The Genius Evolution Store

"Actually, we’re in luck, Auric. After seeing how she treated you during her lesson, I asked my family to check her information. You know what? We got a hit on her bank records." Katarina smirked.

"Hmm? Bank records?" Auric tilted his head in confusion. "How do you even get her bank records?"

"I have my own connections." Katarina winked playfully.

"Really? Will my money..." Auric turned to Ellia.

Ellia shook her head. "Nope, it will be fine. Even if the prosecutors are coming at you, they will need a very long time to trace the money. Besides, you have been paying taxes properly, so they can’t exactly charge you with a crime.

"In their desperate attempt, they will try to make you say something bad and charge you with that, but just let your lawyer handle it. Besides, by the time they realize it’s you, would they dare to do it? You can just say that you’re disappointed and close your store.

"Let’s see what the cultists... Ahem, I mean the citizens do for you. So, it’s not exactly a problem right now. As for your bank records, I have used a few identities to ensure that the money looks legitimate.

"The number I gave you came from many accounts, not just once. The system is that you will draw the money directly from multiple accounts whenever you spend it."

Katarina smiled. "You’re really meticulous in this regard. I’m kind of curious about how much is in the slush fund you have right now. According to the rumors, there’s supposed to be a 3-trillion-credit slush fund..."

"3 trillion?" Auric widened his eyes in shock. He knew Ellia was rich, but not this rich. To think she actually had 3 trillion credits stashed away somewhere, it was simply beyond Auric’s imagination.

"You probably intended to use a bit of it to regain control of your company during the clash with your parents, right?" Katarina chuckled before turning to Auric. "So, even if you didn’t do anything at that time, she would have been fine. She just couldn’t let her parents know about it. When her parents were about to strike her, she would just use it to turn the situation around and put her parents at a disadvantage."

"Seriously?" Auric gasped. He might have underestimated Ellia’s brilliance in the business world. "So, you have been siphoning the money off..."

"No." Ellia shook her head, immediately denying it.

"It’s not that, Auric. If she were siphoning off the money, she would be the one to get into trouble with her grandfather. Instead, there was a small financial crisis two years ago. Remember the materials crisis? She must have made the difference. The amount was quite unexpected. It was simply too large," explained Katarina.

"So, I ended up doing unnecessary things back then?" Auric pointed at himself.

"Not necessarily. The thing with a slush fund is how it’s raised. Yours was acquired without bribes or illegal activities. You even pay the taxes. Mine... Well, I didn’t pay taxes on my slush fund. It was supposed to be kept hidden, after all. If it ended up not being used later, I intended to liquidate it and pay the taxes properly and turn it into legitimate funds." Ellia shrugged.

"It’s too complicated for me." Auric sighed. "I mean, I get the idea. It’s just too much hassle to learn it all."

"You should learn about it. What if I end up taking advantage of your lack of knowledge?" Katarina playfully pointed at herself. She didn’t intend to do it, but Auric might have other people as his subordinates, and they might do it.

"Enough about the funds. I’ve been teaching him some general financial knowledge from time to time." Ellia waved her hand. "Rather, shouldn’t we focus on Madam Shelly right now?"

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot about that old woman." Katarina showed her phone. "Here, you will be able to see 500 million credits being transferred into this account. It doesn’t look like they’re using cash, but this is probably just one of many accounts. No way, they don’t think you’re worth only 500 million credits, right?"

"They... the organization... Well, they might think that way, or they might just ask Madam Shelly to do a small task for them. Either way, it’s rather suspicious." Ellia narrowed her eyes.

"I haven’t checked other instructors, but Madam Shelly is definitely suspicious." Katarina nodded in agreement. "The date is actually from five days before the national selection. It makes me think that she has been in cahoots with them from the beginning."

Auric frowned. "You mean she’s one of the high-ranking members?"

"I’m not sure whether she’s a high-ranking member, but she’s definitely high-ranking muscle in that organization. She might be doing this for money, but I couldn’t care less about the reason." Katarina looked up, contemplating.

"Yeah. It’s better to focus on getting rid of her." Ellia agreed with Katarina’s opinion and thought that eliminating her was the best way to do it.

"Well, should I ask Chief Adjudicator Arnie first?"

"I think that will be fine." Katarina gave an ’OK’ sign.

Since they approved, Auric searched for his contact and called him.

"What’s up, kid?"

"Good evening, sir. I’m informing you that I’m with Katarina and Ellia here. Is that all right?"

"Yeah. I know your group. They already know about it, so it’s fine."

"In that case, have you checked on the situation at the training camp?"

"What’s wrong?"

"Madam Shelly seems to be targeting me. According to my teacher, she’s trying to spread hate about me among the instructors. If you check her financial records, there should be some money that was transferred to her account a few days before the national selection."

"Give me three minutes." Arnie went silent.

"Aaaahhh... It’s so refreshing. It’s nice to have hot water like this." Vera came out of the bathroom with a satisfied smile. "Are you guys doing something?"

"Yep." Auric waved his hand, asking her to join.

"That’s not fair. Why doesn’t one of you guys take a shower right now to understand what I feel?" Vera acted as if she were being wronged.

"It’s just a small matter. We’re about to go into the main topic now, so you’re not missing out on anything."

"Oh! Okay then." Vera waved her hand, treating it as if nothing was wrong.

"Anyway, this is the situation." Auric briefed her on the situation.

Not long after, Arnie finally returned. "Okay, I’ve checked it. It’s indeed suspicious. There might be other spies among the instructors, but we can use this to our advantage."

"Take advantage? What do you mean?"

Arnie was arranging his words carefully in his mind before speaking. "Madam Shelly is the most vocal, right? I have been putting a lot of pressure on the organization, so the Director must be frustrated right now. So, he must want his next plan to succeed.

"That’s why we will let her succeed and use her to draw out the Director. You will be the bait, and once they execute their plan, I will be there to take them down and capture the Director."

Katarina frowned. "Sorry, Chief Arnie. Did I hear you correctly? You intend to use Auric as bait?"

"You didn’t hear it wrong. He’s going to be the bait. This is the best way."

"I don’t think I can approve this plan. It’s too dangerous for Auric." Katarina wanted to stop him, thinking about Auric’s well-being.

"Look! Do you think I don’t know that you have asked Auric to recognize you as his secretary or whatever?"

"..." Ellia and Vera looked at her. Ellia knew Katarina seemed to be working with Auric, but she didn’t expect that Katarina was actually working for Auric.

"Vice President?" Vera covered her mouth in surprise.

Katarina just shrugged, not caring about their reactions. It was just Ellia and Vera anyway. "So, what do you want to say?"

"I know you’re worried about him, but my plan is to use this opportunity to draw out the Director. This Director is the biggest link to the organization. We will be able to draw out the intel regarding this organization and completely root them out. If he’s not going to do it, then the Director might not come out, and we’ll have to go back to this whack-a-mole situation all over again."

"Still—" Katarina wanted to protest, but Auric actually stopped her by saying, "I agree with the plan. So, I just have to stay here and endure it?"

"Yep. Just continue to behave normally. I’ll be monitoring the situation closely. I’ll tell you if I have any other instructions. The sooner we deal with them, the sooner you will be safe, kid."

"Auric!" Katarina sighed, realizing she couldn’t stop Auric from doing this.

Auric raised his hand, gesturing for Katarina to stop while replying to Arnie. "I understand the situation. In that case, I will do my part. Maybe I’ll sprinkle some salt on top."

"Just don’t do it excessively. It might alert the enemy."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"I would say that you have a rather capable subordinate. Financial records, eh?"

"You’re not going to take me down, right?" Katarina’s eyebrows twitched. "Look, Auric. This guy is trying to threaten me because of my connections."

"I’m not threatening you or anything. I just want to say that you should make sure you don’t get on my hit list. As long as you don’t do anything like that, you will stay off my radar."

Auric scratched the back of his head. "Well, just do your job then. If we happen to clash in the future, then so be it."

"I don’t want to clash with you unless necessary. You may be weak, but I definitely hate the trouble you can cause, especially with the Relesha family. I don’t want to keep looking over my shoulder, thinking that a shadow guard is following me. Well, I might not take the job related to you two, but the other adjudicators might not be like that. Just don’t kill them, or else they’re going to force me to take on the mission."

"We’ll see." Auric nodded. "Anything else?"

"Nope. Just take care. Maya is good at physical fights, but you can use your poisonous tongue to annoy the hell out of that old woman, kid. Talk to you later."

Arnie ended the call after leaving such an interesting remark.

"What did he mean when he said I have a poisonous tongue? I’m very polite." Auric spread his arms, as if saying he didn’t know anything.

"Yeah." Vera rolled her eyes.

"You are indeed very polite, but only with your words, not with your mouth." Ellia shook her head. "It’s fine that way, though."

Katarina sighed. "You can’t just keep your mouth shut sometimes. When other students are lectured by their teachers, they will just shut their mouths and lower their heads. Meanwhile, you will probably lecture your teacher back, and it will end up turning into a fight."

Auric raised a finger, trying to refute Katarina’s claim. However, he soon remembered what had happened earlier.

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