What the Supply Card Does / Another Move

When Sakayanagi Arisu, the last person to get up in the entire camp, leisurely walked out of her tent, she happened to see Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami exchanging an awkward glance.

"What's wrong?"

Unable to adjust to the direct sunlight for a moment, Sakayanagi Arisu placed her hand on her forehead, squinted, and asked a question.

"It's nothing, hurry up and wash up, breakfast is ready."

Kitagawa Ryo, who arrived just in time, pushed Sakayanagi Arisu's shoulder from behind and led her to the washroom, as if he was really afraid that she wouldn't get to eat the freshly cooked food. He even took Sakayanagi Arisu's toiletries as they walked, squeezed toothpaste onto her face and prepared the water at the right temperature for her.

"I can do it myself—I'm not a child."

Although Sakayanagi Arisu verbally resisted, she didn't move an inch. She smiled as Kitagawa Ryo placed everything prepared in front of her before starting her own washing up.

"I feel like the only thing keeping me going on this Uninhabited Island right now is Kitagawa's cooking."

When everyone had finished washing up and were officially at the table for dinner, Ishizaki Daichi ate heartily and didn't hold back his praise.

"Even the boss of Ryuen probably doesn't get this level of food; he's probably still fishing in the woods right now..."

Before Ishizaki Daichi could finish speaking, he heard a sinister voice behind him:

"Hey, Ishizaki, looks like all that running around all day didn't do you any good. You still need to tighten your skin."

Suddenly, Ryuen Kakeru appeared, glaring at Ishizaki Daichi with an unfriendly expression, making him shudder in fear.

"Hey, no way. I was just thinking about how you, Boss Ryuen, are still suffering in the woods for the sake of our class, and you've even lost your appetite."

Although a clean plate in front of you doesn't necessarily mean that the food isn't appetizing.

"Please sit down."

On the other side, Kitagawa Ryo handed Ryuen Kakeru an extra serving of food that he had prepared earlier, and nodded to him to sit down.

Because Kitagawa Ryo had already informed the others in the group about his working relationship with Ryuen Kakeru, Shiina Hiyori and the others were all students in Class C, Ryuen Kakeru's sudden appearance didn't attract much attention. Everyone ate and drank as usual, only occasionally glancing over.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Without any hesitation, Ryuen Kakeru took the food and immediately began to swallow it in large mouthfuls without any manners.

Yesterday, he only participated in one event: the Group Parallel and Horizontal Bars. Taking advantage of the preferential treatment enjoyed by the individual group, he won second place and, after obtaining the minimum score, converted them into supplies and handed them over to Class A.

Although Ryuen Kakeru has now completely allied with Kitagawa Ryo, he still has a prior contract with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and can only continue to fulfill his responsibilities.

However, after completing this most basic task, Ryuen Kakeru began his wanderings. Unlike Ishizaki Daichi and Komiya Yogo, who were ostensibly gathering intelligence but were actually directing Kitagawa Ryo, he was the real intelligence assassin, moving around the increasingly shrinking area of Uninhabited Island.

However, his focus of investigation over the past two days has not been on the students on the island, but rather on the school staff.

Thanks to Kitagawa Ryo's earlier reminder, Ryuen Kakeru quickly realized that the biggest difference between this Uninhabited Island Exam and a computer survival game was that while the students might be the players, the school was definitely not a pre-set system.

Whether it's supplies or research projects, it's impossible to simply input a string of code in advance and have it immediately appear in a designated location.

Materials need to be transported, and the research site needs to be set up. The school cannot guarantee that everything will be done perfectly by relying on manpower.

Just like how some students discovered the school was setting up the venue for their projects and decided to wait there in advance, gathering their groups to grab all the registration slots immediately, there were bound to be flaws in this exam, much like bugs in a game.

"I saw some interesting props."

After finally filling his stomach, Ryuen Kakeru showed Kitagawa Ryo his wrist, which was completely empty.

"To prevent the school from finding out about this location, I broke it twice yesterday."

With the Resurrection card in hand, Ryuen Kakeru became increasingly daring in his actions as time went on.

It's a BB gun.

He stated this with certainty.

Chapter 208: The Role of Supply Cards

Just as Ryuen Kakeru revealed that he had discovered the school was transporting BB pellets to Area D9, the school's headquarters, everyone present's watches chimed softly.

[The fourth round of restricted areas on the Uninhabited Island has been established. Teams still in the restricted areas must leave their areas before noon today. Teams still in or entering the restricted areas after noon will be eliminated, and their scores will be fixed.]

[The specific restricted areas on the third round of Uninhabited Island are as follows: C2, C3, C4, C6, C7, C8, C9, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9]

Starting from the third day, the restricted area notifications, which appeared every other day, were sent to the watches of every student on the island as scheduled. Similar to the third round of shrinking the restricted area last time, this time there were also fifteen restricted areas, which almost covered the left side of the island.

After realizing that his current area was not in this round of restricted zones, Kitagawa Ryo closed the screen on his watch and nodded towards Ryuen Kakeru Sho.

"What are your thoughts on this BB gun, Ryuen?"

What do I think?

Ryuen Kakeru finished his meal with satisfaction, picking his teeth as he casually replied:

"I don't think this kind of thing would be used just to assign a single topic."

Sakayanagi Arisu had been listening to their conversation, nodded in affirmation.

I think so too.

At that moment, Ryuen Kakeru suddenly turned around and shouted to Ishizaki Daichi behind him:

"I remember you seem to know a lot about this, Ishizaki. Why don't you share your thoughts?"

"Ahem, I know a little, I know a little."

Although Ishizaki Daichi remained modest, he immediately reverted to his talkative nature and began to chatter on and on when it came to areas he was familiar with:

"Generally speaking, if the school is going to ship BB guns to the island, the only project that comes to mind is paintball. I played a lot of paintball when I was in junior high school. It's roughly divided into four types of ammunition: paintball, water gun, laser, and BB guns, each with its own equipment and gameplay."

"If the school has decided to use BB pellets, then it means that the other supporting equipment should also be prepared. After all, without such equipment, BB pellets hitting someone will still hurt quite a bit."

"On the other hand, the school is preparing ammunition and supporting equipment. As Boss Ryuen said, it seems like a waste to use it on a regular team-based project, especially since we've never encountered anything like this before."

"Moreover, this Uninhabited Island Special Exam has a shrinking circle mechanism, which makes it hard not to think of various battle royale games."

As Ishizaki Daichi spoke eloquently, he also gestured wildly, mimicking shooting, clearly quite excited.

After all, if the school really does include a live-action CS game in the final project, it would be excellent news for him.

"Alright, alright, from today onwards, remember to keep your mouth shut."

Ryuen Kakeru raised his hand to interrupt Ishizaki Daichi's speech, then stood up gracefully to leave.

Unlike Kitagawa Ryo, even though he guessed what the school might assign next, Ryuen Kakeru had no better way to deal with it.

After all, he couldn't just take on all the expenses for the class like the wealthy Kitagawa Ryo. Although he knew that the more people who survived to the end, the easier it would be to gain an advantage, most of the students in Class C were probably thinking more about getting eliminated as soon as possible to fix their scores so they could get back to the cruise ship.

Kitagawa Ryo was well aware of Ryuen Kakeru's inner turmoil, so he didn't stop him and let him carry his fishing rod and bucket back into the forest after he had eaten and drunk his fill.

Ishizaki Daichi hurriedly packed his luggage and chased after him. Although he had been temporarily requisitioned by Kitagawa Ryo yesterday, he was, after all, a student of Class C, and he was too embarrassed to stay here and bother Kitagawa Ryo any longer.

I've already gotten two free meals.

After Ishizaki Daichi and Ryuen Kakeru left, breakfast time came to an end. Naturally, Kitagawa Ryo, who was in charge of cooking, didn't have to do the washing dishes and cleaning up anymore, as the girls were quite adept at it.

"Honami, let me see your card again."

Just as Ichinose Honami was carefully washing the dishes, she suddenly heard Kitagawa Ryo calling her name.

"Good."

Ichinose Honami agreed, wiped her hands with a dry towel, walked up to Kitagawa Ryo, and offered him her fair right wrist:

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that a new idea suddenly came to me."

Kitagawa Ryo opened the card page on Ichinose Honami's watch, and the effects of the Supply cards held by the opponent were immediately displayed:

[Supply: Cardholders receive a daily food and drinking water Supply equivalent to one meal for four people (lv3)]

"Has Honami ever played battle royale games?"

No.

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's sudden question, Ichinose Honami honestly shook her head. Due to her family background, she only really started using computers after entering Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. In her spare time, she would go to the school gym and didn't really have much experience with games.

"I've played it."

Sakayanagi Arisu appeared out of nowhere beside the two of them and spoke softly.

In the first ten years or so before Kitagawa Ryo brought her a healthy life, because she couldn't do physical exercise, Sakayanagi Arisu more contact with electronic devices such as computers, and naturally tried various popular online games.

She lowered her eyes and followed Ichinose Honami's gaze to look at the Supply card instructions displayed on Kitagawa Ryo's watch.

"Does 'cool' mean that Supply cards will be useful in the upcoming live-action CS game? Like airdrop crates in battle royale games, providing players with extra Supply?"

Sakayanagi Arisu hesitated slightly before expressing her opinion.

"Probably not. The school's description of the Supply card only states that it provides food and water. If it were true that you could get some high-quality equipment and a large amount of supplies with this card, like in a game, then the school would be deliberately hiding information and breaking the rules."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head, stroked his chin, nodded, and slowly stated his guess:

"I had thought before that Supply cards would only be most effective when food or water resources are scarce."

So it's actually very simple.

"The school just needs to put everyone in this predicament during the final stage of the project."

For example--

"Food is prohibited during the final project, and all point redemption is also prohibited."

Chapter 209: Another Move

Sakayanagi Arisu was quick-witted; she swiftly understood Kitagawa Ryo's meaning and, with a slight furrow of her brow, asked:

"Does Ryo think this final challenge will last a long time?"

If we want to highlight the function of the Supply card, the final problem certainly cannot be solved in one day, since most students can endure the hunger of not eating for two meals.

"It's not just my opinion, it's highly likely."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded and explained another reason for his conjecture:

"Yesterday alone, thirty-two students were eliminated from the entire Uninhabited Island. Keep in mind, there are only a little over one hundred and fifty students in the First Year."

"At this rate, by the twelfth day, there will be only about thirty students left on the island. Of course, this is on the premise that I don't make the students in Class D give up participating in the project."

Kitagawa Ryo tapped the table lightly with his fingers, his tone gradually becoming more resolute:

"Therefore, the final challenge will most likely begin on the morning of the twelfth day on the Uninhabited Island and end on the afternoon of the fourteenth day, with a shrinking circle on the thirteenth day in between, which can be considered a faithful recreation of the battle royale game experience."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo stretched and shook his head with a slightly helpless expression:

"But there's no use talking about this now, since we don't know the specific details of the final assignment set by the school. Right now, all we can do is earn more points and upgrade our Discount Card level."

"After all, when you're supporting an entire class, the more grades you get, the better."

Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami nodded in agreement. Although they had indeed deduced the final task that the school might set based on information from various sources, there wasn't much they could do to prepare at this stage. Their only priority was to preserve as many students as possible from Class D.

After Kitagawa Ryo finalized the group's plan for the next two days, Kitagawa Ryo's group quickly tidied up the campsite, packed their luggage, and prepared to embark on the ninth day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam.

However, unlike yesterday, Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio's group also chose to act together with them, mainly because Shiina Hiyori's special card [Double-Edged Blade] made her too easy for other classes to target and exploit, and their two-person group was relatively poor in terms of methods and abilities to handle and deal with crises.

Kitagawa Ryo was quite confident in the trio of Karuizawa Kei, Amasawa Ichika, and Sakura Airi. The trio could handle most of the challenges without any problems, and the abilities of Karuizawa Kei and Amasawa Ichika alone were enough to ensure that the group wouldn't fall to last place in the challenges and thus suffer a loss of members.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo's group had clearly outlined the school's possible actions and formulated corresponding plans, and the group was enjoying a pleasant morning chatting and laughing, Katsuragi Kohei on the other side was unable to get a good night's sleep.

In order to save as much on food expenses as possible, Katsuragi Kohei specifically instructed the Class A groups to camp together, share surplus ingredients, or exchange for large orders of supplies.

But ever since the project ended yesterday afternoon, Katsuragi Kohei had a vague feeling that the atmosphere in the camp had changed. The intimacy between the groups was completely gone, unlike the time when they had invited their class leader, Chabashira Sae, to a meal a couple of days ago. They all had droopy faces, only occasionally glancing at each other with heavy hearts.

After making some inquiries, Katsuragi Kohei learned of the 'disaster' that had occurred during the [Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors] game. Ishizaki Daichi from Class 1-C publicly revealed several private romantic relationships within the class, causing the three groups assigned to target Shiina Hiyori Group to fail miserably and creating rifts between the individuals involved.

The other students from Class A who were present, besides the person involved, couldn't resist telling their closest friends about the news after returning to camp. They also repeatedly reminded their friends not to spread the word.

The final result was that these revelations spread throughout Class 1-A in less than one night, making the atmosphere in the camp so delicate.

However, no suspicion was placed on Kushida Kikyo. This was partly because her Tian image was so deeply ingrained that most of the students in Class A wouldn't think of her in that way, and partly because Kushida Kikyo herself was prepared. All the information she gave to Kitagawa Ryo was confirmed by herself, and it wasn't a secret that only she knew.

It could be said that while other classes were still working hard to prepare for the ninth day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, Class 1-A had already entered the 2.0 version of the island Werewolf.

Katsuragi Kohei himself was not good at handling interpersonal relationships, so he could only leave the male relationships to Kushida Kikyo and the female relationships to Hirata Yosuke.

Even so, last night at the campsite, you could still hear all sorts of angry outbursts, arguments, and accusations.

Although he had long known from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka that there was at least one spy working for his class within Class A, it was only now that Katsuragi Kohei truly understood the extent of that spy's influence.

Just as a strong fortress can always be breached from within, the students of Class A, who were originally full of morale and ready to forcefully reclaim their position as the top-ranked class, were dragged into a huge chain of suspicion that was neither clear nor understandable overnight.