Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Hearing that piece of information, while sharing thoughts was somehow possible for twins—like with Riri and Ruru, I didn't think there was such a thing as sharing consciousness with each other. It's a whole other thing to have another's psyche living in one's body already, and in Astra and Angel's case, they were somehow doing the same thing with each other.

It was like a step above what the twins could do because they could only live life as if they had an infinitely ongoing call with each other's consciousness while the other was straight-up sharing mind and body.

Still, I was a little apprehensive of that particular ability just because I have a ton of fucking questions regarding how it works.

Let's say they could split their consciousness in half and have it inside one body and vice versa, does it just affect memories? Can they talk in their heads in one body? Or does one go in standby mode? And regarding the twins, could they also share consciousness across bodies or do they have to meet up and share their meta-knowledge first?

But yeah, I could dig myself an even deeper rabbit hole with these thoughts—and in a way, it has some merits—still, I'm torn between dealing with the problem head-on by understanding it or dealing with it the old-fashioned way as we do with the undead.

In any case, I did remember Alexander shouting that we were fighting on the same side—and if any of that was true, I just might lose on a potential ally or be shooting myself in the foot for trusting an enemy. Because yeah, the realm of the mind was an unknown but powerful place and there was no definite study that could understand it fully.

While it was true that some people had a basic or an intermediate—yeah, even an advanced grasp of it, how can we be so sure that those were the levels of our current understanding?

Angel and Astra's—no, Astra's abilities— no, fuck it— I'm not even sure anymore that the ability belonged to a single person because if they were what they were, it was something I haven't read or heard of before.

Then Marisha's voice echoed:

"Hey, you're overthinking again, dear… How about you figure out your problem first before trying to figure out something even I don't have a complete understanding of. If anything, I see it as a plus because that'd be a kick-ass dissertation, no?"

I dryly chuckled, "Riiiight~ It just caused two of my men getting injured and one not able to leave this room—and many more depending on how you look at it—"

"Positively. That's how I look at it, positively. Remember, if you keep yourself surrounded with heavy thoughts, no matter how strong you think you are, you'll crumble. While I'm not saying to be optimistic all the time, the key to it is balance, no? It's one of your creeds too, if I observed you right…"

I nodded a few times, "That's true…"

Alexander then cut in, "A-Anyway, where is everyone? Not to sound too entitled but Marisha was the only one who visited me these past few days—even Vera would drop in sometimes but she's also absent. You see, I don't have a working radio here, and seeing the staff walk to and fro is the highlight of my day."

Marisha gave Alexander a look, "Not seeing me? Huh. I thought we were friends. Disappointing—"

"W-Well— Not like that, ma'am! I appreciate you taking the time to visit me but it usually ends with me vomiting and having a nasty headache—and while I do understand their importance, I may need something to distract myself in idle time or after the session too, ya know?"

I rolled my eyes, "Fiiine, what's your vices?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking if you have anything that you're clinically addicted to—not to that extent, of course, but all you have to do is ask and we'll see what we can do. As long as it doesn't risk the safety of everyone else, we'll do it for ya."

Then Alexander fell into deep thought, "The portable DVD is already a godsend so… maybe a manual treadmill so I can do more than just bodyweight exercises here? OH! And maybe a punching bag? Will that be okay?"

"Again, you can fight me if you want? I'll even bring you to the gym if you'd allow me to shoot you in the leg if you have an episode, heh."

"Really? Gym privileges?!"

"Yeah, Tatiana'll beat the shit out of you too!"

"She's actually here?!"

"You don't know? You're kidding, right? You really don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"No one told you that she was sent to my place the first time you guys got here."

"Ah— That, I know. What I don't is if anybody from my group is here or sent somewhere else. I asked before, remember? I just wasn't answered."

"Ah… Lemme give you a quick update then…"

With that said, it didn't take long before we found ourselves in the public gym—and of course, with his propensity to snap at any random discrepancy in his memories when checked, Marisha was also on standby. However, the motherfucker completely ignored me as he perused the gym equipment he hadn't seen before.

Even Tatiana got confused from his actions and Vera—who took a quick time off to see him—was sidelined as the dude kept running on the treadmill at full sprint.

"That's… That's Alexander, right?" Vera said as she scratched the back of her head.

Tatiana shrugged her shoulders, "A little smaller, sure, but that's him… I think."

I turned to the two, "You think? Isn't he your comrade?"

"A year can do so much to a person, you know?"

"True… but—"

"ALRIGHT! I'M READY, SIR!"

All of a sudden, Alexander jumped down from the treadmill he was using and walked up to me while catching his breath with a smile. And while he spared the two a glance and a quick smile as he saw them standing next to me, the dude looked eager to have his revenge match with yours truly.

I chuckled, "How do you wanna do it?"

"Do what? Fighting?"

"Yeah. Wanna go barehanded, with a wooden sword? A knife?"

"How about anything goes?"

"I mean— I'm down with that but how about groin attacks, eye pokes—"

"Fuck no! Are you trying to injure me, sir?!"

"I thought—"

"Competition rules always apply on a spar! We aren't enemies, right?!"

"Uh-huh… You're a weird one, alright…" I trailed as I turned to Tatiana and Vera, "Is he usually like this?"

Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

Tatiana shrugged her shoulders while Vera shook her head, "I dunno actually…/So-so…"

"Are you really his comrades?"

Alexander cut in, "I'm going in, sir— or do we have a bell? I see one over there!"

"Right, Tatiana— Please?"

"Sure…"

At that point, as soon as Tatiana rang the bell, instead of the usual rush I'd expect from their crew, Alexander just kept moving in place while waiting as to what I'd do next. He seemed to be in a boxing stance, for now, but I'm already aware of what their crew mainly trained on. Still, the way to go was to expect a few moves from that department while not leaning entirely in it.

But yeah, it was already this time at this time in the evening when we got here, making the rest of the cadets present and training their butts off—and obviously, they were watching closely to see how the last lost sheep from Tatiana's group would do in a fight.

It's just that when we inched closer and closer to each other, the dude ate the slowest one-two I've thrown as a poke.

And right after that, I stepped in and sent a left hook to his torso and instead of guarding, the dumbass also took it with a huge smile on his face while gritting his teeth, if that makes any sense.

However, I didn't fucking question his methods as I aimed for his face to deliver a compact left hook to his head—and again, the dumbass took it and made him sprawl to the floor.

The whole place never looked so confused and disappointed by this new challenger because even if they assumed he'd hit the floor sooner or later, it wouldn't be from such a display. If anything, he was being pegged as this place's new masochist but the look he was giving me said otherwise.

If that smile of his bared any teeth—I would've hit harder—but since it was only done faintly with his lips, I just assumed he just got hit for the fun of it and knowing what it feels to be alive. While it was true that there were other ways to confirm that fact, it didn't take long before his bouncy stance turned rigid.

"..."

"..."

At that point, the two of us were just staring at each other as we inched closer and it didn't take long before each of our gloves went for each other's face.