Cartel Experience-Chapter 42: The Great Gambler.

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—

"F-Fuck." A simple word was the first that came out of his mouth as he was now leaning against the living room wall.

The moment the Heal Special Card restored him, he immediately flipped onto his back, grabbed the gun Sirina had shot him with, and aimed at the right side of the door... but the gun jammed. Though it didn’t freeze him, no, he quickly pulled back the slide, chambered the round, and pulled the trigger again, firing a single shot at the door before diving toward the side wall, as at least twelve bullets came back from outside in response from the two ladies.

And just like that, he was in the worst possible situation.

He fired once and didn’t hit either of them, there was no scream, no sound from outside, and the worst part was that when he cleared the jam, he hadn’t grabbed the bullet from the ground, which meant he was left with only two rounds.

The situation was definitely not in his favor.

[System: They truly offer some exclusive service.]

"Shut the fuck up." César whispered, his breath ragged for the first time, adrenaline pumping through him even harder and he knew, too, that he had fucked up.

He could have killed both of them through the door, but instead he fucking laughed, costing himself a Special Card and now he was all alone with two bullets and two women ready to fuck him up.

[System: I could help you, but you didn’t unlock the System Upgrade in the Store, which also means I can’t use the Heal Special Card until you still have consciousness —]

"Shut up." He said as peaked out and the door was still closed which meant he had time to think it through. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Explosive... what do I have... he thought, looking around in the room, but there was nothing he could use to start a fire. Not even alcohol, and he didn’t even have a lighter on him.

[System: Please—

"I-I said shu... shut— up..." He knew something was up.

The sudden stuttering, the way he couldn’t even finish the words, the dizziness, the disorientation of his eyesight, and most importantly, the warmth he felt on his hand and as he looked down, he saw it. "Oh."

Yeah, that feeling, that rush, those suddenly sharpened senses... it wasn’t just the adrenaline from what had happened at the door. It was because, after he got healed... another bullet had hit him and that adrenaline was fading away.

[System: One bullet struck the upper right abdomen, impacting the liver. No exit wound detected.]

[Blood Loss: Rising toward critical.]

[System: You will die if you do not stop the bleeding. The "One Will, Two Lives" Special Card will only respawn you into the same situation. It will not help.]

Hearing those words from the System was something else, especially when everything started to darken, when the coldness started to hit hard and the blood loss started to drag him into sleep, a good and long sleep, a comfortable one. His breath slowed down and the outside world just stopped existing. Though he heard it, he heard them start to bust the door down, but the darkness was just so welcoming, so comfortable... death was inviting him, but the System was still here.

[System: Activating Alarm. Wake up, César!]

That sound, he had heard it so many times. The alarm, which was the exact sound of air raid sirens, just burst into his head, screaming and tearing apart his eardrums to wake him up, to make him act, because the System knew it too.

The One Will, Two Lives Special Card would only put César back into the same situation, bleeding out with zero chance of stopping it while two bitches tried to kill him.

It was simply impossible.Though there was something else, and that something was the last thing he could do to save himself, to stay alive in this version of Sandira.

"G..g-am..able."

The experience. Even though he was slowly losing consciousness, he knew that the April Fools Special Card, even if it immediately activated, still counted as a card, which meant he could gamble once more.

[System Gamble accepted: Russian Roulette, a revolver with one bullet. Spin the cylinder at least three times, then gamble with your life.]

It was heavy, that revolver was heavier than ever, like he was holding a fucking dumbbell in his hand. He could barely even lift it, so instead he let his body fall to the side and simply turned the revolver on the floor, aiming it at his head.

Then, without any hesitation he pulled the trigger.

That click was louder than a gunshot would have been.

[System: Congratulations, you have won!]

[Reward: EXP Special Card.]

The laugh that followed was the laugh of a dead man, hoarse, broken, and hollow and at the same time, a genuine laugh as he was laying on the floor.

Bleeding out because you had laughed and they heard it... it was genuinely funny. And it didn’t help that he had lived through five of the worst lives imaginable, five of the worst versions of Sandria, each one more cruel, more broken than the last, each one breaking him in a different way and now this..

The most fucked‑up, humiliating way possible to die in Sandria.

Just blood, fading breath, and a laugh that was nothing but shame... shame, even though César knew he wouldn’t die... no, that was a lie. He didn’t know shit, because he was losing consciousness, but he still had a chance to survive all of this, because experience had taught him there was an achievement tied to the System Gamble.

A hidden achievement, obtainable only when you were desperate enough to press a revolver to your head and pull the trigger as a final resort, when death was already upon you and you needed that Heal Special Card more than anything.

[System: You have earned an Achievement.]

[The Great Gambler: System Gamble while bleeding out.]

[Reward: 2x Heal Special Card.]