A Small Oversight

"Karen, did you keep the original data?" Luo Xia asked in a raspy voice.

The Face Simulator could alter facial contours, but it lacked voice modulation, so Luo Xia had to pretend he had a sore throat. Fortunately, Karen Page was too agitated to notice this detail.

"No... I didn't. I thought it was just a misdirected email at the time. I told my supervisor it was just a simulation algorithm, not actual accounts. So, I deleted it right away," Karen Page replied.

Luo Xia didn't know if she was telling the truth, but since she denied it, he couldn't press the issue further.

However, since Karen Page had touched those accounts, she was a crucial witness, and Luo Xia felt it necessary to sound her out.

"In that case, you shouldn't have anything to worry about," Luo Xia comforted her.

"But lately, I've felt like someone is following me home. Although I don't have any concrete evidence, I feel there is a major problem with the company's accounts. Daniel, hasn't there been any news from the legal department?" Karen Page asked.

"Karen, have you ever thought about what might happen to you if the company's accounts really are problematic?"

"Daniel, do you know something? The company's accounts—it's not just a simple case of someone embezzling funds, is it?" Karen Page was a woman whose intelligence matched her beauty; she easily grasped the implication in Luo Xia's words.

"Karen, if a scandal were to break out at the company, would you be willing to testify in court?" Luo Xia struck while the iron was hot.

"Daniel, I don't think this is the time for that. Anyway, let me buy you a drink tonight." Karen Page didn't give a direct answer, but Luo Xia could see her emotions were in great turmoil.

After ordering two whiskeys, Karen Page downed hers almost in one gulp, as if trying to use the alcohol to soothe her chaotic thoughts.

Luo Xia held his glass without drinking, as he was still wearing the Face Simulator. While the device was breathable, it didn't have the functionality to allow for eating or drinking—it was a mask, after all.

Fortunately, Karen Page, caught up in her agitation, didn't notice this, and after finishing her drink, she simply sat there in a daze.

The awkward silence lasted for quite a while until Luo Xia suddenly received a message from Daniel Fisher, who had already left Hell's Kitchen.

"They've broken into my house. I installed an alarm at my front door; if someone forces the Gate of Opening, it triggers an alert and sends a message to my phone. I just received that notification. But I swear, I never told them anything about you."

This cryptic, disjointed message made Luo Xia grow vigilant.

Judging by Daniel Fisher's words, had the people from Global Consolidated Investment already reached the point of breaking and entering? Was it because Luo Xia's coercion of this man to help him infiltrate the company had been exposed, or had Violet's system intrusion been discovered? Or worse, was it simply because Luo Xia, posing as Daniel, was out drinking with Karen Page?

Luo Xia couldn't be sure, but if he continued the charade, he feared he would bring trouble upon himself. He was just about to find an excuse to leave the bar and revert to his true identity.

But then, he saw Karen Page, who had been looking distressed just moments ago, collapse onto the table.

The beauty in slumber was a picturesque scene.

However, after calling out to her a few times, Luo Xia realized Karen Page wasn't drunk; she had completely lost consciousness.

Luo Xia immediately reacted: the drink she had was spiked.

Before Luo Xia could make a move, he heard someone grab the handle of the private room door. Without hesitation, Luo Xia slumped over onto the sofa, feigning unconsciousness as if he, too, had been drugged.

The intruder pulled the door open without knocking, seemingly certain that the people inside had lost the ability to resist.

Luo Xia didn't open his eyes, but he heard a series of heavy footsteps. It seemed four or five people had entered, all of them burly men.

"How do we handle this? Just bury them?" A voice with a thick Russian accent spoke up.

Luo Xia knew immediately that it was that group of Russian mobsters who specialized in human trafficking. No wonder they were so practiced at drugging people; it was likely part of their daily routine.

"No, she might still have a copy of the account data. We need to find a way to put pressure on her. When she's desperate to save herself, she'll definitely bring those files out." The voice that replied had a pure New York accent; it didn't seem to belong to the Russian mobsters.

"Then how do we deal with them?" The Russian seemed a bit impatient.

"Move them to this woman's apartment, then kill this man and put the knife in her hand. I want to see if she'll use that data as a bargaining chip once she's framed and imprisoned. As soon as she reveals it, we can take her out too. We have our own people in the police force; it'll be easy to finish her off."

Hearing this, Luo Xia really wanted to open his eyes to see who this person was. Such a plan was truly vicious.

If he hadn't intervened and replaced the real Daniel Fisher, that man would likely have died in vain, and Karen Page would have been framed and imprisoned.

Once they bribed the police to destroy the evidence Karen Page produced and had her quietly killed in prison, Global Consolidated Investment could rest easy.

However, Luo Xia remained calm, continuing to play the role of Daniel Fisher as he allowed himself and Karen Page to be carried away.

Luo Xia had originally planned to wait until they reached Karen Page's home to act, but just as he was being hoisted up, he heard the man who had orchestrated the sinister plot say: "Wait, why is Daniel's hand..."

Before the man could finish his sentence, Luo Xia sprang up from the shoulder of the brute carrying him. The Sensor Glove instantly covered his hands, crushing the shoulders of the man beneath him. At the same time, he kicked out, sending the man flying into the others who hadn't yet reacted.

The room descended into chaos as the Russian brute, caught in Luo Xia's trap, knocked his companions to the ground.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Luo Xia reached up, tore the mask from his face, and threw it into the crowd.

Li Bai instantly transformed. The agile robotic assassin streaked through the air like a flash of light, his long sword piercing the eye socket of one of the men.

The turn of events was too fast. Of the four Russian brutes, one was crippled by Luo Xia and one was killed instantly by Li Bai, while the remaining two shielded a middle-aged man in a sharp suit and gold-rimmed glasses as they fled.

Screams erupted from every corner of the bar; the fight had clearly drawn unwanted attention.

Looking at his own hands, Luo Xia raised his assessment of the middle-aged man in the suit. It was the difference in skin tone between his own hands and the white man, Daniel, that had been noticed; he hadn't expected such a minor oversight to be detected, forcing him to act prematurely.

However, Luo Xia had no intention of chasing the three of them; he simply tapped his watch.

Violet had faithfully recorded everything that happened in the room, and there would be no way for this group to hide in the shadows any longer.