"Oh my god! What happened to you?" Alec desperately wanted to go puke as he saw Matias's condition. He didn't even look like a human anymore, more like a lump of living meat. Alec lowered his gun and slowly approached Matias with a deep frown.
"Boss, please don't touch me, please. Every part of my body is extremely sensitive. As you can see, the mafia men did this to me", Matias smiled wryly, as he staggered two steps back.
Matias had no desire to chat with Alec at all. All of his body fluids are leaking slowly, which meant death was imminent at any moment. He swore he wasn't willing to die alone. At least if he could bring some men along with him to hell, that would be enough.
This inhumane action done by this mafia organization caused him to feel wrath in his heart. How could a fellow human do this to another fellow human? He was fine with using guns to kill people, which would immediately end a person's life, but making them suffer like this is just messed up.
Thinking about it from one angle, Alec felt guilt in his heart. If he had not divided the group, Matias and his two subordinates would be probably alive. Furthermore, thinking about it from another angle, maybe he made a good choice. If he had entered the room where Matias and his men were brutally cooked, it would have been a mission failed, which meant that he was doomed.
Looking at all of his injuries, he was worried he would take all of the injuries to the real world. His left eye was already damaged, and while he could still see from the right eye, his vision was a little bit fuzzy. His waist was hurting him too much, as a result of not giving the wound a chance to heal.
Even with all these, he was still relatively fine, at most. With Matias's condition, even doctors would beg for him to end his life.
Why was he even sympathizing with this dude? Alec assumed everyone here was an NPC, which meant that they weren't real. So whether anyone died or not does change anything at all. These people could respawn, as this is a game.
"I don't have much time, boss. Give me the chance to kill as many people as I can at this party. I bet they are having a good time, but what's gonna happen to them next...", Matias gritted his teeth in anger.
It was then Alec realized Matias was strapped to a timebomb. He tightly wrapped all kinds of explosives on his boy and set the time to ten seconds. Thankfully the timer wasn't activated yet.
Alec had no qualms in letting him detonate himself. If he was in his situation, with what he was suffering, he would have done the same. "No problem Matias", Alec said and gave way for him to pass. Matias walked to the door and stuck a bunch of TNT on the door with tape, and activated the timer.
Alec wanted to tell him that the door was easy to open, but chose not to say anything. Matias probably knew that. He simply wanted to destroy anything he could lay his hands on. Five seconds later, an ear-shattering explosion was heard.
Matias immediately ran into the room and towards the crowd that was delighting themselves. Alec assisted Matias and killed off any guards that wanted to stop him. He slowly walked to the door's entrance and watched what was happening on the inside.
The old man and his wife were seated close to each other in the far end of the large parlour. The guests inside were so many, Alec estimated their numbers to be around three hundred.
"Hello everyone, sorry to be the party pooper", Matias cackled and approached the middle of the parlour. The mafia boss looked at Matias with horror, jumped away from his chair, and grabbed his wife, in an attempt to run.
The guests became disorientated seeing all the bombs on Matias's body and desperately ran out of the room. Alec hid beside the door and watched the escaping guests run out of the parlor towards the exit.
"F**k these thugs", the mafia boss cursed and ran towards the corner of the room. This was when Alec pressed the small button trigger, and all the exquisite decorations detonated, sending chards of metal and wood fragments in the air.
Some of the metal chards hit the mafia's wife, and she dropped down, dead, with her entire face bent inside. She was unfortunately too close to one of the detonated bombs.
The mafia boss screamed in agony as he saw his dead wife."No, no, please no, this cannot happen!" The mafia boss held her corpse and shook her in a bid to wake her up.
By then, Matias approached the old man that crouched on the ground with his wife. He simply activated the bomb, and the timer started a one-minute countdown.
Matias stared at the old man without expression. The mafia boss stared at him in disdain, "You think you can do this and leave unscathed? Ha, that's a joke", the old man said in rage. Matias simply stayed silent and waited for the timer to reach zero.
At that time, Alec came into the parlour and approached Matias. The mafia boss looked at Alec and sneered. "You don't deserve to live Santiago. I own your life, and I can take them as I please. If you beg for forgiveness, I will spare our lives, and at least make you live amongst my dogs", the old man spoke, looking at Alec in his eye.
Alec seemed to know what the mafia boss was thinking, so he simply smiled. Moments ago, while he was looking for the parlour, he stumbled across a room filled with ammunition, so he took a crate of grenades and a fishing line. He used created a trigger for anyone that was approaching the parlour.
Just as Alec smiled, there was a loud explosion. Then, there was another. Alec gazed at the mafia boss's face as he gaped in horror. "Don't worry, this time, no one is coming to save you", Alec brought out his Desert eagle gun and pointed it at his head.
"No boss, don't kill him with a gun. He doesn't deserve to die quickly. Let him suffer the pain of detonating to fragments", Matias spoke without looking at Alec. Alec nodded and withdrew his gun. Just then, the timer began beeping.
"Please leave boss. It's good knowing you", Matias spoke again with a complicated expression. Alec glanced at him for the last time, before leaving the parlourr. "Good knowing you too", Alec mumbled.
Moments later, there was a loud explosion. The explosion magnitude was so large, it seriously affected the mansion's foundation. Soon, the walls began showing deep cracks, and the ceiling was caving in. Alec immediately ran out of the mansion and looked back as the majestic building was slowly crashing to the ground.
"Killed the Mafia Boss Confirmed: Mission Complete."
"Kill the Mafia Boss Successful. Points gained: 20 points.
"Congratulations, you've completed your first mission. You will be sent back to reality in 2 hours."
Alec stared at these prompts and sighed in relief. He sat down on a slab of stone and laid his gun on the floor. This was an exhilarating experience for him. If he told anyone in school about all of these, they would think he was crazy.
Alec's emotion was complicated thinking back at all these events that had occurred. He knew how to use a gun, he killed his fellow humans, he became a boss, he even knew how to drive a car, all because of this game.
Not that he had any choice though.
Alec wasn't even sure if he would still be the innocent, determined kid he was before this. While he might seem fine on the outside, he was nothing but a scrambled, seasoned thug on the inside.
What was going to happen to these people if he leaves the game? Alec dwelled on the question, but he couldn't answer. Mateo saw Alec from afar and approached him.
"Boss, the mission is complete. We did it", Mateo said and smiled weakly. Although they won, it came at a cost of so many lives. Sometimes, he thought if all these were worth it.
"Yes, we did", Alec said while looking at the dilapidated mansion and nodded weakly. "So, what now boss?" Mateo sat on a stone slab nearest to Alec and looked at him intently.
"I... I don't know", Alec replied. He honestly didn't have any future plans as of now. Since the game was going to end in less than an hour, it didn't make sense to make future arrangements. But he knew what to do.
"Mateo, listen to me. What you did wasn't right. You turn away from your brothers and became a traitor. However, you redeemed yourself, which was good. From now on, you are the boss. Congratulations", Alec looked at him and handed him a burner phone.
Mateo collected it dumbfounded. "Boss, you don't mean it. I betrayed my people, why would you make me be the boss?" Mateo suspected Alec had brain damage.
Alec smiled as the breeze blew gently past him. The atmosphere seemed very peaceful and beautiful. "I don't know, but I'm no longer the boss anymore, so I have no say about this. Take this recording and play it to the rest of your people. Tell them a new boss is born", Alec stood up and left the mansion's premises, leaving Mateo in shock.
"Where are you going?" Mateo could not help but ask. Alec looked at the setting sun on the horizon and closed his eyes. "Home", he said.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Two minutes before the game ended, Alec drove to Diego's apartment. It was already yellow-taped, but he didn't mind. He walked to the sitting room and sat down on the damaged sofa. Memories flood through his mind. Four month ago, he was saved by the only person that deserved the term "brother in times of distress".
He headed to the shooting range and approached the section where he learned how to use a gun. He looked at the holes he made while perfecting his target. Alec remembered how Diego would adjust his posture and align his gun properly.
Subconsciously, he rubbed the necklace in his pocket and pondered. These feelings about non-existent characters, how do I shake it off?
Just then the system displayed a ten-seconds countdown. Alec sat on the chair and closed his eyes.
Just then he felt his environment warped, and his consciousness flickered. This feeling took up to what it seemed like thirty seconds until his senses were restored. Alec began to feel the Nintendo headset on his face. This time, it was easy to remove from his face. He took a long breath in his room and looked around.
"Are you okay?" Alec was startled by the voice, and he looked back. It was his roommate girlfriend. Alec sighed. Wait, she was still here? He immediately looked at the time in his laptop. Ten minutes before the lesson.