Chaos Begins

Chapter 5: Chaos Begins

Back in the exchange space, Carlos sat while pondering his encounter with Edward Elric. Meeting an anime character, especially one of his favorite protagonists, was indeed an interesting experience, albeit simultaneously frightening. Of course, it wasn't fear of Edward, but rather fear of the system, or rather, its creator.

Carlos didn't know many things, but he had a slight suspicion that bringing a person from another world to meet him shouldn't be an easy task without an immense power source. Whoever the creator of the system was, they must be an entity with a power level at least comparable to Trigon or Darkseid, which were multiversal-level existences.

"So, what exactly does this entity want from me?" Carlos wondered aloud, when suddenly an iron box appeared in front of him, filled with small gold pieces.

"Forget it. I'll think about that after figuring out how to hide all this gold. System, can I leave this here?"

[The exchange hall can be used as a deposit, however, it can only be accessed again after 1 month.]

"Damn it. I wish I had a briefcase like Lion's. Screw it, I'll take a few pieces and leave the rest here for now."

Carlos then pocketed 10 small gold pieces and left the crate containing the rest in a corner of the room before disappearing and returning to his room.

Opening his eyes, he looked around and then lightly touched his pockets. Feeling the gold pieces, Carlos smiled and quickly stowed the 10 pieces inside his book drawer, a place where his mother never snooped, and then went about his business.

The next day, he went to school as usual, but instead of going home afterward, he went to a nearby shop to sell one of the gold pieces.

Luckily, selling gold in Brazil wasn't uncommon. With favorable geography, Brazil is rich in rare metals. The state of Minas Gerais itself was named for the abundance of mineral deposits, mainly gold. Although most of these deposits had been depleted after over 300 years of rampant exploitation, many were still to be discovered in various parts of the country. And that's what happened in the early 1980s with the emergence of the world's largest open-pit mine, known as Serra Pelada.

Between 1981 and 1993, Serra Pelada was a place full of stories, gold, and death. The site was not managed by any company or even by the government, at least not legitimately, so all work was done irregularly and unsafely.

At first, it was something small, the gold mined stayed with the workers, but at some point, things got out of control. More and more people arrived in search of a quick way to make money, and in the end, no one knew exactly where the mined gold ended up. There were also deaths from diseases, mercury poisoning, landslides, work accidents, and of course, murder to steal the collected gold.

In the end, the place was abandoned after they pierced a water table that flooded the site, and the government's intervention turned what was once the world's largest open-pit mine into a large aquifer.

As for the gold, although much of it was sold to third parties, many miners managed to divert some gold for themselves and return home safely, and Carlos could use that to his advantage to sell this small piece, claiming it belonged to his deceased grandfather, or something like that.

Carlos didn't have to go far. After a 20-minute walk, he arrived at a small shop with a sign that read 'Estevão's Watch and Jewelry Shop'. This was one of the few places in town that used to buy gold. Unfortunately, the offered value was only 500 thousand Cruzeiros per gram, which seemed like a lot, but in reality, it was not even 10% of the real value. (Gold in January 1990 was valued at around $413.25, which was about 5,708,449.47 Cruzeiros)

There were places that paid better, but Carlos chose this place because the owner was someone who, although morally questionable, always fulfilled his part of the deal. Once the deal was done, he didn't know you and didn't comment on you.

Entering the place, Carlos was greeted by a well-lit and modest space. There were a few people conversing as they leaned over counters and looked at some jewelry.

Carlos didn't pay much attention to that and went straight to a small hallway. Passing through it, two men were sitting at different tables tinkering with some watches.

The first was a middle-aged man with fair skin, brown hair, and black eyes. The second was younger, in his twenties, a brown-skinned man with black hair and eyes. When they saw someone enter, they glanced briefly at Carlos before one of them waved for him to proceed.

Going deeper into the store, Carlos finally found who he was looking for. Behind a wooden counter protected by an iron grille, a middle-aged man with dark skin was smoking a cigarette as he looked attentively at some papers.

He looked like one of those men you'd find in any sketchy bar, amidst a group of friends drinking beer and chatting with a friendly smile on his face. However, the number of people killed by him had already reached two digits.

Estevão Vieira da Silva Morais, also known as Xerife, was a famous hitman in his youth. He used to travel through small municipalities doing the dirty work for some powerful people until at some point he decided to settle in Rio Verde and run a legitimate business. Everyone knew what he did, but he was never arrested, not once.

Carlos had talked to the old man more than once when he was a cop, always trying to find something out, but he was a tomb, never said a word to the police or anyone else. That's why he decided to come here.

When Carlos approached the grille, Estevão stared at him for a moment before getting up and going over to him.

"Can I help you?"

"I want to sell this," Carlos replied before placing the small gold piece on the counter. Estevão looked at the piece for a moment before grabbing his tools.

First, he weighed the piece and then scraped it a bit before turning to Carlos.

"Where did you get this?"

"In my grandmother's house. It was lying around with some of my grandfather's things, so I brought it here to see if it's gold."

"It's gold. Pure gold, in fact. This small bar was refined and looks new... where did your grandfather get this?" Estevão asked as he stared at Carlos.

However, he wasn't bothered by the old man's gaze and remained calm as he answered: "I don't know, I know he had relatives who went to Serra Pelada a few years ago; they must have brought it to him."

"Where is your grandfather?"

"He died about 4 years ago. Anyway, how much will you pay me for the piece?"

"It's 4 grams of pure gold; I'll give you 2 million Cruzeiros."

'Screw you, profiteering bastard...fuck', Carlos thought as he nodded in agreement. The old man smiled a bit before opening a nearby safe and from there took out the exact amount of 2 million Cruzeiros that Carlos put inside his backpack and then left.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"Do you want a ride? It's too much money for a kid to walk alone."

"My mom said not to accept rides from strangers, plus, I want to avoid being seen with you if possible."

"Alright then. If you get another one of these pieces, bring it to me, and I'll buy it."

Carlos just nodded and left the shop. Carlos hurried home as fast as he could. Although the weight of the backpack bothered him a bit, the fear of losing everything was a good reason not to slow down.

Arriving home, he wasted no time and quickly put the 50 thousand he took from his mother back into the box and then went to his room to hide the rest of the money.

With that, he could finally rest relieved for a moment. He already knew from the news that Collor would take office on the 15th, giving him exactly 9 days to enjoy the remaining peace in his city.

Although he could unlock the other functions of the system, Carlos decided to hold onto the money for the time being. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, and it would be dangerous to spend all he had now. 

As the days passed, soon February 15th arrived. Just as planned, Collor ascended the ramps of the Alvorada Palace and delivered his speech to the people.

While everyone, including his mother, watched everything with a hopeful smile on their faces, Carlos couldn't help but wish that a meteor would fall on the president at that moment. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and the inauguration ceremony was completed without any issues. That night, Carlos had dinner with his mother and grandmother and then went to bed, hoping that because it was a different world, the future of the country would also change, unfortunately, that didn't happen.

The next day, Carlos woke up earlier than usual and turned on the television. In the 5 a.m. news, the reports about the freezing of accounts were starting to be broadcast.

Carlos just sighed a bit before taking a shower. The chaos had begun.

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A shorter chapter, just to not let Saturday go unnoticed. There probably won't be a chapter next week, but I'll try to write at least one. Have a good weekend, everyone!