Strength Above All

"You people really are hilarious. Do I actually need to go out of my way to remind you of something like that?"

"Following classroom rules during class is simply what you're supposed to do as students! I refuse to believe your teachers never taught you that before you came here!"

"And once you enter the workforce, do you think anyone will tell you the details of your personnel evaluations? How foolish!"

Teacher Chazhu's words left everyone speechless.

Still, they made one thing clear: this school really was deliberately imitating society.

It was just as Mu Tianchen had guessed.

"And do you really think the school would give a bunch of good-for-nothings like you 100,000 points every month? Even if it did, that would only be for classes with real ability!"

"I told you from the very first day of school! This school believes in strength above all, and the school has rated you as worthless trash!"

"I have to hand it to you. You managed to use up all your Class Points in your very first month. This is the worst class I've taught in all my years here!"

Teacher Chazhu was being very serious, but for some reason, the words "worst class" sounded kind of funny. When Mu Tianchen was in school back home, his homeroom teacher had often said things like that to the class.

"Teacher, could you at least tell us the specific rules for gaining and losing points? We'll be more careful next time."

Hirata stood up and asked again. Mu Tianchen had to admit he admired him, even though Teacher Chazhu probably wouldn't tell him.

"Hirata, I just told you not to make me repeat myself! You have to figure out the rules on your own. I have nothing to say."

Just as expected...

Hirata had no choice but to sit down, looking frustrated. The atmosphere in class grew even more somber.

Teacher Chazhu surveyed the class. Seeing their dejected faces, she slowly curled her lips into a smile.

"Since things are so rough for you, I'll tell you some good news. If your points are at zero, then even if you improve your classroom discipline, the points you receive next month will still be zero."

"But, on the other hand, no matter how many rules you break, you won't lose any more points. How about that? You can slack off as much as you did last month. Isn't that great?"

"Th-this..."

Hirata's expression darkened further. He seemed to realize that Teacher Chazhu's words weren't good news at all.

Saying this would only make their classmates even more hopeless about improving their standing, while also weakening their motivation to improve their classroom discipline.

Mu Tianchen admired her even more. Teacher Chazhu was far too devious for a teacher. Or was she doing it on purpose?

Maybe she was deliberately letting them know their score couldn't drop below zero, so they could take advantage of that and harass the other classes, gradually narrowing the gap.

That was certainly a good idea in theory, but it would be difficult to put into practice. It would take a lot of effort and cooperation from the whole class.

The most influential people in Class D were Hirata and Kushida. They wouldn't rally the class to do something like that. They weren't the type to act like Ryuen.

"Enough small talk. Let's get to the main topic of today's class meeting."

Teacher Chazhu then took out a large poster sheet, unfolded it, and pinned it to the blackboard. The students' eyes immediately fixed on it.

Mu Tianchen looked too. The sheet listed the four classes, A, B, C, and D, in order, with numbers beside them:

Class A: 940

Class B: 650

Class C: 490

Class D: 0

These were probably the scores for each class.

Based on the 65,000 personal points Shibata had been given earlier, the conversion rate between personal points and Class Points was 1:100.

Since each class had been given 100,000 points at the start of the school year, that meant every class had started with 1,000 Class Points.

But it had only been a month, and the gap had already grown this wide?

Class A in particular had lost only 60 points. Mu Tianchen would have to investigate them when he had time.

"Teacher, why is the gap... so big?"

Hirata had noticed the disparity too and asked Teacher Chazhu about it.

"It's simple. The school placed you into classes according to how talented you are. The most outstanding students were assigned to Class A, while you were assigned to Class D because the school judged you to be the worst students from the very beginning!"

Most of the students below her turned pale at that. They probably couldn't believe the school had ranked them as the worst, especially those who considered themselves pretty capable.

"If a class's Class Points hit zero, will its income stay at zero forever?" Yamauchi asked. He didn't care about being ranked the worst; all he cared about was the points.

"Of course. But don't worry. The school made plans for this situation long ago. You've noticed the free items in the cafeteria and convenience store, haven't you?

"Make good use of them from now on. We won't let you starve to death!"

Mu Tianchen had noticed that long ago, but the students who were used to living lavishly probably wouldn't adjust well. Still, the free meals weren't bad.

"So we're going to be looked down on by the other classes forever?" Sudo finally understood why the upperclassmen had looked down on them when they heard he was in Class D.

He kicked his desk with a bang, probably to vent his frustration.

"What, Sudo? I didn't know you cared about saving face. Then work hard to move your class up."

At Teacher Chazhu's words, Hirata seemed to regain his confidence.

"Teacher, is there still a way... to move up? Please, tell us how."

Teacher Chazhu glanced at Hirata, then pointed at the poster on the blackboard.

"Class Points are linked to personal points, and they also reflect a class's ranking. The highest ranking is Class A. Put simply, if your Class Points exceed Class C's 490, you'll become Class C, and Class C will drop to Class D."

After saying that, she turned around and smiled maliciously.

"Let me tell you one more thing. The hundred-percent employment rate, the freedom to choose any job, and the opportunity to pursue further education that you heard about are only available to Class A."

This... Mu Tianchen had realized from the start that the school couldn't possibly be as unbelievable as its publicity made it sound.

But this was outright fraud! They just didn't care about students who weren't in Class A!

Her words immediately caused an uproar among the students. Most of them probably didn't want to admit they'd been deceived.

Just then, the bell rang.

But Teacher Chazhu showed no sign of leaving.

She slowly pulled another sheet of poster paper from her hand...