Class Reconnaissance Begins

The first systematic reconnaissance by another class did not fall on Gu Heng or Horikita first.

The two on-campus accounts Hirata brought back both belonged to Class C. One had asked in the cafeteria who was responsible for special exam preparations, while the other had asked in the hallway whether Sudo would be pushed to the forefront. After lunch, someone from Class B had also politely asked whether Class D had already divided into groups.

The three groups had different tones, but their questions all circled around four positions: the front line, planning, coordination, and Sudo.

"This isn't ordinary curiosity," Hirata said. "It's like someone organized the questions beforehand."

"The two Class C threads can be treated as systematic reconnaissance," Gu Heng said. "Class B only gets the public boundaries. We won't automatically count a friendly inquiry as being part of the same group."

"Do you want everyone to keep their mouths shut?" Horikita asked.

"We can't shut them up." Gu Heng wrote down four half-true pieces of information. "What we can really control is that even if someone talks, the outside world receives the same layer first."

First, Class D would divide its preparations based on physical ability and execution.

Second, Sudo would most likely be on the front line.

Third, Horikita was responsible for visible execution.

Fourth, Gu Heng was currently only handling internal class planning and grouping, with no commitment as to his position during the exam itself.

The first three were preparations already underway. The last only concealed the possibility that Gu Heng might take over on the spot.

After scanning the paper, Sudo shoved it straight back.

"You want me to memorize this?"

"Don't memorize it," Gu Heng said. "You just need to stop bragging about things that haven't been decided as if they already have been."

"How I talk is my business."

"Right. You can dislike Horikita or find me annoying. Just lock down two things: the preparation divisions are real, and the official positions haven't been decided. Don't mention the exact numbers or any lists that can't be made public."

Only then did Sudo pull the paper back for another glance.

Making him repeat Hirata's exact wording would only make it sound rehearsed. If they preserved his temper and merely locked down the factual boundaries, the two sources could remain both consistent and distinct.

Horikita also pointed out that her name had been placed in the third statement.

"Visible execution is a responsibility approved by vote during the preparation period. It isn't me vouching for your intelligence."

"Which is why we only state the parts already made public," Gu Heng replied. "If they ask whether you're officially leading, give the standard answer: the rules haven't been released, so nothing has been decided."

Horikita added that sentence to the paper before allowing her preparation duties to be included in the response.

After reading it, Hirata did not agree right away.

"If Class B asks, do I use this version too?"

"No," Gu Heng said. "Tell them the official rules haven't been released and Class D is only conducting voluntary ability assessments. If they're willing to exchange their class's public preparation methods, then we can discuss the next layer."

That distinction made Hirata nod.

Misleading Class C's scouts was one thing. Treating every outside class as an enemy would burn away future deals too early.

That afternoon, the first Class C student stopped Hirata outside the gym.

"I heard Horikita's been collecting all the forms for your class lately?"

Hirata did not pretend to know nothing.

"She's responsible for visible execution," he said. "I handle coordination, and Gu Heng mainly organizes internal class plans. The official rules haven't arrived, so the positions at the scene haven't been decided."

"What about Sudo?"

"The physical ability side can't do without him."

That was all he said. When the other student asked about exact numbers, Hirata only said he would need equivalent information from Class C in exchange.

The student smiled and waved as he left, unwilling to pay the price.

The second Class C thread ran into Sudo before PE class.

The newcomer first praised his physical ability, then asked, "Once Class D gets on the island, won't the front line still have to depend on you?"

Gu Heng stood a few steps away and did not answer for Sudo. The other side had already used the question to drag Sudo into an obvious attempt at fishing for information, and two items appeared steadily in his weighted view.

Fishing for positions 86

Provoking boastfulness 73

The labels did not tell Gu Heng who stood behind the other student. They only explained the purpose of the praise.

Sudo pressed his tongue against his back teeth.

"If I'm not doing the physical work, are you?"

"So Horikita really is going to be up front managing people?"

"If she likes managing people, let her manage them." Sudo snorted. "That Gu Heng guy prefers assigning people and calculating things in class. When it comes to actually carrying the load at the front, it depends on whether you can move."

The sentence was uneven, even carrying Sudo's personal resentment.

But its key positions matched the version Hirata had given.

The other student asked twice more about numbers, and Sudo only replied, "If you want to know, trade something from your class."

The student had not expected him to negotiate a price. The smile on his face froze for a moment, and he could only leave empty-handed.

"That line just now was good," Gu Heng said.

"Which one?"

"Making him trade something for it."

Sudo gave a snort, but the corner of his mouth rose despite himself.

He did not realize he had completed an act of guidance. He only knew that this time, no one had demanded that he pretend to be someone else. What the other side took away was the truth Sudo would actually say, not a script Gu Heng had written for him.

The last person to ask was a girl from Class B.

She did not pursue Sudo. She simply explained to Hirata that Class B was also preparing physical ability and communication, and wanted to exchange public methods.

Hirata told her Class D's three voluntary assessment fields, and in return received Class B's practice of only assigning preparation tasks after confirmation from the person involved. Neither side handed over names or position lists.

This exchange was not inserted into the false-information plan.

As an exchange record, Hirata only wrote down the public fields each side had provided. He did not label the girl as part of Class B's "friendly faction." One equal exchange could only prove that neither side had overcharged this time; it could not guarantee future positions.

After reviewing the three contacts side by side, Horikita pointed out that neither of the two Class C students had paid equivalent information.

"They took four pieces away empty-handed."

"What they took was the public preparation layer. And we got two verified accounts, the sequence of their questions, and the positions they cared about most," Gu Heng said. "Those are the returns from this round."

"What if they don't compile the information after they go back?"

"Then the two half-true pieces of information lose effect separately, and we only lose public content. If they compile it, then it produces the structure we want them to see first."

That confined both the gains and losses of the false information to a single round of probing. It could not deceive anyone into giving up points, nor could it guarantee that Ryuuen would fall for it. It could only buy them one look at the other side's order of observation.

Before school ended, Hirata organized the three conversations by account, original wording, and the scope of his own replies.

"The core versions obtained by the two Class C students are consistent," he said. "Class B only received the public preparation methods."

"That's enough," Gu Heng said. "If someone within Class C compiles them, tonight they'll see the same layer of structure spoken by two different mouths."

Horikita looked at the two Class C accounts.

"Will Ryuuen believe it?"

"He might believe it at first glance," Gu Heng said. "Not necessarily at second glance."

"Then what use is it?"

"The first glance determines where he touches first. As long as he spends one extra move confirming it, we gain time to adjust."

This was not about making Ryuuen stupid, nor was it about expecting one piece of false information to deceive him through the entire exam.

It only had to guide Class C's first outstretched hand half a step away from where Gu Heng had intended.

And by that evening, the two Class C accounts had reached Ishizaki together.

One retained Hirata's original words, "the official positions haven't been decided," while the other retained Sudo's dissatisfaction with Horikita and Gu Heng. Ishizaki had not witnessed either encounter, so he could only verify the timing and questions with the scouts separately. He could not add tone to either statement.

Gu Heng's side also had no idea how Ishizaki would relay the information, much less which part Ryuuen would believe first.

Both sides only held half of their own chain. The advantage in the next step would not depend on who suddenly became all-knowing, but on who first found a verifiable structure within the two incomplete accounts.