Chapter Summaries

Gu Heng enforced a plan in which everyone followed only their own partial instructions, while the students’ genuine actions made the camp look as though it was gathering north of the old water source. The outsiders moved toward that apparent destination, and Gu Heng let them go.

• Gu Heng told everyone to follow only their own page, while Horikita and Hirata restricted questions, explanations, and reports to keep the plan compartmentalized.
• Sudo resisted a deliberate attempt to provoke him into crossing the white rope, and the students followed their verbal orders without adding explanations.
• Yukimura realized that the outsiders could mistake the students’ real actions for a genuine gathering, and Gu Heng explained that their separate instructions would collectively lead them toward a false destination.
• Kushida returned from the girls’ line and asked to share what direction to prepare for, but Horikita ordered her back without verbal confirmation.
• The girls subtly cleared a path north of the old water source, and three terminal lights moved toward the open ground there as Gu Heng told Ayanokoji to let them go.

Ryuuen investigated a clearing near the Old Water Source and realized Gu Heng had combined real Class D movements to lure him into a false conclusion and waste time. He left to resume watching Class D’s people, suspecting their real vulnerability lay in the order of their operations.

• Gu Heng told Sudo not to chase the lights and ordered the others to keep monitoring their assigned tasks.
• Ryuuen, Ibuki, and Ishizaki examined the muddy clearing and inferred that Class D was pulling in its girls, keeping the medicine in place, and refilling water bags.
• Ryuuen concluded Gu Heng had used genuine movements to make the clearing look like a retreat route and draw him there for confirmation.
• After learning the detour would delay the supply line, Ryuuen left the clearing rather than spend more time there.
• Ryuuen told Ibuki and Ishizaki to watch the people whose delays could disrupt Class D’s order, naming Gu Heng, Horikita, Hirata, and the inconspicuous Ayanokoji as possibilities.

Gu Heng used the time Ryuuen’s group lost at the Old Water Source to accelerate Class D’s supply rotation and keep its lines steady. The chapter ended with Ishizaki taunting Sudo across the mud boundary, daring him to cross.

• Gu Heng ordered Hirata to begin the second round early, and Hirata reassigned Ike, Sakura, Sudo, Yamauchi, Kushida, and Yukimura to tighten the class’s supply and record-keeping lines.
• As Class C’s patrols returned along separate routes, Gu Heng and Ayanokoji recognized that Ryuuen’s group had been stretched out, while Horikita stayed visible to conceal the other lines.
• Class D completed its second and third rounds, and Yukimura’s records showed that the rotation ran three minutes faster than its previous stable pace.
• Ishizaki returned with two Class C students and confronted Sudo at the mud boundary, taunting him and daring him to cross.

Gu Heng stopped Sudo from taking Ishizaki’s bait by documenting Class C’s position and keeping Class D within the designated lines. Ryuuen then shifted tactics, leaving a bottle outside the boundary and asking what the girls would do for water.

• Ishizaki taunted Sudo into taking a step across the line, but Gu Heng had Hirata and Yukimura record the positions and Horikita confirm the line remained intact.
• Karuizawa watched the girls’ line while Sudo stayed inside the boundary, and Ryuuen arrived to assess Class D’s preparations.
• Gu Heng told Ryuuen that violence could hurt people but could not count as an advantage under the rules, and Sudo obeyed when Gu Heng told him to stay quiet.
• Ryuuen kicked a half-full bottle over the boundary toward Sudo and asked what Class D’s girls would do for water.
• Karuizawa looked between the bottle and the girls’ line as they faced a choice between leaving it outside or crossing the boundary to take it.

Gu Heng refused Ryuuen’s attempt to use a bottle of water to make Class D cross the white rope, then countered his plan to target key students by threatening to rotate the whole class. Ryuuen withdrew after identifying more of Class D’s replacement order, and Gu Heng called for the rotation to be reviewed.

• Gu Heng told Karuizawa not to take the bottle, and she rationed the girls’ drinks while Hirata and Ike adjusted the collection.
• Ryuuen proposed targeting Hirata, Horikita, and Sudo to discover which positions Gu Heng would protect first.
• Gu Heng said he would bring the rest of the class into rotation whenever Ryuuen pressured someone, raising the cost of targeting any one position.
• Ryuuen assigned Yukimura, Yamauchi, and Ike Kanji to roles that exposed more of Class D’s replacement order.
• Ryuuen left with Ishizaki and Ibuki, and Gu Heng asked Hirata to announce the class’s rotation and replacement order again.

Gu Heng reorganized the camp’s duties into rotating backups so Ryuuen could not exploit any single vulnerable position. After the new system kept every line staffed, Horikita asked Gu Heng who among them was replaceable.

• Gu Heng warned that Ryuuen was tracking not only the assigned guards but also the people who filled in after them.
• Gu Heng wrote a new rotation plan that assigned backups to the relay, campfire center, white-rope positions, girls’ line, and medicine group.
• Sudo, Ike Kanji, and Yamauchi agreed to rotate at the white rope, while Karuizawa, Sakura, and Kushida divided responsibilities on the girls’ line.
• The class tested the new rotations, and Hirata reported that no line had been left empty despite the extra effort and slower pace.
• Horikita confronted Gu Heng beside the campfire and asked who was replaceable.

Gu Heng explained to Horikita why he planned to rotate people out before Ryuuen could expose their positions, and accepted that he would be replaced too. Ayanokoji then brought them a torn Class C route sheet showing that both Horikita and Gu Heng had been marked as candidates.

• Gu Heng told Horikita he would pull her back first because Ryuuen was watching her position, and explained that prepared substitutes could keep the class from collapsing.
• Horikita challenged Gu Heng for treating people as replaceable pieces, while Gu Heng insisted he was calculating rotations to keep everyone standing.
• Gu Heng said he would also enter the substitute rotation if Ryuuen began watching him, and Horikita promised to hold him to his words.
• Ayanokoji returned with a water-damaged piece of Class C's route sheet, where Horikita and Gu Heng were circled as candidates.

Sakayanagi reassessed Gu Heng after he kept Class D from falling into chaos and decided he was worth betting on. As the leader prediction window was announced, she prepared to approach him on the cruise ship.

• Hashimoto reported how Gu Heng had countered Ryuuen's efforts to trace Class D's substitute chain and maintained the class's shift system.
• Sakayanagi judged that Gu Heng had prepared multiple contingencies and was worth betting on, while distinguishing his role from Horikita's.
• Sakayanagi asked Hashimoto to tell Gu Heng that she would collect in person on the cruise ship for her island assessment.
• Hashimoto noted that Ryuuen had raised his interest in Gu Heng, and Sakayanagi said she was not worried about Gu Heng drawing attention from Ayanokoji.
• A mandatory notice announced that the leader prediction window would open in one hour, prompting Sakayanagi to call it the start of the real guessing game.

Class D studied the finale addendum, which separated its public representative from its leader and made supplies, withdrawals, and area control part of the settlement. With the confirmation window approaching, Horikita took the public representative role while Class D still had to decide who would bear the risk of being named leader.

• Yukimura, Hirata, Gu Heng, and Horikita reviewed the new rules and began separating public records from Class D's internal routes and locations.
• Horikita told Class D not to guess another class's leader before sorting out its own fields, then claimed the public representative role.
• Hirata, Yukimura, and Gu Heng discussed how to choose a leader without leaving Class D unable to function if that person was guessed correctly.
• Sakura and Yukimura began tracking supply losses and withdrawals by fact, purpose, and time, while Kushida offered to ask who would cooperate with the representative.
• Ayanokoji pointed out that the separate fields meant the school did not require other classes to see the complete answer.
• As the countdown reached 59:12, Horikita urged Gu Heng to set the public representative first and then decide who would bear the undisclosed leader name.

Class D chose Suzune Horikita as its public representative and Gu Heng as its privately recorded final-stage leader, separating their responsibilities and records. As Class C called Horikita a puppet and claimed Gu Heng was the real leader, Horikita prepared to answer publicly herself.

• Horikita confirmed the public representative's duties and entered her own name, while Gu Heng warned against making her both representative and final-stage leader.
• Gu Heng nominated himself as final-stage leader, and Horikita, Hirata, and Yukimura agreed to keep the two roles and their records separate.
• Horikita confirmed her independent public role, Gu Heng confirmed his leader role, and the school issued separate receipts for the two submissions.
• Horikita told Class D she would handle the visible confirmation and directed volunteers to register public cooperation with Kushida.
• Class C sent a message calling Horikita a puppet and claiming Gu Heng was the real leader, but Horikita raised her terminal and said she would answer.

Class C challenged the distinction between Class D’s public representative and final-phase leader, but the school confirmed they were separate submissions. Ishizaki then guessed Gu Heng as Class D’s leader, while Horikita kept her role and Class D continued its preparations pending the final settlement.

• Horikita replied to Class C’s public message, affirming her valid role as Class D’s public representative without revealing the final-phase leader.
• Ishizaki asked the school whether the public representative and final-phase leader had to be the same person, and the school confirmed they were separate entries.
• Horikita showed Ishizaki the records of her own decisions and rejected his claim that Gu Heng controlled her.
• When the leader-guessing window opened, Ishizaki submitted Class C’s single guess for Gu Heng.
• Kushida, Hirata, Yukimura, and Sudo continued their assigned preparations as Horikita told Class D to keep its roles unchanged.

Horikita defended her authority as Class D’s public representative after Class A questioned whether Gu Heng controlled its decisions. As she prepared the next status submission, Gu Heng received an unread message from an unknown sender.

• Hashimoto asked whether Horikita still had decision-making authority after Class C’s guess of Gu Heng entered settlement.
• Horikita stated that she controlled Class D’s public confirmations while internal routes, posts, and member positions remained outside her commitments.
• Gu Heng said he would not change Horikita’s public role, and Hashimoto recorded that Class A would negotiate future public matters with her.
• Horikita took Hirata’s completed supply and withdrawal records and prepared to submit the next status item.
• Gu Heng received an unread message from a blank sender just as Hashimoto’s record appeared on the public page.

Gu Heng received an anonymous message claiming to know Class D’s final-phase leader wording and route, and decided to meet its sender alone despite Horikita’s warning. He told Ayanokoji, who asked whether Gu Heng wanted someone to follow him.

• Gu Heng read an anonymous message inviting him to the old observation point before the next status refresh and claiming knowledge of Class D’s final-phase leader wording and route.
• Gu Heng showed Horikita the message, and she warned him not to leave the camp or let the sender change Class D’s division of labor.
• Horikita said she would report Gu Heng’s absence to Hirata as a fact if he failed to return by the next status refresh.
• Gu Heng decided to attend the meeting alone and forwarded the message to Ayanokoji.
• Ayanokoji read the message, questioned whether Ryuuen was the sender, and asked Gu Heng whether he wanted someone to follow him.

Gu Heng left Class D’s camp alone to investigate an anonymous message, entrusting the class’s existing responsibilities to Horikita, Hirata, and Yukimura. At the meeting point, he found evidence that Class A had been watching public information and learned someone other than Class C had summoned him.

• Gu Heng refused Ayanokoji’s offer to accompany him and asked him to watch over Class D’s foundation while he was gone.
• Gu Heng recorded his departure time and deadline on Class D’s handover sheet, and Hirata and Yukimura agreed to preserve the existing assignments and records.
• Sudo offered to accompany Gu Heng, but Gu Heng refused; Horikita confirmed she would keep handling the public representative’s duties.
• Gu Heng avoided the anonymous message’s suggested route and found no signs of Class C or Ishizaki at the meeting location.
• Gu Heng examined a waterproof board at a Class A observation point and found records based on public information, followed by a note saying someone else had replaced Class C in asking him a question.

Hashimoto met Gu Heng on Sakayanagi’s behalf and offered Class A’s observations of Class C in exchange for a judgment from Gu Heng. Gu Heng accepted the record without revealing Class D’s internal route, then learned that Ryuuen was also looking for him as he headed back to camp.

• Hashimoto confirmed that he had placed the note calling Gu Heng to the waterproof board and explained Sakayanagi’s two offers.
• Hashimoto showed Gu Heng Class A’s record of Class C’s movements after its leader guess was received, and explained the possible cost of accepting it.
• Gu Heng offered mixed intelligence about Class C, distinguishing a public fact from an unverifiable direction, in exchange for the observation record.
• Hashimoto accepted the trade, noted that Class D had provided no internal route, and sent Gu Heng the record marked as public observation only.
• Hashimoto told Gu Heng that Sakayanagi planned to collect personally on the cruise ship for the middle-stage observations and added that Ryuuen was looking for him.
• Gu Heng reviewed Class A’s record and headed back toward camp.

Gu Heng used Class A’s observations to infer that Class C was watching Class D’s public base to support its locked-in leader guess. He proposed that Class D actually move its public base east before final confirmation, leaving Horikita to decide whether to accept the risk.

• Gu Heng returned to Class D’s base with Class A’s observation records and told Ayanokoji that he had given Hashimoto a judgment mixed with truth and falsehood.
• Gu Heng showed Horikita, Hirata, and Yukimura that Class C had approached the western public line three times without confirming an independent area.
• Gu Heng explained that Class C could no longer change its guess for Class D’s leader and might use Class D’s endgame actions to support that guess.
• Horikita questioned whether changing the public base would improve Class D’s position, and Gu Heng acknowledged that he could not prove it would.
• Gu Heng proposed that Class D move to the eastern public confirmation point before final confirmation while keeping Horikita as public representative and submitting supplies and withdrawals according to what had happened.

With the final confirmation window closing, Horikita moved Class D from its west-side base to the registered confirmation point on the east and submitted the class’s actual status. The submission gave no immediate points, leaving the outcome of Class C’s guess unresolved as the settlement screen refreshed.

• Horikita decided to move Class D to the registered public confirmation point on the east side, and Hirata and Yukimura confirmed the route and submission complied with the rules.
• Sudo and Hirata organized the group for the move while Gu Heng tracked Class A’s public positions and Ayanokoji stayed behind to watch the western trail.
• Ayanokoji reported that Class C observers had appeared on the western trail, but Horikita told Class D to continue east.
• At the east-side confirmation point, Horikita verified the submission fields with Yukimura and confirmed Class D’s final-stage status.
• Ryuuen saw that Class D had changed its public base but not its representative, and his smile faded as the settlement screen refreshed.

Class D finished the Uninhabited Island Special Exam in second place despite Class C correctly guessing Gu Heng as its leader, and Horikita accepted the settlement without altering any submitted fields. As the students returned to the cruise ship, the school announced the next special exam: Identity Grouping.

• The settlement screen confirmed Class D's second-place finish and showed that Class C's correct leader guess had already been factored into the ranking without invalidating Class D's records.
• Hirata realized Class D could hold together without relying on Gu Heng alone, while Sudo said the class should first count everyone who returned.
• Horikita accepted the final-phase settlement, and Gu Heng reflected that responsibility had been shared across Class D rather than held by one person.
• Hashimoto told Sakayanagi about Class D's result, and Sakayanagi said she would see whether Gu Heng could bring his methods onto the cruise ship.
• Ryuuen reviewed Gu Heng's records and resolved to target the way Gu Heng kept others obeying, rather than simply dismantling his answer.
• The broadcast ordered students back to the cruise ship and announced Identity Grouping as the next special exam.

The cruise ship’s special exam assigned students to zodiac groups, each with a hidden VIP, and tied individual guesses to both private rewards and class consequences. Gu Heng’s assignment placed him in the Rabbit Group with Ishizaki Daichi, leaving him wary of who would watch Class D first.

• Horikita, Yukimura, and Gu Heng reviewed the VIP exam rules and discussed how private guesses could affect classes.
• Ayanokoji and Gu Heng noted that submission timing could provide clues or be deliberately manipulated.
• Gu Heng told Class D to report observed facts rather than speculation, while Horikita reserved judgment until others showed what they were willing to risk.
• The terminal assigned Gu Heng to the Rabbit Group and listed Ishizaki Daichi from Class C alongside him.

Gu Heng reviewed Rabbit Group’s roster and assessed the other members before its first discussion. Karuizawa appeared on the Snake Group roster, leaving Gu Heng with a new lead but no proof that she was connected to Rabbit Group’s VIP.

• Gu Heng checked Rabbit Group’s roster and learned that he, Sakura Airi, and Yukimura Teruhiko represented Class D.
• Hashimoto spoke with Gu Heng about Sakayanagi’s interest and their earlier dealings, while withholding whether he was the VIP.
• Ishizaki challenged Gu Heng and showed signs of watching Class D, so Gu Heng privately classified him as someone who could be misled.
• Gu Heng sorted Hashimoto, Ishizaki, and Sakura into provisional risk categories on his terminal.
• The system announced Rabbit Group’s first discussion for 19:40 and clarified that discussion did not require a collective answer.
• Gu Heng briefly saw that Karuizawa had been assigned to Snake Group but did not open its roster or assume she was tied to Rabbit Group’s VIP.