Nowadays, Selena's daily expenses are basically paid in cash, otherwise her and the gold nuggets' "small treasury" will be of no use at all.
Luke also specifically asked Ginny to distribute a small year-end dividend to the shareholders of the mobile phone company not long ago. Although the amount was not large, Selina still earned hundreds of thousands.
Compared to last year, Selena had much more money, so she naturally chose to buy some good gifts for her family.
The things she bought last year were not cheap, but they were all normal household items, such as clothing, accessories, wine, and home appliances.
This year, the gift she prepared for her father Marino was an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch, which cost a little over 20,000 US dollars. It was not too expensive because her mother Sandra's gift was a diamond necklace, which cost about 50,000 US dollars.
However, as long as Marino is willing, the watch can be worn at any time, but the diamond necklace is best kept in a jewelry box most of the time.
Selena had also heard Sandra joke that she would be thankful if she could have a diamond necklace worth thousands of dollars in her lifetime.
This year marks a new beginning for the Hayek "family" and she decided to let Sandra have a happy Christmas.
Early in the morning on the 22nd, Luke drove Selina, Gold Nugget, and several large boxes of gifts to the plane.
Marino, who has been promoted to ranch owner, no longer has to stay at the ranch all the time as before, so he will go to the Dallas airport to pick her up, and Selena doesn't have to worry about carrying her luggage.
After seeing Selina off, Luke relaxed.
Looking at the time and seeing that it was still early, he called Elena.
This girl will not go back to France for Christmas this year. She said that the air tickets are too expensive, so she decided to work and study in New York.
A smart man like Luke certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to secretly buy her a transatlantic ticket as a Christmas present. That kind of straight man deserves to be single for the rest of his life.
After parking his car at the New Jersey villa and calling the car rental agency to send a Ford Explorer, he drove to Elena's school.
Coincidentally, Elena's school is located in North Bergen.
A few kilometers north of the school is the textile factory of the Mutual Aid Association.
While Luke was driving, he was also thinking about the mutual aid group.
During this period, he would occasionally go out in ordinary clothes at night to the textile factory.
However, he did not sneak in directly. Instead, he used several micro drones that were left inside for fixed-point monitoring to obtain intelligence. Through long-term continuous monitoring, he obtained a lot of details about the mutual aid association's activities, and the relevant intelligence in his hands became more and more complete.
In this world, it is very difficult to maintain complete confidentiality.
It is even more difficult to persist in doing so without making any mistakes.
The mutual aid society, an organization that has been prosperous for hundreds of years, inevitably has many loopholes.
Even though they are not really antiques, even though they have professionals inspecting the inside and outside of the textile factory almost every day, including checking various electronic equipment.
Unfortunately, the technological level of their detection equipment was far behind the top-notch equipment from Tony Stark, and the micro drone left behind by Luke was not found.
We also got some clues about the source of the raw materials for the medicinal bath that the old fox Sloan had kept hidden.
Not long ago, the exterminator notified Sloan when the finished bath product was running low.
Sloan then went out and when he came back he handed the new medicinal bath raw materials to the exterminator.
Fortunately, a micro drone was always keeping an eye on the drugstore bathroom, but if Luke didn't have Xiaowo's help in analyzing and investigating, he might have missed this little clue.
During the investigation into Sloan's trip, the Polyhedron system discovered his traces.
Sloan, this outdated old guy, used a fake identity and did a lot of cover-ups, but was accidentally photographed by a girl who loved taking selfies, so he was still listed as a highly suspected target by the polyhedron system.
Xiaowo repeatedly investigated his possible route of action and found more clues proving that this was Sloan himself.
The flight he took using a fake identity also had a clear destination: Iquitos, Peru.
Luke himself did not have time to travel to Iquitos himself.
He simply paid online and found two well-known private detective agencies to investigate Sloan's whereabouts and to check if there were any "legends" similar to the therapeutic effects of medicinal baths.
It's just a matter of money. It would be best if you can gain something, but it won't be a waste if you don't.
Once the source of the raw materials for the medicinal bath is determined, the mutual aid association is basically useless.
At that time, Luke only needed to think about how to take down the Mutual Aid Association in one go and gain as many experience points as possible.
With one last look to the north of North Bergen, Luke parked the car outside the gate of the Palande School of Art, opened the door and got out.
By the roadside at the gate, a petite figure was stomping her feet and walking around, looking a little trembling.
She had just turned and was walking toward the gate when the Ford Explorer drove up, so she didn't notice this side.
Luke walked over, picked her up and spun her around. "Aha, look what I caught? A sweet-smelling little beauty."
Elena, who was picked up by him, didn't have time to be surprised before she heard his words and laughed out loud: "No, I'm just a little rabbit who got lost."
Luke put her down, led her towards the car with one hand, and brushed the snow off her body with the other hand: "Unfortunately, I'm not a big bad wolf, but a caring animal protector."
The girl let him help her clean the snowflakes, and said, "Hey, shouldn't you say you are a hunter?"
Luke groaned for a few breaths and said, "But hunters usually carry double-barreled shotguns, right?"
Elena was stunned for a moment, not understanding the logic of this statement, and the two of them arrived in front of the car.
After stuffing the petite Elena into the passenger seat and closing the door, Luke walked back to the driver's seat, got in the car, started the car and left.
The air conditioner in the car was very warm. Elena took off her beige hat and thick coat, put them in the back seat, and looked at him with a smile: "Are you on vacation?"
Luke shrugged. "Technically, I should be at work, but no one checks my attendance."
Elena was curious: "Didn't you just come to NYPD? Your boss trusts you so much, um, wait, you weren't sent to sit on the bench, were you?"
Luke laughed and said, "I want to correct your misconception. The bench is just a cold position, but you have to sit there at work. You can't leave even if you are bored."
Elena: "Then how can you skip work? Or do you plan to have lunch with me and then go back to work?"
Luke laughed and said, "I won't go to work today. I have plenty of time. I will take you to see all the sights in New York."
Elena was happy at first, but then she thought of something and spat at him, her face turning a little red.
Well, she wasn't shy, it was just the heat from the air conditioner.
Not long after, the two drove to Times Square, and after parking the car, they started to play in this "crossroads of the world".