Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I wasn't even halfway done with my explanation when this Mason guy cut me off, but the crowd around us already made bets of their own. In this place, as long as betting was involved, you'd attract a large crowd and you'd walk away with bulging pockets if you were ever on the winning side.

However, the mistake the guy in front of me made will probably cost him his cheeks falling off.

But to make sure he's in for something he asked for, I still tried to finish explaining the rules of our bet.

"Let me finish. You get to slap me if I'm wrong but–"

"I get it, I get it! I get to slap you when you're fucking wrong– and you're obviously gonna be wrong without that earpiece, and you get to slap me when you're right– which will never fucking happen."

"That's about right. However…"

"Hmm?"

"Why don't we up the ante a little bit?"

"Are you stalling? Just spit it out so we could get it over with!"

"Let's also bet everything on our person. You know, after we tally the score."

"On our person?"

"Yeah. I get to keep everything that's on you right now. All your newly exchanged vouchers, your clothes, your jewelry, your gear, everything."

"Hmph! No deal. My shit's too expensive to–"

"Are you saying that you'll lose?"

"N-No! I'm saying–"

"Imagine me scurrying back to look for clothes– and my truck is a couple of enclosures away. That'll be fucking humiliating. If you're so sure that you'd win why–"

"Fuck it! I want to change a rule though."

"Do tell."

"No slapping until we tally the score! It's obvious that you will remember the first 3-5 cards from the deck and just guess the rest, so no slapping until–"

"You're pretty smart. I'd rather do it the other way but I'll give you that. No taking a break after the slapping starts though."

"Deal."

"Deal."

With that said, we shook hands to finalize the bet and he was wearing a cheeky smile as he ordered one of the dealers to fetch us ten fresh decks where he'd get to shuffle half of them while I'd get to use the other half to match him after looking at the shuffled order once.

At this point, the whole crowd became the judge and the jury for what would happen next, and Quinn volunteered to be the one to make sure no one would try any funny business.

On the other hand, Tatiana already lost interest because she knew the final outcome, but she stayed behind to make sure Mason wouldn't try to run from the scene. She was the only one here that knew about my Photographic Memory while Quinn was just excited to see it in action, whether it was real or not.

I even took off the earpiece that I was supposedly using to 'cheat', and he eventually shuffled the decks in front of us after rolling both of his sleeves up.

The whole crowd just patiently watched him shuffle the decks and he just placed each of them in front of me after he was done.

Mason was looking me straight in the eye as I picked up the first one, but I just let out a faint smile as I looked at each card.

'Two of Diamonds, Three of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Six of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Seven of Clubs, Nine of Hearts, Two of Spades, Four of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Three of Hearts, King of Clubs, Seven of Hearts…'

It was just too fucking easy.

Several 'screenshots' were popping into my head in a chronological manner, and the moment I placed down the deck of cards back on the table, I could already play it in my head as many times as I wanted.

I just repeated the same process with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th deck, and after that, everyone just watched me rearrange the five decks on my side.

The quiet was almost deafening as I took my sweet time restacking the cards on top of one another, and I could already see how slightly nervous Mason looked when I was doing it confidently. A bead of sweat was dropping down on the side of his head when I gave him a smirk, yet he was still trying to put up a brave face while making sure I wasn't doing anything funny.

'Look all you want but you'll find nothing because there's nothing to find…'

However, like the topic we talked about with Quinn, it was easier to do something nice compared to totally humiliating people you were working with.

I eventually finished 'stacking' the decks and I placed them opposite of the decks Mason shuffled.

Quinn spoke up, "Shall I?"

"Yeah."

"Go ahead."

With that said, Quinn asked Tatiana to flip the cards at the same time as her while the official I was talking to earlier was in charge of counting the cards I 'guessed' right.

One by one, Quinn and Tatiana started to flip the cards over in front of everyone present and if anyone would just look at the cards being flipped over, it was like a mirror image. Applause and gasps welcomed us with the first few cards but the moment the last card was flipped over, there was complete and total silence.

"Fif… F-Fifty-two c-correct answers… P-Perfect score…"

The look on everyone's faces told me that they thought that it was all over but I quickly cut them off before they started throwing Mason jeering looks.

"Everyone, stop. There are four more decks to go–"

Quinn cut me off, "Seriously? After that display? Mason should be–"

"Please, flip the cards over until the last one."

"..."

"Please?"

"Fine…"

Quinn and some of the crowd were already unwilling to let this farce continue but Tatiana already knew I was up to something. She just beckoned Quinn to follow my directions and they flipped the first card on the 2nd deck.

"What the–"

The look on Mason's face when the cards from the 2nd deck they flipped were actually different from one another was fucking priceless.

He couldn't understand what was happening as he was just directly looking in my direction, and the look of shock and confusion on his face didn't change when the official declared the score.

"Ze… Z-Zero correct answers… It's f-fifty-two to fifty-two…"

Instead of cheers and applause, mumbles and chattering echoed until the third set was revealed.

"Fif… Fifty-two correct answers… It's one hundred four to fifty-two…"

And to the fourth set.

"I-It's a t-tie again… One hundred four points on both sides…"

Mason didn't know what to do while I was just casually smiling back at him, but Quinn was already rolling her eyes exasperatedly. She already knew what I was up to the moment they revealed the 2nd deck, but I did a little something for the last one.

'Well, I did something to the 'losing' decks too…'

Everyone thought I'd be winning for fifty-two points because I was perfectly winning and perfectly losing, but I made it as tight as possible. I alternated winning and losing decks for the first four rounds but I alternated winning and losing cards for the last one.

"One hundred thirty to one hundred and thirty… It's a t-tie…"

I could've easily won all sets but I didn't.

I could've easily taken all of his belongings but I didn't.

I could've easily humiliated him in front of everyone but I didn't.

Well, I kinda humiliated him slightly by setting both of us up, but it was a thousand times better than winning all of the rounds, taking all of his shit, and making him scurry back to his hole naked.

Mason was still looking me in the eye but he picked up the decks I lost to.

'He noticed, huh? I guess he wasn't a complete idiot…'

He gathered them nicely before he lined them up in reverse order. One by one, the crowd started losing their heads because they thought I simply threw those rounds, but in actuality, I just stacked them in reverse order. Furthermore, I did the same thing with the last deck though it was a tad more complicated than the 2nd and the 4th one.

With that said, Mason just shook his head before he chuckled, and after that, his chuckle turned to laughter.

He kept laughing even if everyone was fucking quiet, but the next thing we knew, he was already undressing in front of everyone while he was throwing his vouchers, his jewelry, and his gear over the pile of cards on the table where we just conducted our bet.

I saw a couple of knuckle dusters, a huge-ass bowie knife, and an engraved 10mm pistol among other stuff he threw over, but the most eye-catching was the thick, golden Cuban necklace he took off from his neck.

It made a dull thud when it hit the table and the sound in itself told me it was a few kilograms.

Quinn spoke up, "Mason. You don't have to–"

Mason snapped at Quinn before turning to me, "Fuck off. Slap me, you bitch-ass. A bet's a fucking bet. You think I couldn't take it?"