Cartel Experience-Chapter 37: Fooled.

There was nothing to lose with the gamble, as the One Will Two Lives Special card would save him if he actually shot himself in the head, though it would be the worst use of it.

But still, he was ready to pull the trigger.

And it wasn’t because of the outrage that he couldn’t buy anything from the System Store, it wasn’t because of the frustration that came with it, but by the realization that without the Store his plan fumbled quickly.

Equipment that he could have bought for the three he planned to summon with the Red Rarity card, straight jumping into the business, but now it was all for nothing.

But he knew that there was a chance that he could get a Special Card to help him.

The chance for it was low, but still, he pushed the barrel to his head, though there was another reason for it too.

The reason he became lazy, no, not even laziness, but common sense of using something that makes life easier.

You could buy equipment from the System Store, and any type of weapons, chemicals, and so on.

Why would you go to the black market? Why would you waste time and energy on it when there is a convenient solution to problems, the fastest and the best... though it wasn’t there now.

So he needed that card... the EXP one.

[System: The chance of you getting the EXP Special Card is so low that it is laughable, and it wouldn’t even help.]

"Uh, almighty System, but it can’t say the exact numbers."

[System: Then what? Are you going to gamble every single time in the hope that you can get it?]

"Maybe... it’s much better than killing at least a hundred people, completing dozens of quests, events, and achievements."

One of the worst things that the developers did. Leveling up in Sandria was difficult even when it was a game, but now it was much more difficult.

To reach level fifty and unlock the Store, César basically needs to become a mass killer.

[System: Exact numbers: 70 kills, ten events, and five achievements to complete, but it can become much easier once you summon the three of them. You can reach it with 15 achievements.]

"Oh yeah, producing a ton of Éden, selling it, then cleaning a hundred million dollars, completely wiping out an enemy organization, and so on?" He laughed. "Just shut up." César said as he pushed the revolver to his head and placed his finger on the trigger.

In his mind, he only wanted the EXP card, nothing more. Even the Heal would be good, as it was a fucking life-saving one, so either way, if he won or not, he had nothing to lose.

So he closed his eyes, took a big breath, knowing that if he fucked up he would live because of the card, and pulled the trigger... and man, he knew it.

As he pulled the trigger, he just felt it, knew it, that luck wasn’t on his side. Not just that it wasn’t on his side, but that something else was.

[System Notice: You have died.]

[System Notice: You have been respawned.]

[System Notice: New Beginning, Welcome to Sandria!]

Complete silence as he was there... the same fucking spot, the same fucking alley at the spawn location.

"Fuck... you got me, I almost pissed myself."

[System: Hahaha, how did you notice?]

"Obviously I have the card to save my ass."

[System: But at least it still scared you.]

"Yeah, congratulations, but I’m now stuck here for a minute."

[System: The "April Fool" card got buffed, so it is active for 5 minutes, so enjoy the silence.]

The old "April Fool" card is exactly what it sounds like. It was added on April First to fool players who activated the System Gamble. Technically, it is a reward, like the Heal Special Card and any other, but the moment you obtain it, the card activates without any warning, tricking the player into believing they have died and respawned.

Well it worked, a lot of players were fooled, but then it spiraled out of control when the developers decided to leave the card in permanently. Over time, some players discovered an exploit that allowed them to trigger the card every single time during System Gambling.

What they did was gamble in extremely risky or sketchy situations, then use the exploit to activate the April Fool card. This gave them free time to calm down and plan how to deal with whatever situation they were trapped in.

The problem was that those players were eventually banned for exploiting it. And second, César never learned how to use the exploit in the first place.

[System: What was your first thought?]

"Nothing." César said as slowly sat down on the ground. "I didn’t think of anything. I was just disappointed, simply disappointed."

[System: Of what?]

"The opportunities, the opportunities of what the peaceful Sandria has, the opportunities I could have used, the opportunities for something different and actually exciting." He looked up at the sky. "Crazy that all the life I lived was just monotone nothingness, kill, torture, butcher, cut a head down, repeat, always the same. But now it is different, so refreshing."

[System: Emotional. Nice job opening up. But this game is about death and killing, stepping on others.]

"I’m talking about the different settings of the world, the difference. All those lives were about warzones, nothing nice in them, nothing different, everything built on total war. But this one is lovely." He smiled a bit. "When I kill somebody, it’s different. You know, when I killed Hoffa, my next thought wasn’t which cartel or mafia was now after me, or who I had fucked up. All I thought about was the peacefulness of Sandria, that all I needed to worry about was my own actions, and that was it... how nice." He shook his head slightly. "You almost made me believe I threw all that away."

[System: So it is better to kill in a world that is peaceful than in one that is total chaos?]

"Exactly." He slowly stood up. "In a world where death and murder are everyday things, they mean nothing. But in a world that is peaceful, that is lovely, death has meaning. Killing someone carries weight, real consequences, real gravity. I like it. It’s more exciting."

[System: Thank you for sharing this, I noted it in your psychological profile and updated it.]

"Oh really? How does it look?"

[System: Out of 100, you are at 50, which is great. You exhibit high Machiavellian traits and psychopathic tendencies.]

"Why do you use words I don’t know the meaning of?"

[System: In short, you are still good. In your first life, out of 100, you were 5 on the psychological scale, and in the following lives, you never reached 15, which also means that in this life you are the most organized and still clear-minded.]

"Huh, I’m proud of myself." César said and slowly the April Fool card started fading around him, revealing that he was still standing in the changing booth and that he was truly proud for the first time of something about himself.

Like that, five on the scale was the worst and of course it was the worst, because it was his first time experiencing all the blood and so on. As he progressed from life to life, he slowly started climbing, his mind beginning to understand and accept all the ruthlessness. He started feeling more comfortable, though, of course, chopping down a head with an axe or getting tortured didn’t really help him go past 15.

But now he was higher on the scale than ever, showing that he could change, that this Sandira was truly different at least until he started chopping down heads once again. Though he had learned not to use a one-handed axe, and not to let the chainsaw get tangled in hair.

"I am back, thanks to the Almighty God, who doesn’t exist in the game." César said as he looked at him in the mirror, dripped out and ready to conquer at least, he thought.

"César, are you in there?" A female voice came from the outside... a voice that was too familiar.

"No." He answered back, but the knife was no longer on him, as he left it in the guard at the parking lot, though he didn’t start stressing, he rather started looking around for any type of weapons he could use.

"Come out, I want to help you."

"You said you hope we never meet again, Sirina, so keep to your word, baby."

"I don’t want to help, I need to help, so come out." Her voice came again, but now there was a hint of frustration behind it.

"Why don’t you come in? We can rub our bodies together." César said as he broke the wooden clothes hanger to have something to stab Sirina, but what happened next was surprising.

Sirina actually did it and stepped into the booth, and moreover, she pressed her body to César’s and was so close it felt like she was ready to kiss, ready to receive the pipe... but it was the opposite.

The one who felt a pipe pushed into his stomach was César, and then he heard the safety click off.

"Oh so fiery. Can I kiss you?" He asked as stared into her eyes. "Or maybe you want—"

That noise, that thud, the way that the suppressor just made the gun so silent, so unnoticeable that César didn’t even understand it at first, because it was not aggressive, not loud, but quiet and peaceful.

"Sorry, baby, but the circumstances have changed." Sirina said as she eyed César, and that once-again weird smile spread across his face.

"I.. interesting." He slowly looked down, seeing the blood spreading on his thrifted white t-shirt and then César slowly looked back up, into Sirina’s eyes to try and deliver a meaningful message. "You... b-bi—"

But he couldn’t.

Three more quiet thuds, three shells hitting the ground, then blood... and finally César’s body collapsed on the ground.