Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1048, 09.1047: 'Suspicion'

Louisa-Antoine de Saï de Vigo controlled her steps, making each one as light as possible, landing silently on the thick carpet. Even her breathing was suppressed to a minimum.

Her headphones were now keenly picking up any subtle sound in her surroundings.

At the corner of the stairs, she turned around quickly and warily, pointing her gun downwards.

Her headphones picked up a very faint rustling sound of fabric and light footsteps coming from a floor below.

She continued downwards, and finally, at the exit on the second floor, the bloodstains stretched towards the corridor leading to the south garden.

[Trying to hide the bloodstains in the grass? You can't escape.]
Blood has a temperature. In the world of thermal imaging, this trick simply doesn't work.

The female archer followed closely behind. The bloodstains in the garden eventually disappeared at the entrance to a maze of tall hedges.

She frowned. "The target has entered the southern maze. Everyone, block all exits. I'll go in first."

She gave the order over the communicator, then set up her submachine gun and cautiously, like a hunting dog tracking a trail of blood, quietly entered the complex maze made of green plants.

The deeper she ventured into the hedge maze, the clearer and more chilling a sense of dread crept into her heart.

It was as if the labyrinth itself was a living thing, watching her with countless unseen eyes.

Swish!
She turned abruptly, pointing the gun behind her, but all she could see were tall hedges swaying in the night wind, rustling softly.

[Nobody's here... Am I overthinking it...?]
She turned again and continued deeper into the center of the flower bed.

[Inside lies the deepest part of the maze...]
She stopped at a corner, made a standard tactical leaning maneuver—a quick step forward, then a swift retreat. In that less than half a second, she saw it.

She blinked, making sure she wasn't seeing things.

This time, she no longer hid, but emerged completely from behind the hedge, the muzzle of her submachine gun steadily pointing at the circular stone slab in the very center of the hedge maze.

A humanoid creature was lying there quietly.

He is not human, not even “human”.

Instead, it was an alien. A dark Eldar clad in black body armor, with long limbs and paper-white skin.

Desai slowly crouched down and cautiously poked the alien's corpse with the muzzle of his gun to confirm that it was completely dead.

She examined the body carefully, her eyes, which had seen countless deaths behind the scope, now filled with doubt.

The alien had a fatal wound in its throat, seemingly caused by a sharp weapon, killing it instantly.

But this wound...it definitely doesn't look like it was caused by shards from a weapon she hit.

That was more like a precise and ruthless execution.

Desai quickly examined the body and found nothing that could identify it except for the smooth, snakeskin-like black body armor.

She had absolutely no idea where the alien came from.

The fact that a Dark Eldar alien could infiltrate the heavily guarded Cathedral of Enlightenment silently and successfully carry out a sniper attack is already quite astonishing.

And why did he die here?

The Dark Eldar assassin lay dead in the very center of the hedge maze, his posture bizarre, like a sacrifice offered to some unknown being.

Suddenly, Desai's headphones picked up a rapid rustling sound of branches and leaves moving outside the hedge.

She immediately stood up, grabbed her gun, and charged in that direction.

"Who is there?!"

"Boss! Are you in there?" Her subordinate's voice came from outside the hedge. Desai turned her head and looked in the direction where she was being called.

No, the voice of my subordinates is not from the same direction as that strange rustling sound from just now.

"Is anyone coming out here?" she asked sharply.

"No, boss. But we just got here ourselves."

"The weapon has been found; it's an alien-shaped piercing rifle! Your shot completely destroyed it; the assassin must have dropped it and fled."

“He didn’t run away,” Desai’s voice was icy. “He died inside. Immediately seal off the entire garden and search the surrounding area thoroughly; there might be other clues here!”

The Duke's study at the Rana residence.

"Just now, a horrific assassination attempt occurred inside the Qiming Cathedral."

On the crystal screen, a news anchor was broadcasting a worried report: "During the baptismal ceremony of Ascension Day, High Commander Horatio Cochrane of the Imperial Navy's Gothic Fleet was assassinated by unidentified assailants. It has been confirmed that the assassins are notorious Dark Eldar aliens, experts in using despicable and vicious methods."

Lord Horatio Cochrane, who was assassinated, is currently under close protection by the Sisters of the Holy Roses, but his exact condition remains unclear.

Some experts and scholars have analyzed that the lord himself reacted the instant he was assassinated.

He had the opportunity to completely dodge the shot, but perhaps to protect the child in his arms, he chose to shield the bullet with his own body.

However, some ballistics experts have analyzed that the assassination weapon used by the aliens has an extremely high initial velocity, which exceeds human reaction time. Even if Lord made a move, it would be impossible for him to escape the assassination unscathed.

The cause of this incident is speculated to be that Lord Alter had previously thwarted an attack by the Dark Eldar on his escort fleet, thus making him a prime target for the Xenomorphs, who then resorted to this desperate measure of assassinating him while he was attending a public event.

However, as of now, no organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the incident. The alien corpse was also intercepted by enraged fanatics during transport for autopsy, and after being dismembered, the body was burned at the stake.

The state religion has made a strong statement that the Dark Eldar will pay a heavy price for this blasphemous act.

Clergy have already rallied believers within their parishes, spontaneously forming a holy war army, preparing to launch a great holy war against the alien-infested sector and annihilate it. Regardless of whether this holy war ends in victory, we sincerely hope that the Emperor's gaze will fall upon these loyal warriors.

We will continue to monitor Lord Cochrane's health and the outcome of the investigation. That's all for today's Cintilla News. I'm your host, Rococo Claire. See you next time.

Duke Charles de Lannes sat quietly on the soft sofa, smoking a cigar with a solemn expression.

The wisps of smoke blurred his deep, ancient eyes.

"Master Squire, come here." He picked up a quill pen and wrote three lines on an old parchment with flowing strokes, then commanded in a cold, emotionless tone.

"Your Grace, what are your orders?" The chief attendant bowed respectfully.

"Go check."

The head squire picked up the parchment, glanced at it, and his brow furrowed deeply. "But... Your Grace, wasn't it an alien that attempted the assassination? Why are we investigating..."

"The assassin is an alien, so everyone will believe that it was an alien that did it."

The old duke slowly exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, which gathered in front of him before slowly dissipating. "Everyone thinks the truth is out, but what if... it isn't?"

He stubbed out his cigar in the crystal ashtray, raised his eyes, and looked at his chief squire with an all-knowing, icy gaze.

When nine people unanimously support a statement, the tenth person must express an opposing opinion.

That is why I have been able to thwart more than three hundred assassination plots against my family members over the past few decades.

“Yes, Your Grace.” The chief attendant knew that his duty was to obey, not to question, so he asked no more questions, immediately accepted the order, bowed, and withdrew.

(End of this chapter)