In practice, I can issue tasks to my master.

Nangong Cheng smiled politely but awkwardly, then said to Ichinose Honami, "Ichinose-san, I'll be leaving now. You can discuss the supplies you need to exchange with Horikita and Karuizawa."

"Um……"

Ichinose Honami hesitated for a moment before silently watching Nangong Cheng leave.

...

...

the other side.

A minor dispute arose in Class C.

"Longyuan, your plan is too extreme. I find it hard to support your decision."

Hiyori Shiina was still accompanied by Mio Ibuki, and behind them were the girls from Class C, forming a standoff with the Ryuen team directly opposite.

It seems rather subtle.

But considering the situation in Class C, it seems quite reasonable?

"The risk of getting 150 points by guessing the three class leaders is too high."

"Moreover, your attempt to plant spies to gather intelligence is completely ineffective against Class D, which has become a one-man show by Nangong Jun."

"At that time, Class A will very likely guess your true intentions and turn the tables on you, and you may lose everything."

"Stop now, Longyuan."

Long Yuan narrowed his eyes.

Although he believed that Shiina Hiyori was a rare intellectual talent in Class C, and that a qualified leader should listen to sound advice, however—

"Shiina, I am the leader of Class C."

"Of course I know that this plan has flaws and risks, but to obtain high returns, one must face high risks."

After saying that, he glanced at Ibuki Mio.

She thought that given the other party's situation, even if she used her beauty to seduce him, she probably wouldn't be able to catch Nangong Cheng's eye.

and so--

"If you have a better plan, I will naturally adopt it—for example, you could become a spy in Class D. I think Nangong Cheng would see through my plan, but he would still accept you, wouldn't he?"

"Longyuan, you..."

Hiyori Shiina frowned.

Even with her easygoing nature, she was furious at Long Yuan's rather impolite remarks.

"Don't forget the losses you caused the class last time, Longyuan."

She quickly calmed down, but her tone became even colder: "If we make this wrong move, Class C might drop to Class D."

Long Yuan simply shrugged.

He never thought he would win every bet, but he wouldn't stop betting just because he lost once.

Because opportunities are only for the brave.

"Let's make a bet then."

"If this plan succeeds, Shiina, you must continue to assist me; otherwise..."

Long Yuan paused for a moment, then offered a sincere bet: "You will have veto power over my decisions from now on, how about that?"

"..."

Hiyori Shiina remained silent.

To be honest, she couldn't quite believe what someone like Long Yuan said, but since things had come to this point, she couldn't stop Long Yuan from going his own way.

At that moment, the image of her first meeting with Nangong Cheng suddenly flashed through her mind.

"You'll regret this, Longyuan."

"Perhaps, but now you need to follow my instructions and act as a spy for Class C to obtain the identity of the leader of Class D."

Volume 1: Chapter 79, Kamuro Masumi: Yamamura, you're going undercover too.

An hour had passed since Majima Tomoya announced the start of the exam.

Nangong Cheng was standing in a stronghold.

He has just confirmed exactly how many scoring spots exist on this island, and the answer is—

"50... not too many, not too few."

He muttered to himself.

After all, the uninhabited island is not small in size, and the 50 outposts are scattered across the map.

As for why schools don't set up more?

Nangong Cheng guessed that they probably wanted to control the values.

毕竟1个据点24小时内可以刷3分，那7天就是21分。

So if the school really sets up a hundred or so checkpoints, then if students in a certain class get really into it and focus on exploiting those checkpoints to rack up points, it's entirely possible for them to get rich quick.

Just like himself.

With his current physical condition, he can easily go a day or two without sleep, and if he gets really tired, he only needs to rest for a maximum of six hours.

In reality, other classes can also take turns arranging students to improve their scores; it doesn't have to rely on just one person.

Therefore, the school not only controlled the total number of checkpoints, but also the distribution interval of each checkpoint, in order to prevent students from having the opportunity to frantically rack up points.

However, this was of no use to Nangong Cheng.

If it weren't for the fear that the sensors on his wrist would expose his extraordinary physical abilities, he felt he could run through all 50 checkpoints in ten minutes.

But then again...

Fifty outposts is quite a lot.

I can get over 1000 points if I finish all of them.

This number would require at least five or six, or even seven or eight, special exams, spanning at least a year.

Nangong Cheng felt that if he really managed to rack up 50 points in one go, the school would definitely intervene directly.

But he didn't need to do that.

If Class D were to overtake Class A in this exam, then Class C would become Class D. Not only would they have to cooperate with Class Ryuen for the Sports Festival, but Nangong Cheng would also have to help Nangumo Ya gain points, which is the outcome that Nangong Cheng is most opposed to.

Therefore, it is still necessary to control the score.

For now, just move up to Class C to have some fun, and that will prevent the people in Class D from getting too cocky.

"So the question now is who to choose as the [leader], and whether Longyuan's choice will be the same as in the original story."

Compared to the former, the latter is more important.

Because the leader can be changed, even if it's not like a regular student who can directly say they want to withdraw from the exam, but rather someone who is unable to continue taking the exam, there is still a lot of room for manipulation.

But whether Ryuen will make the same decision as in the original story—starting with a 0-point score and planting spies—is hard to say.

The oppressive rule, which was originally achieved through violence, was further weakened by the fact that Class C had already suffered a significant blow due to the extraordinary wisdom of Ryuen and Nami-no-Ya before the exam on the deserted island. Ryuen's prestige and reputation had already been affected.

Shiina Hiyori could very well take over directly, but given the girl's personality, she probably wouldn't be very proactive.

At most, it was just a matter of being forced by life to offer some advice, which is also the main reason why Nangong Cheng thought Class C might not be the same as in the original work.

After all, this is related to the final riddle-solving segment, and a 100-point reward is too good to pass up.

"Since things have come to this, let's go back first."

Nangong Cheng returned to the original starting point via the same route.

Horikita Suzune and the others were still waiting in the same spot.

"Kōenji hasn't returned yet. Should we keep waiting?"

"No need, I ran into him earlier."

Nangong Cheng waved his hand.

He glanced at it, then suddenly paused.

"Hasebe-kun, are you planning to stay?"

"Yeah, it's boring for me to go back to the ship alone. Nangong-kun, you don't mind if I stay and go play with your Aili, right?"

The girl familiarly linked arms with Sakura Airi, sticking together like best friends.

Nangong Cheng naturally had no objections.

However, he was afraid that this would open a new world for Hasebe Haruka, which would be...

"Shouldn't we elect a [leader]?"

Karuizawa Kei pointed to Chabashira Sae, who was waiting in the distance, and said, "The other classes have probably already chosen their people. Chabashira-sensei has been waiting there for quite a while."

Nangong Cheng nodded, but then threw the question back at him.

Who do you think should be chosen?

"..."

Everyone looked at each other.

In the end, it was Karuizawa Megumi who raised her hand.

"How about I take over?"

"After all, Nangong-jun, you are too conspicuous in the first year. It would be bad if both Class A and Class C tried to guess who you were."

Nangong Cheng neither confirmed nor rejected the proposal.

He certainly wouldn't choose himself like Ryuen did in the original story; to put it nicely, he wanted to play psychological warfare, betting that others wouldn't dare to guess.

To put it bluntly, it was stupid.

If it weren't for the needs of the plot, the two spies from Class C wouldn't even be able to enter other people's camps; if they did get in, they would have to be searched first.

If no key card is found, wouldn't that basically be tantamount to openly admitting that Ryuen is the "leader" of Class C?

Yes, there is indeed an element of gambling involved.

But when is life's choice not a gamble?

Being steady doesn't mean you won't make mistakes; the most direct example is Kohei Katsuragi.

Whether it was the deserted island test or the subsequent pattern-finding test, his approach was certainly not wrong, but the result was simply unsuccessful.

"What about the rest?"

Although Nangong Cheng appeared to be asking other people, he was only looking at Kushida Kikyo when he spoke.

The latter paused for a moment, then pointed to himself and said uncertainly, "Nangong Jun, you don't mean to ask me to come, do you?"

"Why not?"

Nangong Cheng asked a question in return.

However, he didn't completely rule it out.

"I noticed that Kushida-kun hasn't been as active in class lately, and I thought this might be a good opportunity."

“If you don’t have this idea, you can have someone else do it, such as Airi or Xiao Wang.”

The two people whose names were mentioned didn't seem to have any objections.

It's more accurate to say that they were mentally prepared for this when they were specifically chosen to stay behind.

After all, you can't just stay here and expect to win without lifting a finger, can you?

But Kikyo Kushida didn't think so.

Although things had been calm during this period, she could not feel at ease as long as she could not figure out what Nangong Cheng was thinking.

The fact that they specifically mentioned her name now makes me wonder if they're plotting something bad again.

“Nangong Jun…”