章 5: Chapter 4: System Functions. A Bold Bet (Rewritten)
Chapter 4: System Functions. A Bold Bet
February 28, 1990
On Monday morning, Carlos was having his breakfast while pondering how to make money quickly. After discovering he was in the DC universe, his plans to easily enrich himself with the 2000s bubble and the advent of cryptocurrencies to live a long and peaceful life were thrown out the window.
Forget about easy enrichment; just living a long and peaceful life was already quite questionable in this universe. Even if he became rich, who could guarantee that one day Slade wouldn't come knocking at his door? Well, maybe Slade was an exaggeration, but he had no idea how many professional killers existed in this world. As long as he upset someone powerful, he was a dead man, plain and simple.
"Well, there's no use in thinking about things that may or may not happen. Instead..."
Looking at the calendar on the wall, Carlos sighed even more, knowing that in just over 15 days it would be inauguration day for the new president, meaning the country was about to go down the drain. Thinking about how people were about to lose everything they had worked so hard for made him feel a bit sad and bitter, but he decided not to worry too much since he couldn't change it.
To be honest, Carlos didn't care much about the future of the country. Unlike other countries where patriotism is alive in much of the population, in Brazil this sentiment is almost nonexistent, even in him, who had already served and fought for the country. Carlos understood that this was more than just disgust for the bloodsucking scum that lived in the different spheres of power and the way they always robbed the people.
Brazil is called the country of soccer, always remembering its greatest players, their stories, their titles, their clubs. However, the same cannot be said about the great historical figures who have walked this land.
Great poets and writers like Machado de Assis, José de Alencar, Gonçalves Dias.
Military figures like Luiz Alves de Lima e Silva, the Duke of Caxias, João Candido Felisberto, The Black Admiral.
Politicians like Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, Viscount of Mauá; Getulio Vargas, Lider da revolução de 30 e ex-presidente do país; Francisco Paulo de Almeida, Baron of Guaraciaba (First Black Baron of the Brazilian Monarchic Period); José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, THE PATRON OF INDEPENDENCE...
None of these people have their lives, their achievements, not even their names, widely publicized or exalted as they should be. They are just one more of the many who came to this land and long ago went away; remembered by a few curious or scholars who now and then dictate their names. Little by little these people are forgotten, their names being buried under the dust on the shelf, deliberately forgotten and ignored.
Carlos didn't realize this until later in his life, when he met a historian passionate about the history of great names and together they began to share their enthusiasm for these figures, this was another great catalyst that led him into politics.
'Speaking of which, should I go see her in this life? We had a certain tension between us, but because she was married I never advanced. She must be my age, and if I remember correctly, she only met her husband at 27... nah, too much work. She was a great friend and a beautiful woman, but I don't think we would match as a couple.'
After finishing breakfast and setting aside his random thoughts, Carlos went to school with a somewhat risky and unethical plan in mind. Initially, after finding out this was a DC universe, Carlos immediately decided to take his mother or grandmother's money and then unlock the system. However, after calming down, he set that idea aside and started thinking of other ways to get a large amount of money quickly.
After a few days of thinking, Carlos finally found a practical solution that wouldn't weigh too much on his mind. During class, he talked to some friends before arranging to meet some of them at Josias's house after lunch.
Josias was a sociable and friendly rich kid, in a few words, a cool guy. His mother was also a good woman. His father, however, was a scoundrel of the worst kind.
Josefino Correia Neto, former mayor of Cachoerinha, held office for only 2 years, a short time, but enough to cause some damage to the city and leave it a mess. Josefino wasn't a bad person at first, he was an idealist, a man who wanted the best for the people, or at least that was the image he gave.
They said he did a lot for the people around him, even going so far as to charter cars to help take the sick to nearby cities. With this reputation as a good guy, he gained the support of many when he decided to run for mayor of the city and was elected without much trouble. But as Machiavelli said: "Give power to the man and discover who he really is."
It didn't take much for him to become greedy and get involved in some scandals in the city. Besides that, Josefino ended up developing a problem with drinks and started drinking a lot, even attending meetings on the effects of alcohol.
Of course, someone like that wouldn't stay in power for long and he was quickly removed from his duties. In the next elections, he once again tried to run, but was defeated, not receiving more than 3 votes.
After losing the election, Josefino ended up becoming an inveterate alcoholic and lived in bars cheating on his wife with girls, becoming a real shame for the city.
Who began to support the family was his wife, Amelia, thanks to the lands her father left to her. She couldn't divorce because she was married in community of goods and if she asked for a divorce, Josefino would still get some of her lands.
Carlos remembered that in the near future, she would lose about 60% of these lands due to the crisis, leading her husband to become violent with her, which would lead her to ask for a divorce with the justification of fearing for her life and that of her son, even making reports against Josefino before leaving home with Josias and leaving the man alone at home until his death months later.
Knowing all this, Carlos felt nothing but contempt for the man, no matter who Josefino was or pretended to be. Now he was just a drunk and corrupt ex-politician, and for that reason Carlos felt no weight on his conscience when he decided to steal from him and use the money he had to unlock the system.
He knew that Josefino should have more than 200,000 cruzeiros hidden at home, in a small secret room. He remembers that Josefino would die at some point in 1992, due to cirrhosis, and because he had never said anything about that money to his son or his wife, he remained hidden, molding until 2008 or so, when Josias discovered the little hiding place.
Unfortunately for him, the money was no longer worth anything and the bank would not accept the money to exchange it, so all he could do was try to sell the notes in good condition to anyone interested, before then burning most of it with rage. Carlos would not allow that money to be lost and would take it for himself.
<><><><><>
In the afternoon, at Josias's house, Carlos and Josias were playing Contra on an NES that Josias won from an aunt, while 3 other boys were on the side watching. After a few daring moves, Josias ended up winning Carlos who just left and gave his place to Marcus who quickly started the match.
"Josias, can I use your bathroom?" Carlos suddenly asked. To which Josias just waved
"Can go. Do you know where it is?"
"I know, thank you." Leaving the room, Carlos went to the bathroom and after entering he quickly locked the door before looking around.
"I remember Josias said it was in the guest bathroom." Carlos looked around for a moment. He groped the walls of tiles, lightly tapping in some places, trying to identify a hollow place, but could not find anything.
He then turned to the toilet and tried to move it, but it remained firm. The mirror was the same.
Frowning, Carlos looked around once more, trying to notice something different in the bathroom, but there was nothing wrong, before remembering one thing. Josefino was tall, very tall. He was almost 2 meters tall, so the doors of the house were bigger.
Noticing this, Carlos stood on the toilet and began tapping around nearby areas, but still found nothing. Determined, he silently left the bathroom and went to the kitchen before returning to the bathroom with a small chair. He started tapping on the tiles again.
After a few more taps, Carlos finally found a hollow spot. Carefully, he tried to move the spot and managed to remove the loose piece.
"Bingo," he smiled and peeked inside. The wall where the tile was loose was thick and had a small space leading to the ceiling of the living room. There, Carlos saw a dusty black bag. When he pulled it towards himself and opened it, he was momentarily surprised before smiling.
"System, how much is here?"
{Calculating... 322,400 cruzados.}
"300,000!? Holy shit, Josefino, you son of a bitch. System, convert everything into credits."
{Understood.}
Suddenly, the money in front of him disappeared, leaving only the empty bag. Carlos smiled as he looked at the system interface, seeing the credit balance rise from 0 to 322,400.
He quickly put the bag back in place and covered the small space before getting ready to leave. However, as he was about to reach the door, someone tried to open it. Carlos was startled and quickly shouted, "It's locked!"
Instead of stopping, the person began pounding on the door, trying to get in.
"Shit." Carlos looked at the chair before sighing. "System, activate the inventory function."
{Understood. Inventory unlocked. - 50,000 credits.}
Carlos felt a bit annoyed at the expenditure he momentarily deemed unnecessary, but quickly regained composure and stored the chair in his inventory before flushing and opening the door.
He was greeted by a tall, dark-skinned man, nearly 2 meters tall, completely drunk. Before Carlos could say anything, he was pulled out, and Josefino stumbled into the bathroom and began urinating all over the toilet.
Carlos glanced briefly at the man and went to Josias's room to get his things.
"Hey, Carlos, took you long enough. Were you taking a dump?" Josias asked with a smile while Marcus and Elias played and the others laughed a bit.
Carlos just nodded a bit before grabbing his things and preparing to leave. Josias looked at Carlos leaving for a moment before getting up to ask what happened. However, passing by the bathroom, he saw its condition and then looked at the living room where his father was lying on the couch. Josias felt a little embarrassed for his father and glanced at Carlos, but both remained silent as Josias escorted him to the exit.
Shortly after, Josias's other friends also left. At home, Josias looked at his father in the living room and couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry at the man. However, all he could do was take off his boots and then go prepare something to eat. His mother was visiting some of her lands to check on productivity and would only return the next day. As he headed to his room, Josias glanced at the living room for a moment and noticed something strange.
"Where's the other chair?"
Though confused, Josias simply ignored it and went to his room to play with his NES for a while.
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