The Flower Cemetery is a high-end private cemetery that directly occupies a hill over 20 meters high in the suburbs of Manchester. It looks quite grand.
The security measures of the Flower Cemetery are also worthy of its high price. The iron fences around it are about 3 meters high, and surveillance cameras are installed about every 5 meters.
This can be considered extremely tight security even in England in 2000.
"The Flower Cemetery has at least 30 security guards on duty every day, with 20 on day shift and 10 on night shift. These security guards patrol the Flower Cemetery 24 hours a day without interruption, so the Flower Cemetery has been the most popular high-end private cemetery in recent years, with 90% of the graveyards already sold."
"Since the Flower Cemetery is a private industry, and the owner of the Flower Cemetery has a strong influence in the country, the police have never been able to enter the Flower Cemetery for control. Moreover, the worst position in the Flower Cemetery requires 100,000 pounds to purchase, so the police cannot afford to buy an entry pass just like that. Therefore, we can only stake out around the Flower Cemetery."Wesker introduced the situation of the Flower Cemetery to Liu Xing and others.
Leon frowned and said with some surprise, "How can the price of the Flower Cemetery be so expensive? 100,000 pounds can buy a fairly decent house in London, and if it's around this Manchester area, it can even buy a manor."
Liu Xing nodded, 100,000 pounds was indeed a huge sum of money in 2000, let alone just for a graveyard.
Wesker shrugged and said with a smile, "This is the world of the rich. Although 100,000 pounds seems a lot, it's just a drop in the bucket for those tycoons. And the Flower Cemetery offers quite good conditions. Take the 100,000-pound graveyard for example, in addition to having the best security system in the country, the graveyard area reaches 20 square meters, and each graveyard is a semi-enclosed structure, effectively isolated from the surrounding graveyards. You know, ordinary cemeteries only have graveyards of 1-2 square meters, and there is no isolation."
"Then there's the environment of the Flower Cemetery. You know, the classic art company responsible for the design of the Flower Cemetery ranks first among design companies in Europe, so if you ignore the essence of the Flower Cemetery and the graveyards, you'll feel like you're in a beautiful forest park. And the Flower Cemetery has also hired a professional symphony orchestra, performing three times a day, morning, noon and evening, each lasting about an hour. And when there is a burial, they will perform on-site according to the requirements of the family, so the level of the Flower Cemetery is unmatched by other cemeteries."
As soon as Wesker finished speaking, the group heard melodious music coming from the Flower Cemetery.
Liu Xing stroked his chin and said, "It seems the owner of the Flower Cemetery is quite good at marketing tactics. This set of operations has at least inflated the price of the Flower Cemetery's graveyards by more than 10 times."
"Well, that's how the rich are. I still remember a ranch that played Mozart and Beethoven's music for their cows every day, and then claimed that their milk quality was much higher than other ranches. In the end, the milk from that ranch was twice as expensive as the milk from the surrounding ranches," Jill chimed in with a sarcastic remark.
Liu Xing chuckled and looked at the gate of the Flower Cemetery, saying, "By the way, Captain, can we use other identities to sneak into the Flower Cemetery, like cleaners or violinists? After all, such a large Flower Cemetery must need a lot of cleaners to clean it every day, and the professional symphony orchestra must have a large number of members as well."
"Bingo, Chris, you guessed it right." Wesker said seriously, "Chief House and Ms. Margaret, the conductor of the symphony orchestra currently employed by the Flower Cemetery, have been good friends since childhood, so Ms. Margaret has agreed to help us sneak into the Flower Cemetery. Therefore, Chief House has decided that you three new guys, Chris, will take on this mission, disguising yourselves as members of the symphony orchestra to enter the Flower Cemetery for reconnaissance. After all, a face like mine has already been recognized by the Flower Cemetery's security guards."
Liu Xing frowned and said with some difficulty, "Captain, you should know that my musical cells are almost zero. From childhood to now, I can say that except for the triangle, I can't play any other instrument at all. It's very likely to cause problems."
"That's right, although I was arranged by my parents to learn the piano when I was young, I've already forgotten most of it," Jill said, scratching the back of her head.
Leon, on the other hand, stood up straight and smiled, "It seems it's time to show my real skills. Because I have a cousin who studies music, so I used to learn the violin with him when I was young. I think my violin skills should still be pretty good."
Wesker shook his head and said with a smile, "It seems Leon, you won't have a chance to shine this time. Although you are disguising yourselves as members of the symphony orchestra, you don't actually need to perform the instruments, because you'll only be given prop instruments."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and said, "So you mean we only need to pretend to play along with the other members?"
Wesker nodded and took out a blueprint, saying, "That's right, you just need to go through the motions with the other symphony orchestra members. According to the information provided by Ms. Margaret, the symphony orchestra will have about an hour of meal and free time after the morning and noon performances. Then they will be on standby in the dedicated rest room provided by the Flower Cemetery, in case there are new burials that require the symphony orchestra to perform. Finally, after the last performance at 6 pm, the symphony orchestra will leave the Flower Cemetery after dinner."
"So Chris, you'll have about two hours of free time in the Flower Cemetery every day. You need to use this time to go to Dio's parents' grave to check if Dio has already come to pay respects. This blueprint shows the layout of the Flower Cemetery, and the red dots mark the location of Dio's parents' grave. You must remember it clearly. If you really encounter Dio, don't engage him directly in a confrontation, because you definitely can't beat him. In that case, you just need to call me."
Wesker's eyes were fixed on Liu Xing as he said this, because "Chris" was the most likely one to go and confront Dio directly.
Liu Xing naturally understood Wesker's meaning, so he nodded and said, "No problem, Captain. Although I really want to kill Dio with my own hands now, I'm self-aware enough to know that I can't beat him, so I won't just go and get myself killed."
Wesker nodded and said, "That's good. Now let's go back to the downtown Manchester area and find a hotel to stay in. After all, it's still a few days until Dio's mother's memorial day, and he won't be able to visit his mother's grave today. And we won't be able to enter the Flower Cemetery today either."
Wesker started the car, preparing to drive back to the Manchester city center, as the area around the Flower Cemetery was rather desolate, with no buildings other than the cemetery itself.
However, at this moment, Liu Xing suddenly saw a familiar car parked at the entrance of the Flower Cemetery.
Then, Liu Xing saw an old acquaintance get out of the car and walk straight into the Flower Cemetery, and the Security Guards at the entrance of the Flower Cemetery were very respectful towards him.
This person was Gary!
Liu Xing frowned, not expecting Gary to have any connection with this Flower Cemetery, and judging from the Security Guards' attitude, Gary must have a certain status within the Flower Cemetery.
At this time, Wesker also noticed Gary and said, "This person is named Gary, he is a somewhat fallen aristocrat, but he owns a Castle in the nearby town of Eins, so he is also a well-known figure in the Manchester area. However, we can be sure that he is not employed by the Flower Cemetery, but because he has a very good relationship with the owner of the Flower Cemetery, Gary often comes to the Flower Cemetery to wander around."
"Wandering around the Flower Cemetery? It seems this aristocrat has some strange hobbies," Leon said with a smile.
Liu Xing frowned and shook his head, saying, "In that case, I feel this Gary may be a Ghoul like Dio, after all, the Flower Cemetery is not lacking in corpses."
"No, no, no, Chris, you guessed wrong. Although at first we also thought this Gary was a bit strange and might be a non-human being, he goes to the Manchester Hospital for a physical examination every year, and according to his medical report, he is no different from an ordinary person. So our current conclusion is the same as Leon's, that Gary's frequent visits to the Flower Cemetery are probably just because he likes the atmosphere of the Graveyard."
Liu Xing nodded, but in his heart, he marked the Flower Cemetery as a dangerous area, because Liu Xing was sure that Gary was not just wandering around the Flower Cemetery, but meeting with Ghouls or members of the Cult of the Cadaver.
So, the Flower Cemetery is either the territory of the Ghouls, or the gathering place of the Cult of the Cadaver.
Now Liu Xing is more inclined to the former, because more than ten years later, the Cult of the Cadaver did not choose the Flower Cemetery as their stronghold, but chose to station at the more distant EinsCastle.
If this is the case, it is possible that Dio has been hiding in the Flower Cemetery all along after his true identity was discovered by the police, which is why the police who were monitoring the perimeter of the Flower Cemetery could never find out how Dio was able to visit his parents' graves.
But the most important question now is, how many Ghouls are hiding in the Flower Cemetery?
"By the way, captain, you haven't told us who the owner of the Flower Cemetery is yet," Leon suddenly asked.
Wesker nodded and said, "The owner of the Flower Cemetery is Duke Charles. Although he is not well-known to the general public, many famous companies in England belong to him, and he also has a very good relationship with the royal family, so his influence in England is greater than you can imagine."
Charles?
This name is not familiar to Liu Xing, but Liu Xing can be sure that this Charles should be an important member of the Cult of the Cadaver in England.
Soon, Liu Xing and the others returned to the Manchester city center and checked into a hotel near the Manchester Police Station.
After resting for the afternoon, Wesker took Liu Xing and the others to a restaurant to meet Ms. Margaret.
On the way to the restaurant, Wesker also reminded Liu Xing and the others not to mention Chief House in front of Ms. Margaret, as Chief House and Ms. Margaret had a tragic past relationship, and Ms. Margaret is still unmarried to this day.
So as outsiders, Wesker felt it would be better for them not to get involved.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Liu Xing saw Ms. Margaret.
Liu Xing found that Ms. Margaret's appearance was quite different from the image he had in his mind. He had imagined her to be a graceful and elegant lady, but she turned out to be an average-looking, slightly overweight black woman.
This might be the feeling of meeting an online friend.
The meeting with Ms. Margaret went very smoothly, and after the meal, Liu Xing and the others received the Symphony Orchestra uniforms and instrument models from Ms. Margaret's car, and they agreed to meet at the Symphony Orchestra rehearsal room at 8 o'clock the next morning to go to the Flower Cemetery together.
Then, Liu Xing and the others went back to the hotel to rest.
When preparing to go to bed, Liu Xing still felt a little uneasy, as if he was going to be invaded by Cthulhu in his dreams again, which could be disastrous for him.
Fortunately, Liu Xing was not invaded by dreams tonight.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, Liu Xing and the others got up, had breakfast, and arrived at the designated location before 8 o'clock, wearing their uniforms and carrying the instrument models.
At exactly 8 o'clock, Ms. Margaret came to pick up Liu Xing and the others and drove them to the Flower Cemetery.
"Ms. Margaret, who are these three?"
The guard at the entrance of the Flower Cemetery looked a bit puzzled at Liu Xing and the others.
Margaret chuckled and patted Liu Xing's shoulder, saying, "Jeannie, you know that people who are willing to come to the Graveyard to perform symphonies are getting fewer and fewer. Last year, 13 members of my Symphony Orchestra resigned, so to avoid a shortage of people in the future, I decided to train a few more new members."
Jeannie nodded and took out three temporary work badges from the side, saying, "You can wear these temporary work badges first, and I'll take you to get the official work badges during lunchtime."