The heavy gate shut behind him. Compared to the streets outside, the estate's interior was unnaturally quiet.
There were no holographic advertisements, no golden statues, and none of that agitating background music.
There were only gray-white walls, black hedges trimmed into geometric shapes, and the overpowering, pungent smell of bleach in the air.
Li Wei sniffed.
He knew that smell too well.
When dealing with corpses in the Bottom Hive, people also poured vast amounts of cheap disinfectant to prevent plagues from spreading.
But here, the smell was more refined, colder, as though it was meant to conceal a kind of "filth" that went beyond the physical.
"Keep walking. Don't look around." The guard behind him prodded Li Wei's spine with his gun barrel.
The guards wore dark gray, fully sealed hazmat suits and gas masks that hid their expressions.
But Li Wei could sense that the fingers gripping their weapons were trembling slightly.
Even through their thick protective suits, Li Wei's "soulless field" still made them physically uncomfortable.
They crossed the empty courtyard and entered the main residence.
The floor was black-and-white marble, polished brightly enough to reflect their figures.
Rows of servants in white uniforms stood along both sides of the corridor. Their heads were lowered, their hands folded over their abdomens, like lifeless wax figures.
As Li Wei passed, those "wax figures" all swayed slightly.
Someone retched. Someone else took half a step back, face pale.
The entire corridor seemed to ripple with something called "disgust."
Li Wei walked on expressionlessly. He was used to it.
Here, that disgust was his pass.
The reception room doors opened. Li Wei was shoved inside.
It was an extraordinarily spacious yet exceptionally empty room.
There were no luxurious sofas, no valuable oil paintings.
The four walls were pure white. The only furnishings were a metal desk in the center of the room and two chairs that looked painfully hard.
A woman sat behind the desk.
Aurelia van Atalos.
She looked younger than in the photographs, and colder too.
Her silver hair, like liquid mercury, was gathered behind her head.
She wore a fitted dark-blue military dress uniform, with several unremarkable medals pinned to her chest.
At that moment, she wore white gloves and carefully wiped an exquisitely crafted Bolt Pistol with a piece of cloth.
"You're the 'messenger'?" Aurelia did not look up. Her voice was cold and clear, like a surgical blade scraping across glass.
"That's me." Li Wei stood in the center of the room, neither servile nor overbearing.
Aurelia finally raised her head. Her eyes were a rare icy blue.
When her gaze fell upon Li Wei, even with the poise and self-control expected of a noblewoman, she could not help frowning deeply.
"Disgusting." She made no attempt to conceal her judgment. With a click, she chambered a round in her Bolt Pistol and set it on the desk.
"Is Valorian trying to stink me to death with you? Or are you some new biological weapon of his?"
"It's a talent, ma'am." Li Wei removed his sunglasses, his indifferent eyes meeting Aurelia's directly.
"In this Hive City full of lies and disguises, I am the only one incapable of lying—because my very existence is true Void."
Aurelia narrowed her eyes, her fingers lightly tapping the desk.
"You said there are cockroaches in my home." Her gaze sharpened. "Give me one reason not to kill you.
If Valorian sent you here to humiliate me, I'll chop you up and feed you to the Incinerator in the recycling station."
Li Wei did not answer immediately. He turned around and swept his gaze across the room.
Besides Aurelia, there were four other people in the room.
Two heavily armored bodyguards stood in the corners.
An elderly butler stood behind Aurelia.
And a young maid stood roughly five meters from Li Wei, holding a silver tray with two steaming cups of Recaf on it.
Li Wei's gaze stopped on the maid.
"You say this place is clean." Li Wei pointed at the spotless white walls around them. "But I smell something foul. Not the stench of sewers, but... the stench of something inhuman."
He started toward the maid.
"Stop!" The guards in the corners immediately raised their guns.
"Let him walk." Aurelia suddenly spoke.
Her icy blue eyes were fixed on Li Wei's back, as though she wanted to see what this freak intended to do.
Li Wei closed in on the maid step by step.
The maid was delicate and pretty. With her head lowered, she looked pitiful and helpless.
But when Li Wei entered within three meters of her, her body began trembling uncontrollably.
It was not the trembling of fear.
It was... a convulsion caused by signal interference.
For ordinary Genestealer Hybrids, they were not independent individuals.
They were constantly connected to the Broodmind. That voice was like a mother's embrace, giving them orders and peace.
And Li Wei was a walking signal jammer.
When Li Wei came within one meter of her.
The silver tray in the maid's hands began shaking violently, and coffee spilled from the cups.
Her facial muscles started twitching, her once-pretty features twisting grotesquely.
A low hissing sound came from her mouth, one no human throat should have been able to make.
"Get away..." The maid abruptly raised her head. Her eyes, which had been disguised as brown, were now clouded with a strange murkiness. "Get away! I can't see the light anymore! I can't see the master!!"
"See?" Li Wei turned to look at Aurelia behind the desk.
"No matter how well a cockroach hides, once its connection to the nest is severed, it goes mad."
Before he finished speaking, the maid suddenly screamed.
She threw away the tray and drew a sharp ceramic dagger from beneath her skirt. Moving like lightning, she thrust it straight at Li Wei's throat! No ordinary maid could possess such speed.
"Seeking death." Li Wei did not even move.
Bang!
The deafening blast made Li Wei's eardrums ache.
The maid's head exploded like a watermelon.
Red and white matter splattered across the pristine white walls, a horrifying sight.
Li Wei even felt warm blood spray across his face.
The dagger stopped just five centimeters from his throat before falling with the headless body.
Aurelia still sat behind the desk, smoke curling from the muzzle of the Bolt Pistol in her hand.
Her expression did not change in the slightest, as though she had merely swatted a mosquito.
"Clean it up." Aurelia spoke coldly.
The guards outside rushed in, expertly dragging away the corpse. Cleaning Servitors immediately followed to scrub away the blood.
Seconds later, the room contained only an even stronger smell of bleach and... a faint scent of blood.
Aurelia set down her gun and picked up the cloth again to wipe the barrel.
This time, the look in her eyes as she watched Li Wei had changed.
There was still disgust, but now there was scrutiny as well, along with a trace of deeply concealed interest.
"She was my personal maid. She served me for three years." Aurelia's voice was quiet. "But I never discovered she was a... Hybrid."
"Because they are very good at disguising themselves." Li Wei took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his face. "They can share memories and methods of disguise through their psychic network. As long as the 'network' remains, they are perfect actors."
He walked to the desk and placed the blood-specked Data-slate on it.
"But this isn't just a matter of one cockroach, miss." "It's an entire nest."
"Steward Valorian asked me to give this to you." Li Wei did not conceal its source. It was a strategy of honesty. "There's a list inside. A list enough to drag your family, even the entire Upper Hive, into hell."
Aurelia did not reach for the Data-slate. She leaned back in her chair and folded her hands, her icy blue eyes scanning Li Wei like X-rays.
"That old fox Valorian wants to use me as a blade." Aurelia sneered. "If I use this, the Inquisition will intervene, my family will be finished, and he... will be able to take over everything amid the chaos."
"That's right." Li Wei nodded. "It's an open scheme."
"Then why did you bring it here?" Aurelia asked. "Are you his dog?"
"No." Li Wei shook his head. "If I were his dog, I'd be discussing payment with you right now, or threatening you."
Li Wei extended one finger and pointed at the pool of blood on the floor that had not yet fully dried.
"I'm just a passerby trying to stay alive. Valorian threatened me with a ticket, so I had no choice but to come."
"But he's a madman. He wants to dance with the bugs."
Li Wei leaned forward, bracing both hands on the desk as he stared directly at the noblewoman who held the power of life and death.
"And you, Miss Aurelia. You are responsible for the 'purification.'"
"You need a pair of eyes that can see through disguises. I need a ticket that can get me out of this damned place."
"I don't trust Valorian. But I trust the gun in your hand."
The room fell into dead silence. Only the clock on the wall ticked away.
Aurelia remained silent for a long time.
At last, she reached out and picked up the Data-slate.
She locked it in a drawer.
"You want to be my 'eyes'?" Aurelia asked.
"For now," Li Wei replied.
"Very well." Aurelia rose to her feet.
She walked over to Li Wei. Though she was half a head shorter than him, her presence completely overwhelmed his.
Enduring that nauseating soulless field, she extended her white-gloved hand and straightened Li Wei's slightly disheveled collar.
"Valorian's ticket is fake." Aurelia spoke softly, dropping a bombshell.
"The Starport is already under lockdown. Without the Governor's personal signature, not even a fly can get out."
Li Wei's heart sank.
Just as he thought, that old bastard had been lying to him.
"But I can get you a real one." Aurelia looked into Li Wei's eyes. "As long as you help me with one thing."
"What is it?"
"Tonight, my father—Governor Atalos—will host a family dinner." A cruel curve appeared at the corner of Aurelia's lips. "Since cockroaches have gotten into the house, it's time for a thorough cleaning."
Before you continue