Day1

The ship carrying everyone to the Deserted Island was the same cruise ship as before.

The same deck as last time, the same bench, and the same two people.

"Youyan, won't you feel scared and lonely at night, acting alone?" Shiina leaned against Lezheng's shoulder.

"You don't need to worry about that. If I get lonely, I'll come find you, Hiyori," Lezheng said softly.

"But make sure you stay safe. Don't push yourself."

"Yeah, I'll be careful. What about you, Hiyori?"

"You don't need to worry about me. Ryuen assigned Ibuki and Ishizaki to protect me."

Ryuuen could hardly be blamed for being cautious. His class was a bunch of delinquents to begin with, after all, and now that they finally had a strategist and a "scholar," he paid them a great deal of attention. As for their "scholar," Kanda, Yamada and Nishino had been assigned to protect him, while Ryuuen would go alone.

"Make sure you don't go anywhere alone at night, understand?" Lezheng reminded her.

"Mm-hmm. If I run into trouble I can't handle, I'll come find you," Shiina replied with a smile.

"Ding-dong." Both their phones chimed at the same time.

"The first-years are done. It's our turn."

All the second-year students had gathered in the cruise ship's assembly hall, and Mashima stepped up to the podium.

"I will now announce the rules for this Special Exam. Starting tomorrow, you will take part in a two-week wilderness survival exam in which you will accumulate points and compete against one another. If every member of a group withdraws, that group will immediately be disqualified. The bottom five groups will face expulsion. There are two ways to earn points.

"The first is basic movement. The school has divided the Deserted Island into 100 grid squares. A bonus area will appear every three hours. The first group to arrive will receive ten points, the second five points, and the third three points. This will happen four times a day. Other groups that arrive within the designated time will receive one point. Failure to reach the bonus area three consecutive times will result in a penalty.

"The second way to earn points is to complete tasks set up throughout the Deserted Island. The locations and contents of these tasks are entirely random. The rewards for completing tasks are food and water.

"You must wear this watch until the exam ends. The school will also issue everyone a tablet paired with their watch. These are essential tools for keeping track of points. This watch will also monitor your health. Once your readings exceed the healthy range, it will issue a warning, which will automatically stop after five seconds.

"If too much time passes, it will issue another warning. If your condition does not improve, it will switch to an emergency alarm. At that point, you must return to the starting point for a medical examination. If you cannot get there within five minutes, the school will send people to rescue you. If you try to forcibly remove the watch, you will stop earning points.

"There are twelve routes programmed into the watches. Being groups from the same class does not mean you will have the same route. All routes are assigned automatically by the system."

By the time Mashima finished explaining all the rules, night had fully fallen.

"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own, Lezheng?" Sakayanagi found Lezheng enjoying the breeze.

"Rather than worrying about me, are you sure you're going to participate this time?" Lezheng glanced at Sakayanagi before turning back to the sea.

"I... don't want to cause the class losses every time something like this comes up." There was a trace of sadness in Sakayanagi's voice.

"Then I'll leave the personnel assignments to you and Katsuragi this time. But I'll listen in on all your planning."

"All right. Stay safe."

When he woke up, the cruise ship had reached its destination. This time, the Deserted Island was three times the size of the last one.

To accommodate the first-years, the school arranged for them to set off ten minutes earlier than the second- and third-years.

Lezheng shouldered his travel bag, which held a one-person tent, some food, water, and a flashlight. He said goodbye to everyone at the beach and jogged toward his destination, H6.

The starting point was at A1, and his bonus area, H6, was some distance away. If the bonus area were at J10, he would choose to forgo that movement reward and head to G10 to earn a task reward instead.

The moment he entered H6, +10 popped up on his tablet screen, and he immediately hurried toward G10 without stopping.

"Teacher, I'd like to sign up for this task." Lezheng found the teacher on duty in a shaded spot.

"All right. Hold out your hand." The teacher swept a device over Lezheng's watch.

The device gave a soft beep, and Lezheng's class and name appeared on the large screen beside them.

"Please wait a moment. We need all the participants to arrive before we begin this task."

"All right."

Lezheng nodded and sat cross-legged beneath a tree, observing the other contestants. So far, everyone who had signed up here other than him was a first-year.

"Why is the student council president here? I hope this task isn't anything academic."

"Didn't we leave ten minutes earlier? How did he catch up already?"

Sorry, juniors. I won't be going easy on you.

At the quiet complaints around him, Lezheng could only offer them an apology in his heart.

Unfortunately, their prayers went unanswered. The task was a math quiz.

"Aww, has the task already started...? We were still too late." Kushida sounded a little disappointed.

"If it's started, there's nothing we can do. Let's go to the next area." Yukimura shook his head.

"That's Lezheng. What's he doing answering questions?"

"Well... I saw how fast he was at the last Sports Festival, but it's still a little surprising."

Since the task at G10 was a math quiz, Lezheng had already submitted his answers and earned full marks while most people were still on the fourth question. This left the people still answering completely stunned.

Lezheng shouldered his bag and checked the nearest task area, which was at I5, then hurried toward it. On the way, he ran into Yukimura and Kushida, and saw intense shock in their eyes.

"Was that Lezheng just now? That... he... What a monster." Yukimura's eyes widened.

"Can Koenji beat him?" Kushida began worrying about their class's lone participant.

Although Lezheng was doing his best to catch up, when he reached I5, the teacher on duty told him that all the slots were already filled. That was the advantage of setting off ten minutes early.

The next bonus area would not appear for another two hours or more, but the task areas would refresh in ten minutes, so he chose to wander around I5. He discovered a small stream nearby and could even see a few fish swimming in it.

Lezheng took off his travel bag, removed his shoes, and rolled up his trouser legs. He entered the water downstream and slowly moved toward the fish. Once he was about a meter away from them, he stopped and waited quietly for them to enter his striking range.

"Got you."

Lezheng held a fish that kept thrashing its tail. First, he sent the fish off to meet its grandmother, then he tore down a vine, strung the fish on it, and hung it from his bag. After that, whenever he saw someone, he said,

"How did you know I caught a fish?"