"Twice in a fucking row…" He giggled again as frustration took over him… he wasn't in his house, not in the living room… but at the spawn once again.
The spawn location of Sandria… the beloved game he played back on Earth, when César was still alive.
At that time, César himself was obsessed with the cartels and the criminal world, to say the least. He was obsessed with the way they operated and reached their peak, but it wasn't about their brutality or power… it was about how a dozen men could build up an empire controlling thousands, how they built up everything and operated like a fine watch.
He was obsessed with the concept of, well… playing a game like that, because there was no way he was ever going to join a cartel or any criminal organization… it was just an absurd concept. And second, he was fighting cancer on his deathbed… well, not really fighting, just waiting to finally die.
But one day his wish came true as a game called Sandria was released, which was basically a carbon copy of all the big cartel countries slapped together in a world formed like Earth, and the point of Sandria was to conquer the country and then control the global trade of drugs from the beginning.
Basically, it was a kingdom-building game but with cartels, mafias, and criminal organizations.
But its elements were too real, just like in the real world and that was the biggest problem, which is why Sandria got banned and deleted from all platforms.
It resembled the truth too much. It remade real events about real people, cartel bosses, politicians and how they were corrupted, how they pushed civilians into suffering while making millions. And it was thanks to the fact that the developers were investigative journalists and analysts who used real, even unreleased documents that they got from informants.
Though the game, until the ban, was a masterpiece.
It had everything that a game like that needed, corruption, brutality, the technical element of smuggling, logistics, the process of drug production. It had everything and worked perfectly up until the developers were literally threatened by cartels and politicians, and well human rights organizations accused them of promoting real and terrible events, drug usage, and violence. What a great ending.
But that was the perfect timing because something magical happened.
César died on the same day, at the same exact time, when the game was banned.
The same hour, same minute, same second.
And when he opened his eyes… he was there at the spawn location of Sandria and then again… and again… and again… and now he's there once more.
"Why do I even try…" He whispered to himself as he sat in the same alley again, in dirty clothes, with a long beard and scars on his face.
He always played the same character, a 27-year-old veteran who became homeless after his service. What a good start. Though it doesn't matter, because it's not a game anymore, Sandria is as real as it can be, and the only thing that remains from the game is the System and the fact that its main goal is to become a ruler of the criminal underworld.
[System: Would you like to claim your beginner reward?]
"Yeah, give it to me so I can die once more." He whispered as he laughed about how he tried so many different approaches, and in the end, he always woke up in the alley.
[System: One hundred thousand dollars have been added to your Hidden Account.]
"Where the fuck should I start this time… maybe spend all of it at a strip club." He smiled as he slowly stood up from the ground and began walking toward the end of the alley. "Or should I just see what this version offers… and then spend it all."
The worst thing about Sandria, what the developers did to make it harder.
If you die in other games, you start at the beginning with the same settings, but to make it a true survival and strategy game, they made a change.
Every death gives a new beginning, and with it, everything changes.
There are no same characters, no same plots, or any story at all. There used to be, but every NPC became conscious, and that made everything even harder. They have their own will, personality, goals… everything has changed.
From a hardcore game it became… a real experience.
It is exactly like Earth with a different name.
It's because of my passion… that's why I was sent here… I was too obsessed with something terrible. This is my punishment for it. César thought as he slowly walked out of the alleyway into the streets of Rivière, the capital city of Sandria to see what the game gave him… and it was not what he expected.
Everything looked… intact.
The laughter, the joy, the families, children, people out there, the market on the next street with food, the smells… it was not the shithole he always woke up to.
"…no way…" he whispered as the realization hit him. "The… best version…?"
Impossible… this can't be real… I only died five times. He thought, but as he looked once more, everything was fine. There were even advertisements for the new mayoral election, and the whole atmosphere was just… not right.
He hit the jackpot with his death.
His other lives were all the worst possible scenarios the game could give. Every one of them was a nightmare where the cartel, mafia, and politicians were one. The whole country was a bloodbath, murders, bombings every day, homicide rates sky high, kidnappings, and public executions.
Every time he woke up it was a war zone.
"How nice…" He whispered again as he couldn't move his eyes from the square.
The same square where bodies were once hanged, where chopped-up people were displayed as a warning… but now, people were enjoying life, something he had never seen in his past lives.
But that meant another thing too.
"System, give me my phone." He said with excitement in his voice, as it could really be the one life he could enjoy and progress in.
[System: The phone has been placed in your pocket.]
He immediately pulled it out. "July 8, 2023." He whispered but wasn't concerned about what year it was but about something more important, so he immediately went to the browser, typing three words, cartel, mafia, corruption.
"The three major families clashed again in Syra, leaving twenty-three people dead and twelve others injured…" he read the most recent news and continued. "Almato Cartel shootout with Brjon Cartel sparks debate about law enforcement efficiency…" He scrolled to another headline. "Gangs shootout in Omar, drug bust in Trivia, Florian Cartel clash with the HSA at Ivrsi…"
He couldn't believe his eyes as he read it… there was not a single word about the capital.
"They're all at the border cities…" A smile immediately spread across his face… it was pure joy… for the first time he almost could believe it.
"There's nobody in the capital… which means… I can rule it..."