A flash of light, and the [ Crown ] appeared on the open ground below.
Faced with two furious councilors, the intruder disregarded everything else and immediately shouted:
"Teleportation cannot be activated! The army over there... the army over there..."
"Tell me quickly, what exactly happened in the Demon Realm?!"
At this moment, both [ Thousand Faces ] and [ Crown ] were extremely anxious.
Especially [ Thousand Faces ], he just came from there this afternoon, it's only midnight now, how could hundreds of thousands of troops have all died?
The newcomer hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice slightly, speaking in a tone only he, the two councilors, and the two Wing Army holding him could hear:
"The army over there has mutinied!"
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, not only the newly joined [ Thousand Faces ], but even the usually composed [ Crown ] gaped in astonishment.
"This level of fabrication of military intelligence, I think you have a death wish!"
One of the Wing Army spoke menacingly, and had already placed his hand on the patrol captain's neck.
"Don't do it."
[ Crown ] was the first to regain his composure and gave an order to the Wing Army around him:
"Let him go, let him explain."
The patrol captain, now free, knelt on the ground and earnestly recounted the entire incident:
As night was about to fall, Councilor [ Nether Crossing ] returned to Sand Capital with his full gear, a Hall, and five skeleton soldiers he had picked up along the way.
In order to complete the mission as soon as possible, Councilor [ Nether Crossing ] handed over the five skeleton soldiers to him, saying that they had urgent military intelligence to report, but he didn't have time to listen.
Once important information is obtained, it must be reported to the legislator level immediately to prevent delays in dissemination.
The patrol captain and his squad members immediately took the five skeleton soldiers to the camp and began interrogating them separately.
A comparison of their testimonies revealed that all five individuals gave the same story.
With High Tier- ranking officers of the Skeleton Alliance killed in action, the Middle Tier warlords began to openly and covertly vie for control of the army.
A warlord Colin killed their warlord Grant and then forced everyone to call him "Acting Senator".
The five of them were able to teleport to the sea of the Floating Corpse Sea near Sand Capital before they were discovered, thanks to a finger bone inscribed with teleportation runes that they had stolen from Grant Grant's private collection.
If it weren't for the [ Nether Crossing ] councilors on their return journey passing by, they would probably have perished in the Floating Corpse Sea.
As for the Demon Realm army camp, before they left, a warlord, acting on the orders of that "acting councilor," had already begun to gather his men, seemingly to make room for someone else.
It's unclear whether Governor Colin has defected to the Theocracy or the Graycast Corridor, but if the teleportation array is activated now, the people teleported there will most likely not be 200,000 of their own, but rather an army of equal size from the Graycast Corridor or the Theocracy.
This is Sand Capital, the true center of the entire Skeleton Alliance!
That giant dragon, carrying hundreds of thousands of imperial troops, couldn't even reach the Sand Capital in a few months. Unexpectedly, it was almost destroyed by that mere warlord!
Regardless of whether the Theocracy and the Graycast Corridor have any designs on Sand Capital or the heart of the Skeleton Alliance, even if they don't, the sudden appearance of an army of this size would instantly evoke any thoughts that shouldn't exist.
Who could refuse an undefended national capital right in front of them?
After hearing the patrol captain's account, [ Crown ] felt a cold sweat break out, and [ Thousand Faces ] almost peed himself in fright.
He's only just escaped his misery and been reinvented; he can't be captured again in less than 24 hours, can he?!
This is outrageous!
The two councilors present had no doubt that the whole story was fabricated by the five skeleton soldiers.
The fact that this message appeared before them was due to a confluence of many coincidences.
If Grant hadn't teleported the finger bone, they would have been dead long ago.
If their positioning had been even more off, they would have died long ago.
If [ the Nether Crossing ] hadn't happened to be passing by, they would have died long ago.
Everything was based on coincidence.
The more credible it is, the more believable it becomes, since no one can arrange such a thing in advance.
After a moment of silence in the center of the square, [ the Crown ] asked in a deep voice:
When was the interrogation completed?
The patrol captain immediately replied:
"It was about eight hours ago, around midnight."
"Midnight?! Then why are you only reporting this now?!"
[ Crown ]'s tone sounded somewhat angry, which frightened the patrol captain so much that he immediately began to kowtow:
"Because... because the guards at the Crystal Cluster Palace said all the councilors were busy with a big matter and wouldn't let me in."
The patrol captain said, feeling wronged:
"I said that I also had important matters to attend to, but the guards said that I had no important matters to attend to, that the councilors' matters were what counted as important matters, and told me to go cool off somewhere else."
"I said I was acting on the orders of Lord [ Nether Crossing ], but it just so happened that Lord [ Nether Crossing ] flew away from the Crystal Cluster Palace from the sky, so the guards laughed at me for talking nonsense."
"I know I can't catch up with Lord [ Nether Crossing ], so they told me to go somewhere cool and wait for Lord [ Nether Crossing ] to come back."
"Until just now, I knew I had no choice but to barge in..."
After hearing the patrol captain's account, [ Crown ]'s face turned ashen.
He beckoned, and a Wing Army officer appeared beside him.
"The palace guards have been replaced with a new batch; the ones from last night were all dismantled and used as spare parts."
"Yes."
"Forget it, just destroy it. It's worthless."
"Yes."
After the Wing Army officer left, [ Thousand Faces ] looked at [ Crown ] and asked in a low voice:
"Didn't Councilor [ Nether Crossing ] tell you about this?"
[ Crown ] After recalling, I realized that there really wasn't one.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I have been deceiving [ Nether Crossing ] the whole time, and have not given him a chance to speak at all.
As for what happens after the body is fully repaired...
Replacing a limb can cause memory confusion, and he might have simply forgotten about it.
Sigh, another coincidence.
[ Crown ] was unwilling to admit that the core responsibility for this matter should actually lie with him, and only offered a perfunctory excuse for [ Nether Crossing ]:
He has a lot on his plate; perhaps he's forgotten.
"All right."
[ Thousand Faces ] sounded somewhat dejected, as if his attempts to sow discord had failed once again.
[ Crown ] also turned to look at [ Thousand Faces ]:
How do you think this matter should be handled?
[ Thousand Faces ] thought for a moment and said:
"Three aspects."
"Um?"
"First, immediately negotiate with the Theocracy and the Graycast Corridor to confirm which side Colin has surrendered to. They must be strongly condemned, and if necessary, war threats can be made."
"Secondly, most of the lower-ranking soldiers are certainly innocent and should not be punished. Moreover, the Alliance is at war with the Empire, so they should try to trade or extradite them."
"Third, Colin is a Middle Tier. Find an opportunity for me to see him, and the matter will be resolved."