Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Right at this moment, I saw the bloater/sprinter that was chasing after me tumble—like a person wearing high-heels do that shake shit—before it collapsed on the floor. I saw its right shin break inward before the other broke to the side, causing the bones to tear open its leg, making any movement impossible.

Despite that, its short flabby arms were still trying to reach for me but I quickly slashed them off before sinking my blade into its skull.

Its flesh and bones—like the rest of the bloaters I took down earlier—felt a little denser than an average human body but it was still far compared to the hulker we encountered. The hulker felt like cutting through kevlar while using a rusted butter knife while this one felt like digging through ice cream with a flimsy spoon.

'One more thing to do…'

Before this night ends, I'm sure more bodies would drop to the floor but even if we'd be the cause for some of them, the ones that would be left should know who'd be looking after and who'd be in charge after them.

I quickly turned my body to face the outer ring where the others had run from and aside from taking care of the deadheads that tried to bite my face off, I wanted to retrieve the body of the participant who fell to one of the bloaters so he'd at least have more or less a whole body instead of something that needed to be pieced together.

Obviously enough, there was also a carpet of rotting corpses on this side but it seemed like they pulled out the shorter end of the stick.

A lot more deadheads were present and to make matters worse, there were three more bloaters present even if there were already five that were taken down.

They were taken down methodically at first but the trouble started when they reached the midpoint. Looking at the state of the bodies on this side, they also tried to receive them like we normally would but once the dominoes started falling down, there was no choice but to retreat.

Luckily for me, almost half of what was left turned to the other side and was being taken care of by my group and the others that joined them, and all I needed to watch out for was my footing and positioning.

In my head, I was making sure that my foot would step outside the dozens of dozens of chalk outlines that were already there and would be once I flicked my wrist and slashed down with my swords.

My body never felt so light and warm around these cold and moving bodies, but it didn't take long before I reached my short pit stop.

The person I was looking for had already breathed his last—and half of his body was already eaten or crushed—though he still hadn't turned and his face was still recognizable.

I quickly swung down to take care of the bloater on top of him but I still had to take care of a bunch that was made aware of my presence.

Bodies just dropped as heads rolled and it only got easier when I caught a glimpse of the group from the other side. They were busy taking down the business I left for them and once I started to face deadheads that were looking the other way, I almost felt sorry for the free kill.

Unless they could twist their heads like an owl or bend their joints the other way like it was nothing, they had no way to defend themselves.

From this point on, the rest of the encounter was easy because we've already dealt with the ones that had a higher challenge rating compared to the regular mobs but it still wasn't over.

The way to win this game was to find a way to get whatever the fuck was inside the vault and place it on the podium on the stage— and I just might have the way to do it.

With that said, it didn't take long before the others started to lynch the vault in question—even prompting to steal Number 24's crowbar so that they'd have a prying tool—but the look on their faces when I slapped what looked like an explosive charge on the vault door was fucking priceless.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!"

"THEY SAID NO GUNS—"

"That's… That's not a gun…"

"BUT STILL!"

As I said earlier, there were only nine explosions but if what I found on the tenth shipping container while the rest were busy doing caveman shit was really an explosive charge, it'd be impossible to use it without the detonator. Furthermore, shooting it wouldn't do shit because we were not even allowed to use guns, and unless what I found was a batch of Tannerite, it would take a lot more to get through this door and the explosion after would be dangerous.

In any case, this "explosive charge" was actually a disguised thermite charge.

There were four bricks of "C4" in total but after cutting one up, it revealed fine powder that had different colors. Furthermore, the device that was used to "arm" them was actually a battery-powered firestarter to light up the sulfur powder so that the rest of the materials mixed along with it would light up as well, causing a fire and probably enough heat to melt through a vault door.

At this point, the game would've been already over but there was one more problem.

I turned to the group of people that wasn't in our party and I casually wiped the blood off my blade that had the remnants of what they ran from. Furthermore, I released the tiniest bit of pressure— but to my surprise, they quickly took a step back so I withdrew it almost immediately.

I sighed before I looked them in the eye, "All I needed to do is to push that button there to light it up and the vault door would just melt. After that, I'll just pick up whatever the fuck is inside it and then we'll win. Problem?"

"..."

"If all of you are gonna try to interfere, our pair teamed up with the De Leon and the Garcia Family and we could do this right now—"

"N-No… You can take it…"

"Yeah…"

"I'm just happy I survived…"

"No problem here…"

At this point, the realization just struck.

The reason I couldn't recognize them and the reason they probably ran from the threat while their tail was tucked between their legs was that they were simply just pawns.

Before the games even started, we saw a highlight reel of everyone who became champions— or the winners of Mr. Cuervo's events but none of them were even here. Sure, they had some fighting ability to some extent but everyone already had it.

Having the biggest balls to swing around was much harder to find than people who could stick a knife to a head or break a skull with a bat, and it seemed I was with the latter.

With that said, it didn't take long before I lit up the vault, and everyone that hadn't seen how a thermite charge works were struck with wonder.

It only took a few seconds before I finally had access to the vault but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what was inside it.

'Seriously?'

Quinn and Tatiana were hawking from behind but they were as confused as they saw me pull out a velvet case that had a pair of rings inside them. Furthermore, it also had an old knife that had engravings that were almost unreadable though the words 'one', 'forever', and 'unity' could be read perfectly.

At this point, I simply walked up to the stage and placed the velvet case on the podium but I almost got surprised when wedding music suddenly resounded.

'S-Seriously?!'

I didn't know what to fucking do at this point but once Mr. Cuervo, a priest, the bride, and the groom were brought up from below, I was still fucking confused. Furthermore, it was as if everyone knew this was gonna happen because almost everyone from the viewing platforms stood up and shouted cheers and teased alike.

'Seriously… Right here? In this pile of corpses— Nevermind…'

I looked like I was trying to look right and left at the same time but Mr. Cuervo pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. While this was happening, Tatiana and the rest were also confused as fuck but they also stood in line while being covered in the same shit I was.

"Cool, huh?"

I whispered back, "Seriously? I thought I was weird. How about the games?"

"Heh. The games will continue after this, don't worry. They're just too impatient to just watch from the screen and they kinda dig this atmosphere. It seems a little crass—even for my tastes—but it has some aesthetic to it. Tell me, it's kinda fitting in this time, no?"

"I guess they have a bit in common, at least."

"Are you kidding me? They have a lot in common. They're getting married, remember?"

"Huh? Isn't this just political or something?"

"Yeah— but, you'll understand later. Fuck, we should be quiet. It's starting…"

"...sure."

Never in my life that I thought I'd attend a wedding where I'd be surrounded by cartel members, dead bodies, prostitutes, a giantess, bald grease monkeys, friends, and whatever the fuck while being covered in blood because I had just taken down a few hundred deadheads in a quick and brutal fashion.

It was the weirdest fucking feeling—and that was coming from me—but I guess the wedding is about to start.