Inside the enormous warehouse, around a dozen burly Russians stood guard. The cages were packed with women and children. They looked as if they'd suffered inhuman abuse. Their clothes were tattered, their faces haggard, and in some cages, people had already died, their bodies covered in flies.
"These people are scum," Luo Xia ground out through clenched teeth.
Luo Xia could tell at a glance what was happening: human trafficking.
It was probably the dirtiest business in the world. In his previous life, Luo Xia had seen the slave trade in Africa and knew there were plenty of dark things in this world. But he hadn't expected human trafficking on such a massive scale to take place in a major city like New York.
No wonder there'd been no activity at the warehouse while everyone else loaded cargo onto ships. These "goods" couldn't be exposed to daylight. They could only be quietly transported to the docks under cover of night.
They might be sent to Europe, or to the more chaotic Middle East. There were always plenty of wealthy, depraved scumbags in those places who wanted women as slaves. The women's fates were almost always horrific. Anyone who survived for three years was lucky.
"Just as you'd expect from the legendary Land of Hope. Even slaves can be bought and sold here. It really is humanity's... no, the rich people's Land of Hope." Luo Xia sneered.
Though he was furious at this inhuman crime, Luo Xia didn't leap down and slaughter the guards to free the slaves.
There were probably thousands of people in there. Many seemed to be impoverished and homeless, just like Skye and Daisy in Hell's Kitchen.
Even if Luo Xia killed all the Russians below, what would happen to the people afterward? Did anyone really think the police would give them proper care?
Don't be so naive. The police and soldiers in this country weren't the people's protectors. Across the ocean, disaster relief was welcomed by crowds lining the streets. In this country, relief efforts meant heavily armed forces suppressing "rioters."
In this land, human life was worth less than many other things—so little that many people couldn't bring themselves to believe it.
Luo Xia wasn't some hotheaded fool who acted without thinking. If he wanted to save people, he needed a detailed plan.
He climbed down from the warehouse in utter silence, leaving without alerting anyone. Once he was back in the car, he contacted Matt right away.
When he told Matt about the human trafficking operation in the Sixth Street warehouse, the champion of justice nearly smashed his phone in rage.
"Luo Xia, what are you planning to do? If we're going in, I'll come over right now," Matt said excitedly.
"We can't just charge in. There are probably several thousand hostages inside. Killing the people there wouldn't be hard, but who knows if they're trafficking people elsewhere too? And how would we look after everyone we rescued? We need a thorough plan," Luo Xia said, trying to calm Matt down.
"What do you need me to do?" Matt asked.
"Use your credentials as a lawyer. Get the evidence we need to bring this company down in one go, and contact the media. Have them ready to report on this major story. Once we expose the scandal, at least these people's lives will be safe for the time being," Luo Xia said.
"But evidence from just this warehouse probably won't be enough," Matt said worriedly.
As an excellent lawyer, Matt knew all too well how screwed up the laws in this country were. Beat someone to death and you might get six months—or even a suspended sentence. Download pornography online and you could get ten years. Spill coffee on yourself and win tens of millions in compensation, while a deliberate assault that left someone disabled might earn the attacker only a hundred hours of community service. There were countless absurd cases like these.
If all they exposed was what happened in the warehouse, Global Consolidated Investment could find plenty of ways to dodge responsibility. They could offer up a few scapegoats, pay off the media, and bury the whole affair.
In other words, even a crime this appalling wouldn't be enough to bring down a major corporation. They needed evidence of deeper involvement, or of even more serious crimes.
Luo Xia hung up, then immediately told Luo Fei to drive to a residential neighborhood in Hell's Kitchen.
Traffic was heavy that early in the morning, but thanks to Luo Fei's driving skills, it still took Luo Xia only half an hour to reach Daniel Fisher's home.
After being so badly frightened, Daniel Fisher's first instinct had been to go home and reunite with his family. That was exactly where Luo Xia caught him.
So the moment he saw Luo Xia, Daniel Fisher blurted out, "I don't have anything! I swear, I don't have anything! Please, spare my wife and children!"
Luo Xia knew there was no point explaining himself in a situation like this. He threatened Daniel Fisher directly. "Staying alive is simple. Keep helping me, and I guarantee your family's safety."
With that, Luo Xia handed Daniel Fisher another pair of black-framed glasses.
This time, Luo Xia planned to infiltrate Global Consolidated Investment and dig up all its secrets.
It was a risky decision, but now that he'd stumbled onto this, Luo Xia had no intention of turning a blind eye.
Using Daniel Fisher's identity, Luo Xia went to the Global Consolidated Investment building. Things seemed much more normal here, at least on the surface. It looked like an ordinary company.
Most importantly, the company had internet access.
Luo Xia took his time, greeting his "acquaintances." With Daniel Fisher guiding him remotely, he took care of the freshly stamped documents first, then casually made his way to his office.
Luo Xia acted as if he were working as usual. Without drawing attention, he slipped the watch off his wrist and "accidentally" knocked it onto the floor.
Once it landed in the dark space under the desk, the watch immediately transformed into Violet.
"Let's see justice done." Violet spread her hands. Every finger turned into a thin metal wire and pierced the computer tower beneath the desk.
Streams of information flashed in the eyes of the seasoned shut-in robot girl. She began hacking into Global Consolidated Investment's entire computer system, searching for every hidden crime.
Meanwhile, Luo Xia pretended to work diligently in the office, which was equipped with a camera, covering for Violet's intrusion.
After about an hour, Violet exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, Commander, you'll never guess what I found. Some of the people they capture are actually sent to the military, to a man called General Ross. It seems they're used for human experiments. And I also found what we need..."
Before Violet could finish, there was a knock at Luo Xia's office door. Luo Xia looked through the glass and saw a beautiful blonde woman with a graceful figure.
But when Daniel Fisher saw her, he didn't tell Luo Xia her name.
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