Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Examining each poorly hollowed-out skull in the table, I believe we've seen such growth before—not just in size but also density, at least some of them. While it was true that it would need a bit more oomph to get through to the thicker and denser ones, unless they could completely deflect bullets— much less a .22 caliber round, we wouldn't worry too much about it at the current moment.

But yeah, while there were anomalies like Hulkers or a type of Stitcher that could take more than one shot to the head either by its sheer physicality or ability to "equip" more heads, the vast majority of our enemies would drop down with a simple nick to its weak point.

On another note, a hollowed one—or a coconut, new working title—had already had its head punctured so its ability to take bullets to the head doesn't count.

In any case, the best course of action was to document their findings and then send them over to Mindanao, Davao City, where the president and the nation's scientist—including the ones from Japan were.

Then Oscar opened up with his usual line for the first time in a while, "What's the plan today, kid?"

"Japan is on the top of my lists— and yeah, I have several."

"Heh, anything I can help you with?"

"I mean~ The two other things I'm worried about except the clean-up of Manila Bay is already being handled by Quinn's group, other than that, I have my own stuff to deal with and prepare for as well."

"And what's that— Oh, you mean the flares and shit?"

I nodded, "Yes, it's one of them— Ah. Wait, forget about it…"

"What? Tell me, kid!"

"It's about our contact in the Kadena Airbase in Japan but the Admiral can only do so much—"

Oscar never looked so offended, "You got me and Johnny over there! Why not let us try?!"

"I mean— The Admiral—"

"Fuck the Admiral—" then he suddenly turned to Ella, "No offense, lass, I was just—"

"I-It's fine, really— AKchK! I just choked— T'was so sudden, no?" Ella replied, wiping the food off her mouth.

Oscar turned to me again, "Who's your contact?"

"I wanted to speak to this Commander Tachikawa but this Jizz-o dude who pissed me off is doing his best to annoy me. But yeah, I'm still in contact with Mr. Sanders in the meantime and we've been talking about shit."

"Hmmrghgh… Then… Hmm… I'll be in Manila for a bit if you don't have anything for me? I'll kill some time there in the meantime."

"Sure, old man. I wish I could fast-forward this menial shit for you."

"Hah! It's bound to happen. I just need some—"

"Wait. I think I can."

"Haah? How?"

Fast-forward a few more days, while the Manila Bay still wasn't completely clear of its dead bodies or the trash coming from the Pasig River, it had enough space where we could use our ship to head back to Cuervo Heights, for a short moment.

And yeah, I did bring my little ol' group and my trainees—including the Mayor's pups, and it was for a little excursion.

The reason I said that was because I'd only spend a day or so in Cuervo Heights and see what was up before moving on ahead and sailing to Quezon Province, specifically General Luna, Quezon, where Unc Junior, Aunt Michelle, and Ariel—my other worker who said goodbye the moment it hit this country.

Joe approached me as soon as we left the harbor, "Bro! Bro! What's this Cuervo Heights my rival group has been raving about?! And we'll only be there for two days?! I—"

"Jeez, settle down, heh. The games are only held on Fridays and it's still Tuesday. We'll get there in a few hours and—"

"And we'll be leaving again right as the games start!"

"You can stay put if you want but you'll be under me."

"W-What? Explain, please! I-I dunno shit—"

With that said, I gathered everyone who wasn't in the know first and their heads just exploded from the realization. Obviously, this type of thing should be on the down low but one of the biggest DDR Camps was already a member, how much low-key could we get from this arrangement?

But yeah, as soon as we arrived at the docks, I introduced everyone in my crew to Jesus and his crew since they were the only ones present to welcome us.

Of course, they led the convoy and we dropped by Irene's place for a short bit, dropping off supplies before heading to where Cuervo Heights was.

And obviously, it wasn't as lively compared to when Friday was really close but its area of influence had definitely gotten bigger. Because while the whole of Cuervo Heights was the same size, the outer layers had increased in volume, representing each family allied with Mr. Cuervo including us.

'What happened here?'

To my surprise, a portion of the soldiers from the Academy were present in our enclosure while the rest were civilians or just wearing civilian clothing.

It was almost a mix of my own and the Academy's people but there were probably a dozen or so people I could recognize from the hundred or so randoms present in my supposed territory.

But yeah, all of those people lost their fucking shit when they recognized who I fucking was just from the vehicles we were using as we drove inside Cuervo Heights.

As much as I would've loved to check my supposed enclosure out, we still have our place of residence inside Cuervo Heights and our very own underground floor with my specialized ID card.

It's just that I didn't expect that I'd have that many members—or maybe just visitors or prospects—from the short amount of time I was away from this area. If anything, I would prefer to screen each and every one of them but let's be fucking real here, it'd be a miracle if we can fish up someone without a bloody ledger.

But yeah, as soon as we parked by the Ishiyama Family House, we were welcomed by Ilya, Faith, and surprisingly enough, the General—JP's dad—and Major Perez.

JP couldn't believe himself, "Wha— Dad— I mean—" Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

The General cut him off, "Dad's fine, how're you doing, JP?"

With that said, JP and the General moved on to one corner of our residence while Ilya and Faith moved over to meet with everyone else, especially to check on Mikhail and Alexei. Unfortunately, Marisha still didn't deem Alexander to be safe for travel yet so he wasn't with us at the current moment—much like Artem, Katya, Ibarra, Natasha, and a few more from our usual gatherings.

But yeah, Major Perez walked up to me seemingly eager to speak with me privately.

"I wanna talk to you, kid."

"I kind of wanna talk to you, too."

At that point, he just pulled me to one of the lawn chairs laying around before he was served a cup of coffee by one of his attendants. Yeah, and it was the same bunny girl from before who thought I was a nobody at first.

He started after a sip, "This place is thriving. I kind of like it here."

I chuckled, "You even roped the General to come here, how'd you manage to do that?"

"Hah! Ropin' that serious fuck to come here? Not a chance! He knows what's going on here but the reason he's here is because of his kid."

"Ah. I see, then how about the other cadets and soldiers outside? How'd they manage to get in here?"

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about."

"Hmm?"

"You're literally the figure head of the Ishiyama Family. They're letting us stay here because of you but we're not really in any one of the families here, ya dig?"

"So?"

"They just— We need your actual blessing so that they'd be official."

"Why do they wanna join here?"

"Hah? You fuckin' serious, kid? Look at this place! It's—"

"Thriving, I heard."

"Yeah. And even though this place is a den for organized crime, it's a pretty good den, no? Believe it or not all it takes is to share a drink or a blunt with one of these folks and you'll be set. It's just that expensive to purchase shit if you don't belong in any of the families. Heck, we just scrape by because of Ilya and the few others under you.

They just do the purchases for us all the time… with a small cut, of course."

"I see."

"Then…?"

"Then what?"

"Are you gonna take them in or what?! That's the whole point of this conversation!"

"Heh. You could've just joined the other families—"

"Don't kid yourself, kid, what about loyalty, huh?"

"Jeez~ I can't even joke around now?"

"You—"

"Fine. Looks like Mr. Cuervo's still busy, before the night ends, my group will screen all of them."

"Screen? How?"

"Heh. You'll find out soon enough."