Parade

Li Wei followed Oleg for a moment but to his disappointment, the graveyard keeper simply made a short round before returning to his house. His patrol this time took longer since he went through more alleys, making sure that no one was hiding there.

Li Wei followed him, keeping a respectful distance from Oleg but he did not notice anything abnormal.

Now, Oleg was back into his house and Li Wei was standing a few meters from it.

"Strange... He really looks innocent. Well, maybe that's just me or maybe he knew that I was following him," thought Li Wei.

Since Oleg was already back in his house, Li Wei once again went back to patrolling the graveyard. The place was not exactly silent; the rustling of the leaves could be heard and occasionally, random noises would be heard. Sometimes, bats would fly above Li Wei's head or a sudden cry might be heard coming from the streets.

An hour later, Li Wei once again stumbled on Oleg and again, he felt something weird around him. He seemed friendlier, just like he originally was!

Full of doubts, Li Wei again chose to follow him around as he went on his round. Oleg spent quite a bit of time walking through the alleys of the tombs; this was after all the major target of the graverobbers. It made sense to be more thorough in searching this area.

Unfortunately, there was no luck and Oleg did not see anyone. He again slowly returned to his house and Li Wei followed him.

This repeated itself twice during the night. Li Wei would often see Oleg patrolling the graveyard and he had to admit that the graveyard keeper was dedicated to his job; he did not slack off in his house.

This time, when Li Wei looked at Oleg going into his house, he was starting to doubt himself. 'Is Oleg really innocent?'

He went back into the graveyard and wandered for a few minutes but as he turned into the alley of the tomb, Li Wei froze. His mind went completely blank as he stared at the tombs in front of him. The surroundings looked no different from what Li Wei saw the last time he came here but there was one tomb that was different.

The tomb was rather small compared to the neighboring ones. It belonged to one of the middle-class families that decided to make a tomb for the elders.

The reason Li Wei froze was simply that a huge gaping hole could be seen. The last time he came there was merely 30 minutes ago when he saw Oleg walking by this alley. At that time, everything was normal but now, it was obvious! The graverobber already did his despicable act.

Li Wei frowned as he recovered from the shock. It was strange that he did not hear anything. Usually, the tombs were made of a special material which was quite resistant. They could naturally be destroyed by force but in that case, Li Wei would have noticed that a strong skill was used. Alternatively, the grave robber could have slowly damaged the tomb until it gave in. This method would be more discreet and it was possible that Li Wei did not notice as cracks would form in this dark environment.

But this method also required the graverobber to stay in the graveyard for a prolonged period of time. With the number of patrols Li Wei did, it was definitely abnormal to not have noticed anything. The only possible reason would be that the grave robber was very familiar with the place but again, Oleg was already interrogated and was found innocent.

"D*mn... It seems that this quest is way harder than it looks!" said Li Wei.

Since the graverobber already struck, it meant that the rest of the night would be peaceful; only one tomb or grave was robbed per night. As frustrating as it was, Li Wei could only admit defeat for the night, but he still had two chances. He was not too worried as there were still opportunities to succeed.

He looked at his interface only to find that it was still 2:43; there was still at least 3 hours to go before the sunrise and he could not leave the graveyard before that.

With the grave robber having already acted, Li Wei calmly made his way to Oleg's house.

"Knock knock!"

The door quickly opened, revealing the smiling face of Oleg, "Come in. I just made some more coffee! Do you want a cup?"

Li Wei looked at Oleg to see if he could find any clues. "One of the tombs have been raided!"

"What? D*mn! Show me the way!" declared Oleg. He briefly looked inside to grab his shovel and prompted Li Wei to show the way.

"Mmm, he seems legitimately surprised!" thought Li Wei.

...

The night went on and with the grave robbers already gone, Li Wei had a lot of time to practice his techniques. Although the environment was not ideal to practice techniques, he did not want to lose more than 3 hours doing nothing either.

In the end, he practiced near Oleg's house who still went on regular patrols.

At 6:00, Oleg finally walked out of his house, "It's time, I'll open the portal!

"Finally!" Li Wei wore a tired expression after that sleepless night. His first night at the graveyard was not fruitless since he was able to train his techniques, but it also meant he only had two more chances at catching the grave robbers.

He spent a lot of time thinking about it and in the end, the only explanation he could find was that Oleg was responsible for this!

"Anyway! Let's go to sleep now! I am so tired!"

As soon as the portal was opened, Li Wei rushed outside, only waving to Oleg who was probably also going to sleep for the day.

He quickly made his way to the inn he was staying at and without eating anything, he jumped on his bed.

8 hours later, Li Wei was quietly snoring in his bed. His windows were shut to prevent the light from entering but unfortunately, the room was not sound proof. Normally, this would not have been a problem. The inn he was residing at, was located in a rather quiet area of the town but today, for some reasons, loud music was being played all over the town.

It did not matter if it was the slums or the main streets, the entire town could hear the music and cheers of the people. It was obvious that some sort of celebrations was taking place but this only irritated Li Wei.

He just wanted to sleep after this long night and yet, someone was playing music loud enough to wake up the dead. He could only grumble as he was forced to get off his bed. With a quick look at his interface, Li Wei noticed that his fatigue level was already back to 0 but despite that, he just wanted to spend a few more minutes in his bed.

After a quick shower, Li Wei went down to grab some food.

"May I ask what is happening? Is there a special event today?" asked Li Wei to the waitress.

"You don't know? The 6th prince and the 7th princess are in town. They just arrived a few minutes ago and are making their way to the Earl's manor. The Earl's two sons organized a huge parade to welcome them in town."

"A prince and a princess? Do you know why they came here?" asked Li Wei.

The waitress looked at him as if he was a country bumkin." They are on their way to fight the demons! Since they are making their way east, they decided to stop at Verdan Town for a day before resuming their travel. It is a great honor for them to come to our town!"

Li Wei quickly ate his meal and went out to look at the parade. He was very curious about the events; Demons were attacking in the East and the royal family was reacting to it. But what really intrigued him was that the Messenger also warned him to not go there. "It looks like things are going to get messy there. I should make my way to the west after the quest!"

Li Wei made his way to the main street where he caught sight of a crowd of people. A crowd was not the right word to describe the scene; it was more like almost the entire population of Verdan Town gathered there specifically to welcome the royals.

The main street was filled with NPCs and players standing on both sides of the road. When Li Wei arrived, it was already too late and the prince and the princess had already made their way to the Earl's manor.

However, the army, that was following behind them, was still walking down the street. On the streets covered with rose petals and other flowers, rows, and rows of orderly arranged soldiers were walking in a military manner.

"Never mind! I am too late..." thought Li Wei. When he arrived, he could hear the players discussing among themselves. While a few were speaking about the reasons why the Royals made their way there, the majority of the male players were actually talking about the 7th princess.

"The best part of her is without a doubt her legs! Did you see how slender and attractive they looked, her short skirt and even her horse highlighted her legs! I will give away all my gold if I could just feel them."

"What are you talking about? Don't bring your weird fetish up! She is clearly a woman with a strong temperament! You saw how sparsely dressed she was. She even used a whip as a belt!"

When Li Wei heard that, he did not know how to react and so, he chose to simply make his way back. He would have to spend two more sleepless nights. It was better to spare his energy.

"What a bunch of weirdos..."

...

At 18:00, Li Wei was once again back at the graveyard.

"Hey Seven. Ready for another long night? Let's try to catch those bastards tonight," said Oleg. Although he sounded spirited, it did not look like he really meant it.

"Sure. I'll do my best!" said Li Wei.

After last night's events, Li Wei really wanted to spend this night trailing behind Oleg but based on the testimonials of the other players, they already tried this strategy and it failed. And so, Li Wei did not know what to do.

He could only make a better job at patrolling. He would spend the entire night walking through the graveyard. It was a silly plan but sometimes the brainless methods were also the most effective one.

Oleg quickly made his way to his house after inviting Li Wei to come and rest at his house at any time.

Li Wei quickly started his plan and walked through the graveyard. He tried to follow an irregular pattern so that the grave robbers would not be able to predict when he would approach them.

Time went by and there was still no trace of the grave robbers. Li Wei was currently hiding in a thick bush near the tombs. He was calmly resting after walking at a fast pace for hours and decided to hide in a place where he might be able to take the grave robbers by surprise.

Li Wei was silently sitting in the bush. He was busy thinking about the quest; it was clearly not as simple as he hoped it would be. In fact, he had no clue of who the grave robber might be, and this might cost him a lot.

The graveyard was quite dim tonight. Unfortunately, the weather was more capricious and the clouds were obscuring the moon. But despite that, Li Wei could still see his surroundings quite well. His eyes already partially adapted to the darkness.

Li Wei was still thinking about the quest when suddenly, muffled footsteps were heard. Li Wei's eyes immediately shone. There was a 90% chance that it was the grave robbers!

Li Wei did not dare to move, he slowly waited and quickly, a dark shadow came into view. He could not see very well due to his position, but Li Wei still saw something move between the foliage of the bush.

"This is it! It must be the graverobber! Who else would try to walk that discreetly?" exclaimed Li Wei.

He calmly waited as the dark shadow slowly made his way towards Li Wei. Although Li Wei saw the shadow approaching him, he did not panic. It was highly possible that the grave robber was aiming at the tombs next to him. Both on his right and left were a tomb that has not yet been raided.

"Yes... Come a bit closer!" thought Li Wei. He slowly moved his hands and moved his two runic swords in his inventory.

In a few seconds, the shadow was now standing merely 5 meters away from Li Wei. This was a dangerous moment. If he came any closer, there was a high chance that that person would notice him hiding.

He could not wait any longer; Li Wei pounced out of the bush and took out his two swords from his inventory. The swords immediately appeared in his hands. This way, he did not waste any time drawing his blades and this trick was soundless.

Li Wei mercilessly swung his swords as he activated [Cleave]. Against grave robbers, he would not show any pity.

The dark shadow was naturally surprised to suddenly see someone jump out of the bush and attack him. He immediately took a step back but with Li Wei's speed, there was no way he would be able to completely dodge the attack.

"Seven! It's me! What are you doing?" exclaimed the dark shadow.

Due to the angle, he was positioned at, Li Wei could not see the person's face but as he heard the voice, he immediately knew who it was! He desperately tried to change the trajectory of his swords but with the amount of force he put in, he was barely able to alter the direction.

One of the Dark Runic Sword cut through the dark shadow's face, leaving behind a long bloody line.

"Ah Oleg! You scared me! I am sorry about that!" exclaimed Li Wei.

The Dark Shadow was naturally Oleg, the sword scratched his face but fortunately, it did not look like a mortal wound! He fell on the ground and screamed as he placed his hands on his face as if trying to prevent the blood from spilling out.

"Quick, drink this!" said Li Wei as he took out a Health Potion from his inventory.

Oleg naturally recognized the item and quickly complied. Quickly, the bleeding stopped but a long mark was left on Oleg's left cheek.

"Thank you," said Oleg, his tone was weird like a mixture of forcefully concealed anger and frustration. But that was not abnormal considering that he had just been attacked by Li Wei.

"You scared me Oleg. Why did you come here so stealthily. Don't you usually wear those heavy boots?" asked Li Wei.

Oleg looked at Li Wei for a moment before answering, "I am still wearing the boots, but they don't make much sound when walking on grass. The reason I was coming there was that I noticed someone hiding in that bush and I thought it was the graverobber, but it turned out it was you!"

Hearing the explanation, Li Wei nodded. He felt embarrassed to have randomly attacked the innocent Oleg like that.

"Let's forget about this, I already drank the Health Potion. Everything should be fine now!" said Oleg.

"Again, I am sorry!"

"Don't worry, I'll head back to my house! I need a good bottle of wine," said Oleg and without waiting, he made his way to his house, without even inviting Li Wei.

The latter did not really mind, it was an expected behavior. After yesterday, he realized that sometimes Oleg would be nice and friendly but sometimes, he would also be colder and less approachable.

"D*mn, I was so stupid! I hope he does not hold a grudge because of the scar left!"

With this out of the way, Li Wei resumed walking in the graveyard. While he felt bad for hurting Oleg like that, he quickly put that behind him. Oleg was, in the end, only an NPC, it was not like he hurt a real person.

About 45 minutes later, Li Wei once again met Oleg. "He already drank his bottle?" thought Li Wei. However, as Li Wei looked at Oleg, he immediately noticed something abnormal!

The scar on his left cheek was missing!

At that moment, the pieces of the puzzle in Li Wei's head all clicked together.