Systematic Survival

33 - Social Skills

Matt and Chad were on the ground. Matt was holding Chad's arm against the ground in a clear win. The crowd was shocked by how much force it would take to break the table while arm wrestling. But Matt stood up and looked around nervously before announcing.

"Um, e-everyone! It seems the table was faulty! Oops!"

He realized that he definitely looked superhuman now unless he made a good enough excuse. He had been too in the moment to think about the repercussions. The crowd started talking.

"Oh, that makes sense! There's no way that kid is THAT strong. That's not even possible."
"Yeah, he's right, that makes more sense."

They seemed to agree that the table really did break accidentally because it was manufactured wrong or something. Or maybe it just couldn't handle the weight of people arm wrestling on it.

Chad sat up. He quickly checked to see if his arm was broken, but it was fine. It seemed like it just hurt a little. He stared at Matt with a blank expression.

'Oh shit!'

Matt realized that Chad had definitely felt the force of his arm. As he was trying to think of how to explain, Chad looked sheepish, his face was pale. He quickly turned around and ran. Matt tried calling after him but he didn't stop. Soon he was gone.

'Shit, I hope he doesn't tell anyone.'

When he thought about it realistically, even if he had felt how strong Matt was, it was still within human ability. So it's not like anything was too bad. Also, if Chad did try to spin some crazy tale, who would even think of it as more of an urban legend?

Reality hadn't changed for millions of years. Anyone talking about superhumans or anything like that would only be criticized as conspiracy theorists. Besides, the system would go public soon. He really wasn't concerned when he fully thought about it.

He breathed a sigh of relief and realized, his table was broken and the line was starting to disperse since there wasn't really a place to arm wrestle anymore. There were still a few though who stuck around, so Matt spoke to them.

"That's it guys! I can't keep going until I get another table! Sorry!"

After that, even the remaining hopeful ones started to leave. They must have thought their chances of winning the $100 was higher since there were fewer people now, but Matt was done for the day. He already had a stack of cash and hoped to count it soon. He could've bought another table right then and there, but he couldn't be bothered.

Matt decided that he wasn't going to count the money in public. He was still a bit spooked by the last time he got mugged, but back then he didn't have real cash since everything was in his bank account. Now if he actually got robbed, they could actually steal his profits.

He pocketed the money and quickly ran back to his apartment. He wasn't sure if he was done for the day, as it was actually pretty light outside, so he would just go back out if he needed to. But for now, he wanted to evaluate things from the safety of his home.

He also brought what was left of his supplies back with him. He couldn't bring the table since it was ruined, but he could at least bring the rest.

Once he arrived, he went to his kitchen table and started laying out the bills, sorting them by amount, so he could count them. He was a bit shocked when he calculated the final amount. He had been out there arm wrestling for at least an hour.

More people than he ever expected showed up at his table, and he wasn't really sure why. He imagined most of the people came from people seeing what was happening and just stepping in line. It was a busy area after all.