An Unexpected Incident (Continued)

"It's a bit like an alarm bell."

"I think it looks a lot like it too."

Upon hearing this, Shuichi Kanda's drowsiness vanished immediately, and he looked at Ayanokoji.

"Wake up Sudo and the others, get ready to head to the location of the ringing bell to check the situation."

Upon hearing this, Ayanokoji nodded, and Nanase also came over to help on her own initiative. The three of them quickly woke up Sudo, Ike, and Hondo.

They led the three drowsy people out of the tent, explaining the situation as they moved.

After understanding the situation, Sudo and the other two immediately perked up, since the injured person was very likely their friend or classmate.

Because the sun had not yet risen, the forest was still very dark, so the group could not move very fast.

"Ayanokoji, you lead the way with a flashlight. Ike, you follow at the back with a flashlight to prevent anyone from getting lost. The rest of you, line up in the middle and move forward."

"Is this... is this okay?"

Chi hesitated for a moment, after all, he believed that he should be the one among this group who knew the forest best.

"Don't worry, Ayanokoji is actually quite good at wilderness survival."

Since Shuichi Kanda had said so, Ike had no choice but to nod.

"Why would anyone be moving around at this hour? It's still dark; they could easily get hurt."

As Hondo walked, he kept complaining. Everyone could understand his complaints, because the terrain in the forest was very complex, and even in the daytime with good light, there was a possibility of danger, let alone now when visibility was poor.

"Probably because the next location is random, so they want to make up for lost time as soon as possible."

As Shuichi Kanda and the others approached, the alarm grew closer and louder; according to Shuichi Kanda's memory, this was already the third stage of the alarm.

"If anyone's here, give them a response!"

However, there was no response; only Sudo's shouts echoed through the forest.

"Stop shouting. There's only one reason there's no response: the other party is currently unable to respond."

"If that's the case, then things might really be bad."

Ayanokoji clearly understood the seriousness of the situation and immediately quickened his pace. The others followed closely behind, and as they approached, Shuichi Kanda noticed something.

"No, it's not one ringtone, it's two."

Shuichi Kanda's words startled the people around him for a moment, and then Ayanokoji nodded.

"There are definitely two. At first, I thought it was just an echo. But when you get closer, you realize that there are two sounds coming from each other."

Shuichi Kanda shone his flashlight around, then said, "The sound source is nearby, everyone can spread out a bit..."

Before he could finish speaking, Shuichi Kanda's flashlight shone on a person lying on the ground.

"That's... Komiya!"

Sudo's eyesight was clearly excellent; when the light in Shuichi Kanda's hand stopped, he immediately recognized the person lying on the ground: Komiya Yogo.

"Hey, hey, what's going on... Cheer up, Komiya!"

Although the two had a disagreement last year, Komiya was, after all, a second-year student and a member of the Basketball club, so Sudo immediately ran over to her.

"Don't move him yet. If he has any fractures, moving him could cause serious problems."

Shuichi Kanda immediately alerted Sudo, while simultaneously turning on his flashlight to locate another victim.

That was Kinoshita Minori Komiya. She was the girl who framed Horikita at the Sports Festival on Ryuen's orders.

Shuichi Kanda also walked over to Kinoshita, then squatted down and reached out to check his breath.

He was still breathing, and after examining the other person, he realized there were no obvious external injuries. He was temporarily relieved, since he wasn't a medical professional and could only make a simple assessment of the other person's condition.

Then, Nanase also ran over to help check Kinoshita's injuries. After all, they were both girls, so it was much easier for them than for the boys.

Shuichi Kanda shone his flashlight around, revealing a steep slope several meters high not far from them.

"Ayanokoji, could you climb up and take a look?"

Ayanokoji nodded silently, then handed the flashlight to Shuichi Kanda: "Help me light the way."

As he spoke, guided by the light, he quickly climbed up the steep slope, observed it carefully for a while, and then came down.

"Judging from their sportswear and the extent of their injuries, it appears they slipped or fell from there. I just looked up and there are still signs of people falling from there nearby."

Shuichi Kanda nodded. "How are the road conditions up there?"

"It's alright, even if three people walk side by side, it doesn't feel particularly crowded."

Upon hearing this conclusion, Shuichi Kanda frowned. If that was the case, it might not be a simple accident.

"Neither Komiya nor Kinoshita shows any signs of waking up. Should we turn off the alarm on our watches?"

While Shuichi Kanda pondering the problem, Hondo offered a suggestion.

"Yes, the school should have already recorded it after the alarm went off. And if these two watches keep ringing, it might affect our ability to judge sounds from other places."

Shuichi Kanda made a judgment: since the final five were already determined, it wouldn't be a bad thing to let them withdraw from the exam.

Moreover, there was another person who teamed up with Komiya, and that was Shinohara Satsuki, who was the center of last night's conversation.

"Shinohara-- "

Chi shouted into the dark forest, clearly aware of the problem, but there was no response from the forest.

Just then, Komiya, who was lying on the ground, let out a painful groan.

"Uh... um..."

Komiya's voice immediately attracted the attention of those around her.

"Are you awake? How are you, Komiya? Is anything hurting?" Seeing Komiya slightly regain consciousness, Sudo was overjoyed and began to ask about Komiya condition.

"It hurts, it hurts... my foot...!"

Komiya struggled to move, but his left leg wouldn't obey him and wouldn't budge. Not only that, the immense pain contorted his face.

"Just your left foot? That's great." Sudo breathed a sigh of relief. "While it's regrettable that your left foot is injured, it's wonderful that your ribs and head aren't damaged."

At first, Komiya found it hard to believe what Sudo said, but she immediately understood after hearing what he said next.

This guy is afraid I'll get a fatal injury.

"Not only Komiya- senpai, Kinoshita- senpai's left foot is also in bad shape; it might be fractured."

"Kinoshita, is Kinoshita injured too?"

With Sudo's help, Komiya stood up and then saw Kinoshita lying on the ground, still unconscious.

"Komiya, do you remember what happened?"

Shuichi Kanda was wrong, so he wanted to get some information from Komiya first.

"I... I can't quite remember... It seems like Kinoshita screamed, and then I saw her fall down the slope. I reacted quickly enough and managed to grab her, intending to pull her back up, but suddenly my calf was hit by a sudden, unexpected impact... and then I fell down the slope—ugh..."

"A sudden jolt in my calf?"

"Uh, I guess. I don't remember very clearly... Sorry."

Unfortunately, people often can't remember the details of their injuries, so it's not Komiya's fault.

However, based on Komiya's testimony, Shuichi Kanda judged that there was definitely outsider involved in this matter.

"By the way, isn't Shinohara with you guys?"

"Shinohara..." Upon hearing Shinohara's name, Komiya's expression immediately changed drastically. "That's right...! Satsuki, where's Satsuki? Did she fall down too?"

Although Komiya was in so much pain that he was sweating profusely, it seemed that this also helped him gradually clear his mind.

"Shinohara's whereabouts are unknown. Weren't you acting together?"

Upon hearing Shuichi Kanda's question, Komiya forced himself to calm down, then shook his head, thought for a moment, and sorted through his memories in chronological order.

"Let me start from the beginning. We were getting impatient because we failed to reach the designated area twice yesterday. So we decided to use the morning to shorten the distance. Midway, Satsuki said she needed to use the restroom, so Kinoshita and I waited for her a little distance away. Of course, we used the light to confirm each other's location..."

"While we were waiting for Satsuki to return, we observed people on the slope discussing whether they could take a shortcut there. Then, just when we were realizing it was going to be difficult—"

"Kinoshita suddenly screamed, didn't she?"

"Well, then I reached out to pull her, and suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my calf. When I woke up again, I saw you all."

Shuichi Kanda nodded. He was now basically certain that this was not a simple accident; it was definitely something that had been deliberately orchestrated.

"We haven't heard the third alarm yet, Shinohara shouldn't be injured. According to Komiya, Shinohara should be up the slope right now."

Shuichi Kanda had just finished his analysis when Ike, holding a flashlight, looked around and prepared to climb up the slope.

"Hey, Kanji! It's dangerous, wait a minute!"

Seeing that Ike had set off, Ayanokoji immediately followed.

Shuichi Kanda took the Intercom hanging on his waist. It was already 6 o'clock, and the sun was rising slightly. Presumably, someone had already woken up. After tuning to the other party's channel, Shuichi Kanda began to call.

[Calling me so early in the morning, how rude of you, Kanda- kun.]

After a brief call, a slightly sleepy voice came through the Sakayanagi -Intercom.

[Something's happened. Please contact the school immediately and ask them to send someone over right away.]

[Knew.]

Shuichi Kanda's calm tone seemed to make Sakayanagi realize the seriousness of the situation, so he immediately changed his clothes and headed towards the teachers' camp.

"What's wrong, Sakayanagi?"

As the head of the supplies department, Tomoya Mashima has been getting up early these past few days to prepare supplies.

"Kanda from Class A told me over the Intercom that something had happened to him and he needed to contact the school."

Since the matter was of great importance, Sakayanagi kept it as brief as possible, and also handed over the Intercom he was holding.

[This is Mashima. Please respond if you hear me.]

Not long after, Shuichi Kanda received a reply from Mashima.

[This is Shuichi Kanda. Two students are injured here. One has a broken left leg, and the other is currently unconscious. Please send someone immediately. The injured are located in the southwest area of zone H8. I will remain here on standby. Please have the school locate my GPS position.]

[Were Komiya and Kinoshita the ones who were injured?]

Shuichi Kanda somewhat surprised, but still gave an affirmative answer.

[They've already sent people over from the starting point, but given the urgency of the situation, I'll contact nearby staff and head over immediately.]

After hanging up the Intercom, Shuichi Kanda looked towards a certain spot in the forest.

He had already fastened his Black Belt before setting off, so he could clearly sense that someone was lurking in that direction.

However, Shuichi Kanda did not intend to chase after them directly, because he didn't need to know who that person was; he could simply check the Time TV later.

As for evidence, I'm sorry, but sometimes evidence is completely unnecessary.

It wasn't just Shuichi Kanda who discovered someone was lurking nearby; Nanase, who was standing next to him, also seemed to have noticed.

"Kanda- senpai, I'm counting on you for those two!"

"Are you going?"

Shuichi Kanda's irrelevant answer surprised Nanase: "Did Kanda- senpai notice too?"

I guess so.

Nanase re-examined Shuichi Kanda. Was such keen insight really something that someone with only 25 points of physical strength could possess?

However, Nanase didn't delve into it further and instead said to Shuichi Kanda, "I'll be right back."

Then, Nanase quickly rushed towards the place where someone had been lying in ambush. Her speed was so fast that Horikita during last year's Sports Festival would definitely be far behind.

On the other side, after Ayanokoji and Ike climbed up the slope, they saw Komiya and the other two's luggage, as well as the spot where Komiya and Kinoshita had fallen earlier.

The two then began searching the jungle while shouting.

Meanwhile, Shuichi Kanda waited quietly for news.

About thirty minutes later, two unfamiliar adults arrived. They looked anxious and, judging from their clothing, were probably school staff.

"Hey, you guys, are you all okay?"

"We are alright, but we have two wounded."

Upon seeing the other person, Hondo immediately felt relieved and walked towards them.