Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Moving over to my designated family enclosure, I brought over everyone else, except for JP and The General, and I had them create a dirt circle for the tryouts. In addition, I had a few tables and chairs for interviews and for the submission of applications—and a small area for our medical crew.

While it was true I had more or less interviewed the cadets from the Academy, there were other soldiers willing to sign up under me and random people who just showed up and wanted to be a part of it as well.

But yeah, Joe took it upon himself to be the presenter for the people applying to be fighters—Tatiana being the referee as usual, but there were still a few people either too drunk or too stupid, heck, too egotistical to not follow the assessment procedures.

Because right as Joe was about to officiate the first match between one of the Academy's soldiers and a cartel rando, a handful of dudes came up to my table and demanded to apply through me instead.

'The fuck?'

While I'm not entirely sure if they were living under a rock or were complete masochists, since it seemed like my reputation had declined from the time I was away, I decided to just look them in the eye and entertain them in whatever way I could.

"Hey! You hearin' me, champ?!" The biggest guy in the middle slammed his hands on the table and got right up in my face.

I chuckled, "I'm hearing you just right but are you seeing right, my friend?"

"Stop playing, bruh— This shit's wack, if I wanna fight someone strong, I wanna aim for the best! Why don't I show you—"

I cut him off, "I know I'm the fucking best, I won everything Mr. Cuervo threw at me—"

"That's right—"

"But who the fuck are you?"

"What—"

"I didn't come all the way here and follow the rules of the ones on top just for you to skip through me just to prove yourself. Look, if you and your gang think you're the best, cool, roll with that. Better yet, why don't you establish yourself without me—but if you really wanna see what's up, I'll humor you—but it's gonna be next to fucking lethal. You cool with that?"

He never smiled so wide, "Didn't that still mean a yes?"

"Basically a verbal agreement to beat you half to death, or you get saved by my ref if the fight gets too brutal if you do it the normal way—"

"HAH! Who's gonna stop me, her?!"

"The fuck did you just say?" Tatiana said from behind this dude.

"Wha—"

Long story short, the big dude and his cohorts—who I didn't even get the chance to ask their names were, were beaten senseless by Tatiana. However, Tatiana just ended up having more followers as they eventually joined Enrique's very own Tatiana Fan Club.

The fight club still continued after that brief interruption but it's sad to say that I didn't see anyone who stood out.

I've been pretty lucky from picking out gems in the rough and now it seemed like I had to look a little harder or in some cases, poach some members from the other families. It's just that that move was a no-no, and if it ever came to that, I had to pay a certain fee plus the person's exit interview was a toss-up.

Depending on the family they'd leave, they could be joining me with a few bruises or a missing pinky—but I'd rather pay with more material things just to keep my future employee intact.

In any case, as Oscar said, it had been a little boring ever since I took the mantle of several high-ranking positions—and more often than not, other people were doing the jobs for me. While it was good and all there were some jobs I wanted to do myself but— wait.

'Hold on a fucking minute… I mean… They can do those jobs for me but it doesn't mean I CAN'T, right? And yeah, I've been sitting in my ass for way~ too long!'

So yeah, before the crowd dispersed, get treated, interviewed, or something else along those lines, I began drawing a circle by my feet before I said loud enough for everyone to hear:

"This shit is boring the hell outta me!"

Embarrassingly enough, almost everyone just looked at me confused but I involved everyone present in a bet. Obviously, it involved getting me out of this circle but there were a few things I would like to add onto it.

"Everyone who got their ass handed to them or thought it was over, I'mma give you all another chance. Don't just think about getting into my family at this moment… just look at everything I have on me right now.

Besides my blades, I'll give you the exact same thing as what I have on me if you make me walk out of this circle—and not only that, I'll even guarantee you a gold coin once the game starts."

At first, everyone definitely got excited but it took me maybe one or two minutes before I realized that 99% of the people present wouldn't want to tango with me, much less, fight tooth and nail just to get me out of my spot.

I was the Champion of Champions for a reason and they weren't that stupid to get beat up for no reason as well.

And yeah, I wouldn't just offer these things if I wasn't confident in my own abilities and it seemed like I was known too much besides the handful of goons Tatiana beat up for me.

But of course, the first person on the line of people I knew already was Mikhail.

"You said it's for everyone, right? You fuckin' weeb."

"Yep."
Experience more on My Virtual Library Empire

"I need more specifics though."

"You're asking for specifics? Isn't the rule too simple?"

"I'm not losing on a technicality though, I've been duped enough by you. Do you just have to have your pinky toe out of the line or your whole body for it to count?"

"Ohh~ I see, I see. Wanna make it easy for yourself or do you want a challenge?"

"You already know the answer to that, Boss—"

"Easy it is—"

"HAH?! Hard! HARD! I want it hard— I want a challenge!"

"Pfft— Hah! That sounded a little but— Sure! The moment my whole body's out this circle, I lose. Anything of mine still inside it still counts as my own limbs as long as I still have a firm grasp on it. How about that?"

"Fair. I think I'm ready."

"For what? I could've given you all this shit if you asked."

"It's not about that, alright? It's just all in good manly fun!"

"Cringe."

"Oh, shut up! Here I—"

Right from the fucking get-go, Mikhail opened with a dirt toss using his boots before rushing me and attempting to grab onto my clothes. But to his surprise, he never thought I'd aim for his throat and his groin at the same time—using the tip of my fingers and my boot—and it instantly stopped him dead in his tracks.

However, with the circle just as wide as my wingspan, all he needed to do was invade my space and push me off, so right as his legs buckled, he tried to fall on top of me but I dug deep and tried to squat this huge-ass Russian oaf.

On a good night, Mikhail was easily 300 pounds where 80% was muscle, but with my current powerlifting program, I can squat his weight for reps and reps and reps.

So to everybody's fucking shock, I threw his ass to the side without using a lifting belt, but he just rolled on the dirt to gather himself. Those "illegal" hits wouldn't be enough to knock this fucking guy out but what it did was fucking piss him off.

Because from all our spars, we never went for those types of moves but what we were doing right now wasn't a spar and even though this was supposed to be a manly fight, he started doing dirty shit by kicking dirt towards me.

Still, I faced off with an actual bull but it was with me holding my katana.

This time, while I technically had it on me including my sidearms, I didn't intend to use it as a weapon to kill but as a utility tool. However, now was just not the time to use them but instead, to use something a little more intangible to further my use on it.

"Hooo…"

With a simple exhale, the area around my circle had started to get cold but everything else around it, including the space Mikhail was invading was quite normal. But the moment he got into my "domain" for his second rush, his concentration buckled for a quick second before I threw a right straight to where his solar plexus was located.