Soon the general is found dead in the compartment and on the handle of a bloody blade there is a mark "BG" – the sign of the elusive terrorist "Combat Group" which wreaks terror in both capitals.

The terrorist who impersonated Fandorin – head of the "BG" nicknamed Green – successfully disappears from the scene of the crime and settles in Moscow with three accomplices, Rakhmet, Emelya and Snegir, where the local revolutionary, Needle, helps them.

Frustrated with everything that has happened, Dolgorutsky asks Fandorin, with whom he was always pleased, to do everything to find the general's killers quickly and on his own to earn the right to retire with dignity without being disgraced.

In the meantime, BG continues to operate, this time replenishing the party cash desk: the treasury coach has been robbed, security has been broken, and a huge amount of money has been stolen.

The completely unexpected reaction of BG forces Fandorin to suspect even his own beloved for a moment, but he still finds the correct, albeit incredible, answer to his question.

In a private conversation Pozharsky admits that Fandorin's conclusions are correct: the general did supply information to BG initially to use terrorists to get rid of the rivals' and to frighten officials, and then to act as the sole savior of the state that destroyed the elusive group and receive power and privilege for it.

As a result, Pozharsky goes on the call of Julie to destroy Green and gain the laurels of the sole winner of the Combat Group, and Fandorin merely tells him in a whisper: "Evil devours itself."