The fastest Special Exam

Inside the Dragon Group's room, Ryuuen was taunting Horikita.

"What's wrong, Suzune? Don't you think you're every bit as good as the people in Class A? Why haven't you ended the exam?"

"Who gave you permission to call me Suzune?!" Horikita glared at Ryuuen.

"You look so cute like that."

"I know what you're up to, Ryuuen. You want to provoke me into giving you information. I won't fall for it." Horikita turned away.

"You suddenly got smarter after just one night."

Ryuuen clicked his tongue and kicked off hard, sending his chair straight over to Lezheng.

"Lezheng, have you figured anything out?"

"How about telling me who your class's VIPs are so I can give it some thought?"

"Sure, but I'll need five million Private Points from you."

"Will a hundred thousand do?"

"What do you think?"

"Are you all planning to go for outcome three?" Kanzaki stood up.

"Actually, I think outcome one would be pretty good," Hirata replied.

Lezheng listened to the students from Classes B and D with narrowed eyes, reckoning that they had already begun cooperating.

Then the room filled with a debate led by Kanzaki and Hirata in favor of choosing outcome one. In short, they wanted to cooperate for a win-win outcome.

Unfortunately, Classes A and C were thinking of letting some get rich first and then bring prosperity to the rest. Lezheng had already picked up on a clue; he already had information on four VIPs.

At 8:01, Karuizawa had sent him a screenshot of her email.

Could the VIPs really all be girls?

Four names kept flashing through Lezheng's mind.

Suddenly, inspiration struck, and he checked its accuracy in his head.

If it's the gojuon order... Motohi in the Tiger Group, correct; Karuizawa in the Rabbit Group, correct; Yahara in the Snake Group, correct; Tsukachi in the Monkey Group, correct... Then the Dragon Group's VIP...

Lezheng glanced at the cute-looking Kushida Kikyo, took out his phone, and sent a string of text to the school's email address.

A minute later, the school's loudspeakers sounded.

"The Dragon Group's exam has ended."

Everyone present except Lezheng instantly stood up.

"I figured letting you keep arguing wouldn't get us anywhere, so I gave you a hand." Lezheng waved his phone.

"Did you guess right... or figure out the pattern?" Kanzaki was stunned.

"This Special Exam was way too easy. Katsuragi, I've already sent you the details."

"Thanks." Katsuragi opened his phone and began passing them on.

"The Rat Group's exam has ended. The Ox Group's exam has ended. The Rabbit Group's exam has ended..." As the announcements came over the school's loudspeakers, only three of the twelve groups remained.

Lezheng transferred 250,000 Private Points to Karuizawa as a reward for sharing information. His personal Private Points were already close to a million; after this Special Exam, Class A was guaranteed at least 300 Class Points.

Ryuuen, Kanzaki, and Horikita caught on, realizing that the VIPs in the three remaining groups were all Class A students. But the gap between Classes B and C was less than 100 points, and Kanzaki did not dare gamble.

Class D had many reasons, but the biggest was that they had spent too long struggling. Now that they had finally obtained a few Class Points, they did not dare squander them.

Ryuuen was different. He dared to gamble, so Class C's suicide squad began blowing themselves up.

"The Tiger Group's exam has ended. The Snake Group's exam has ended. The Monkey Group's exam has ended. The VIP Special Exam has ended."

After this round of self-destruction, Class C's Class Points actually rose by 50, while Class A gained 400.

"This has to be the fastest Special Exam ever, hahaha!" Ryuuen left, laughing loudly.

Each class's Class Points after the VIP Exam:

Class A: 1,637 points

Class B: 566 points

Class C: 670 points

Class D: 0 points

Class C's Class Points surpassed Class B's, switching their rankings, while Class D returned to square one.

Inside the teachers' temporary office.

"Lezheng really is amazing. Sae, your class's points have gone back to zero again. How sad," Hoshinomiya said with a smile.

"Heh, didn't your class get demoted too?" Chasuke's tone was calm.

"Even back in our day, Lezheng would have been in a league of his own." Mashima smiled.

"Ryuen has a lot of nerve too, breaking the deadlock with a method like that. They've even surpassed us," Hoshinomiya went on to praise Ryuen.

"Ichinose and Kanzaki are no pushovers either. You still have a chance to overtake us again." Sakagami smiled, looking to be in a good mood.

Advanced Nurturing. The Student Council activity room.

"The fastest Special Exam? Just what I'd expect from you." The results of both Special Exams lay on President Horikita's desk.

"President, this junior really is impressive. Of course, I think you would definitely have done even better." Tachibana was still hopelessly lovestruck.

"Tachibana, Lezheng is better than me."

"How could that be?!"

"Seeing how outstanding he is puts my mind at ease." President Horikita smiled.

The president's smile... is so handsome.

"Hirata, what were you guys doing? Our Class Points are back to zero now," Yamauchi complained.

"Yeah, Hirata. Now we'll still have to eat the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal next term." Ike immediately joined the attack.

"You can't really blame Hirata. The main thing is that Lezheng was just too good." Kushida spoke up for Hirata.

"Horikita, don't you claim you're every bit as good as Class A? Then why aren't you as good as Lezheng?" Yamauchi turned his attack on Horikita.

Kushida was inwardly ecstatic to see Yamauchi go after Horikita.

"It's precisely because of parasites like you that Class D has become such a cesspool," Horikita shot back without hesitation.

"What's that supposed to mean?! I bet I hit a nerve, and now you're lashing out!"

"Yamauchi, shut your mouth for a minute." Sudo grabbed Yamauchi by the collar.

"When you face Lezheng yourself, you'll understand what it feels like." Horikita turned and left.

Admit your shortcomings, Horikita. Only then can you grow. Ayanokoji watched Horikita walk away.

On the cruise ship's lowest deck, Lezheng sat on a small stool, wearing sunglasses and fishing.

Actually, he had an urge to jump into the sea from the very top of the cruise ship.

"Hey, Sakayanagi. Did you need something?" Lezheng answered Sakayanagi's call.

"I wanted to chat. Being at school all by myself is so boring."

"Then where should we start? You pick a topic."

"How did you work out the VIPs this time?"

"At first, I was thinking about gender. Then, after reading their names a few times, I suddenly thought of the gojuon order," Lezheng answered honestly.

"The gojuon order?... That does work."

Sakayanagi fell silent for a while, as though she had just finished thinking it through.

"Do you know someone in the Student Council, or did Mr. Mashima tell you?"

"Aren't you good at deduction? Consider this a test."

"I can't work it out for now."

"You'll know when the time comes."

Sakayanagi hung up.

"Father, could you pull up a copy of Lezheng's records?" Sakayanagi asked.

"His records from kindergarten onward are all here." Chairman Sakayanagi knew his daughter's personality.

Sakayanagi took them and looked through them, discovering no trace of any training. In other words, Lezheng was a genius who had developed naturally.

"There are no signs of any alterations. Growing up, the praise Lezheng received from others was always 'very smart' and 'charismatic,'" the chairman said.

"Who's better, Lezheng or him?" That was what Sakayanagi was curious about.

"They've never faced each other directly, so there's no way to judge."