Hearing Marco call his name, Byrne paused in his tracks. He turned back with a look of confusion. "Captain, is there something else?"
Wait until everyone else had left, Marco beckoned him over. "Sit down first. There is something I need to discuss with you privately."
Byrne returned to the conference table. In his view, Marco was always steady; unless it was a matter of great importance, he would never have singled him out like this.
Marco did not speak immediately. Instead, he manipulated the holographic projector, switching the city map to an old photograph. The image showed a group of people dressed in fine attire standing before the gates of a grand manor. Byrne recognized the pattern carved above the gate instantly—it was the crest of the Lainean family.
After pulling up the photo, Marco asked, "Do you recognize this crest?"
Byrne's heart skipped a beat, but he immediately feigned ignorance. He shook his head. "I've never seen it. What happened to this family?" He performed curiosity naturally, keeping his tone measured.
Marco tapped his finger on the crest in the projection. His gaze behind his glasses darkened slightly as he spoke slowly. "This is the crest of the Lainean family—a family judged as heretics and utterly destroyed by the Inquisition a century ago."
When mentioning the word "heretic," Marco's tone remained flat, as if he were merely stating an inconsequential piece of history. However, Byrne could sense a faint ripple in the Captain's psychic energy. Clearly, this matter was not simple.
"The Lainean family?" Byrne frowned, acting as if he were hearing the name for the first time. "Captain, why bring up a destroyed family? Does this family have something to do with our mission?"
Marco looked up, his gaze sweeping over the confusion on Byrne's face. He didn't answer right away. Instead, he enlarged the figure of a young man in the crowd of the photograph. The man wore a ring on the index finger of each hand—one red and one blue. The gems on the rings were engraved with the family crest, though the details were blurred by the yellowing of the photo.
"This man was the youngest son of the Lainean Patriarch back then. His name was Kruger Lainean, and he was the sole survivor of that purge."
Byrne stared at the photo on the projection screen. Of the two rings, the one with the ruby was identical to the one in his possession. Suppressing his inner turmoil, he maintained his confused expression and followed up with a question: "Since he was the sole survivor, where did he go? Didn't the Inquisition continue the search?"
Marco turned off the projection and sat back down. "Of course they did. But Kruger vanished as if he had evaporated into thin air. Even divination couldn't pinpoint his location. The Inquisition investigated for a full ten years before eventually concluding that he had died of natural causes and closed the case."
Byrne countered, "What does this have to do with our pursuit of Lacy Valen?"
Marco picked up the thermos on the table, took a sip of hot water, and said quietly, "Because the current Valen family was established by Kruger Lainean himself. Lacy Valen is his descendant."
Byrne feigned shock. "That's incredible. When I checked the Valen family records earlier, I only knew their origins were obscure. I didn't expect them to be related to a heretical family from a century ago. But how did you know such a secret, Captain?"
Marco set down the thermos and explained, "The answer is simple. Ever since you provided intelligence regarding the Thousand Sons and the Child of Prophecy, the Bureau has employed divination. We learned that the Child of Prophecy is Lacy Valen. Unfortunately, we were a step late, and Lacy Valen escaped. However, during the divination, this information surfaced by accident. It's quite ironic—a mystery that couldn't be solved a hundred years ago found its answer a century later."
Hearing this, Byrne was internally startled. He hadn't expected the Bureau to have already identified the Child of Prophecy through divination, nor that they had indirectly uncovered the connection between the Valen and Lainean families. The speed was much faster than he had anticipated.
Even more alarming was that Marco had kept him behind to share these secrets. This was not a simple briefing. Given the Captain's steady nature, he must have sensed something or had deeper considerations.
With this in mind, Byrne asked, "Captain, did you keep me here just to tell me this?"
Marco shook his head. "No. These words are merely the background. I want to talk about something else."
"Go ahead."
"Byrne, do you know about the Dark-corrosion disease that occurred in Lobo City ten years ago?"
Dark-corrosion disease? Why bring that up now?
Byrne nodded. "It was an epidemic that broke out in Lobo City ten years ago. The official version is that a psyker lost control, inviting Warp encroachment. I heard it took over two months to finally quell the calamity." He didn't reveal everything he knew, leaving room for Marco to continue.
"Yes, you're correct. In this mission, besides finding Lacy Valen, we are also tasked with thoroughly purging the residual Chaos contamination." Marco stood up, walked to Byrne's side, and patted his shoulder. "The situation in Lobo City is more complex than imagined. After we set out tomorrow, make sure to stay close to me. Do not act on your own."
Byrne nodded. "I understand, Captain."
"Alright. Go back and prepare. We gather tomorrow morning on time."
Byrne acknowledged him and walked out of the conference room. Marco's eyes were too sharp; that conversation felt less like a warning and more like a probe—testing his knowledge of the Lainean family and his awareness of the old events in Lobo City. Fortunately, Byrne had maintained his "newcomer" confusion and hadn't shown any flaws.
Half an hour later, Byrne returned to his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. Resting his head on his hands, he recalled his conversation with Marco. For some reason, he felt that Marco's final words were not that simple. Was it really necessary to tell him all this just to purge residual contamination?
Byrne rolled over and looked at the nightstand drawer. The ring and the copper box lay quietly inside. Tomorrow, he would embark on a journey to Lobo City. A game of wits surrounding truth, prophecy, and Chaos was about to officially begin.
Hopefully, everything goes smoothly.
Meanwhile, inside the Third Squad's combat briefing room.
Marco sat back in his seat, staring at the photo of Lacy Valen on the screen. A complex set of emotions flickered in his eyes—whether lamenting the fate of the Lainean family or worrying about the impending storm.
Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed across the table. In the next second, a black cat with heterochromatic eyes appeared.
Seeing the cat, Marco immediately stood up and bowed respectfully. "Director."
The black cat licked its paw, then looked at Marco and asked, "After this period of observation, do you think Byrne can be trusted?"
Marco was silent for several seconds before speaking. "After this mission, we will have a conclusion."