Granero immediately mobilized his trusted associates from the local police force and deployed a large number of troops to conduct a comprehensive search within the local police station.
The physical appearance, bone structure, and skin color of the Barcelona people are very different from those of the Zenit people. In addition, the more than fifty people who had infiltrated were unfamiliar with the terrain and architecture of Saint Petersburg and had nowhere to hide. Logically speaking, they should have been easy to find. However, Granero found no clues at all until dawn the next day.
This puzzled everyone greatly.
Emperor Yassin ordered the police department to find the Barcelona spy as quickly as possible. Although no specific timeframe was set, the pressure on Granero was still immense.
On the one hand, he strengthened defenses against the hundreds of extremely important magical centers within the dungeon; on the other hand, he intensified the investigation efforts throughout the dungeon.
After another morning of fruitless investigation, Granero couldn't sit still any longer.
He had no choice but to risk disturbing the Second Prince's recovery process and went to the Second Prince's residence.
"Have you encountered some difficulties?" The Second Prince, whose complexion was relatively good, entered the living room with the help of the Alluring Witch Paris and greeted Granero.
Besides the Witch Paris, the military elder Arjen from Chambord City also came out with them.
Granero dared not conceal anything and recounted everything that had happened in detail.
The second prince, Dominguez, showed little surprise.
Clearly, something was happening outside, and although the prince, who was temporarily recuperating in his residence, knew everything perfectly well, he was completely aware of it.
"Is this the first time Father has been so angry in over a decade?" Dominguez leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
"Indeed, since following His Highness, I have never seen His Majesty Yassin so furious. The Fourth Prince has gone too far. In such a dire situation, he has repeatedly and knowingly committed the same transgression, resulting in the loss of nearly a thousand of the Empire's elite troops... His Majesty's love for him is deep, and his criticism is severe!" Although Granero held the Fourth Prince in utter contempt, his words were remarkably rational in front of Dominguez, and he reverted to his former low-key and composed general persona.
Dominguez nodded slightly, without saying anything.
During the previous battle, he was caught in the aftershocks of the battle Extreme Dao experts. Although his surface injuries had healed, he still had law-related injuries in his body. Fortunately, it was discovered early, and Emperor Yassin personally treated him, so he was spared fatal wounds and his essence was not damaged. However, he needed to recuperate for a period of time and could not fight. Emperor Yassin forced him to stay in the mansion to recuperate and did not participate in the city defense battle.
Granero opened his mouth, then hesitated several times before stopping himself.
Dominguez looked up from his reverie, saw [ Red Beard ]'s expression, and smiled, "What do you want to say? Speak."
Granero glanced at the Witch, then at old Arjen, and finally couldn't help but ask the question that had troubled him for so long, "The situation in the capital is already this dangerous, why haven't His Highness Prince Arshavin, who is known as the Emperor God, and His Female Literary Sage Princess appeared? And... and..."
"Anything else?" Dominguez asked with a smile.
The Second Prince's attitude eased Dominguez's mind slightly, and he voiced his confusion. "Furthermore, the Empire has been conducting large-scale conscription for the past two years. The First Prince alone has trained over twenty regular main battle legions, totaling nearly a million men. However, the current garrison in the capital is less than 400,000 men, including 100,000 Royal Guard and troops that retreated from the Southern Frontier frontier. In other words, before this, the regular garrison in the capital had less than 200,000 men. Where did the other 800,000 elite troops go?"
Dominguez voiced his doubts without any attempt to conceal them.
"Yes, where did my eldest brother and the 800,000 elite troops who were supposed to be in the capital go? I'm very curious too." Dominguez murmured to himself, even he didn't know where the eldest prince, who was the emperor's god, had gone.
Granero's face finally betrayed his astonishment.
"On the surface, the First Prince was overseeing the overall situation at the Military Department, while the Eldest Princess was recuperating at her residence due to serious illness. However, in reality, much evidence suggests that the First Prince was not at the Military Department, nor was the Eldest Princess at her residence. Neither of them, nor even you, were in the capital. The 800,000 troops that should have been in the capital had already quietly withdrawn before the Barcelona troops landed at Byzantium Port. It was just that this process was extremely secretive, and no one noticed it."
The Alluring Witch Paris finally spoke.
The content of the words shocked Granero.
After a pause, the Witch chuckled and said, "Only one person could deceive everyone and allow an army of 800,000 to withdraw from the capital undetected."
"Your Majesty Yassin?" [ Red Beard ] wasn't a fool; he immediately understood the Witch's meaning.
With that in mind, we could no longer continue this conversation.
Because it involves His Majesty the Emperor, whose will is unpredictable.
For a moment, the atmosphere became a little tense.
The second prince Dominguez, broke the silence with a smile, saying with a hint of sarcasm, "Those fifty-odd Barcelona are quite interesting. With such distinctive physical features, how did they manage to evade such a large-scale search? Could it be that they've all turned into Zenit?"
"Your Highness means..." Granero's eyes lit up, and as if realizing something, he exclaimed with delight, "I understand! Thank you for your guidance, Your Highness!" With that, he bowed to the Witch and old Arjen, and strode out to take his leave.
Dominguez and old Arjen exchanged a smile.
" Paris, you need to hurry up and get things ready on your end too," the Second Prince said softly, his eyes closed.
"Your Highness, rest assured, I understand." The Witch nodded, her expression unusually serious.
Time flies.
Two more days have passed in the blink of an eye.
The Barcelona forces have launched an even fiercer offensive in recent days, with four Demigod- level powerhouses appearing from time to time to harass them. Emperor Yassin Zenit, the Extreme Dao powerhouses, are also on high alert and have made several moves. Fortunately, both sides have maintained sufficient restraint and tacitly accepted the ancient tradition of war on the Azeroth Continent, with the Extreme Dao powerhouses not attacking ordinary troops.
The search for Granero has finally yielded results.
On the afternoon of the second day, the skilled officers of the di du police station finally caught a Barcelona spy.
What's shocking is that this spy wasn't from Barcelona or Zenit, but from the Eindhoven Empire. He had been trained by the Barcelona Empire and then infiltrated Saint Petersburg.
Because Eindhoven and Zenit are close neighbors, the physical characteristics of the people in the two countries are not very different, and there are no obvious differences, which explains why they have been unable to capture them before.
The problem is getting serious.
The people of Eindhoven have an extremely tight and systematic organization within Saint Petersburg.
They colluded with the Barcelona people.
The entire city was mobilized for the manhunt, Granero seized the opportunity to implement his Thunderbolt Plan, but with limited success, capturing only a dozen or so insignificant pawns.
The captured spies were sent to the police station and subjected to severe torture to extract confessions. Although they were all known to be exceptionally stubborn, they did not utter a single word even after being beaten bloody.
Granero was restless.
The interrogation finally came to a conclusion as the Sun set.
The truth of the matter sent a chill down Granero's spine.
On one hand, he immediately sent people to notify the royal family, the Military Department, and the second prince; on the other hand, he rushed to the direction of the First Magic Tower in the center of the capital.
That place is the core hub of the [ Protection of Mother Earth ] magic circle that guards the entire city.
Once this magic tower is destroyed, the protective array will lose its function.
Zenit will be plunged into a terrible disaster.
Third update <dd>