An Exam as Easy as Playing House

"Hirata, I suggest we choose Yang Cheng as Class D's leader.

You're our class representative, and Horikita has the best grades in our class. Whichever one of you we choose, wouldn't it be easy for the other classes to guess?"

After finding a suitable base, several key members of Class D gathered to discuss who should hold the Key Card. Karuizawa Kei's suggestion met with unanimous approval from Hirata and the others.

After witnessing Yang Cheng's almost inhuman physical abilities, they all felt he was the best choice.

The Deserted Island Exam lasted an entire week, and it was obvious that wilderness survival would be the main thing tested here.

If they couldn't even meet their basic survival needs, they could forget about occupying the island's other sites or identifying the other classes' leaders.

Yang Cheng's incredible physical abilities meant Class D would have more points and energy to spare on investigating and assessing the other classes.

Originally, Yang Cheng hadn't wanted to be this so-called leader, but occupying the island's sites required using the Key Card to activate their terminals.

The Key Card had to be registered to the class leader. In other words, the leader had to operate it personally to claim a site.

After Class D chose an area near a stream as their base, Yang Cheng put on another display of inhuman swordsmanship, cutting down a large number of trees.

Once he had processed the trees into uniform planks, he left the assembly to the members of Class D.

After finishing his work as a lumberjack, Yang Cheng left the class's base alone and darted through the woods like a ninja.

He intended to locate the other classes' bases, but he also planned to claim every other site on the island.

The school had set up plenty of sites on the island, but there were certainly only a limited number that ordinary students could occupy.

Aside from the fixed sites suitable for setting up camp, claiming other sites required not only having the leader carry the Key Card, but also searching this sizable deserted island.

Even setting aside unknown risks such as encounters with wild animals, simply crossing the dense jungle was no easy task for students who had always lived in comfort.

Yet while the deserted island was a challenge for ordinary students, exploring it was as easy as playing house for Yang Cheng.

In less than half an hour, Yang Cheng had made his way around almost the entire deserted island.

Not only had he located the bases of Classes C, B, and A, but he had also used the Key Card to claim every remaining site on the island.

That was right. Whether it was a cave deep in the jungle or a site beside a sheer cliff, even the harshest terrain was practically level ground to Yang Cheng.

He had also swiped his Key Card at every one of those sites' terminals.

Whenever he swiped the Key Card at a site's terminal, it informed him that the site would belong to Class D after eight hours.

Before that time elapsed, if another class swiped its Key Card at the terminal, ownership of the site would immediately change hands.

Normally, students claiming a site would probably wait beside it for eight hours to ensure it officially became their class's property.

After all, finding a site on such a large deserted island wasn't easy.

For Yang Cheng, however, that was no issue at all.

There was no way he was going to wait a full eight hours. He had already swiped his card at every remaining site on the island anyway.

Even if the other three classes found some of the sites he was claiming and took them over, it would only be a handful. It wouldn't affect the overall picture.

When Yang Cheng returned to Class D's base after finishing everything, he saw cooking smoke rising from it, and several neat little wooden cabins had already been assembled by his classmates.

Upon returning, however, Yang Cheng discovered that a petite girl in a bedraggled state had joined them.

"She's from Class C. Apparently, she couldn't stand the way Ryuen Kakeru and the others were letting themselves go, so they drove her out.

Ayanokoji and the others came across her with nowhere to go while they were out gathering supplies. Yamauchi insisted they couldn't just leave her to die, so they brought her back."

Seeing the confusion on Yang Cheng's face, Suzune took the initiative to approach him and explain.

Yang Cheng didn't remember much of Classroom of the Elite's plot. What had stuck with him was mostly how busty and fair-skinned the girls were.

But even without remembering the plot clearly, he knew this attempt to save someone was undoubtedly a case of fucking bleeding-heart syndrome!

"That idiot Yamauchi. He wasn't worried about leaving her to die. He just fucking wanted to get into her pants!

Does he lose all ability to walk the second he sees a girl?

He knew she was from Class C and still brought her to Class D? If she couldn't survive out here, she'd naturally give up and go back to the cruise ship herself. Why the hell do we need to take her in?"

At Yang Cheng's scathing words, Suzune spread her hands helplessly.

She had objected earlier when they were deciding whether to take the girl in, but there were simply too many bleeding hearts in their class.

After hearing about Ibuki's experience in Class C, the girls in Class D had been overflowing with sympathy. Hirata was a pushover too, so when they put it to a vote, most people agreed to let her stay.

"That guy Ayanokoji agreed too?"

Suzune understood why Yang Cheng had specifically asked about Ayanokoji's opinion, so she added, "He kept a low profile and went along with everyone else, just like always."

Yang Cheng first glanced at Ibuki, who was crouching to one side, seemingly helpless but actually surveying her surroundings. Then he took out his Key Card and tossed it straight into Suzune's hands.

"Find an opportunity to let this Ibuki from Class C see the Key Card in your hands."

Glancing at the Key Card in her hand and hearing Yang Cheng's words, Suzune immediately looked enlightened. She understood what he meant.

Only a handful of key members knew who Class D's leader-the holder of the Key Card-was.

And Suzune didn't believe any of them would be foolish enough to reveal something so important to someone from another class.

In other words, if Ibuki from Class C really was a spy who had infiltrated their class, she would have to observe and search on her own to gather information.

Most people assumed the leader would be holding the Key Card. After all, only the leader could use it to claim sites.

Letting Mio Ibuki see her holding the Key Card would make her

mistakenly conclude that she was Class D's leader.

If things really were as Ibuki had said, and she was at odds with Class C's leader, then everyone would be happy.

But if she had ulterior motives and was trying to discover Class D's leader, she would end up suffering the consequences of her own actions.

After all, correctly guessing a leader's identity did earn exam points, but a wrong guess meant losing points.