The Genius Evolution Store

Chapter 99: The Price of His Principles

Mr. Popo kicked one of the guys in the stomach.

"Gah!" He spat blood and started coughing.

"This will make it a lot easier for both of us if you just tell me who hired you." Mr. Popo bent his knees, looking at the criminal at eye level. His killing intent was quite overwhelming, as he tried to intimidate the criminal.

"I don’t care, old man. Do you think I’m afraid of death?" The man spat blood at Mr. Popo’s face, but it was blocked by a light-element screen.

Mr. Popo punched him in the face until the man hit the ground before moving to the second perpetrator.

This guy was the one Milinda handled earlier. He stomped on the man’s leg, precisely on the wound that Milinda had inflicted earlier.

"Aaahhhh!" The man screamed.

"So, are you going to tell me or not?" Mr. Popo looked down at him coldly.

The man just smirked at him as if he were mocking Mr. Popo.

Mr. Popo pressed on the wounds even further while turning to the last man. That person simply scoffed and said, "That girl looks cute. Should have captured her instead. We can have fun with—!"

Mr. Popo grabbed the man’s jaw with such strength that it almost crushed it.

"It looks like I’ve been too soft with the three of you. Since you want to die so badly, I should send you to the afterlife right now."

"Wait." Auric suddenly stopped him.

Mr. Popo didn’t exactly care anymore since they had just threatened his daughter.

However, Auric abruptly crouched next to the man while saying, "I have a principle—Equivalent Exchange. If you want to kill me, I will kill you. However, I think living a fate worse than death might be a better option for you guys. You can live, but death might be better."

Auric released the wind energy and the plant energy before saying, "I once treated a man afflicted by a poison with two elements. Unless there were two evolution masters working together and combining their powers, he couldn’t be treated.

"The poison was awful, but I managed to treat it. However, the concept of that poison was quite intriguing.

"You know, you can be drowned by elements when you enter the ruins not in a proper way, right? I’m wondering what will happen to a human body if I insert my two elements into your body."

Auric smiled coldly.

The criminals were staring at him. Their experiences were telling them that Auric wasn’t playing around.

"Why don’t we test it out?" Auric grabbed both of his shoulders.

He channeled his power—the plant energy from the right hand and the wind energy from the left hand.

Of course, Auric neither knew what would happen nor could he produce such a thing. His research hadn’t reached that point yet.

However, he was an evolution master. There was one more energy that he inserted. It was the lightning energy.

This lightning energy spread through their bodies and started wreaking havoc inside them.

"Aaahhhh!" The man screamed, but Auric said without any emotion, "Please shut his mouth."

Mr. Popo did what he wanted, slightly surprised that Auric would actually torture someone like this.

Even Milinda couldn’t believe the gentle Auric could actually be this ruthless.

The other criminals didn’t know that this guy was tortured by his lightning energy. He couldn’t tell the others because Mr. Popo had shut his mouth.

The only thing he could do was shake uncontrollably as his entire body was fried from the inside. The pain visible in his body and expression was terrifying enough that the other two criminals started to sweat.

"Let me tell you what will happen." Auric smiled. "It looks like you won’t be able to use your power anymore. If you use your power, my energy will erupt, causing a mess in your body.

"And since it’s extremely hard to find two evolution masters that can work together, you probably won’t be able to fix this problem. Even if you somehow find such masters, that will cost you a lot. Can you even pay for it?

"Oh, by the way, that’s just the first part. Do you know that the air we inhale has elements in it? Our bodies won’t naturally absorb them, but you know what? My poisons can absorb them.

"Every time you breathe, my poison will erupt and give you this sensation. It won’t be enough to kill you, but listen to me... every time you breathe, you will wish you were dead."

"Mhmmff! Mfff!" The guy kept shaking his body, unable to endure the pain. Just from hearing Auric’s words, he was about to go insane.

This man was not just a child. He was a devil.

Milinda and Mr. Popo were a bit confused. They didn’t know if that was possible, either. However, it was more shocking that Auric could torture someone without batting an eye.

The other two criminals finally understood fear this time.

Auric continued, "The poison that can give this much pain has existed for a long time. Do you know what radiation can do to your body?

"It tears your cells apart, your skin will blister, turn red, then black. Your bone marrow dies, the immune system fails, your organs will start to fail, and your veins will burst open. Even morphine won’t do anything.

"But don’t worry. This poison will not make your skin like that. However, my plant element will tear your body apart like roots tearing apart the soil to grow, and my wind element will start to pump your blood to the point your veins start to burst.

"Even if you scream in broad daylight, they won’t be able to figure out what’s wrong with you. Even if they find something, you will keep screaming to the point that you can’t even utter a single word. So what if they find it? Not many evolution masters can treat you. You will suffer and beg for your death."

"Mmhhh! Mfff!" The guy was tearing up, looking at Auric as if he were pleading with him to stop.

Auric simply scoffed. "Well, don’t ask me for forgiveness. I’m done with you anyway, so you can die. You should have watched your mouth from the beginning."

The guy looked at Auric in horror before shifting his vision to Mr. Popo. Despair started to flood in.

Auric walked to the second person, who was clearly terrified.

"Well, well... What should I do to you? Do you want to try it?" Auric smirked. "I don’t care who is going to answer my question. Maybe I will hand you over to the police if you give me the information I want."

"Wait! I’m going to tell you right now!" The man on the left spoke.

"Stop it!" The injured man tried to stop him, but his teammate was not rational enough to care about the consequences.

He said, "We don’t know who that person is. We never ask the client’s name, but we certainly have a good look at his appearance. He is a tall man, likely 190 cm. His hair, his eyes, and even his clothes are white."

Auric’s expression turned even colder. He took out his phone and showed a picture. "Is this the man?"

"Y-Yes! That’s the guy! He only told us to kill you and get rid of everything. He came to us after covering his appearance, but we weren’t sloppy enough to not even see the person who hired us."

Auric never thought it had reached this point. He stood up as if he were done with these guys.

"Send me to the police station please. I swear I will rot in prison. I will plead for life in prison and won’t ever go out!" The man begged.

Auric simply turned his gaze away before snapping his fingers.

"!!!" Mr. Popo was startled as spikes emerged from the ground.

They killed the two criminals. He didn’t expect Auric to kill them, but there was still a gap between his strength and Auric’s. So, Mr. Popo stopped the third root with his bare hand.

"You..." Mr. Popo looked at Auric, wondering if all the gentle demeanor he had been showing was actually fake.

Auric looked at Mr. Popo before shifting his gaze to Milinda, who was clearly shocked by the change of personality.

He said, "You can judge me. I have always held this principle in my life. If the other party plans to kill me, I will kill them. I can become the cruelest person in this world if I have to face the cruelest person in this world.

"I have always been like this. That’s why you can judge me in any way you want. If you are going to quit because of this, I won’t blame you.

"You can still ask me to help you evolve in the future." Auric nodded calmly. "However, these three people need to die."

Mr. Popo didn’t know what to say to Auric. On the one hand, he was the one who told him that killing them would be fine. Auric would just have to claim it was self-defense.

These people were criminals, and Auric had the support of the mayor and the Evolution Association. This was more than enough to make people believe in Auric.

If this matter reached his teacher’s ears, she could instantly make all this disappear.

Still, he was worried that this side of Auric would scare his daughter.

Mr. Popo looked at his daughter for a few seconds before saying, "Milinda. Why don’t you call your mom first? We will handle this."

Milinda opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat.

Mr. Popo smiled wryly before nodding, "Please?"

Milinda bit her lip before walking away.

"Well..." Mr. Popo first crushed the guy’s neck to kill him. He looked at Auric, saying, "Maybe I should have taken care of them in the first place. At least my daughter won’t be as shocked..."

Auric looked down before politely bowing. "My deepest apologies. I have acted impulsively."

"No, it’s fine. That shows you’re young." Mr. Popo shrugged. "Besides, it’s good that you are able to uphold your own principles. People can break their principles in certain situations. I’d say breaking your principles once is the worst mistake you can make in your life.

"After all, once you think breaking it once is fine, you will think I’ve done it in the past, so another one may not be much. Then, the third time will come and it will continue until your principles are gone.

"I won’t criticize you for what you do, but I will have to tell you that sometimes, you have to restrain yourself when the time is not right."

Auric sighed. He definitely realized his mistake. He could have brought them elsewhere, interrogated them, and killed them.

It didn’t have to be at this time.

"So, who hired them?"

Auric shook his head helplessly.

"Don’t worry. I won’t do anything unless you ask me to. Even if I had that kind of power, I’m not doing all that hassle unless it is necessary." Mr. Popo thought Auric was worried that telling him would put Mr. Popo in trouble.

After hearing those words, Auric sighed. "Simon Kestus."

"The Lightning Emperor’s disciple?"

Auric nodded.

"Have you done anything to him?"

"I defeated him when he challenged me. I recently bet on my friend when Simon challenged him. My friend won. He wasn’t exactly present when I placed my bet since I had just returned to the academy."

"Even if there were a conflict, I couldn’t see any reason strong enough for me to put a hit on you." Mr. Popo frowned. "Bullying? Sure, I can understand that. Teaching you a lesson is definitely enough, but killing?"

Auric shrugged. Even he didn’t understand it, either.

"All right. I will let you handle your own matters. First, call the mayor and notify him about this hit, so he can take care of all this mess. I will be here to make a statement as well. As for what’s coming, I hope you heed my advice."

"Yes. Thank you very much. Once again, I apologize for going out of line."

Auric knew what he was supposed to do next, ensuring that the same mistake wouldn’t happen again.

"Still, you can produce such poisons?"

"No... not yet. Theoretically, it’s plausible. But I haven’t found the correct answer to make it work, nor do I have the ability to do it."

"So, it’s possible."

"..."