toward him, he struggled and staggered to his feet. Then the old, decaying body suddenly sank to its knees before all the lowly laborers!
"Whatever the reason for this, the Church is responsible. As the Sun Bishop, I owe everyone an apology."
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