The replaced page was very thin.
But it had cost Class D three points outright.
Horikita cleared a space beside the fire, and everyone remained frozen where they were.
No one went near the entrance again.
No one voiced the question of who had done it.
Rain still pattered outside the tarp.
Half the footprints Class C had left behind had already been washed away.
Hirata crouched beside Gu Heng, his knees nearly pressing against the waterproof board, his knuckles whitening against its edge.
"Where is the second supply group now?"
Gu Heng looked at the terminal.
"The western rocky slope."
Yukimura immediately flipped through the original records.
"That's wrong. The second supply group was supposed to travel along the outside of the water source, pass the short pines to the north, then return to the temporary western checkpoint within fifteen minutes. They're at the western rocky slope now, two hundred meters outside the checkpoint zone."
"Two hundred meters is enough to make them miss the checkpoint deadline."
Horikita said.
She pressed the sheet onto the waterproof board, her fingertip sliding slowly from the first line to the last.
The route name was correct.
The number was correct.
Even the note saying "use lower slopes first in rain" was correct.
Horikita's finger stopped on the third line. Her nail lightly tapped the turn marker there.
The third line of the route page had originally said "short pines to the north." The fake page had changed it to "white rocks to the west." Continuing from the western white rocks would lead them to the western rocky slope and make them miss the temporary western checkpoint.
Only four words had been changed.
Ike Kanji's face went pale.
"Just four words, and we lost three points?"
"The exam won't deduct less just because