Horatio grasped the key information and retrieved a dust-covered memory from the depths of his mind.
That was two years ago, when he had just arrived in the Middle Hive and was making extensive inquiries to uncover his true identity.
In the port area known as Vegas, adjacent to the PW-P-15 Megaport Freight Zone, Horatio learned a baffling story from a mysterious Diviner—
(The following is the Diviner's original words, asked two years ago, so it refers to six years ago.)
Six years ago.
When a man was still just a Adeptus Arbites auxiliary officer, he followed his master to the Lower Hive to investigate a terrorist attack targeting military, political, and civilian dignitaries of Abyss Port.
But it was too late.
That year, after the grand Gothic War victory celebration ceremony, transport planes carrying important officials of Abyss Port at the time, including the Planet Governor's private plane, exploded one after another in the atmosphere while returning to the planet from the star-ring space station.
Among them was a girl's mother, also a widely beloved political official in Abyss Port, who was on one of those transport planes. After the explosion, she plunged into the Great Rift of Abyss Port, which resembled a giant maw, like a meteor in the sky, falling into the Lower Hive and turning to scorched earth.
The Adeptus Arbites's reconnaissance team was led into an ambush by a turncoat Lower Hive informant. The man lost his master and all his Hive City Law Enforcement comrades.
When he returned to the Adeptus Arbites fortress alone, covered in blood, he learned that the wreckage of a transport plane had crashed into a Hive City Enforcement Office prison, causing heavy casualties.
Among them were his parents, who were serving as Hive City Law Enforcement there.
From that day on, Abyss Port changed dramatically.
With the Planet Governor's absence, the Guild Alliance's chairman, through various means, obtained an appointment from the Segmentum Obscurus, becoming the new Planet Governor of Abyss Port. From then on, Abyss Port became a paradise for the Guild Alliance's oligarchs.
Another untimely riot by Lower Hive Chaos cultists was suspiciously blamed for all the crimes related to this terrorist attack. They were subsequently met with a joint heavy-handed strike by the entire planet's law enforcement forces until they were annihilated.
The man entered the Loyalist Academy, and by virtue of his significant contributions in striking the Chaos cultists, he was promoted to a senior Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites, donning the silver helmet of a judge, which he never took off in front of anyone again.
During the long battles in the Lower Hive, he lost all trust in the Lower Hive people, deeply hating this decaying, foul place where the law did not tread.
To him, any Lower Hive person was a potential criminal; decent people would not live in the Lower Hive. He believed he had the right to preemptively kill these filthy individuals before they could commit potential crimes.
The girl's father, a heroic captain, became radical and irritable after losing his beloved, even being called a 'mad king tyrant on the battleship.'
Thanks to the Emperor's favor, he ultimately became a legendary Lord Captain through actions so daring that others considered them suicidal.
It is said that during his Warp journey back to Abyss Port, he executed over half of the ship's crew. Anyone deemed to have Warp contamination by a Guojiao Priest was cleanly executed.
Upon reaching port, the captain's battleship was like a purgatory, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood throughout the compartments, but this was still not enough to quell his hatred for Chaos corruption.
The girl lost her smile the day she learned of her mother's death.
On a stormy night, she was called to the fireplace by her father, who had just returned from a long voyage. Witnessed by the flames, she received her first gun in life and became a Female Hunter-Duke vigilante seeking revenge for her mother.
The investigation of the entire incident yielded no results for eight consecutive years due to numerous obstacles after the political upheaval in Abyss Port, eventually fading into oblivion.
What was the truth? Perhaps no one knew.
Finally, destiny began to intertwine; the girl became the student of that Childer of Loyalty Arbiter, transforming into a warhammer whose heart burned with the flame of vengeance, swung at the enemies of the Imperium.
The girl's father appeared insane, but in reality, he allowed unseen enemies to relax, diligently searching for the truth behind the scenes.
Until a soul symbolizing change came to this world, everything would begin to rotate, reverse, and break.
But the ultimate fate of this soul—will it bring a longer night after falling, or tear through the darkness to bring light…
Everything is still undetermined.
—
At the time, Horatio Cochrane felt nothing after hearing this story from the Diviner, only thinking it was a lot of mumbo-jumbo, a verbose waste of his time.
He only wanted to find clues about his identity, buried due to amnesia from the plane crash eight years ago. He didn't care whether those people, completely unrelated to him, lived or died, or what their emotional journeys were.
So he dismissed the story from his mind.
Now that he thinks about it… this story was actually the entire course of events, and the soul symbolizing change was probably himself.
[This is truly unsettling.] Horatio frowned, a strange chill running down his spine.
The story told by the mysterious Diviner, without exception, pointed all core clues to the girl beside him.
The entire story essentially presented the original appearance and many details of the terrorist attack from eight years ago, completely intact.
It was even clearer than the joint investigation results of the Imperial Navy, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Adeptus Arbites, and Inquisition, almost as if the Diviner had a God's-eye view, like a witness to the entire event, which was chilling to ponder.
Also, what exactly did she mean by 'falling' or 'tearing through the darkness'?
[Too much of a riddle. I'll have to go find that enigmatic Diviner again and ask… But this matter is so bizarre, like a grand conspiracy of Old T (Tzeentch), that it overturned the entire planet's political landscape in a single day, and it was even the Gothic fleet's homeport.]
Horatio recalled and pondered whether his plane crash was on the same day. If so, he must be the offspring of an Imperial dignitary, and this girl beside him was probably the only one who could help.
He glanced again at the Female Hunter-Duke, who was driving the shuttle with a solemn expression, fully focused.
[I'm definitely clinging to this noble lady's leg!]
[+Unknown source shuttle, please decelerate immediately. You are approaching the Upper Hive ground zone. We cannot remotely verify your identity. Please cooperate with our Hive City Law Enforcement for identity verification.+]
An urgent announcement was forcibly inserted into the communication array, pulling Horatio's thoughts back. Immediately after, the roar of engines came from outside the window. Two black and white police shuttles, one on each side, surrounded his shuttle. Their heavy stubber turrets were aimed at the fuselage, maintaining vigilance.
The Female Hunter-Duke motioned for Horatio not to speak and put on her helmet. Then she pulled out a golden chip from her arm guard and pressed it against an NFC-like device, immediately connecting to a holographic signal.
"I am Farida Hood, Adeptus Arbites Female Hunter-Duke vigilante. I have seized a shuttle involved in a case and am currently en route to the Adeptus Arbites fortress."
"Received! Identity verification complete. We, on behalf of the Hive City Enforcement Office, salute the glorious Hood Family! Immediate clearance!"
The two police shuttles instantly lowered their altitude, giving way to the shuttle driven by Miss Farida at a low altitude.
"Noble treatment is really great."
"If you have the ability, join the Imperial Navy and achieve the same military merits as my father, and you can too."
Horatio raised an eyebrow and said with a wry smile, "I'm still a convicted person. If I get on a ship, I'm probably going to be an indentured laborer."
Farida chuckled at Horatio's self-deprecating remark, her tightly furrowed brows finally relaxing a little.
"So, how exactly did you get that ring?"
"I crashed eight years ago and hit my head, so I don't remember anything. This ring has always been on my hand, which is enough to prove I'm not a Lower Hive person."
Horatio said confidently, with a natural and credible expression and demeanor.
"If you're not lying." Farida glanced at him, her face calm and unruffled.
This attack eight years ago was too famous; almost everyone in Abyss Port knew about it. Many fraudsters claiming to be amnesiac nobles, or distant relatives of deceased nobles without heirs, had emerged from every nook and cranny to inherit estates. Having served the Adeptus Arbites in her free time for several years, she had seen many such cases.
"I can help you, but you'll owe me a favor."
The Female Hunter-Duke stated her condition:
"Before, I only promised to provide you with witness protection, but helping you find clues about your background is a different matter. The latter is clearly more difficult."