First Year Clash

The first feeling upon truly setting foot on the island wasn't heat.

It was emptiness.

The sea breeze, the sandy ground, the weight on their backs, and the forest line ahead that looked close but became stifling the moment they started walking all made the word "exam" feel far heavier than it had in the classroom.

When the teachers handed the terminals to each class, they offered no further explanation.

The moment the time came, the screens lit up.

The designated area for the first round appeared.

Eastern forest slope.

It wasn't the closest to the landing point.

Nor was it the farthest.

The problem was that the easier route beside it happened to cross a stretch of open ground with no shade.

The shaded path, meanwhile, was more roundabout.

"How do we go?" Horikita asked immediately.

Gu Heng lowered his head to steady the map, then looked up to gauge the distant terrain.

Before he could speak, Sudo snorted.

"Do we even need to ask? Straight is fastest."

"Straight is the most obvious," Gu Heng said.

"So what if it's obvious?"

"If it's obvious, that means someone's already waiting for you up ahead."

Almost the instant those words fell, figures appeared on the forest slope ahead.

Class C.

Ishizaki was in front.

Two or three well-built boys followed behind him.

Instead of entering the forest line, they stood diagonally across the outside of the open ground's entrance.

Ishizaki's toes pointed directly toward Class D, and he hadn't even taken off his pack.

"They really came," Ike Kanji cursed under his breath.

Sudo's fists had already tightened.

"Fuck."

Gu Heng didn't look at him right away.

He locked onto Ishizaki first.

Something flickered lightly at the edge of his vision.

Enrage Sudo 89

Slow Class D's pace 84

Seize the point 69

Gu Heng pulled his attention away from the values.

Ishizaki's entire body was angled toward Sudo.

That was enough.

"We're not taking the straight route." Gu Heng changed his mind on the spot.

"Sudo, Ike, you two lead the forward team and take the obvious route."

"The obvious route?" Ike Kanji slowed by half a beat, his finger instinctively pointing toward the open ground.

"Yes." Gu Heng pressed a fingertip to the map. "Go through the open ground and let them see you."

Sudo's face darkened at once.

"You want me to be their target?"

"Not a target." Gu Heng looked at him. "A hook."

The moment those words came out, Sudo instinctively wanted to curse.

But Gu Heng's next sentence came even faster.

"The most valuable thing about you today isn't charging in and taking the point."

"It's making them think you'll charge in."

Sudo clenched his jaw.

Half a second passed.

In the end, he forcibly swallowed that surge of anger.

"Then what?"

"Then stop at the outer perimeter," Gu Heng said. "If I don't tell you to go in, you don't go in."

Sudo's jaw twitched.

"What if they surround me?"

"Ike will pull you out," Gu Heng said. "I'll take the point."

Ike Kanji drew in a breath beside him, not daring to interrupt.

"Hirata, take most of the group along the shaded route," Gu Heng continued assigning roles. "Don't fight for the first sighting. Preserve your stamina and water first."

"Kushida, stay with the middle group."

"Horikita, come with me."

"Ayanokoji, you too."

Ayanokoji raised his eyes.

"Me?"

"Your legs aren't bad, and neither is your head," Gu Heng said. "Pretending you're just passing through at a time like this would be a waste."

Ayanokoji neither agreed nor refused.

He simply stepped naturally over to Gu Heng's side.

Gu Heng added one more thing.

"Yukimura, keep time."

"We're not competing to arrive first."

"We're competing for the ten minutes before verification."

Horikita glanced down at the verification time on the terminal, her fingers pressing against its edge.

The open ground had no cover whatsoever. Ishizaki's group still had their packs on, but their toes were already planted at the edge of the outer perimeter.

"Move."

With that command, Class D moved for the first time according to the division of roles they had laid out.

Sudo led the forward team, deliberately walking fast and conspicuously.

Before long, he had nailed down the attention of every member of Class C's group.

The moment Ishizaki saw him, the corner of his mouth curled sideways, and he hitched the pack on his shoulder higher.

"Well, if it isn't Class D's hothead."

"What, planning to take the point with your fists again today?"

Sudo's steps halted.

Ike Kanji's heart leaped into his throat, his hand already gripping his backpack strap.

Sudo's chest rose and fell twice as he forcefully suppressed his anger.

He didn't curse back.

He merely took two more steps forward, planted one foot along the edge of the outer perimeter, lowered his shoulder, and kept his fists clenched.

Then he stopped moving.

Ishizaki's advancing step stalled halfway.

That provocative smile was still on his face, but he couldn't immediately finish what he had been about to say.

One more step from Sudo, and he would crash into Ishizaki's rhythm.

But instead, he was stuck just outside the line.

Perfectly positioned to leave Ishizaki neither advancing nor retreating.

"Why aren't you coming in?" Ishizaki sneered.

Sudo gritted his teeth, his ugly expression entirely genuine.

"What's it to you?"

Enough.

The moment he said that, Ishizaki's backpack strap slipped another half inch down his shoulder.

He yanked it back up, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

At the same time, Hirata had already led the main group along the shaded route.

Not quickly.

But steadily.

That path was more winding.

Yet it offered better shade and consumed less water.

Meanwhile, Gu Heng, Horikita, Ayanokoji, and two lightly equipped members cut diagonally down another narrower slope.

The judgment zone lay below the slope.

Ishizaki's group had their toes planted along the outer perimeter, their shoulders all turned toward Sudo.

The side of the judgment zone closest to the slope was left empty instead.

Gu Heng lowered his hand, signaling the people behind him not to make a sound.

"Seven minutes left," Yukimura reported quietly through the earpiece.

Gu Heng didn't slow down.

"Faster."

Horikita followed beside him. Her breathing remained steady, but her pace was half a beat quicker than usual.

She stepped over an exposed tree root and increased her speed again.

"You anticipated they would focus on Sudo first?" she asked quietly.

"Not anticipated," Gu Heng said. "They'll only focus first on the most obvious thing."

"And we can use that obvious thing to buy time."

After cutting down another several dozen meters, the woods ahead finally revealed the edge of the actual judgment zone.

Empty.

At least, this side was still empty for now.

Ishizaki's group hadn't guarded this side at all.

Sudo had dragged all of them to the outer perimeter.

"Go in."

At Gu Heng's command, they all rushed in at once.

By the time Ayanokoji became the last to cross the line, the terminal had just ticked over to the final four minutes.

"They noticed," Horikita said, looking up the slope.

Ishizaki's curse carried through the trees.

The footsteps uphill abruptly turned chaotic as several people charged down from the outer perimeter at once.

But it was too late.

To reach them, they first had to cross the stretch of outer perimeter they had opened up to block Sudo.

And the rules recognized only whoever occupied the zone at verification.

When the countdown reached its final minute, Ishizaki's group finally rushed over.

But Sudo moved as well.

Not to charge in and fight.

He simply cut sideways by half a step and blocked them from the outside.

No fighting.

No rule violation.

Ishizaki's route inward was thrown off by that half step, forcing him to stop outside the circle.

"Get the fuck out of the way!" Ishizaki's face had gone green.

"Weren't you pretty good at guarding just now?" Sudo panted, baring his teeth in a cold grin. "Keep guarding, then."

The next second, the terminal vibrated softly.

Verification complete.

Class D scored.

The points on the screen didn't change by much.

But in that moment, someone behind them drew in a quiet breath.

Hirata's grip on his terminal loosened slightly.

Ishizaki clenched his back teeth, the side of his face taut.

Yet he couldn't say a word.

The terminal screen was still lit, and the boundary line of the judgment zone lay half a step in front of his feet.

The position he had guarded incorrectly had now become the distance blocking his own way.

"Move." Gu Heng didn't linger for a fight. "We've taken the first round. We're not wasting time here."

Sudo was still clenching his jaw, his Adam's apple bobbing.

But in the end, he turned around.

His fists remained clenched, but he didn't throw a punch.

Every step he took back was heavy, leaving footprints in the sand deeper than the ones on the way there.

Ishizaki stood where he was, his expression turning even uglier.

When the group returned to the middle section and rejoined the main force, Class D fell silent first.

The few people who had been standing around loosely slowly straightened their backs.

Someone moved a water pouch half a step toward Sudo, the words catching in their throat before they silently stuffed it into his hand.

Hirata's shoulders relaxed as he lowered his head and checked the points on his terminal again.

"Just now, quite a few people thought you were going to clash head-on with Class C," he said.

"We would've lost out if we did." Gu Heng took the water and drank a sip. "They thought Sudo would blow up. That was their most expensive mistake in the first round."

At that moment, someone suddenly walked over from not far away.

Not Class C.

Class B.

Gu Heng recognized the girl walking at the front.

He had seen her in the auditorium.

He had also spotted her from afar earlier.

Ichinose Honami.

She did not walk quickly. She stopped two steps away first, then gave a small nod to the Class D students beside him who were still tense.

Before speaking, she deliberately lowered her voice.

But her first words were direct.

"Gu Heng, would it be convenient to speak alone for a moment?"