Back in the temporary command center, Hoffman reported all the information he had gathered to Dominic.
After listening, Dominic leaned back in his chair, looking at the transcript with a furrowed brow.
Things were stranger than he had imagined.
Paying homage to the Emperor, rescuing disaster victims, identifying infected individuals, and guiding orderly isolation...
This doesn't resemble a heretical sect at all; it's more like Ecclesiarchy than a Ecclesiarchy.
They did even better than the Ecclesiarchy Ecclesiarchy, whose priests dared not venture into the plague-ridden Lower City.
But that's the problem.
Being able to accurately identify infected individuals during the incubation period is something that ordinary people absolutely cannot do.
The bio-scanners used by the Tech-Priest require close-range sampling and analysis; how could they possibly identify those so-called " Plague-Cleansing Apostles " simply by touching their foreheads?
This is highly unusual.
And what about the speed of development? How long has the plague been going on?
In just over a month, it went from nothing to having tens of millions of followers, and even infiltrated the recruitment of soldiers.
This rate of expansion is something that normal folk religious sects could never achieve.
Dominic's doubts grew stronger.
He didn't believe in any nonsense about " God-Emperor intervention"; anything unusual must be suspicious.
There must be something hidden behind this Plague Cleansing Cult.
Is it a disguise of some Chaos force? It doesn't seem like it.
The Lord of Pestilence's cult only spreads the plague; it doesn't help isolate and save people.
If it were Tzeentch scheme, there would be no need to undertake such public works projects.
Or is it...?
A thought flashed through Dominic's mind, but he quickly suppressed it.
Impossible. Even if Kerry were daring, he wouldn't dare touch that kind of thing.
Moreover, he lacked the ability to find so many apostles capable of discerning the root cause of the illness.
He shook his head, stood up, and summoned the messenger. "Pass down the order to dispatch an intelligence team to infiltrate the Lower City and specifically investigate this Plague Cleansing Cult."
"The focus should be on investigating their core members, the location of their headquarters, and their methods for identifying infected individuals."
Regardless, let's find out the truth first, Dominic thought.
Just then, a guard's voice came from outside the door:
"Reporting, Major General! There is a confidential letter from the nobleman Brevis, containing important information about the heretics in the Lower City. Please open it personally."
Dominic paused.
A nobleman of Brevis?
He received at least eighty or a hundred of these fawning letters along the way, all in an attempt to build connections and gain personal benefits.
Normally, he wouldn't even glance at it and would simply have his adjutant deal with it.
But today, for some reason, hearing the words "Heretics of the Lower City " stirred something within him.
"Bring it in," Dominic said in a deep voice.
A guard came in carrying an envelope sealed with sealing wax and respectfully handed it over.
The envelope was made of thick parchment, and the sealing wax was stamped with an unfamiliar family crest, suggesting it belonged to an old noble family.
Dominic clutched the envelope, a sudden surge of curiosity filling him.
He always felt that what was in this letter would turn on the switch that would lead to chaos and destruction.
But he eventually removed the sealing wax and took out the letter inside.
The parchment letter, carrying a faint scent of incense, unfolded in Dominic's hands.
The strong, vigorous handwriting carries the sharpness unique to soldiers; the strokes are heavy and penetrating the paper, showing that the writer has trained for many years and has finger strength far exceeding that of ordinary people.
The letter was signed Elton Worth, a name Dominic had never heard of before, clearly an alias.
The other party claimed to be a low-ranking officer from Brevis, who had crawled out of the sewage pipes of the Underhive twenty years ago.
He earned his title of nobleman in the Uptown through his military exploits fought in the Orks invasion, and was described by others as a "newly rich peasant who rose to power by stepping over corpses."
This is precisely why he understands the undercurrents of the Underhive better than any pampered old aristocrat.
"Major General, the Plague Cleansing Cult is by no means a self-help organization on the surface; its roots are deep within the power structure of the Uptown."
"I dare not write my real name on the letter, nor do I trust anyone in the Governor's Office."
"In the entire Calixis System, only you, the tax collector of the Tithe Fleet who has traveled from afar, have the qualifications and the ability to lift this veil of pretense."
"Don't alert the enemy. Don't use your intelligence team."
"Those people have eyes and ears throughout the entire Hive City; any slightest disturbance will prompt them to destroy evidence."
"If you want to know the truth, please wear the ring and go to the following places to see for yourself."
At the end of the letter, the coordinates of three Lower City districts of the city were scribbled down, with the first one marked " Monastery No. 331 ".
Besides the letter, there was also an antique-style silver ring inside the envelope.
The cabochon is a deep blue gemstone cut into a facet shape, with fine silver shimmering inside.
It looks like a creation of some kind of Xenos craftsmanship, lacking the holy emblems common in the Imperium, and also lacking family crests.
Dominic picked up the ring and weighed it in his hand. It was quite heavy, and he felt a faint, cool sensation on his fingertips.
He chuckled and casually tossed the letter and ring back onto the table, the metal striking the solid wood with a crisp sound.
"Making a mystery out of nothing."
He walked to the window with his hands behind his back, looked at the gray-blue Brevis, and frowned slightly.
In the Hive World, the likes of the Lower City Cult are like moss in the sewers; a little water and they'll grow like crazy.
There are at least eight or ten thousand heretics who claim to be saviors of the world, and each of them claims to have dirt on important figures.
In essence, they are nothing more than clowns trying to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy for personal gain.
"Lieutenant Karen," Dominic, pressing the communicator, his voice steady.
"Your subordinate is here."
"Three stealth teams were dispatched from the intelligence department, disguised, and infiltrated into the Lower City to focus on investigating the strongholds and identities of the core members of the Plague Cleansing Cult."
Dominic thought for a moment and added, "Be discreet and don't alert the local forces."
"Understood, Major General, I'll go and allocate manpower immediately."
The communication was cut off, and the room returned to silence.
Dominic's gaze was fixed on the star map, but his peripheral vision kept drifting to the sapphire ring on the corner of the table.
Something's not right.
If one only wants to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, and seek credit and rewards, they can simply present the "evidence" in exchange for a title or a reward.
The way he subtly invited him to the Lower City to inspect it in person, and even gave him a ring as a gift, was completely out of character for a speculator.
More importantly, the Plague Cleansing Cult itself is shrouded in mystery.
It is possible to identify infected individuals in the incubation period through basic physical contact alone.
In just over ten days after the outbreak of the plague, they gathered millions of believers and established an orderly system of isolation and burning in the chaotic Lower City.
This is something that a group of ordinary believers could never accomplish.
He had previously sent Hoffman to extract information from the recruits, and those recruits described the " Plague-Cleansing Apostles " as agile and perceptive.
A simple touch to the forehead can determine whether someone is infected; it's even more accurate than the biometric detectors used by Tech-Priest.
This is highly unusual.
Dominic walked to the table and touched the sapphire ring again with his fingers.
The cool sensation spread from my fingertips, like some faint energy field gently repelling the surrounding air.
A ridiculous thought suddenly popped into his mind.
What if what they said is true?
What if this really involves some big shot in Uptown, or even... Kerry von?
Once this idea popped into my head, it grew wildly like weeds.
He shook his head, trying to shake the thought off, but his feet walked ahead of him to the communicator.
" Karen, suspend the intelligence team's operation."
The adjutant on the other end of the communication line paused for a moment, then said, "Major General?"
"Hold your positions for now and wait for my further instructions," Dominic said in a deep voice, his fingers tracing the edge of the ring.
"Before that, I need to verify something."