My Brother-in-Law Is the Best in the World!

"That's alright. I'm in E5 now. Wait there for a bit, I'll come find you now."

Kitagawa Ryo quickly explained the situation to Shiina Hiyori:

"In short, Ayanokoji already knows you are the holder of a special card, so he won't let you provide me with upgrade opportunities without worry. Therefore, he might very well take action against you."

"I know you're in a group with Ibuki, but Ayanokoji really wants to play dirty, Ibuki probably won't be able to handle it, so you'll have to join me for now..."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was saying this, he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the other end of the communication.

"I'm with Hiyori too, Ryo."

It's Karuizawa Kei's voice.

"Speaking of which, you really got off easy..."

It sounded like he was gritting his teeth, yet also like he was relieved.

Chapter 181: My Brother-in-Law is the Best in the World!

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was about to speak again, the communication suddenly dropped automatically, and the watch returned to the main screen, displaying an urgent notification that the school had just sent.

"Around 6:00 AM this morning, a student on the island became unwell after drinking unboiled water. The school confirmed that the student was unable to participate in subsequent exams and has been transferred to the cruise ship for medical treatment. The condition has been properly treated and is under control."

"Hereby, we would like to remind every student once again: never drink untreated water, and never pick unknown wild fruits, vegetables, or mushrooms. Your own health and safety should be your top priority."

"In addition, starting today, the school will set up a temporary rest area in the F4 Area, where students can choose to use the better medical, shower, and laundry facilities. Furthermore, the school will provide students with free drinking water (which cannot be taken away)."

That concludes the notification.

After closing the notification page, the communication that had just been disconnected was automatically restored. It seems that there was no signal fluctuation, but rather the reason for this emergency notification.

"Did Ryo see the notification?"

"Yes, it should have been sent to all students."

Disrupted by this unexpected event, the previous conversation could no longer continue. Kitagawa Ryo frowned and asked:

"Hui, Hiyori, do you know who the student who withdrew from the exam is? Or which class they're in?"

"I haven't received any communications from my classmates, so they shouldn't be students from Class B."

Karuizawa Kei answered first, saying that as the class representative of Class B, if someone in the class really had to withdraw from the exam due to illness, the other members of that person's group would definitely contact her.

"Could it be Ryuen?"

Shiina Hiyori's social circle wasn't as wide as Karuizawa Kei's; she only remembered that Ryuen Kakeru seemed to have never used points to redeem drinking water, and instead relied on boiling river water to survive every day.

"I just ran into Ryuen. He was lively and energetic, and the notice said it would be around six o'clock."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head in denial. He did admire Ryuen Kakeru in this respect, after all, he was able to hide on Uninhabited Island all by himself for a week without being discovered by others. In terms of survival skills, he had mastered them quite well.

"Anyway, it shouldn't be anything serious, but this temporary rest stop looks pretty good. It seems the school has been scared off by all this."

"After all, it's just a Special Exam, not a real survival test on a desert island. When the Ryuen incident happened, the school immediately activated the communication function. He couldn't possibly let anything happen to the students."

Kitagawa Ryo chuckled softly:

"Grid? It shouldn't be far from the F4 Area, right? Let's meet there."

"No problem."

Having just ended a call with the two people, Kitagawa Ryo's watch immediately beeped again, this time from another person requesting communication.

"Hello, Suzune, it's me."

"Yeah, I saw the notice. I don't know who it is yet. I hope it's not one of our Class D students, otherwise the others in his group will be under a lot of pressure."

"Yes, I'm planning to go check out that temporary rest stop now."

"You're already at E9? That's quite a distance... Yeah, I can go by myself."

Okay, keep it up.

The conversation was rather pointless, and even gave Kitagawa Ryo the vague impression that he had found a convenient excuse to call him and check up on him.

F4.

Kitagawa Ryo muttered to himself as he pulled up an electronic map and easily found the location.

It is a grid close to the center of the entire Uninhabited Island. The reason it is said to be close is because, when viewed from above, the true center of the Uninhabited Island is actually located in that towering, continuous mountain range. It is this mountain range that clearly divides the entire island into east and west sides.

This unusual location sparked some other speculation in Kitagawa Ryo's mind.

However, if you want to verify it, you still have to go there and see for yourself.

With this in mind, Kitagawa Ryo also bent down and tightened his shoelaces.

To save time, he chose the same route as Karuizawa Kei.

Wow--so many people!

The trio of Karuizawa Kei, Shiina Hiyori, and Ibuki Mio, who had rushed from the G5 area to the F4 Area in one go, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement when they saw the Matoba before them.

Even yesterday's confrontation between half of Class A and most of Class B in Area E5 was not as shocking as what we see now. The sheer number of people makes it seem as if all the students on the island have gathered here.

Here, you can not only exchange for the supplies you need like at other supply exchange points, but also enjoy services such as free medical treatment, free showers, and use of well-maintained and clean toilets.

The school even brought in a long, comfortable-looking sofa for the rest area, where many students could be seen lying around casually, chatting relaxedly with other friends they met.

In addition, some students were seen drinking two large plastic bottles of water from the water dispenser, as if they were trying to quench their thirst from the past few days.

After all, drinking water is the most in-demand resource and not cheap, so most groups were extremely restrained in using their points to exchange for it. The unlucky guy who got sick from drinking untreated water also seemed to be trying to save as many points as possible.

In short, for most of the students who had suffered on this Uninhabited Island for five or six days, this temporary rest stop was undoubtedly a paradise, becoming the only place on the island where they could relax and unwind.

However, perhaps anticipating the current situation, the school has allocated a lot of manpower here. In addition to teachers, you can also see third-year students like Horikita Manabu helping out.

"Don't go there yet."

Just as Karuizawa Kei and the others were about to leave the forest and enter this temporary resting place, a familiar voice came from behind them.

Having just climbed and traversed the mountainous region, Kitagawa Ryo rolled up his sleeves to his elbows. Although his neck and face were covered in sweat, he was in good spirits, with bright, alert eyes.

"Cold."

"Cold."

Karuizawa Kei and Shiina Hiyori turned around almost simultaneously, and then took clean towels from their backpacks and handed them to him.

Kitagawa Ryo grabbed both towels, folded them together, wiped his face twice, and let out a long sigh of relief as if he had come back to life.

"What did they mean by telling us not to go in yet?"

Feeling somewhat out of place among the three Ibuki Mio crossed her arms and asked a question, as if reminding everyone that she was the fourth person present.

Just as Ibuki Mio was waiting for Kitagawa Ryo to launch into a well-reasoned analysis, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly curled the corners of his mouth upwards and replied with a hint of mischievousness:

"Actually, there's no real reason; I just wanted to stop you."

Ibuki Mio felt a nerve twitch in her temple.

"However, the school certainly has its reasons for creating this rest area at this time."

Kitagawa Ryo also looked in the direction of the rest area, and suddenly asked:

"Ibuki, what do you think of this rest stop?"

"That's great! I can rest, take a nice shower, and even get free drinking water."

Ibuki Mio answered this instinctively.

"It's really good."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded firmly, then smirked at the students lounging comfortably on the sofa in the distance.

So... will you be willing to go far away again in the future?

Ibuki Mio paused for a moment, but immediately realized what Kitagawa Ryo meant.

Compared to the group's camping trip in the wild over the past few days, the conditions at this temporary rest stop were undoubtedly much more comfortable, especially with the provision of free drinking water, which allowed many students who had been saving every drop of water to drink to their heart's content.

However, the school's notice clearly stated that the drinking water provided at the rest area can only be taken and consumed on the spot, and teachers will supervise the entire process; bringing your own water is not allowed.

The students, currently engrossed in enjoying their water, haven't noticed this yet.

"Actually, some students have been on the island for so long and are starting to feel overwhelmed, but most groups have gradually adapted."

Kitagawa Ryo wiped his hands with a towel, raised an eyebrow, and continued:

"But if something like that happens, then things might change."

"It's estimated that quite a few groups will choose to stay here, limiting their activities to this area, and perhaps even making this temporary rest stop their long-term camp."

Ibuki Mio murmured somewhat speechlessly:

Aren't you worried about the grades?

"Won't."

This time, it was Shiina Hiyori who answered her. She seemed to enjoy thinking in sync with Kitagawa Ryo, and added with a smile:

"Because you can see the group's leaderboard at any time."

"You can clearly see your group's position and the points difference between you and the bottom few..."

"Not all groups on this island are aiming for the top three; a significant number of students are simply hoping not to fall to the bottom few in the rankings."

"The second, third, and fourth-to-last students will have points deducted from their class's Class Points, and the last-place student will be expelled."

At this point, Shiina Hiyori stuck out her tongue:

"And the most dangerous spot has been firmly locked in by Ryuen from our class, since he still has zero points."

"So, just like Ryo said, quite a few groups will probably stay here, perhaps comforting themselves by completing their projects in the nearby area first, accumulating enough food and drinking water before leaving for other areas."

"Or perhaps to be more straightforward..."

Shiina Hiyori looked at Kitagawa Ryo and a mischievous smirk appeared on her lips:

"So, we're just going to treat this place as the last safe zone?"

The Uninhabited Island Special Exam includes a restricted area rule. The restricted areas marked in the first two rounds, as can be seen from the map, gradually shrink towards the center of the island.

This easily leads one to speculate that the school hopes to gradually shrink the area from the outside in, eventually gathering students in the central area of the island.

And F4 happens to be located in a relatively central area, and the fact that the school set up a temporary rest area here makes it hard not to speculate.

That's why I felt something was wrong.

Kitagawa Ryo nodded. He opened the electronic map again and temporarily removed the restricted areas from his view one by one from the previous two rounds. He seemed to have vaguely grasped some kind of idea.

But just then, a rough voice suddenly came from behind, and Ishizaki Daichi, covered in sweat, patted Kitagawa Ryo heavily on the shoulder from behind:

"Hey, isn't this Kitagawa? You're resting here too?"

"Shiina's here too? Looks like you two finally ran into each other. Congratulations!"

"I'm exhausted from rushing here. I'm going to take a shower first, we can chat if we bump into each other later."

Ishizaki Daichi strode past Kitagawa Ryo, secretly giving him a thumbs-up before leaving, as if to say, "I definitely won't cause you any trouble this time."

Distracted by the sudden appearance of Ishizaki Daichi, Kitagawa Ryo could only shake his head helplessly. However, the moment he looked up and saw Karuizawa Kei, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and his brows immediately relaxed.

"Speaking of which, Hui..."

"Huh? What's up?"

Kitagawa Ryo pointed at Shiina Hiyori, then at himself, his tone suddenly becoming flippant:

"I'm planning to go Jet Ski with Hiyori, want to come along?"

"Eh eh eh eh?"

"They've all gathered there."

"After all, we've been tired for so long."

"We're exhausted too, we really want to go back to the cruise ship."

Inside the school's tent, filled with electronic devices and displays used to monitor the entire island, several school staff members were idly complaining.

"Good morning, teachers. This is today's lunch."