In practice, I can issue tasks to my master.

"Don't worry, as long as Ma Zi and everyone else are willing to believe in me, I will definitely give you a bright future."

"……Um."

Faced with Ichinose Honami's assurance, Amakura Asako felt a mix of emotions.

After all, in her opinion, her best friend was even more love-obsessed than she was back in junior high school. She wouldn't be surprised if she actually sold out Class B for a man.

But she only thought it to herself and would never say such things to ruin her best friend's relationship.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

At this moment, Nangong Cheng returned, but this time he was followed by two girls with flushed cheeks.

It was Karuizawa Megumi and Sakura Airi.

Despite the stares from Ichinose Honami and Amakura Asako, the two weren't too embarrassed. After all, they believed that Nangong Cheng would eventually win over these two, so everyone would be part of a loving family, and there was no need to feel awkward.

However, the proper social etiquette still needs to be observed. After all, putting everything else aside, they did make people wait here for quite a while while listening to them do their work.

"Ichinose-san, Amakura-san, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting~"

Karuizawa Kei, holding Sakura Airi's hand, together expressed their apologies to Ichinose Honami and Amakura Asako.

The latter naturally had no choice but to accept it, otherwise the situation would be awkward.

The group set off together towards the meeting point.

When they arrived, it meant that all the students from all four classes had arrived.

Among them, Class C and Class D had the fewest students—two students in the former and six students in the latter.

Nangong Cheng and Ichinose Hanami exchanged a glance, and then each led their own group back to their class ranks.

Upon seeing this, Majima Tomoya immediately picked up the megaphone and said, "Everyone has arrived, so I hereby declare this special exam on the deserted island officially over."

"Next, I will announce the final results of the four classes in this exam."

The guessing game had already ended before this. The homeroom teachers of the four classes would approach the students of each class individually and ask them to choose whether to guess the keycard holders of other classes.

Ultimately, classes B and D chose to give up, while classes A and C wrote down the answers they believed were correct.

Majima Tomoya glanced at the expressions of the four class leaders and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but he could only announce the final results of the exam according to the rules.

"First, the last place, Class C—"

Zero points.

Volume 1: 99. Horikita Suzune: Kushida, you don't want anyone to know either...

"?!"

Ryuen, who looked like a wild man, had a smile on his lips, but the moment he heard Majima Tomoya speak, his smile vanished.

What does it mean for Class C to get zero points?

Long Yuan's brain went blank for a moment.

After all, aside from enjoying himself at the very beginning of the exam, the rest of the time he lived a life that no human could endure.

But he's not McDonald's; he doesn't have that quirk of putting up with hardship. Everything he does is for the ultimate victory.

But now you're telling him that Class C got zero points?

He can't accept this outcome!

"Third place, Class B, 200 points."

Although Majima Tomoya noticed Ryuen's reaction, he did not explain to her why Class C received that score, but simply continued to announce the exam results for the other classes.

"Second place, Class A, 220 points."

"First place, Class D...650 points."

The moment the words fell, it was like a depth charge dropped into a lake, stirring up a commotion.

Especially the A class queue.

The students in Class A, led by Katsuragi, did not look too good, and their eyes seemed to be filled with a restless desire as they looked at the person in front of them.

Meanwhile, things remained harmonious in Class B, and almost all the students were satisfied with the result.

Of course, this was the result of Ichinose Honami giving a heads-up beforehand. After all, the actual score for Class B should have been 300, and the 200 points were just to control the score difference in order to cooperate with Nangong Makoto's plan.

On the contrary, Class D had the least reaction, with everyone wearing an expression that said, "I knew this would be the result."

"The exam is over. Please return to the ship in an orderly manner."

Majima Tomoya left immediately after finishing his sentence.

There's still one exam to go, and he can only pray that Sakayanagi Arisu will do his best for Class A, otherwise this year's Class A might become the worst class in the history of Advanced Nurturing School.

As for Katsuragi...

All he could do was wish the student good luck.

After all, in his opinion, although Katsuragi made a mistake, considering that his opponent was Nangong Cheng, the result was not bad, at least it widened the gap with Class B.

But everything is subject to comparison.

The difference between Class D's 650 points and Class A's 220 points is more than double, making it hard not to feel envious.

Not to mention that the final 220 points were most likely the result of being tricked by Nangong Cheng. After a while, some students in Class A felt a sense of suffocation in their hearts.

They dared not utter a word against Nangong Cheng, but they were truly unafraid of Katsuragi, who was competing with Sakayanagi Arisu for the leadership position, and were even quite self-righteous about it.

"Katsuragi-kun, didn't you say you'd find a way? Why did we only get 220 points in the end?"

"We could have used this exam to widen the gap between us and Class B, but what did you do?! You're a sinner against Class A!"

Of course, that's a bit of an overstatement. After all, Katsuragi did his best in this exam, even if he didn't achieve great results. It's just that people tend to overlook these details when they're caught up in their emotions.

Or perhaps they simply wanted to vent their anger and didn't care whether Ge Cheng was truly innocent.

Kamuro Masumi, standing to the side, coldly observed the farce unfolding within Class A, inwardly marveling that the problems within this class seemed no less severe than those in Class D.

Of course, she also knew that this was because Nangong Cheng put too much pressure on Class A. After all, if they were facing Class D, which was of the standard "flawed" level, Class A wouldn't have fallen into internal strife over this.

For a moment, she felt a pang of sadness.

Because today's Katsuragi could be tomorrow's Sakayanagi Arisu. After all, once the former loses power, the pressure will naturally fall on the latter, and she doesn't know what Sakayanagi Arisu will do then...

As for now...

"Katsuragi-kun, if I'm not mistaken, you should have written down the names of the keycard holders from Class D and Class B."

"Yes, that's right."

Despite his difficult background and upbringing, Katsuragi Kohei's mentality is actually quite outstanding compared to his peers. Even when criticized by others, his expression remains calm.

Faced with Masumi Kamuro's question, he frankly replied, "According to the deal I made with Ryuen, he provided me with the key card for Class B. Combined with the Class D key card that Yamamura-kun obtained earlier, we should have been able to get an extra 100 points..."

"But in fact we were wrong. We even guessed the identity of the key card holder from Class A."

Kamuro Masumi pointed out the fact directly, and then gave her own analysis: "In addition, Class C's score was zero, which means that the information on one of the two key cards of Class B and Class D is wrong, or rather... it was temporarily replaced."

“I’m more inclined to believe it’s Class D because their team is missing two members – Kikyo Kushida and Suzune Horikita are not there.”

Katsuragi Kohei nodded.

For a fleeting moment, a hint of misfortune crossed his face, but he quickly masked it.

"In this case, we should have guessed Class B correctly but Class D incorrectly, and the remaining 50 points should be the points deducted because Class C or Class D guessed correctly."

"It's Class C."

Masumi Kamuro made a direct judgment.

For the first time, she felt that her problem-solving approach was so clear, so her tone was quite boastful: "Class B scored two hundred points. This result can only mean that they were both guessed correctly by Class A and Class C at the same time. There is no other possibility."

"So, if Longyuan guessed Class B correctly but guessed Class D incorrectly, Class C's zero score can only be because they guessed Class A correctly but were then guessed correctly by Class D."

"Katsura, you're too conservative. If it were me, I would definitely bet that the key card holder for Class C is Ryuen."

Katsuragi Kohei had nothing to say.

Although Class A did not fail in this exam, the psychological gap compared to Class D's great success was real for most of the students in Class A.

He knew that his choice to cooperate with Ryuen was not a wise one, and it was expected that he would be betrayed in the end. He just couldn't understand how Ryuen and Nangong Cheng had guessed that Totsuka Yahiko was the holder of the Class A key card...

Is it simply because Totsuka is his confidant?

Are you really willing to take such a gamble?

What if he chooses himself?

Katsuragi sighed. Since things had come to this, he could only take all the blame: "I'm sorry, this time it's my fault."

"But if I had to do it again, I think I still wouldn't be able to make such a high-risk, gambling-like decision."

Totsuka Yahiko, standing to the side, also looked hesitant to speak, since as the key card holder, he would naturally have to take the blame just like Katsuragi.

But he really doesn't understand!

"Why? I've never had any contact with them, and Katsuragi-kun didn't make any mistakes in this matter. How did Ryuen and Nangong Cheng guess it?!"

Totsuka Yahiko's voice was so loud that everyone on the beach could hear it.

But no one answered him.

Because most people couldn't understand this matter either, especially the students in Class A. After all, they all knew that Totsuka Yahiko had been kept at the camp by Katsuragi Kohei for the past seven days and hadn't left the camp. Ryuen and Nangong Cheng suspected him based solely on his so-called confidant status, and then dared to make baseless guesses...

To be honest, there's really nothing I can do, and I have no complaints.

It's not really fair to blame Katsuragi, but someone has to take the blame, and that can only be Katsuragi, the person in charge.

"Alright, Yahiko, calm down." Katsuragi understood Totsuka Yahiko's feelings, but this kind of performance was unacceptable for a Class A student.

He patted the latter on the shoulder forcefully and said reassuringly, "It's just a temporary setback. We'll win it back next time."

"But……"

"No buts."

Katsuragi shook his head, then glanced at Class D's location and only saw Nangong Cheng being surrounded by Karuizawa Megumi and a group of girls as they walked towards the cruise ship.

"Although I didn't make any fundamental or basic mistakes this time, if I had thought more deeply about the psychological game, the outcome might have been different."

That's really what he thought.

Even though Nangong Cheng might prevent him from becoming the leader of Class A, he still gained valuable experience and lessons from this exam.

Despite choosing to cooperate with Ryuen, he wasn't aggressive enough; he was so cautious that he kept Totsuka Yahiko at the camp and didn't take a single step. Even when he occupied a stronghold, he would take enough time to make sure no one was around before swiping his card...

In the end, everything was lost due to psychological warfare.

"Let's go back to the ship first, and we can talk about any problems later."

...

...

the other side.

Long Yuan suppressed his frustration and analyzed the results of this exam.

From his perspective, he quickly figured out how those four scores were derived, but there was still one question in his mind that he couldn't understand.

"Shiina, shouldn't you say something?" Ryuen stared at Shiina Hiyori with a sinister look.

"How did Kushida withdraw from the exam? And how did Nangong guess that I was the holder of the Class C keycard?"

Hiyori Shiina rolled her eyes.

She put on a rather helpless expression, and her tone implied "I'm at my wit's end with you": "Long Yuan, please don't treat others like fools, okay?"

“From the beginning, I said that you sent me and Ibuki to infiltrate Class D and Class B respectively. In essence, you were revealing that you were the key card holder for Class C. This kind of psychological game is ineffective against Nangong Cheng.”

"It's only because Katsuragi-kun's style of doing things is too conservative that you had the chance to guess the identity of the Class A keycard holder, otherwise..."

Hiyori Shiina shut her mouth.

Having said all she wanted to say, she had no intention of arguing with Long Yuan, because it was pointless.

It can only be said that if this year's Class D didn't have Nangong Cheng, Longyuan might have been able to succeed, but the fact is that he was once again countered by Nangong Cheng.

If you don't listen to advice, you'll suffer the consequences.