Cartel Experience-Chapter 39: The Harbinger of Chaos.

"They killed her?" César said as he was about to leave the thrift store, already dressed in a completely different outfit and, like a gentleman, planning to pay for it.

The problem was that no one was at the counter and when he went to the back of the store to look for the staff, he found her body.

She was on the ground, shot in the forehead, and one look was enough to tell what had happened... she had been forced to her knees, begging for her life, and then executed... for nothing. Moreover, she had cried and begged, judging by the smudged makeup on her face and the tears that were still wet in her eyes.

[System: They didn’t want witnesses.]

"How unprofessional is that, poor girl." César said as he knelt down next to her.

[System: Are you sad?]

"Yeah, it reminds me of the old lives, where civilians died as if their lives were worth nothing. It saddens me that Sirina would do something like this." César said, and he was truly sad, but not about the lost life itself.

It was about the act, about what it represented. This so-called peaceful version of Santida was not peaceful at all. If it truly were, this would never have happened in the first place.

[System: Revenge her. I would recommend bombing the NSA headquarters or hunting down one of them, cutting down his head and putting it—]

"Stop with the recommendations for a while, and why would I avenge somebody I don’t know, someone who’s just a line of code?"

[System: Good coping mechanism. You usually use this when your emotions overwhelm you. Why is that? Did she remind you of somebody?]

The reaction when the System asked it was the answer itself. The way he was looking at her, the way he was motionless, and his eyes focused on her face... the memories.

"My sister, but both of them are dead, so nothing." He said as he reached out for the ID that was hanging from her neck, and when he turned it to see it, he stopped, and just stared at it as his breath became heavier. "Why does she look like my sister, and her name is the same too?"

César’s voice was different... so different that even the System felt it, a voice it had never heard or analyzed before. It was almost the same as when he walked that thin line, neither stepping over nor retreating from it, but balancing on the edge of... madness... pure, hate, wrath, and sorrow.

If there is darkness, if there is a monster, then this voice and sudden change coming from César, was exactly that. Pure darkness that engulfs everything, that consumes everything, not in an aggressive way, but in a way where death would be the easy way out.

[System: Nothing happened, and I didn’t do anything, but I like this side of you.]

"What side?"

[System: The side of a pure predator.]

The silence that came was the type of silence where you feel like even time stopped, when something important happens, when something embarrassing or sudden as César kept staring at the woman’s face and he felt it too.

He couldn’t deny that feeling inside him, the memories, the pain, the grief, even the sadness, even if he had never felt them in Sandria, or had pushed them down.

Seeing this woman, who looked exactly like his sister back on Earth, was different.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence." César said, his voice lightening. "But don’t use the word predator. It sounds like a sexual predator, especially now, when I’m going after Sirina, a woman."

[System: It is obvious that I am not using the word in the sexual predator meaning.]

"Still sounds like that." César shook his head as left the woman and went back to the front of the counter to sit down a bit. "What do you think I should do, first summon them or go to Sirina?"

[System: It would be better to pay a visit to her first and get every information possible. Maybe you’re in deeper trouble than you think, and depending on it, you can choose more wisely who to summon.]

"I thought about the same, but showing up to her after she sent four bullets into me is not the best idea."

That was true, not the best idea, as he should have died just like any normal human. But instead, he was up, already planning to go to Sirina, who was angered at the way she had killed him, the way he had died.

Maybe their meeting could be beneficial for both, Sirina could get another chance at killing him, perhaps with more satisfaction and happiness, but showing up completely uninjured after taking four bullets was otherworldly.

[System: It’s only not the best idea if you’re planning to keep her alive. You need to kill her.]

"If I kill her, I make my own situation much worse." César said, still fighting the idea that the woman in the back was some kind of fucking event... that she looked like his sister for a reason, though he needed to stop thinking about it, to push that idea away, to not let it control him. "What if I invite Sirina on a date, then after a year I propose to her, we have a child, and live a happy life?"

[System: That has a lower chance than obtaining the Obsidian Rarity card. May I recommend a plan?]

"Do it."

[System: After finding out where she lives, breaking in and torturing her for information, cut off her head and—]

"Stop it." César’s disappointed voice came with an equally disappointed laugh."Why the fuck do you want me to cut heads down this much?"

[System: Cutting off heads is always the right solution.]

"A System with a weird fetish... how good it is." César shook his head as he finally stood up and walked out of the store, heading back to his hotel to come up with a solid plan to handle Sirina. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Meanwhile, somewhere else, or more importantly, at all of the agencies, things began to heat up. The news of Hoffa’s death had spread, and everyone understood what it meant. The political landscape could shift if details about Hoffa and Dana reached the public, but there was one agency focused on an entirely different matter.

The DCA.

"How much did he clear in a week?" A middle‑aged man with braided hair and long beard asked as he sat in the meeting room, wearing a tailored suit, a gold signet ring on his finger, and tinted black sunglasses.

"Around a million, maybe two, but that money was split in different directions. To Dana, to the gangs, to officers and higher‑ups, so he probably made around two hundred thousand a week." A younger man replied, dressed completely differently. White sneakers, designer black denim with cross patches on it, and a t‑shirt with a gold medusa head.

"That is nothing." A long sigh followed. "What about the guy the Secret Service is after?"

"Supposedly a member of the Sierra cartel. Could be a sicario or a higher‑up preparing to expand his influence and build connections, but not a single contact of ours knows anything about the Sierra cartel, so it’s a bit strange."

"Hmmm, but he saved that judge for a reason, and he killed Hoffa." The older man tapped his finger on the table. "In theory, how much could he clear in a week, five to ten million?"

"If he takes full control of what Hoffa built and speeds up the operation, builds logistics and proper production, then eventually, yes even more. But that would take a lot of time, especially now with all the agencies involved."

"There were never cartels or mafias this close to the capital... the city of political power." A faint smile. "I like him, but for now, we do nothing. Let’s sit back and see who makes the first mistake." He slowly stood up, buttoning his suit.

"There is another problem." The younger agent began again. "The Alamato cartel killed the mayor of Augustin."

A short silence followed as the older man ran a hand down his beard, then looked back at the agent. "Juarez’s biggest fear and liability is his daughter, right? Miata, the child with at least twelve cats?" The younger agent nodded. "Good, call up Juarez and tell him we can borrow big cats from the zoo, something his daughter would really like and I’m sure those cats would probably like her even more."

Well, everybody was working, every agency was ready to fuck up the others, and at the center of it all was none other than César, though at least the DCA had taken a liking to him for his boldness, which was good, as long as they didn’t turn against him.

What a beginning, before even having any name.

He was about to make his cartel while, at the same time, because of him a whole ass avalanche started.

The harbinger of chaos.