A Small Oversight

"Karen, did you keep the original data?" Luo Xia asked hoarsely.

The Face Simulator could change the contours of his face, but it couldn't imitate voices, so Luo Xia had to pretend his throat was bothering him. Fortunately, Karen Page was too agitated to notice this detail.

"N-no... I didn't. At the time, I thought it was just an email sent to the wrong person. I told my boss it was only a simulated data algorithm, not the real accounts. So I deleted it right away," Karen Page said.

Luo Xia didn't know whether she was telling the truth, but since she'd denied it, he couldn't very well keep pressing her.

Still, since Karen Page had seen those accounts, she was an important witness. Luo Xia felt he needed to sound her out.

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

"But lately, I keep feeling like someone's following me home. I don't have any concrete proof, but I think there's something seriously wrong with the company's accounts. Daniel, hasn't the legal department heard anything?" Karen Page asked.

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

"Daniel, do you know something? There's more to the company's accounts than someone simply embezzling funds, isn't there?" Karen Page was as intelligent as she was beautiful, and it didn't take her long to pick up on the meaning behind Luo Xia's words.

"Karen, if a company scandal broke out, would you be willing to testify in court?" Luo Xia asked, pressing while the iron was hot.

"Daniel, I don't think now's the time for that. Oh, why don't I buy you a drink tonight?" Karen Page didn't give him a direct answer, but Luo Xia could see how deeply shaken she was.

They ordered two glasses of whiskey. Karen Page drained hers almost in one gulp, as if hoping the alcohol would soothe her chaotic thoughts.

Luo Xia held his glass but didn't drink. He was still wearing the Face Simulator. It was breathable, but it didn't let him eat or drink. After all, it was a mask.

Fortunately, Karen Page was too upset to notice. After finishing her drink, she simply sat there, lost in thought.

The awkward silence dragged on for a while before 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 the front door. If anyone forces it open, it sounds an alarm and sends a notification to my phone. I just got one. But I swear, I didn't tell them anything about you."

The message was disjointed, but it put Luo Xia on alert.

From Daniel Fisher's message, it sounded like people from Global Consolidated Investment had gone as far as breaking down his door. Had Luo Xia's forcing him to help with the break-in at the company been exposed? Had someone discovered Violet's system intrusion? Or was it something worse—was it simply because the fake Daniel had been drinking with Karen Page?

Luo Xia had no way of knowing. But if he kept up the act, he might be in trouble too. He was just looking for an excuse to leave the bar and resume his own identity.

Then he saw Karen Page, who had been looking worried just moments earlier, slump unconscious over the table.

A beauty asleep at the table would have made a picture-perfect scene.

But after calling out to her several times, Luo Xia realized she wasn't drunk. She'd completely lost consciousness.

He immediately understood: there was something wrong with her drink.

Before Luo Xia could do anything, he heard someone grasp the doorknob outside the private room. Without hesitation, he pitched forward onto the sofa, pretending to have passed out from the drugged drink.

The intruder opened the private room door without knocking, as if certain that the people inside were no longer capable of resisting.

Luo Xia kept his eyes shut, but he heard a series of heavy footsteps. There seemed to be four or five people, all burly men.

"What should we do with them? Just bury them?" someone asked in heavily Russian-accented English.

Luo Xia knew at once that it was another group of Russian gangsters who specialized in human trafficking. No wonder they were so practiced at drugging people. It was probably part of their everyday work.

"No. She might still have a copy of the financial records. We need to put some pressure on her. When she's trying to protect herself, she'll have no choice but to hand them over." The reply came in a perfectly clear New York accent. The speaker didn't seem to be one of the Russian gangsters.

"So what are we supposed to do with them?" The Russian sounded impatient.

"Take them to this woman's apartment. Then kill the man and put the knife in her hand. Let's see whether she'll use the data as a bargaining chip after she's framed and sent to prison. Once she shows us the files, we can get rid of her too. We've got people in the police department, so taking her out will be easy."

Hearing this, Luo Xia really wanted to open his eyes and see who the man was. What a vicious plan.

If Luo Xia hadn't gotten involved and replaced the real Daniel Fisher, Daniel really would have died this way, and Karen Page would have been framed and sent to prison.

Then, all they'd have to do was bribe the police, destroy the evidence Karen Page had taken out, and make sure she died quietly in prison. Global Consolidated Investment would be able to rest easy.

Luo Xia continued playing Daniel Fisher, keeping his composure as the men hoisted him and Karen Page up.

He'd planned to wait until they reached Karen Page's apartment to make his move. But as soon as they lifted him, he heard the man behind the ruthless scheme say, "Wait, Daniel's hand..."

Before the man could finish, Luo Xia sprang up from the shoulder of the thug carrying him. The Sensor Glove instantly covered both his hands. He crushed the thug's shoulders, then kicked him into the others before they could react.

The private room erupted into chaos. The Russian thug Luo Xia had ambushed crashed into the others, knocking them all to the ground.

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

Li Bai transformed in an instant. The nimble robotic assassin flashed through the air, and his sword plunged into one man's eye socket.

Everything happened too quickly. Of the four Russian thugs, Luo Xia had taken one out, Li Bai had killed another, and the remaining two were escorting a middle-aged man in a sharp suit and gold-rimmed glasses out of the room.

Screams rang out from every corner of the bar. The fight had clearly drawn everyone's attention.

Looking down at his hands, Luo Xia raised his estimation of the suited man yet another notch. The skin on his hands was a different color from Daniel's, since Daniel was white. He hadn't expected anyone to notice such a small oversight, forcing him to act early.

But Luo Xia had no intention of chasing the three men. He simply touched his watch.

Violet had faithfully recorded everything that had happened in the private room. There was no way these people could keep hiding in the shadows after this.