The Hero's Streaming Life with the Saintess-Chapter 63: The Fall of Del Norte

“If it weren’t for him... I’d still be trapped in that darkness.”

A man in a wheelchair had been giving a speech from the podium—for over an hour.

“How much longer must our land, Mexico, remain in the clutches of the cartel...?”

The man finished his speech in tears.

And with that, the citizens of Mexico slowly began to turn against their government.

They had never truly trusted the corrupt administration, but this moment ignited a rebellion.

“Fucking hell...!!!”

— CRASH!!

Santiago, who had been quietly watching the broadcast, flew into a rage and smashed the TV.

The clown he’d kept alive to spread fear had now turned the blade toward him.

“I should’ve killed that fucker...!”

Enraged, he started throwing anything he could grab across the room.

“Kill that bastard. Right now.”

“B-Boss... He’s under protection at the U.S. embassy...”

— THUD!

“I don’t care if you take a fucking tank or blow the place up—just get it done!”

“B-Boss...!”

Santiago hated this situation.

The hesitation from a subordinate who normally obeyed without question only stoked his fury.

— CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

“Fuuuck... Goddamn idiots... How much money have I thrown at you, and this is how you handle shit?”

Panting heavily, he snatched up the phone and jabbed at the tablet in front of him.

“You think this is a fucking joke?”

“Del Norte...”

“Handle it properly!!!”

The voice on the other end was no longer the trembling, pathetic politician full of excuses.

It was calm now. With a sneer in his voice. Unafraid.

“I won’t be your dog anymore.”

“What? You piece of—!”

“Del Norte is finished.”

The call cut out.

Santiago threw the phone and screamed, unable to contain his rage.

— SLAM!

A subordinate burst through the door—and instantly became his new target.

But the subordinate had an urgent look on his face as he spoke.

“Boss! Our guys are getting arrested!”

“What? Arrested?”

“Yes...! The government’s already issued a shoot-on-sight order if they resist...!”

Their firepower had become relatively weak.

Because the warehouse where most of their weapons were stored had been destroyed—by Song Hun.

“God fucking damn it...”

Mexican politicians were quickly realizing how the situation was shifting.

They concluded that Del Norte was a sinking ship.

What they didn’t know was that this judgment had been influenced by subtle moves from Korea and the United States.

Whispers had been planted—Del Norte would soon fall.

So the Mexican politicians changed sides without hesitation.

“Boss! Toluca is under siege—!”

“Puebla’s base is completely wiped out...!”

“Morelos’ warehouse is—!”

Santiago listened, in real time, as reports of the cartel collapsing poured in.

****

“This is the training facility?”

I’d pictured a high-security military compound.

But the place looked like an ordinary resort from the outside.

Of course, their internal security was airtight.

“So this is where they gather their trash.”

The cartel members stationed here all aimed their weapons at me.

But they knew well enough—guns weren’t going to do shit.

“W-We haven’t done anything...!”

“Y-Yeah...!!!”

True.

They hadn’t acted yet as part of the cartel.

But one of Del Norte’s initiation requirements was murder.

Which meant every person here had already killed someone.

“Whether it’s food waste or plain garbage... trash is still /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ trash.”

“Can you really claim you’re clean?”

Lyla asked, even though she already knew the answer.

They shook their heads desperately, reciting their petty sins—

—mixing in lies, insisting they’d never taken a life.

— Drip... drip...

Once again, golden rain fell from the heavens—brought down by Lyla.

And not a single one of them survived.

If they’d truly been innocent, they would’ve lived.

No—maybe they’d have even experienced a miracle of healing.

“Let’s go.”

Leaving the dead behind, we walked through the resort’s main entrance.

There was no need to search for him—Lyla could track him by the stigma she’d branded on him.

“He’s below us.”

“Below? Not above?”

“Yeah. Looks like the surface is dressed up like a normal resort, but the real facility’s underground.”

“Since we’re here, let’s loot the place. I want this bastard to lose even a single grain of rice.”

We headed for the stairs, checking every corner floor by floor.

The upper floors looked like standard rooms—probably where the members lived.

“What the hell is this place?”

When we reached the tenth and top floor, we saw a strange, oversized steel door.

No windows in the hallway. Not even one.

— CREAK...

I ripped the steel door right off.

Inside was a pitch-black space lit by only a few flickering lights.

Iron bars.

And children.

“...”

Tiny bodies—couldn’t have been more than ten years old—were trembling.

Dried blood, surgical scars, bruises, and needle marks covered their bodies.

Even when they saw us enter, not a single scream left their lips.

“What the hell is this...”

Screaming had been forbidden.

Crying meant punishment.

These children had been treated not as humans—but as “materials.”

“This fucker... he’s still underground, right?”

“Yeah... Based on the movement, looks like he’s getting ready to run...”

The sight was unreal—like something that didn’t belong in the modern world.

Lyla’s eyes welled up with tears.

The children were sharp.

One of them realized we weren’t with the cartel, and opened their mouth ever so faintly.

“...Please... spare our lives...”

Rage boiled up like the abyss itself.

I was angry when I watched the footage.

But facing the reality in person—

It made me dizzy with fury.

“Lyla... Take care of the kids, will you?”

Lyla healed all of their physical wounds.

But sadly, she couldn’t heal the trauma they carried.

“Lyla, come with me.

If I go alone, I might end up killing the bastard.”

I smashed through the wall and jumped straight down to the first floor.

Then crashed through floor after floor, heading straight to where he was.

I didn’t have the patience to go step-by-step down some fucking stairs.

— KWAANG!!!

I broke through the ceiling—

And there he was, stuffing bundles of cash into a huge duffel bag.

“After everything you did, you were planning to run?”

“W-Why, why are you doing this to me...?!”

“...?”

“What did I ever do to you!!! All I did was steal one little thing...”

I waved my hand, like I was swatting away a bug.

This wasn’t about justice or some righteous crusade.

The guy just pissed me off.

That was all there was to it.

“What...? For that stupid reason you’re destroying the empire I built...!!!”

“If something’s filthy, it’s natural to want to clean it up.”

“...”

“I wouldn’t care what the hell you were doing or where.

But of all fucking times—you showed up in front of me while I was in Mexico.”

“What are you—!”

“Shut up and keep packing.”

“...”

“Normally, I’d have just given you a warning and moved on.

But you pissed me off.”

You used those kids for that shit.

It was disgusting. Revolting.

The reason your cartel is falling apart is simple:

You made me feel disgusted.

“W-Wait...! Please, let me—!”

I shattered his jaw mid-plea.

Grabbed the dangling thing—

And ripped out his tongue.

“MMMMMMPHHH!!!”

— CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Then I shattered both his arms and legs.

Lyla healed him just enough to keep him from dying.

But the pain overwhelmed him, and he passed out.

****

“Ugh...”

When Santiago came to,

the first thing he noticed was the musty stench of cement.

When he opened his eyes,

he saw a man in a wheelchair, Song Hun, Lyla—

and a Western man he didn’t recognize.

“Uuuugh... uu...”

He couldn’t speak. His tongue was gone.

The man in the wheelchair rolled up to him.

Santiago tried to move—

But he was tied down tight to the chair.

No strength in his wrists or ankles.

“Santiago... do you remember me?”

“Hrrgh... hrrgh...”

Santiago laughed under his breath.

The very man before him was the reason his cartel had collapsed.

The man in the wheelchair pulled a knife from his coat

and rolled even closer.

Without hesitation,

he drove the blade into Santiago’s thigh.

— THUNK!

“I want to kill you so fucking bad.

But I won’t.”

Esteban stabbed again—

Then twisted the blade around, carving up both thighs

as if he meant to destroy every last nerve.

“Grrrhhh!!”

“I’ll never let you find peace in death.

You’ll rot for the rest of your miserable life—

in the worst prison on Earth,

regretting what you did, every single day.”

He was bleeding out heavily.

But he didn’t die.

Lyla was keeping him alive—

just enough to stop the blood loss.

“Uuugh...”

Santiago’s head slumped.

He passed out again.

“We’ll report that Santiago was injured due to ‘unnecessary resistance’ during arrest.”

“You can send him to the worst hellhole prison in the world, right?”

“Yes, Hunter.

He’ll be transferred to Florence—clean hell itself.”

I nodded.

That was a satisfying result.

He’d already been indicted.

The DEA had him on their most-wanted list.

“If... by any chance, this fucker ends up living easy,

or cuts a deal to get out...

I won’t be amused.”

“Don’t worry.

A guy who commits crimes against kids—

won’t survive in prison either.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The officer shook his head like it was a foregone conclusion.

“And the only way he’s getting out...

is in a body bag.”

I wasn’t really worried.

There was nothing left for Santiago now.

Because everything that made him who he was...

was sealed inside my ring.

“Friend... thank you.

Now I can finally rest easy.”

“...What?”