It was an old woman.
Alexander couldn't tell her exact age, but it was definitely an age one wouldn't reach in the Lower Nest.
The woman's silver-grey hair was meticulously coiled into a vortex, forming a circle at the back of her head.
Her eyes showed almost none of the common turbidity and dullness often seen in the elderly; instead, they held a constantly shifting spiritual quality.
Her figure was somewhat hunched, but cleverly concealed beneath a light blue robe.
In the hand extended from beneath the robe, she clutched a cheap notebook with a hard black cover.
On the notebook's cover, a complex nine-digit number was written in grey-white ink: 387, 420, 489.
This string of numbers was arranged in a spiral on the notebook, as if constantly rotating like a vortex.
But Alexander really couldn't discern any pattern in these numbers.
"Is this the Actuary and mathematician you mentioned?" Alexander asked Reyna.
Reyna's gaze, however, was somewhat distant.
She murmured, "Mrs. Namakor is so old now... Her husband died early; I wonder how she's been living alone."
Reyna composed herself and looked at Alexander, saying:
"This is Mrs. Namakor. Her family has a long history, serving as Actuaries for a noble's factory for generations."
"She has a very kind personality, warm and interesting to people, and usually enjoys studying mathematics for pleasure."
"Her husband died young. She didn't remarry and has no children, but she loves children very much and often teaches mathematics to her neighbors' kids."
"She's a very good person. Her only problem is that she often forgets to pray to the Emperor because she's engrossed in studying mathematics."
"My mother scolded her many times for that."
Reyna's words were almost a rambling monologue, her eyes filled with unconcealed nostalgia.
"The source of information you mentioned, is it you?" Alexander asked, raising an eyebrow.
Reyna nodded gently.
She looked at the street block before her with unconcealed nostalgia.
"I used to live here, in the Ninth District of the Upper hive."
"Our family was Mrs. Namakor's neighbor, devout Adeptus Ministorum followers. My parents worked for a noble's interstellar trade."
"Later, I awakened as a psyker, and the Black Ship was about to visit Ashford. My mother helped me escape from the Governor's forces, who were collecting the psyker tithe."
Reyna's eyes grew more complex.
After a moment of silence, she suddenly looked up at Alexander: "My mother was a devout Adeptus Ministorum follower; her letting me go was not an act of rebellion."
"..She knew I had received the Emperor's revelation. She knew my mission. She... she did it so I could fulfill the Emperor's will."
"Are you sure it wasn't simply out of maternal love?" Alexander stared at Reyna and suddenly spoke.
Reyna froze, as if she had never considered that question.
"Can maternal love be greater than faith?" Reyna stared back at Alexander and asked, "How can faith be constrained by narrow..."
Reyna's tone became sharp, as if Alexander's words were an insult to her, an insult to her mother.
"I don't know."
Alexander shook his head and replied:
"But can paternal love be greater than the love for humanity?"
Reyna blinked, seemingly not understanding what Alexander was saying.
Only in Alexander's vision, Sanguinius sighed almost bitterly.
"Does he love us? Love me and all my brothers?"
Sanguinius said with a hint of bitterness in his tone:
"Even if he does, he's too busy loving humanity to have time to love his children."
Alexander glanced at him, faintly sensing an almost shattered humanity in his words.
But did this humanity belong to an Archangel? Alexander found it hard to judge.
He turned his head to look at the slightly annoyed Reyna: "So, what's the plan?"
"I don't want to harm Mrs. Namakor, nor do I want to attract too much attention."
Reyna looked at Alexander and said:
"Since she's still in this district, it means she hasn't moved."
"To be safe, we'll follow her to confirm and observe her movements."
Reyna looked at Namakor, who was walking towards a building in the distance.
"Find a time when she's not there, and sneak into her house."
"If my memory serves me right, there should be a safe in her house, and inside the safe are the records we're looking for."
Reyna looked at Alexander, blinked, and asked, "You can handle it, right?"
"Simple," Alexander said easily.
Sneaking into a regular hive city citizen's home and retrieving a record from a safe - that job couldn't be easier.
However, Alexander's caution still kept reminding him.
"387, 420, 489"
Alexander softly mumbled the complex string of numbers from Namakor's notebook.
These numbers truly seemed to have no pattern. Did they need to be plugged into some complex mathematical formula to reveal their meaning?
"What?" Reyna paused, then asked.
"This string of numbers, the numbers written on the cover of Namakor's notebook, what do they mean?" Alexander glanced at Reyna and asked.
Reyna frowned: "I didn't even remember those numbers; you have a really good memory."
Alexander shrugged. His memory was quite excellent.
What truly worried Alexander was whether this string of numbers held some meaning in "numerology."
It had nine digits, and the last digit was also nine.
But there are many nine-digit numbers, and even more numbers ending in nine. Surely not all these numbers are connected to the Lord of Change?
Yet, even if it couldn't be used as evidence, a sense of alarm still rose in Alexander's heart.
"Are you sure this woman isn't a problem?" Alexander asked Reyna in a low voice.
If this woman truly was a follower of Tzeentch, Alexander wouldn't mind exploding into a killing spree on the street.
After all, he still had an appointment with the Governor; such a minor act of killing wouldn't bother him.
"My family are all devout believers. If Mrs. Namakor had been a problem back then, they would have reported her long ago."
Reyna shook her head firmly, but her tone shifted slightly:
"It's just that I'm not sure if she has been corrupted in the past few years."
"You're not planning to just kill Mrs. Namakor, are you? Just based on a string of numbers..."
Reyna looked at Alexander with a hint of horror:
"You seem a bit too extreme. At least you should find more reliable clues."
Reyna's words made sense, but alarm bells kept ringing in Alexander's mind. He felt increasingly that something was wrong.
But if he ignored the problem and just walked away, he might instead fall into the Lord of Change's plan.
He decided to observe the woman first and meet the Governor before acting.
If she truly was a problem, he would report her directly to Governor Augustus.
Although the Governor neglected his political duties, he would never allow a Tzeentch follower to exist on his doorstep, threatening his safety.
In Alexander's memory, the Governor, though a scoundrel and corrupt, had never been corrupted by Chaos.
"387, 420, 489" Alexander couldn't help but mumble the numbers again, trying to find some pattern.