That Bastard Has Taken Over Every Base on the Coast, Damn It!

Soon, as the sound became clearer, Asakusa Toru also saw the two people blocking the way, or more precisely, stopping in front of a cave and not going in.

Katsuragi Kohei and Totsuka Yahiko.

As mentioned before, the 'conservatives'.

"Katsuragi... has a lackey?" Asakusa Toru raised an eyebrow.

Upon hearing this address, Totsuka Yahiko immediately became anxious:

"Who are you calling a lackey?!"

Although he does seem to be Katsuragi's follower, that's not how it should be called. He shouldn't be called a follower; he should be called a capable assistant!

Seriously, this guy looks so annoying! Just like that woman, Sakayanagi!

"Yahiko." Katsuragi Kohei called his name in a deep voice and pressed him down.

Totsuka Yahiko rubbed his teeth together, still a little annoyed, but he didn't retaliate.

"You are... from Class A." Calmly, Katsuragi Kohei identified Asakusa Toru, while his gaze swept over him from head to toe.

The thin sportswear showed no signs of sweat, suggesting that the person hadn't been in the sun for long before slowly making their way to the shade.

He had a camera hanging around his neck... Was he sent out as a reconnaissance soldier?

So, does that mean we're comparing speed?

Without a doubt, the cave not far away is definitely a stronghold, or at least a naturally excellent base. As long as they occupy this stronghold, they can save a lot of reward points that would otherwise be used to buy tents, thus gaining a huge advantage.

The problem is... neither he nor Totsuka Yahiko beside him are leaders.

That's right, although Sakayanagi Arisu withdrew from the exam without hesitation after hearing the rules, it doesn't mean that Katsuragi Kohei can take over Sakayanagi Arisu's leadership of the class.

After all, his failure was obvious to all, and apart from a few stoic Katsuragi Faction and Totsuka Yahiko by his side, he no longer had any clear supporters.

Unless Sakayanagi Arisu also suffers a Waterloo.

However, this does not mean that he would do anything that would harm the class's interests in order to make Sakayanagi Arisu fail.

If necessary, he would choose to turn back and notify the main force of the class to come and lead the leaders to occupy the stronghold.

Having found his answer, Katsuragi Kohei was about to call Totsuka Yahiko back to find the main group of his class, while he alone kept Asakusa Toru in check, who was exploring on his own and couldn't easily return.

He then saw Asakusa Toru pull a card out of his pocket with a bewildered expression.

That's the leader's key card.

Katsuragi Kohei: "???"

Holy crap, aren't they even going to put on an act?!

Chapter 200 This guy has taken over all the outposts by the sea!

What kind of nonsense is this bald guy thinking?

Looking at Katsuragi Kohei's calm yet furrowed eyes, Asakusa Toru knew that the guy was probably deep in thought.

But, it's none of his business.

Since they didn't seem to have taken over the cave yet, he naturally accepted it without hesitation.

As for where Class B will find a base after they take him in... what does that have to do with him?

Just as Katsuragi Kohei was still wondering if he had seen it wrong, or if Class A had actually spent points to forge the key card, and the manual didn't mention such an option, but could fake key cards actually be sold, or was this some kind of special tactic of Class A, his mind suddenly became a mess.

Asakusa Toru had already swiped his key card on the base's screen with a single click.

The countdown to the capture was ticking away on the screen, second by second.

Ignoring the stunned Katsuragi Kohei, Asakusa Toru glanced at them and turned to leave in the direction of the still unfinished map.

"..."

"..."

"Katsura, Katsuragi, he-he-he-he-he-he--" Totsuka Yahiko belatedly realized and pointed at the departing Asakusa Toru in utter shock, somewhat incoherently. "That-that-that one is--"

"It's a key card." Katsuragi Kohei took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "He's from Class A, the 'leader'."

Although it was completely incomprehensible why Class A didn't even try to hide it, the countdown displayed on the screen couldn't be faked; that man was undoubtedly the leader of Class A.

... Never mind, although we lost a base that could have been used as a stronghold, we gained the identity of the leader of Class A.

Win!

However... Katsuragi Kohei still couldn't understand what Class A was thinking.

Could it be that they intend to forgo the points gained from capturing strongholds, and instead use the act of capturing strongholds to hinder them from capturing better ones?

What's the point?

Once they reveal the identity of their leader, not only will the points for capturing the stronghold be cleared, but if all three classes guess the leader correctly, they will also lose 150 points.

He truly couldn't understand this idea of sacrificing one's own interests just to drag everyone else down with them.

Having worked so hard to get into Class A, why not conservatively maintain their advantage?

Just as Katsuragi Kohei returned to the classroom with these questions in mind and told Sakayanagi Arisu's 'agent'— Kamuro Masumi—about the situation.

He finally got the answer.

"... It only costs thirty points to exit and replace someone." Kamuro Masumi took out her walkie-talkie, and on the other side of the walkie-talkie, a girl named Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled and replied, "They never intended to hide the first leader from the beginning."

"And so are we."

The leader of First-Year Class B is 'Kito Hayato'.

But the real leader who controlled everything was Sakayanagi Arisu, who left the exam room and returned to the ship when it started.

Before leaving, she did two things. First, she asked the class teacher to replace her old phone with a pair of walkie-talkies, which would allow her to maintain real-time communication even across the distance between the island and the ship.

Kito Hayato will use his superior physical abilities to seize more strongholds, while Sakayanagi Arisu will be on the ship, gazing at the entire island and using the walkie-talkie to control the entire exam.

Even on the ship, she would still lead everyone to victory.

The other one was extremely suspicious. He first claimed the identity of a leader, and then used the excuse of feeling unwell to leave the scene, successfully confirming the truth of the information that the leader could be replaced at will for the price of thirty points.

After briefly recalling the two actions she had taken, Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't help but straighten her back, pushing her small chest forward even more, and letting out a proud hum.

If she doesn't win, who will?

As for why Katsuragi didn't know even though she had done this a long time ago... well, it's because she was still a little wary of people at the beginning.

But then she realized that there was no need to hide it.

She must do it openly and honestly to truly demonstrate her genius.

But...

"So when exactly are you going to find a suitable base?"

The thought that almost an hour had passed since the exam started, and yet her men didn't even have a single outpost with usable resources, made her grit her teeth.

These men under my command are utterly useless!

Even if you win the leader battle and guess everything correctly, you still won't be able to gain a significant advantage, right?!

"We found a river!!!"

Just then, the teams that had been sent out to explore separately returned with a loud report.

And so, a smile finally appeared on Sakayanagi Arisu's lips.

"Go, Kito, that's it!" Lying leisurely in a deck chair on the Luxury Cruise Ship, enjoying the sea breeze, Sakayanagi Arisu gave the order into the walkie-talkie.

Listening to the muffled, crackling sounds coming from the other end of the walkie-talkie, Kamuro Masumi sighed softly to herself.

Sister, your microphone is amazing!

First-Year Class B, under the direction of Sakayanagi Arisu, headed towards the river, while First-Year Class C, by the sea, lagged slightly behind.

Because Ryuen Kakeru is pondering a very crucial question.

--Is he going to use the Zero-Point Strategy or not?

To be honest, his first reaction upon hearing the exam rules was to Zero-Point Strategy.

He cleared the 300 points he was given, exchanged them for resources that he could trade with others, and deceived their perceptions, ultimately leaving himself alone to crawl in the shadows on the island.

Incidentally, we could also try sending a few people to other classes as spies to find out the identities of their leaders.

Including Class A.

That's right. Although a peace treaty was signed with Asakusa Toru at the beginning, the treaty only targeted Asakusa Toru, which did not affect his opposition to the other members of Class A.

If Asakusa Toru had stopped him, it wouldn't be surprising if he had so easily torn up the peace treaty.

However, he quickly dismissed this idea.

There are two problems.

Firstly, all the supplies he had painstakingly prepared and tried to bring down would be wasted if he adopted Zero-Point Strategy, rendering all his previous efforts futile.

Ryuen Kakeru had no way of guaranteeing that his plan would yield higher returns than steadily passing the exam by relying on the supplies he had brought in advance.

More importantly, not long ago, he openly plotted to coerce the girl into stuffing the supplies into her private area and taking them down. If he says now that he doesn't want those things, he'll change his mind.

Even if he is the class leader, even if he is Ryuen Kakeru.

... It's likely that it will face an unexpected level of opposition.

This isn't how a dictatorship is ruled; it's not like girls can't have sex with him.

The reason people obey his instructions is not only because of his power, but also because of his unique leadership style.

They obeyed Ryuen Kakeru because they believed he could lead Class C to victory.

Secondly, there's the object of the transaction.

To achieve Zero-Point Strategy, the acquired supplies must have someone to sell them to.

Class A or Class B?

The gap between the two classes is not large, and everyone would probably need these supplies to widen the gap in Class Points.

However, whether or not they can get a satisfactory quote is another matter entirely.

He would only be satisfied if the supplies he exchanged for with 300 points were worth at least 200 Private Points, and only then would his classmates be able to barely accept it.

But whether they are willing to pay such a price for this advantage... is hard to say.

After all, Ryuen Kakeru glanced at the list and could roughly judge that if used properly, the points required to survive for seven days would be no more than a hundred, and even if he used them recklessly, the final number of points would definitely not exceed two hundred.

At present, the only advantage that the class ranking order seems to have is the order in which they disembarked. Those in Class A, whose letters are earlier, will be pulled off the boat earlier to get a couple more minutes of sunshine.

If the school considers fair competition, then barring any unforeseen circumstances, the letter preceding the class name will not have any direct impact on exams until the very last moment before graduation.

Is it worth sacrificing a large number of points later just to gain a temporary advantage in the rankings?

It's hard to say.

After much deliberation, Ryuen Kakeru finally had to reluctantly abandon this plan that seemed perfectly suited to him.

He then turned his attention to another question.

Since this path is blocked, what should he do?

For a moment, he couldn't think of another powerful plan that suited his style.

Let's take it one step at a time and see.

In short, we should send the mole out first. We can skip the Zero-Point Strategy, but it's still necessary to gather intelligence.

He first punched Kaneda and Ishizaki twice each, then made Ibuki roll around on the ground a couple of times, creating the illusion that he had been expelled and was covered in dust. After sending the three traitors out to find the locations of the other classes, Ryuen Kakeru decided to lead Albert on a walk around the beach.

Before boarding the ship, an announcement reminded the students on board to come out and watch the cruise ship circle the island.

Although it's quite far away, a lot of information can still be gathered through careful observation.

They can grasp the general shape of the island, the distribution of water sources and rivers, and relatively obvious terrain features such as bushes and cliffs.

Especially on the beach, at some rather conspicuous... 'man-made structures'.

Ryuen Kakeru had his eye on two 'outposts' from the very beginning, which he understood after the rules were explained.