Evidence of Collusion Between Officials and Merchants

Without a reminder from Daniel Fisher, Luo Xia did not know for a moment whether he should let this person in. However, this blonde beauty seemed to know Daniel Fisher, and upon seeing Luo Xia notice her, she pushed the door open and walked right in.

"Daniel, um, about what I told you yesterday, I wonder what you think?" the blonde beauty asked Luo Xia, looking a bit nervous.

Luo Xia naturally did not know what she was talking about, nor did he even know this person's name, so he had no idea how to answer without giving himself away.

It was at this moment that Daniel Fisher, who had seemed offline just a moment ago, finally spoke through the Tactical Goggles to Luo Xia: "Her name is Karen Page, a colleague in the finance department. Yesterday, she told me she discovered some issues with the company's accounts. Furthermore, it seems the company has started monitoring her."

Global Consolidated Investment was a massive enterprise with over a thousand employees; surely not everyone in the company was involved in criminal activity. Perhaps only a few top executives knew about the dirty deeds happening behind the scenes.

Since Karen Page was in charge of finance, she must have discovered serious discrepancies in the ledgers and stumbled upon the company's secrets, which was why she was being watched.

This blonde beauty appeared to have both intelligence and looks well above average, and by seeking out her colleague in the legal department, Daniel Fisher, she seemed to be looking for help.

Luo Xia thought for a moment; he did not want to create extra trouble for now, so he said to Karen Page, "Why don't we discuss this after work?"

As he spoke, Luo Xia gave Karen Page a very subtle hint, glancing toward the direction of the security camera.

Karen Page reacted immediately, smiling at Luo Xia, "Then shall we meet at the Third Road Bar on 49th Street after work today?"

"Sounds good, see you there," Luo Xia agreed.

Hearing Luo Xia's affirmative response, Karen Page left the office as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Luo Xia, however, had no intention of actually keeping the appointment. Once Karen Page left, he couldn't wait to ask Violet through the connection with the AllSpark: "What did you just say? A portion of the people are being sent away for human experimentation?"

"That is correct, Commander. They are not only involved in human trafficking, but they also appear to be assisting the military with some form of biological experimentation. It is precisely because of this that Global Consolidated Investment received significant support from the military early on, allowing it to develop rapidly," Violet replied.

"You mentioned General Ross earlier; did you find that in the company's files?" Luo Xia wondered. These criminals wouldn't record the names of the people they trade, would they? At the very least, they would use codes or aliases, right?

"The documents do not explicitly state it, of course, but I found records of them transporting human test subjects on several occasions. Their destination was a research facility controlled by the military, and after accessing some S.H.I.E.L.D. resources, I discovered that the person in charge of this laboratory is General Thaddeus E. Ross," Violet explained again.

Luo Xia fell into deep thought. If he remembered correctly, this General Ross had appeared in the Hulk movie. However, the timeline of the Hulk seemed to be earlier than Iron Man, and by now, Dr. Banner should have already turned into the monster and gone into hiding somewhere.

If so, what General Ross was still pursuing was likely research related to the Super Soldier Serum. Human experimentation had always been a sensitive issue subject to public criticism; presumably, to avoid trouble, General Ross had partnered with this company to act as a shield for his criminal activities.

Collusion between officials and businessmen is always the dirtiest yet most effective way to cooperate.

Luo Xia set this intelligence aside for the moment and continued to ask, "You seemed to have other findings as well? Did you find what we need?"

"Yes, I have located the actual site of the nuclear waste. Global Consolidated Investment does indeed have a nuclear waste recycling business, but the quantity is minimal; it is merely used as a cover for their human trafficking. I have tracked the location of this real nuclear waste, which is scheduled to be loaded onto a ship tonight, and it seems the women and children captured in the warehouse are being shipped out along with it."

"Heh, talk about effortless success. Two birds with one stone," Luo Xia remarked.

Luo Xia had Violet package all the criminal evidence she had found and send it directly to Matt, while also notifying him of the plan to rescue the people tonight.

However, after a short while, Matt sent a message back to Luo Xia: "The key details regarding the transaction amounts are missing."

Luo Xia frowned and asked Violet, "You didn't find their detailed transaction records?"

"My apologies, Commander. I found a portion of the data, but it seems someone recently deliberately deleted these files. I can only find traces of them and am unable to fully recover the data."

Luo Xia couldn't help but think of Karen Page, whom he had just met. It seemed that because she had discovered the issues with the account funds, she had been put under surveillance. Could it be that because of her, the company had destroyed the relevant documents?

Luo Xia did not go to find Karen Page directly. Instead, he used the Tactical Goggles to warn Daniel Fisher, telling him to pack his valuables immediately and take his family into hiding.

After today, Global Consolidated Investment was bound to suffer a major disaster, and Luo Xia could not guarantee that his acting would be foolproof. Once Daniel's anomaly was discovered, his entire family would likely be silenced, so Luo Xia continued to play his role here to buy him time to relocate.

Considering that he had not truly participated in the company's criminal activities, Luo Xia was willing to give him a chance to start over.

Luo Xia stayed in his office as much as possible until the end of the workday, and fortunately, no slip-ups occurred. Karen Page was even more anxious than Luo Xia had imagined, waiting at the company entrance early on. Upon seeing Luo Xia, she said, "Can we go now?"

Luo Xia keenly sensed that someone was monitoring him from behind, or perhaps they were actually monitoring Karen Page.

However, this suited Luo Xia's intentions perfectly. He smiled at the blonde beauty, "Let's go, let's grab a drink."

Walking side-by-side with Karen Page out of the company, Luo Xia hailed a taxi, and the two headed straight for the Third Road Bar on 49th Street.

What felt strange to Luo Xia, however, was that no one followed them along the way. Even though Violet controlled the nearby street cameras, she found no suspicious vehicles trailing them.

"Did those people just give up?" Luo Xia was a bit surprised.

The taxi stopped in front of the bar, and Luo Xia followed Karen Page inside. Karen Page seemed quite anxious, grabbing Luo Xia's hand and pulling him toward a private booth.

As soon as they sat down, Karen Page couldn't help but say to Luo Xia, "Daniel, I've discovered that they are already watching me. I don't know what to do!"

Luo Xia asked her in a low voice, "Karen, regarding the problematic financial accounts you discovered earlier, did you download the original documents?"