The duke thought to himself: "Let her go out and experience things for herself, maybe she'll resolve her own issues. But what if she runs into a scammer? She might get hurt. Hmm, I've got an idea."

  Looking at the still kneeling gatekeeper, the duke waved his hand and said: "Forget it, this matter is nothing, you go do your own thing."

  The gatekeeper left gratefully. After the gatekeeper walked away, the Duke clapped his hands and said: "Shadow Guard, come out."

  A man entirely in black appeared abruptly before the duke's eyes, suddenly appearing yet seeming to have been there all along, a fellow good at hiding.

  "You just heard everything," said the duke.

  "Yes, sir." The voice was faint and seemed to come from all directions at once. If it weren't for the person in front of him, he wouldn't have known which direction the sound came from.

  "To protect Elena, I don't want her to get hurt, of course not too tightly, unless it's a matter of life and death or she has no ability to resist, at other times let her solve it herself, unless she wants to come back, understand?"

  "I understand, sir." The black figure replied.

  The duke nodded and said: "Alright, go ahead, take a few people with you."

  The duke's voice fell, and the black figure faded away, as if it had never appeared at all.

  The next morning, Elena secretly followed the merchant caravan out of the city, overjoyed and thinking she hadn't been discovered. Last night, she had found the person who was presenting the treasure and, using her identity as the eldest princess, forced him to agree to take her to Maple Leaf Territory. Then, she snuck into the caravan as a guard, disguising herself as a man.

  However, she didn't know that on the same night, Olorje had already entered the Duke's mansion and reported this matter. He jokingly said to the majestic Long Princess, "Suddenly appearing in your own merchant group and wanting to be a guard, it all seems very suspicious."

  But the answer he got was even more bizarre, it turned out to be helping the princess leave the city and take her to Maple Leaf Territory smoothly. The safety along the way is said to be not his responsibility, and he was praised, saying that there would be rewards after returning.

  After leaving the Duke's mansion, Olorje acted as if he had never been there and left the city normally the next day. The Duke had given instructions to secretly protect him, so he just needed to bring it with him.

  Like this, Elaina embarked on her first journey in life, but she didn't know that what awaited her was a long-awaited fate.

  Li You Ran has been in Sha City for several days, and these days have all been entangled by Bai Bing Er. Although it feels great to be entangled by a beauty, isn't it too stimulating to fool around under the eyelids of his regular girlfriend? Especially when there's another beauty looking at him with a melancholic gaze!

  Li You Ran's mind is now echoing with what his old man asked him in the kitchen back then, "Three ah! Son, can you or can't you do it?!"

  At that time, I confidently replied that there was no problem. Now it seems that the problem is big. As expected, stepping on two boats will eventually capsize. Li You Ran can only try to avoid scenes where all three people are present. Fortunately, there are things to do, otherwise, she would go crazy.

  Wang Hu came back from outside, and Li You Ran walked over like seeing a lifesaver, pulling Wang Hu and saying: "You're just in time! I have something for you to do! Let's go talk about it!"

  Then he hastily left the sight of the two women, watching Li You Ran's embarrassed departure, Bai Bing Er laughed out loud. Indeed, even if he became more powerful, his nature didn't change, still that easily shy man, but she just liked his shy appearance.

  Li You Ran, who came out with Wang Hu, really had something going on, although avoiding Bai Bing Er was also one of the reasons.

  "How's it going? How much of the land has been acquired in these few days?" Li You Ran asked while taking a stroll.

  "We've already controlled most of it, but I don't know why the police seem to be targeting us on purpose, so there's no progress for now." Wang Hu said cautiously from behind.

  Li You Ran listened and then said: "Alright! You pause for a moment, after I've dealt with this matter, you can receive them on their turf. The White Ice Girl inside, you've already met her, unexpectedly she's the leader of the largest gang in Sha City, but she's already shown signs of wanting to surrender. Conveniently, you can fill this gap, however, remember what I want is control, don't mess around, got it?"

  "I understand, master, I will control it, but I don't understand what the master's intention is?" Wang Hu said his doubts, in his view, someone like Li You Ran would not be interested in the underworld at all, so why let him control the black way of Sha City.

  "This is just a means for now, you will know later, go do your thing!" Li You Ran didn't explain, and lightly said a sentence to send Wang Hu away.

  Wang Hu left, and Li You Ran took out his mobile phone and dialed Captain Xiao's number at the police station. The call was quickly answered: "Hello, Captain Xiao? It's Li You Ran. Do you have time? I'm waiting for you at Saigon Coffee House. You have twenty minutes to consider it. If you don't come, then I'll find someone else and let him take the director's seat. That's all!"

  Before Captain Xiao could speak, Li You Ran had already hung up the phone. On the other end of the line, Captain Xiao looked at the phone with a strange expression, sat there thinking for a few minutes, and finally gritted his teeth and stood up, picking up the coat that was hanging there and walking out.

  He didn't want to be a scapegoat for his leader, especially after being scolded. As an outstanding graduate of the police academy, he wouldn't be a yes-man. Today was an opportunity, and he had to go.

  Ten minutes earlier than expected, Li You Ran looked at the clock on the wall, stirring her coffee, Captain Xiao walked into the cafe, glanced around and then saw Li You Ran sitting alone by the floor-to-ceiling window, Captain Xiao pulled down his hat and walked over.

  Li You Ran called out to the waiter after Captain Xiao sat down: "A cup of coffee for this gentleman!! Oh! What would you like?"

  Xiao team leader looked at Li You Ran and said: "A cup of latte, thank you."

  "Captain Xiao is so punctual! He actually arrived ten minutes early, I thought we'd have to wait a bit!" Li You Ran said.

  "Boss Li, don't say that anymore. I didn't come here to listen to this. What did you mean by what you said on the phone?" Captain Xiao stared at Li You Ran and asked.

  "What do you mean? Literally, don't you think it's a very annoying thing to have someone pressing down on your head with a sword? Coincidentally, I happen to have something small that can help you, so I'll give you a call!" He took a sip of the bitter coffee, Li You Ran wanted the original flavor of bitter coffee, without any sugar, and he scrunched up his face, he still couldn't get used to this stuff.

  "Why me!" Captain Xiao asked, this was what he most wanted to know.

  "There's no why, I just think you look good, can't I?" Li You Ran raised an eyebrow and said.

  "Do you know or don't you know, I can take you away."

  "Arrest? What pretext are you using to arrest me? And do you really want to give up this opportunity? You should know that a chance like this won't come again, someone with no background and only relying on their own ability to become the captain of a large team is very rare. However, people like this usually can't become high-ranking officials, being a captain is already the limit, going any further isn't a matter of ability."

  Li You Ran smiled and said this, and Xiao Team Leader fell silent. After the waiter brought up the coffee, Xiao Team Leader tightly grasped the cup, lifted it to his mouth and took a big gulp. The unique flavor of the coffee mixed with milk shocked his taste buds, making him even more awake.

  "What do I need to do? What's the price?" He didn't believe that Li You Ran would drop a pie from the sky, there must be an ulterior motive.

  "You don't need to do anything, just wait and good things will come soon. Of course, you also need to behave well. Many people are eyeing the director's position, but I can make people step down, even your competitors. However, after that, it's up to you! As for the price? The Tiger Team is my people, what do you think of this price?"

  When Captain Xiao asked the question, Li You Ran smiled and knew that Captain Xiao couldn't refuse. He answered Captain Xiao's question and then half-reclined on the sofa, waiting for Captain Xiao's response.

  "Black society, I didn't think you'd have such a business? Sorry, even if I couldn't be the director of this bureau, or even wear a police uniform, I still can't convince myself to cooperate with a black society. Thank you for the coffee, I'll pay for my own cup. Goodbye, and I hope next time we meet won't be as enemies!"

  Contrary to Li You Ran's expectations, Captain Xiao refused his proposal and slapped a 100-yuan bill on the table. He left directly without even giving Li You Ran a chance to explain.

  Li You Ran looked at the hundred yuan bills in stunned silence, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Interesting, you still have a sense of justice. But do you think I'll be helpless just because of this? Sometimes things will find their way to you even if you don't want them to!"

  Li You Ran sipped his black coffee, gazing out the window. A sunbeam shone on him, filling him with warmth and a sense of comfort. It seemed that justice still existed in this world after all. Then he should amplify it even more.

  Just as Li You Ran was drinking coffee, someone else in another place was also drinking coffee and looking at documents, but he was looking at Li You Ran's documents.

  Yuan Wanceng sat in the boss chair, holding a cup of coffee with one hand and looking at Li You Ran's information. He then put down the cup and said: "Is this all his information?"

  The information not only includes Li You Ran's family situation but also his economic strength, as well as the time and place of various trips, which is extremely comprehensive.

  Yuan Lifen sat on the other side and said, "That's right, it's all here, it can be the most comprehensive, not only now but also when he was a child, although I feel that there is something behind him, but it can't be found out, could it be that I guessed wrong, he really isn't a suspicious object?"