“Hurry up, you! the gravekeeper might be here soon!!”

A thief shouted down the hole in the middle of a grave, his face showing a worried expression as he kept checking his surroundings.

“Be quiet! We’ve been digging for more than 2 hours and no one’s coming to catch us!!”

The thief in the hole replied, his hand was constantly scooping up dirt with an old, rough shovel, a rather large pile of dirt had been created above the snowy ground.

“That’s right, calm down, that old gravekeeper is too old to get here in time when she noticed us.”

A thief with a smug and confident smile said as he leaned against the tombstone, looking as if there was nothing to worry about.

“How the hell am I not worried?? That shotgun of hers is enough to make me replace the person in this coffin!!” As The worried thief said that, they continued to urge the thief in the hole.

The smug thief sighed before laughing sarcastically.

“A gun? I’m scared too, but she probably can’t see well enough to pull the trigger.”

The smug thief scoffed, but he was too smug to not hear the footsteps behind him

“You’re quite right, she’s old too. So I don’t use a gun like her.”

“What you mean? Wait, and who are you-“

Before The smug thief could react, a hard wooden stick was struck against his head with great force.

His vision quickly blurred, his body swayed before he fell unconscious on the snow.

The worried thief quickly realized the situation, he turned around to face the man, his hand trembling on the handle of the knife.

“YOU BASTARD!” The worried thief rushed up.

But quickly, the man adjusted his posture before the wooden stick stabbed like a spear straight into The worried thief’s stomach and chest. His mouth opened with a painful scream in his throat, a little saliva running down his chin as he fell slightly.

"You know you shouldn't use a short knife against a long weapon."

Keeping the rhythm, the man swung the wooden stick and brought it straight down on The worried thief‘s chin.

There was a loud bang on impact, causing The worried thief’s head to snap back, his eyes rolling back before his entire body fell backwards.

Blackened on the white snow.

“Two...”

“Hey you guys! What the hell is going on!!” The thief in the hole shouted, slowly climbing up at the edge of the hole. “What the hell...”

He looked around, seeing his two unconscious accomplices but not the man.

But then a wooden stick filled his vision... And black.

...

“So there are three of them in total, thank you for helping us catch them.”

The young policeman said, closing and locking the back door of the police car. Inside the car were the three thieves.

Covered in wounds and handcuffed.

“Luckily they didn’t get to steal anything...” The man said dejectedly as he watched the police car quickly drive away with its siren blaring.

The man sighed as he walked back and locked the graveyard gate.

“Hm, you’re back, young prospect man.” The old woman said from the porch of the wooden house when she saw the man had returned.

A sigh. “Since I came here, you must have had more free time...”

The man said as he leaned his wooden stick on his shoulder.

The old woman let out a cheerful laugh, gently rocking her rocking chair.

“I don’t mind, I feel like it’s a mid-work retirement.”

”I’m a bit old anyway.”

“Also, why do I have to wear this cloak like you, isn’t this stick enough?”

The man said as he held up the edge of his cloak, he felt like he was some kind of ritual follower.

“It’s to keep us warm in this snowy place.”

“Then why not use a warm coat??...”

“We should be frugal.”

Another sigh, the man felt a little helpless.

“Let’s not talk about that... I wonder if this graveyard is special?... 12 failed grave robberies in the nearly 1 month I’ve been working here...”

The man said, casting a judgmental look at the old woman.

“That’s a pretty good question, young man.”

The old woman nodded and was silent for a while.

“Apart from a few rich and noble people who are allowed to be buried in this graveyard.”

The old woman paused for a moment.

“This cemetery is not the resting place of people like nobles, philosophers, sages.”

“But of mysterious people, who are perhaps even more than those above.”

“I admit, the thieves are quite good at getting that information.”

“But they probably don’t think...”

“Could it be a trap that is leading them to this graveyard...”

“Shallow people will believe that. But perhaps reasonable people will never come here."

After saying that, the old woman turned her head slightly as she quietly looked towards the west of the graveyard.

Noticing the slight turn of old woman head, the man also slowly looked towards the west.

Then he quickly remembered something when he realized that direction.

“I’m also wondering about one thing.” The man asked

“Why can’t we go past that area?”

His arm raised, pointing west.

In the direction of his hand, in the far west of the graveyard.

there was a red line, a large rose hedge between the white snow and the tiny graves.

No trees, no bushes, no road.

Just the graves.

Just a large rose hedge stretching out to separate the west from the graveyard.

The scene that was like a white painting was interrupted by a somewhat unpleasant crimson.

The old woman chuckled. “Curiosity killed the cat, young man.” As she spoke, the old woman rocked her chair.

“But there is someone in charge there, it’s just that we are not fit to work there.”

”And we have no right to enter there.”

“No right?”

The man looked at the old woman, a feeling of confusion and curiosity only growing within him.

He looked west again, at the row of rose hedges, their red color standing out against the white of the snow.

And there was an indescribable strangeness hidden within.

“Old people like to talk in a literary way, huh?” The man said as his attention returned to the old woman, who only smiled and continued to rock the chair she was sitting on.

“I’m not a very curious person, so if it’s a rule, I shouldn’t break it.”

“But there are probably many things in this graveyard that you haven’t told me yet.”

A chuckle came from the old woman.

The man shook his head, he slowly shouldered the wooden stick, and started to patrol the graveyard again on the white snow.

Watching the man's figure gradually disappear, the old woman pensively looked around the familiar graveyard.

A wind blew past her face.

Feeling the direction of the wind and following it to the sky, the old woman remained silent as she stopped her chair.

“He has potential.”

“Maybe he will be suitable.”

The old woman said.

Then she slowly started rocking the chair again.

Her two hands found her cane as she placed both hands on it.

The corners of the old woman’s wrinkled lips curved into a pleased smile.