Underground Catacombs were something of a church specialty.
In fact, the concept was simple: dig a basement underground, then put people inside. Of course, burial grounds beneath churches were prestigious places, not somewhere just anyone could be stuffed. Anyone who got to live in a subterranean cemetery beneath a church had to have money, power, or fame.
As for ordinary folk... a hole dug at the edge of the cemetery with a headstone stuck on top was about as good as it got.
For that very reason, most churches were built in outlying areas, partly to make expanding their cemeteries easier.
But since the steam-powered industrial revolution, cities had expanded far faster than the church had planned for. Take the Haunted House case Li Wei and the others had worked on earlier: the place had originally been out in the countryside, but now it was within the seventh ring. Naturally, buildings like churches had long since been completely surrounded by the urban jungle.
Forget expanding. Just keeping their grounds from shrinking counted as a blessing from the Holy Lord.
So the church had been forced to find another solution, digging catacombs directly underground. Naturally, these had their own "rich districts" and "poor districts." The closer you were to the church, the richer the district. Farther away, of course, lay the poor districts.
Tombs in the rich districts were one-bedroom suites, with at least a private burial chamber and a bed. The poor... had to pile together in communal sleeping quarters.
Clearly, the harsh realities were the same in life and death.
Alexander had been reasonably well-off, so the church had arranged a spot aboveground for him. If there had been no room, he would have had to go underground too.
There were downsides, though. Lately, Li Wei had frequently seen