Prologue (Rewritten)

Chapter 0 - Prologue

"While other countries nurture their geniuses, we destroy ours."

A short phrase but loaded with great meaning.

An incredibly famous case about how Brazil treats those who try to improve the country is the case of João Gurgel. Since university, Gurgel's goal was to create a 100% national car. However, no one, not even his own professor, believed in his dream, bluntly stating: "Cars in Brazil are not made, they are only bought."

Gurgel did not care about this; instead, he went to the USA where he worked at General Motors, acquiring the necessary knowledge to then start his dream. Returning to Brazil, Gurgel secured some investors and used his savings to open a factory in São Paulo.

From the creation of the company, Gurgel took the first step towards his youthful dream. Between the 70s and 80s, the factory created several models, many of which were integrated into the armed forces, while others were used by the police and the fire department, even creating the first electric car model in Latin America in the eighties.

Unfortunately, due to pressure from foreign companies and concessions by the president at the time, lowering the value of foreign cars and easing taxes while giving more space to international manufacturers, the population decided to abandon national vehicles and started buying cars from more established and famous companies.

As a result, Gurgel's cars were sidelined, leading to a crisis in the company. João Gurgel still tried to keep the doors open, seeking loans, but unfortunately, these were denied. In 1994, Gurgel closed its doors, declaring bankruptcy and selling the brand for a mere 850 reais ($229.72 at the time).

Growing up in such a socially destroyed country is a challenge. It is like playing Dark Souls for the first time, but here you are blindfolded with no exact direction to follow.

Basic education is precarious, healthcare is inaccessible for many, rights are ignored or not guaranteed, and security is for the few. In a country where even, your basic dignity is denied, the people laugh to keep from crying, and even that smile is exploited to portray a false image of a happy and cheerful populace when in fact everyone is neck-deep in despair, seeking help.

Of course, part of this is the fault of the population itself, which has unfortunately, for the most part, fallen into a state of social decay, unconsciously developing the "vira-lata" (underdog) syndrome. Due to excessive complacency, where if most of their basic needs are met and the status quo is maintained, they are content to live in a country increasingly in debt and tarnishing its image before the world, without genuinely caring about making significant changes and serving merely as pawns and a manipulated mass.

But not everyone is like that; there are still those who fight for improvements. For example, a mother who wakes up at 4 AM, prepares breakfast for her children, and then takes three different transports to a job that pays no more than a meager 1,412 reais per month ($282.71/current salary in 2024). After exhausting 10-hour workdays, often humiliated, she returns home, tired, but with a smile on her face, still tries to help her children with their studies, often studying with them in a night course, with the often vain hope that they can live a life different from hers, just another in the concrete jungle, without dignity and without a future, condemned to a mediocre life as just another.

BANG, BANG, BANG

In a parked vehicle, a man in his fifties was shot by the driver who, after firing at him, ran away, leaving him there to die. His name was Carlos Dias, a former military man and newly elected mayor of Cachoerinha in Maranhão.

Coming from what is now known as a 'dysfunctional family' and raised solely by his mother, Carlos grew up in a simple neighborhood in the small town. Although they were not rich, he still attended a private school where his mother was a teacher.

At 18, Carlos joined the army for mandatory service and there took a liking to military life, deciding to pursue a career in the army. After a year of mandatory service, Carlos requested enlistment and stayed for another 12 months, while studying to join the officer training school and pass the ESA exam, School of Arms Sergeants.

At 22, Carlos was promoted to 3rd Sergeant and transferred to the state of Minas Gerais, allocated to the 14th Artillery Group. He ended up staying there for almost 3 years but realized that it was not what he wanted for himself. So, whenever possible, Carlos enrolled in commando courses. Although he failed a few times, his persistence and tenacity were recognized when he was accepted into the 1st BAC.

As a commando, Carlos participated in two operations on foreign soil: The first being Operation Tiger in 2004 in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, and the second Operation Iron Fist in 2005 during the pacification of Haiti. Carlos remained in Haiti until 2009, before returning to Brazil already as a 2nd Lieutenant.

Returning to the country, Carlos decided it was time to settle down a bit and returned home for his much-deserved vacation. In his small town, he encountered busier streets, still filled with simple and hardworking people.

In 30 days, Carlos reconnected with his old friends and enjoyed the life of a single young man before being sent to assist in the training of new commandos. However, during one of those nights out, Carlos ended up getting involved with a girl who became pregnant.

Initially, Carlos did not think the child was his, but after a DNA test confirmed his paternity, he decided to take responsibility for the child, even if he would not marry the girl.

It was not that Carlos did not want children, it was just that he did not want children like this, from a stranger he slept with one night. He did not intend to be an absent father, but due to his job in the army and his constant search for action, he certainly would not be very present, or so he thought.

Due to a complication during the postpartum period, the mother of his daughter ended up passing away, forcing Carlos to abandon his career as an officer and request discharge to join the police force.

Of course, there was the possibility of hiring someone to take care of his daughter or relying on a relative, but Carlos was not a kid; he knew his responsibilities and priorities as a man and as a father. After six months, Carlos accepted the position of 1st Lieutenant in the Military Police of his town.

Carlos stayed in the police force for almost 15 years before retiring as a Major at 45 and deciding to enter politics.

Initially, he had no interest in getting involved in politics. He knew about the corruption scandals in all public spheres, even in the army that he loved so much, and sought to stay away from it. Carlos was not an idealist who saw everything through a narrow light, believing that there was only right and wrong, that everything was black or white, but that did not mean he did not care. For him, it did not matter who was in government, if he and his daughter were well, everything else was irrelevant.

However, with the advent of social networks between 2010 and 2022, the political crisis that plagued the country, making the people divide into two sides, destroying families and separating friends, and with increasingly absurd scandals, even someone like Carlos, who lived in his comfort zone, became outraged.

For him, the last straw was the case of former deputy Roberto Jefferson, who fired a rifle and threw three grenades at a Federal Police car, injuring two officers who were serving a warrant against him.

At the end of that disastrous operation, with Jefferson escorted out of his house, any respect Carlos had for the country's security forces ended. He realized that people like him were completely disposable and unnecessary, that they could never bring down those who really lived at the top.

With that in mind, something awakened in Carlos, and he decided he would take on this fight for himself, that he would change the system from the top and not from the bottom.

So, in 2024, Carlos entered political life as a council member in his small town of Cachoeirinha. Leveraging his reputation as a good officer, he was elected the highest-voted council member in the city, assuming the position of president of the city council.

Over the next eight years, Carlos proved to be a tough politician, scrutinizing any allegations and irregularities in schools and health centers. Two actions were particularly effective, leading to the arrest of three council members and several others for active corruption and various irregularities, making him a target.

In total, Carlos survived five direct assassination attempts, along with numerous efforts to tarnish his public image with false accusations. Unfortunately for his adversaries, none of these efforts were successful. In 2032, at 53, Carlos won the mayoral election and was on the brink of taking another step forward when he was suddenly shot by his trusted security guard and friend.

Carlos did not know the reason for such betrayal and did not care. The bitter, metallic taste of blood in his mouth and the difficulty breathing indicated that the bullets had hit his lung, so he knew he did not have much time left.

He tried to remove his cell phone from his pocket and, with immense effort, succeeded. He wanted to call his daughter, to hear her voice one last time, but his blood-stained hand prevented biometric access.

Carlos felt his vision begin to darken, and in his last moments, he focused his eyes on his lock screen photo, where he was holding his daughter when she was a baby on her first birthday.

Thus, on the night of February 17, 2032, at 9:42 PM, Carlos Dias, mayor of Cachoeirinha, died at 53 due to cardiac arrest caused by excessive bleeding after being shot three times in the chest.

His assailant, a security guard and close friend, was found two days later hanged in an abandoned warehouse. The police also found a suicide note explaining that the motive for the murder was a fight after the mayor refused a salary increase and a dismissal due to the security guard's drug abuse.

Examinations found traces of cocaine in the shooter's body.

A few days after Carlos's death, his body was mourned in the presence of his daughter, who lived in the capital with her husband and their one-year-old son, his mother, an elderly lady, and a few close friends.

The commotion in the city during the burial procession was significant, with many still not believing the causes of Carlos's death. This continued for about a month before things began to calm down. His daughter soon returned to the capital, leaving her grandmother with a caregiver.

As the days passed, people talked less and less about Carlos. As the months went by, only close friends briefly mentioned him, and even they began to forget. After a few years, his mother passed away, and even his daughter rarely visited his grave, making Carlos just another forgotten individual.