420: There is a traitor.

Looking up, Dingyuan City seemed like a massive monster sprawled across the undulating mountains, stretching for countless miles, with no end in sight!

Such a magnificent project must have required an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources to complete, and its primary purpose was to build an insurmountable barrier for the Great Ming, resisting the threat from War Bear Country!

In fact, there are several other countries bordering the west of Great Ming, but those small and medium-sized nations naturally dare not easily invade Great Ming, so the main threat to Great Ming still comes from War Bear Country. It can be said that the existence of Dingyuan City has significant value; for so many years, there hasn't been any large-scale war between the two countries here, only some minor conflicts, and most of the time, it's just the two sides facing each other from afar.

Long Yuan used his Breath Concealment Technique to easily enter the city and discovered that this vast city was almost built entirely for war, far more purely so than Zhenyuan City, where Xu Yanran was stationed. Over at Zhenyuan City, there used to even be border trade between Great Ming and War Bear Country, and civilian exchanges were quite frequent, but here in Dingyuan City, there was simply no exchange between the two sides, only armed conflict.

There were not only Ming Army troops here, but also a large number of civilians. These civilians were mainly engaged in reclamation, cultivation, mining, and some commercial activities. They were, in fact, army reservists. Once a war broke out, some of them would take up weapons to join the frontline combat, while others would be responsible for logistics. Therefore, the army and the civilians formed an organic whole, working together to develop and protect the northwest border of Great Ming.

It was precisely for this reason that the casualties from the last enemy sneak attack were so heavy, because the majority of the casualties were actually reserve civilians, while the army soldiers suffered only minor losses. One must know that the main targets of the enemy's attack were those few treasure vaults, and the treasure vaults were certainly located in the heart of the city, surrounded by large residential areas for civilians. Those experts could kill a large number of low-cultivation civilians with just a casual strike, while the frontline troops could not react in time; even if they heard the news and rushed over to help, it was too late.

From this incident, one could also see that the lethality of experts against ordinary people was far too great. Facing the strikes of experts, the self-preservation ability of ordinary people was severely insufficient, and most of those who survived did so only because they were lucky enough to escape...

"Look, look!"

"What's going on over there?"

"I don't know..."

"It seems they've caught someone..."

A commotion broke out on the surrounding roads and paths, and people flocked in one direction. Long Yuan did not follow to watch, but instead sat in a noodle shop waiting for his food. However, his Divine Sense reached out, and he quickly discovered the clue: it seemed that the Dingyuan City military had caught a dozen or so Evil Cultist members. Looking at those miserable-looking Evil Cultist members, they were all of low cultivation, and according to the military markings, they were from Ba Jue Hall, Blood Wolf Hall, and Shadow Moon Hall. It was truly an eyesore.

"Everyone, come and see! These are the suspects caught by General Ge's team. They are all members of an evil cult who infiltrated our city with the intent to commit evil!" a soldier shouted loudly.

"They are actually Evil Cultist members?!"

"Despicable! They must be torn to pieces!"

"They must be from the same group that attacked our Dingyuan City not long ago!"

"Damn them! Kill them! Avenge my brothers!"

"Avenge my parents!"

"Avenge my husband..."

The emotions of the citizens in the city suddenly became agitated, and they flocked toward the escort team. Seeing the inhuman appearance of that group of Evil Cultist members, everyone's eyes turned red, and they shouted to avenge their family and friends. The entire military escort was so crowded that they could barely move...

That General Ge, who was riding a unicorn warhorse—none other than Ge Ming, one of the generals of Dingyuan City—felt secretly pleased at this sight. This was exactly the effect he wanted. In recent days, the emotions of the citizens of Dingyuan City had been very unstable, with all kinds of negative emotions reaching a breaking point, putting great pressure on the military. Now that they had captured these dozen or so Evil Cultist members, if he could make them a vent for the citizens' anger, it would greatly reduce the pressure on the military.

"Dear fellow citizens, we have confirmed that these Evil Cultist members are from the same group that attacked our Dingyuan City not long ago. The evil cult's desire to destroy us will never die. We must unite as one, eradicate the evil cult, and restore a bright and clear world to our Great Ming!" Ge Ming waved his hand and said loudly.

"Unite as one, eradicate the evil cult!"

"Unite as one, eradicate the evil cult!!"

"Unite as one, eradicate the evil cult!!!"

"..."

Everyone waved their fists and roared at the top of their lungs, their voices resounding throughout the entire Dingyuan City...

Long Yuan was astonished to find that the owner of the noodle shop had stopped doing business and had run over with the other customers to join the roaring crowd...

It seemed that the damage caused by the attack to the citizens of Dingyuan City had already penetrated to their bones; these people wished they could eat the flesh and drink the blood of these Evil Cultist members to avenge their own family and friends...

However, Long Yuan had actually long understood the ins and outs of this matter. The true mastermind was actually the First Prince, Prince Rui, and Speaker Pelos of Snow Eagle Country, while those responsible for the attack were the high-level members of Shadow Moon Hall, as well as some experts from Snow Eagle Country, Flying Lion Country, and Fusang Country. The whereabouts of these people had already been locked on by the Heavenly Eye!

If this information were to be revealed, I fear the hearts of these Ming citizens before him would die, because none of them could imagine that the fallen soldiers and civilians were merely victims of a succession struggle...

"Huh? Prince Ding?!" Long Yuan's Divine Sense suddenly discovered that Prince Ding had appeared nearby. However, Prince Ding did not appear before the citizens, but instead gave them a cold glance, and then hurried off toward the east...

"It seems he has discovered something..." Long Yuan quickly checked the recent information regarding Prince Ding and soon learned that his destination was the Eastern Military Camp!

That is, the location of the battle squad managed by Dongfang Lie.

Prince Ding finally became suspicious of Dongfang Lie. It wasn't because he had discovered the hidden camera in his own tent, but because among the Evil Cultist members captured by Ge Ming, someone had confessed a piece of information in order to survive: there was a traitor among Prince Ding's trusted aides, and it was he who had lured the evil cult's attack!

Prince Ding was incomparably shocked upon hearing this, because the trusted aides around him had all been formed after multiple rounds of testing and screening; how could there still be a traitor?

However, a formidable figure like him would naturally rather believe it to be true than false, so he began to investigate his trusted aides one by one. This trip to the Eastern Military Camp was to conduct a covert investigation of Dongfang Lie...

But to Prince Ding's surprise, Dongfang Lie was not in the military camp, but had gone to the Central Military Information Office, which was the department managed by his eldest son, Zhu Deqin. Only then did he remember that Zhu Deqin must have wanted Dongfang Lie to help with that transaction with Miller.