Obstacles
This room was without anyone breathing in it. I could feel its silence. Maybe only one knows how many people this room has perished. An elderly person stood before us. A lonely old person whose breath was fainter than ours. This aged person had brought and taken in the unliving. They were here, dying all alone with only this old man to accompany them to their final moments. A reminder how some don't even bother to take some to the emergency room with the prices these days.
"This is a place of memorial most of the time. I appreciate your silence."
"We are from Kei's office. This is Detective Kei and Assistant Eta"
I said with confidence, revealing our identity without a single thought.
"We are Agents. We got a request about recent cases of death."
"So they do realize that some people have died. What's the point of it all, though? They are dead."
The Diener in charge checks one of the victims. He gently takes the cover off and reveals a man who has been afflicted with the anomaly. Kei grabs her chin. Eta stands to her side with a dull look on her face, as always. I stand on the side of the deceased. My eyes are on the afflictions.
A concrete shard had been lodged on his esophagus. His lungs were full of concrete shards and his upper and lower bodies were stuffed with an inch of concrete coating his skin. Closer inspection of his eyes reveal his irises have been turned to concrete as well.
He gave Kei the internal autopsy of the victim.
"The concrete-covered skin alone is approximately 122 kilograms, while the conversion of internal organs into concrete adds roughly 104 kilograms, leading to a total estimated weight of around 226 kilograms for the modified body."
Kei turns to the Diener.
"You weighed it?"
"It may surprise you that we are keen on recording the deaths. The reports and death can vary depending on the death of the victim."
He took the cover of another victim. This time it was a child not older than ten. His body was trapped in this oval. Only his limbs and head can be seen. I saw a chisel on the side and shards scraped off.
"You were trying to remove it?"
"Yes. Burning concrete is… hard."
I look around. I saw a chute on the side where I presume the ashes were shoveled. Burials were rarely performed in this city. Old graveyards do exist, but after the undead keeps clawing back, rarely someone does it. Burning your dead was cheaper and was more unlikely to be used by necromancers.
Kei wears a glove and tried to move a limb. The body was already stiffened by death and even more so after the concrete took effect.
"Were you able to move their limbs when they were fresh?"
"No."
"Any similarities you have seen among the victims."
The Diener blandly points at the crotch area of the victims. His movements are slow and respectful. I can tell he is displeased by Kei's tone of voice. Kei noticed this and her voice became softer.
"The crotch area?"
"Their privates upon affliction fell off. Yes, including the woman as well."
Taking the report from the Diener. Kei reads through it slowly and then groans, clearly disturbed by the content.
"Any other afflictions?"
"None."
The Diener moves to his work tables. Operates his work computer and prints out a report. I look over her shoulder. The report was about where the victims were found. Most of them are living close to the lanes.
"The lanes… huh."
"Yes. Most of them are living in the lanes."
Kei took her gloves off and throws them in the bin. She took cash out of her wallet and places it on the table
"I have to ask. Why so cooperative?"
The Diener returns to where he was working. He raises the chisel and lifts the hammer up.
"It's better for it to be solved. Chiseling away the bodies is too hard."
"I see."
We left the mortuary. The acrid air of CHANGYE was still filled with miasmic air. I took the breathing mask out of my dimenbag and breathed in and out. Kei and Eta wore theirs too and entered the data to their transmitters using the scanning function.
"Are we going near the lanes?"
Kei's shoulders went round. She reaches out for a cigarette, but realizes she's already wearing her mask. The purity seals hanging on her belt were glowing subtly. Eta's two-hander was also plastered with litany seals. Mine were attached to my belt, holster, and sheath. It was not usually good when they were glowing, which means the Wight might have become stronger as it continues to survive in the lanes.
"We can wait out. But we might lose the trail if we don't check the spots where the victims are."
Eta shouldered her two-hander.
"It's going to be hard. We might get permission and you know how it is with the OB. You want a favor, then you join the fray and take the fight."
"We can bribe them, but I doubt they are willing to settle with a fair price at all. Not to mention the hardasses are fanatical when it comes to cases like the Wight."
The Otherside Bureau had rotten parts. The lower ranks of it are corrupted, but make no mistake. Even at the most parts, the fanatical disgust they have for the Otherside has been one of the many reasons why despite it all. The Bureau remains a global organization that had managed to keep mankind safe because its standards remain ironclad and anyone above the rotten parts who tries to are 'purified' from the ranks to prevent the temptations of ruin. Everyone in the OB has lost something or someone. That loss isn't forgotten or moved on from. They take that loss, amplify it, and keep it as a reminder to why they joined the OB in the first place.
Bribing an Bureau Agent wasn't complicated. There were some who would, but the benefits the Bureau provides and reporting you about your attempted bribery earns them more money than accepting anyone's bribes makes it hard to tempt them.
We were now near the barricaded wall near the lanes. Four blocks away, separated by towering tenement blocks, made exactly like the usual tenement model Changye uses. Karpy's District was close to the dilapidated lanes and was also the home of many of those who are able to get past through the line. The dilapidated lanes have another name as the Sacrificial Streets. They gather everyone here and because of the usual occurrences, most of the time, the street is contained and the monsters would rather prey on the lanes than other districts. The purpose of the district in the first place was to lure the otherwordly and the malevolent.
I could see the OB-affiliated groups and personnel directly under the Bureau guarding the barricaded walls constantly firing rounds after rounds of anointed bullets at the undead coming their way. The automatic turrets, the machine gun fire, and the flamethrowers being used obscenely made the smell so terrible not even the breathing mask's filter can block out the smell of the corpses.
Behind this barricade wall was a huge space where the refugees from the lanes were being herded. Most of them were dressed thinly and were wearing these thin robes barely covering their upper and lower bodies. A man in a hazmat suit was scanning them. The methods of the Bureau were more focused on pragmatism than your personal privacy and freedom. They were like plant pots sprayed by a gardener, but in their case instead of water its chemicals removing whatever filth sticking on their bodies. Even a homeless man would be rubbed clean by their hoses. Of course, although they are provided some space. The OB weren't obligated to give them anything other than the soup and clothes required for them to give. Honestly, if you give the refugees here collars, they'd look like cattle being prepped for a farm. However, with the Church around, they provide comfort by their mere presence alone.
The Church Union was an organization led by the top religions in the world. Christianity, followed by Islam. Hinduism and Buddhism also hold substantial global followings, while Chinese Traditional Religion, encompassing various indigenous beliefs, was prominent in China. Ethnic religions, African Traditional Religions, and Sikhism occupy lower positions in the organization, each contributing to the spiritual tapestry of humanity. And oddly a significant number of people identifying as secular, agnostic, or atheist are part of the Union and even those who would call themselves 'Satanist' are present. The Union has taken over the 'spiritual' desire of certain territories and although there are conflicts of beliefs, they understand the profaneness of the Otherside creatures who threaten and pollute the world god has given humanity.
"Uniting the Divine, Defending the Land"
Was their motto.
"In the Name of the Divine, We Stand Unyielding, Guardians of the Sacred, Cleansing the Impure, Forging Destiny for Humanity"
And was their credo.
In this part Changye, the Priests of the reformed Christianity holds the management of this land, overseeing the Impurity, and making sure none can walk the city if they carry the impure. But even they do not rush blindly and rush in. There were zealots among them that would, but I was sure the Neo Crusaders were already purging the undead.
We were watching from a 14-story building turned into a bar tower. It was not uncommon to find places like this, especially when the population of this city was too large and bars like these occupy one building. Usually, they do this to share the exaggerated amount of tax the city demands and this was a loophole that the City of Changye barely cares about as long as they pay their taxes. Kei was smoking. She was doing so while clearly resisting the acrid and miasmic air. Her eyes were on the refugees being blasted with chemicals. Eta's watching the rooftop, looking at the Agents, Hunters gathering the open-air rooftop bar to watch the barricaded walls, pointing at locations, and profusely arguing and betting on what will happen next.
"Well, it looks like entering the lanes is impossible."
Kei concluded after a long drag.
"The locations have also been cleansed by the Church Union, it looks like after hearing about the anomaly, they started cleansing the areas."
Eta said while caressing the flat of her two-hander's blade.
"Can't be helped, if we fight a Wight and the Concrete man, it'll be too troublesome to deal with."
The locations where the Concrete man was spotted were ruined. All traces and clues were removed and until we hear another place where the concrete man was killed. Then we have no way of catching the Anom's scent. It's a constant annoyance in this city. How you can't even properly investigate since it was so busy and fast moving. Another death was just another tragedy added to the 'who died today' list and one body added to the tragic pile was nothing to worry about. In this case, the people here were worried more about the Wight than an Anomaly who turns them into concrete.
But the Anomaly lurking the lanes and possibly this district without knowing is dangerous. Anomalies grow, they evolve, and if left alone can become frightening creatures. Some might become as frightening as a devil. As much as we like to proceed with finding this Anomaly, the problem comes with the Wight, the Dreaded Miasmic air, and the situation of the lanes. Finding this Anomaly while all of this is happening will make it hard or possibly impossible.
It's a grim reality in this city. Not everything can be done immediately and there were constant obstacles blocking your way. Maybe it's because our paths have been quite smooth as of late that having an obstacle like this had put us into a terrible mood. We can't proceed with the Wight having its undead war and with the refugees, Agents, Hunters, and the Church Zealots running this district and the lanes?
It'll be a miracle if we somehow manage to find our way in the lanes without attracting their scrutiny.
Eta and Kei can handle themselves. But we are talking about a district now possibly occupied with the Undead and even if we do somehow make it in. We will have to figure out where the Concrete man, evaded the undead and solve the case.
"This case can wait for a while. We aren't going to dip our toes in this kind of shitpile."
We get paid to investigate Anomalies, but there was no way we will risk our lives for a situation involving the Otherside Bureau and the Church Union. Trying to be nosy while these fanatics and zealots were around is never a good idea.