The Halo Infinite trailer was hiding this sound clip of Cortana all along

The Halo series may be getting back to its ARG antics in the leadup to Halo Infinite, or at the very least it may have a new piece of Cortana to share with you. A keen-eyed fan watching the game's E3 2019 trailer noticed some of the digital noise that appears when Master Chief's systems come online actually included pieces of a QR code. Once put together, that code led to the URL for a sound clip that seems to end with a line from someone who sounds a whole lot like Cortana (the Halo character, not the digital assistant).

After about 20 to 30 seconds of creepy sci-fi ambience and heavy footsteps, the voice speaks: "This… this is part of me. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it is me." Given how literally scatterbrained Cortana has been since the end of Halo 4, that sounds pretty consistent with her character. Spoiler warnings for Halo 5: Guardians, but Cortana isn't on our side any more as she's taken control of Forerunner forces to impose her notion of a utopian future on the universe.

This sound clip could tease her finding something of herself in the Forerunner's massive archives - perhaps showing that she has an unknown place in Halo's eons-spanning history. Or maybe it's another Cortana-model AI finding one of the fragments the other Cortana left behind, which… probably wouldn't be good?

This could just be the start of a series of teasers in the leadup to Halo Infinite, which is scheduled to arrive along with Xbox Project Scarlett in 2020. Is the world ready for another "I Love Bees"? I can only hope we'll soon find out.

Find more games to play in the meantime with our list of the best Xbox One exclusives.