I have a life simulator.

"You got it by exchanging points."

Sakayanagi Arisu held the two ends of the telescope with both hands, constantly rotating and adjusting the magnification, and answered casually.

The Katsuragi Kohei group next to them also heard Sakayanagi Arisu's statement. Kushida Kikyo, who was already standing on tiptoe and staring wide-eyed, unable to clearly see the starting point, subconsciously spoke up upon hearing this:

"How about we change to another one?"

Katsuragi Kohei nodded, but then he took out the exchange booklet and saw that a small telescope cost a full 120 points. This number made him stop for a moment, and he said in a deep voice:

"There's no need for that. We might not even need the telescope later. The most important thing right now is to save points."

"Kitagawa Ryo's team had already dropped to the middle position last night, which means they spent a lot of points, which is our advantage."

"See? They're even willing to spend 120 yuan in a place like this..."

Katsuragi Kohei didn't finish his sentence, because Kamuro Masumi gestured meaningfully towards Kitagawa Ryo's group, and when he turned his questioning gaze back—

"where?"

"The third one from the left, you don't even recognize him? It seems Horikita-kun and Ryo aren't very familiar with each other."

"No one like Sakayanagi-san has the insight to observe someone from afar."

"—Liang is about to set off!"

The three girls were whispering to each other, and in their hands they were holding three small binoculars neatly arranged.

Katsuragi Kohei twitched the corner of his mouth and fell into deep thought.

-------------------------------------

Kitagawa Ryo was naturally unaware that his group's three spendthrifts had spent a fortune buying three small binoculars just to watch his performance, though he hadn't expected them to obediently share a single binocular.

He had focused all his attention on the duel. As soon as the teacher in charge fired the starting gun, Kitagawa Ryo started instantly and accelerated toward the finish line, showing no intention of conserving his energy.

As someone who had experienced the White Room, Kitagawa Ryo was well aware of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's abilities, but he also knew his weaknesses.

That was a topic that Yuki, who was once a fourth-generation student with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, mentioned in a casual conversation one day.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was indeed the number one among the fourth generation, but that doesn't mean he was always number one.

Take swimming as an example. In the first swimming lesson, Xue herself achieved the best result.

Xue is the typical genius type, able to quickly master any skill as soon as she picks it up, possessing an extraordinary ability to comprehend.

But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is different; his greatest strength lies in his uninterrupted learning ability.

Perhaps he won't be able to surpass Xue's score the first, second, or even third time.

But the fourth and fifth time, given just a little time, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji always improves rapidly, easily surpassing his past self and leaving behind new records.

This is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's greatest advantage.

But it is also one of the opportunities that Kitagawa Ryo can seize.

He knew that the limitation of the White Room Education was that the children there had no contact with the outside world at all, and their understanding of the outside world was limited to books and virtual VR glasses.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is no exception.

He has excellent physical fitness and top-notch swimming skills.

However, it is highly likely that this is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's first time participating in a swimming competition at sea.

Kitagawa Ryo was thinking as he sprinted at top speed.

He didn't intend to conserve too much energy, because the chances of upgrading the first-place common card were indeed quite substantial.

After all, Kitagawa Ryo's "Discount" card is already level 2. If he can upgrade it to level 3 by the morning of the second day, the start of this deserted island exam will be considered quite perfect.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji concealed his information very well. Even the "spy" he planted in Class A didn't know what card the other party had drawn, whether it was a normal card or a special card.

If it's a special card, which one is it?

The game is nearly a quarter of the way through, and the six players on the field have gradually developed a clear hierarchy.

Because Kitagawa Ryo was focused on swimming, he couldn't pinpoint the location of the others, but Horikita Suzune and the others on the shore could see them clearly through their binoculars.

Kitagawa Ryo is currently in first place, occupying a separate tier.

Following closely behind are Yosuke Hirata and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, who are in the same group.

The three students behind them seemed to have little chance left, as they were far behind those in front.

About two hundred meters later, a student appeared to be exhausted. A nearby lifeboat rushed over and pulled the student out of the sea. Fortunately, the student seemed to be unharmed.

If he were forced to withdraw from the deserted island exam because of this, it would be a disaster for his group.

Seemingly seeing that one person couldn't hold on and dropped out, the other two students in the latter half of the race symbolically swam a few dozen meters more before stopping to ask for help. With the help of the lifeguards, they successfully boarded the lifeboat, but this also marked their failure in this project.

So only three people were left swimming hard.

As time went on, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji began to gradually gain momentum, slowly surpassing Yosuke Hirata, who had previously been ahead of him.

For Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, this was quite a strange experience.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo had predicted, it was indeed the first time he had seen a real, not virtual, ocean outside of VR glasses, and it was also the first time he had ever swum in the ocean.

The rhythm of breathing, the choice of swimming stroke, and how to deal with various emergencies.

It's a completely different experience from swimming in a pool.

If data visualization existed in the real world, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji would probably be constantly bombarded with text boxes like "Proficiency value increased by one" lately.

In the first 500 meters, he was a little behind Hirata Yosuke.

By the time they reached the second 500-meter mark, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji had overtaken Yosuke Hirata and was now catching up to Ryo Kitagawa.

On the shore, the group members of Class A, Grade 1 were all shouting cheers.

Although only Hirata Yosuke and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from their class and Kitagawa Ryo from Class D are left on the field, it still feels a bit off if Kitagawa Ryo gets first place, even if Class A sweeps the second and third places.

Moreover, Kitagawa Ryo's group was ranked number one for a period of time yesterday afternoon.

Many groups have taken note of this.

So, both to defeat Kitagawa Ryo's group and to improve their own class's ranking, the students of Class A generously offered enthusiastic encouragement to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who didn't have a strong presence in the class.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji couldn't hear the applause and cheers from his class at that moment, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared.

Because he is simply enjoying the process at hand.

The ocean is vast and boundless.

In all of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's life so far, he has never seriously ventured into such a vast and boundless world.

This situation is different from simply exercising in a room that feels lifeless.

His body was bathed in the increasingly cold wind, and his limbs splashed in the azure water.

Catching up with and even surpassing Kitagawa Ryo—it all seems irrelevant now.

At this moment, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had his own unique thoughts for the first time.

At that moment, Kitagawa Ryo whistled across the finish line like the wind.

[Promotion: Cardholders will receive a 35% reduction in points spent when redeeming items (level 3)]

The plan to purchase items for free has taken another step forward.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except that the swim trunks were a little sticky and uncomfortable to wear because they were wet and clung to my skin.

Kitagawa Ryo stood on the shore, first taking off his swimming cap, then pulling up a corner of his swimming trunks and wringing out the excess water.

The pulled-up swim trunks made a certain silhouette more and more obvious.

However, there was only one male teacher at the finish line responsible for tallying the scores, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

As Kitagawa Ryo thought this, he gave the teacher in charge a slightly awkward smile. Unexpectedly, the teacher gave him the same smile and even came over and patted him on the shoulder meaningfully.

However, Kitagawa Ryo was unaware of this at the time.

It's about two kilometers away on the shore.

The lenses of three small telescopes were firmly locked on this side.

Just moments ago, the three girls who had been cheering for Kitagawa Ryo steadfastly amidst the cheers of Class A, their enthusiasm no less than anyone else's, suddenly fell silent in perfect unison.

Chapter 147: As long as he can be number one

Because they won the 1,200 points for first place in the open water swimming event, their group ranking, which had dropped to the middle position due to spending too many points last night, rebounded and surged back to first place.

After all, Kitagawa Ryo's group had won first place three times in the two projects they participated in since morning, and their scoring efficiency was absolutely terrifying. After confirming this, Kitagawa Ryo was satisfied and turned off his watch. He then changed into the clothes that the teacher in charge had brought in advance in the changing room at the finish line.

The school mobilized a considerable amount of resources for this special exam on the deserted island. The watches provided to each student were quite high-end. Even after swimming in the sea for so long, the watches' functions remained unaffected, and their waterproof performance appeared to be excellent.

However, the lead of Kitagawa Ryo's group could not reverse the overall decline of Class 1D. In terms of class ranking, Class 1A was still far ahead. After all, compared with the group ranking, the class ranking is more in line with the overall competitiveness of the class.

For example, in the open water swimming competition that just ended, although Kitagawa Ryo won first place, adding 1,200 points to the class's total score, the second and third place went to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Hirata Yosuke from Class A, who together earned a total of 1,800 points. So, based on this competition, the total score gap between Class A and Class D in the first year was actually widened further.

This is also a microcosm of the current state of the uninhabited island testing program.

Moreover, we are only in the early stages of the special exam on the deserted island. The circle has not yet been narrowed down. The relationship between the topics and the students is still barely maintained at a supply exceeding demand. There are even quite a few low-level groups that have been lucky enough to come across a topic that no one else cares about and easily get into the top three or even first place.

However, starting tomorrow, students' activity areas will be further restricted, and such opportunities to take advantage of loopholes will naturally decrease.

Kitagawa Ryo walked out of the locker room while thinking about the current situation of Class D. Considering that the starting point and the finish line of this project were about two kilometers apart, the school thoughtfully provided beach motorcycles for the students who successfully swam to the finish line so that they could return to the starting point as quickly as possible and not delay the rest of the time.

Although Kitagawa Ryo himself was a little tempted by the beach buggies, he didn't feel comfortable offering to drive one himself. So he obediently got into the school staff's car, which took him back to the starting point through the sand and sparks.

"I'm back."

Having earned 1200 points and upgraded his [Discount] card, Kitagawa Ryo was in a very good mood. As soon as he arrived at the destination, he couldn't wait to jump off his motorcycle and wave to Sakayanagi Arisu, Ichinose Honami, and Horikita Suzune, who were not far away.

"—Welcome back?"

Horikita Suzune was the first to react, but her tone sounded a bit awkward.

"What's wrong? I'm number one!"

Kitagawa Ryo took two steps closer. He thought the three people were too far away to see who won the championship, so he quickly added a sentence.

"Ah... well, congratulations! By the way, the one that got rejected, the regular card, yes, the regular card got upgraded, right?"

Honami Ichinose's sentences and grammar seemed to be broken, and her two hands were twisted together as if she was trying her best to calm down some kind of emotion inside her.

"Yes, the [Discount] card has been upgraded to level three, and the discount has increased by another ten percent."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded. After all, he had just swum two kilometers at full speed in the sea, and even someone in good physical condition like him was inevitably a little tired. He casually waved his hand and said:

"Let's try to avoid sports-related topics for the remaining questions today, since it's only the second day of exams."

"Liang is right, we are already far ahead of others."

Sakayanagi Arisu appeared to be the calmest of the three. She squatted down and stuffed some items into her backpack before deftly zipping it up and agreeing.

If her phone hadn't been confiscated on the island and her watch hadn't lacked internet access, she probably would have already typed in questions like "Do girls still have a chance to grow taller after they turn sixteen?"

Although Kitagawa Ryo sensed that the three girls were acting a little differently than before he left, he didn't pay much attention to it. He assumed that the three of them had had another unpleasant argument while he was away, since there had been a precedent yesterday. If he asked any more questions, it might cause more trouble.

"Let's keep going and see if there are any suitable topics or places to rest nearby."

So he simply tilted his head back, shielded his eyes with his hand, looked at the position of the sun, and then changed the subject. It was almost noon, the hottest time of the day, and also lunchtime.

However, lunch couldn't be as elaborate as dinner, since they still needed to move around and find topics in the afternoon. So, in the end, the group just ate some portable canned food and exchanged some bread. After the meal, Horikita Suzune had basically run out of the ingredients she had received yesterday.

The pressure on food and drinking water is greater than imagined.

A full squad of four is indeed facing a supply problem. Kitagawa Ryo is even starting to look down on his "Discount" card. It does offer a discount, but ultimately it still costs points. If he had Ichinose Honami's "Supply" card, the level 3 supply card would greatly alleviate the team's supply pressure.

Apart from Kitagawa Ryo's group, it seems that most of the other groups have encountered this problem. Along the way, we even saw many students fishing with fishing rods at the beach or river. The fishing rods are rented by the day, which is quite cost-effective if they can catch fish.

It has to be said that many students went to great lengths to get food. Kitagawa Ryo even caught a glimpse of a group from Class B drying meat. It seemed they had won a lot of fresh meat as a reward for some project. Although their technique was a bit clumsy, it seemed there was really no other way to extend the shelf life of fresh meat under such conditions.

That said, if Shinji Matoba of Class A had grasped this point yesterday, he might not have offered up fresh meat to exchange for Ryo Kitagawa.

By noon, the scores of many groups began to drop again.

Perhaps at first everyone was hoping to persevere and save up more points, but after going hungry for two meals, they lost their fighting spirit and eventually obediently used their points to exchange for food.

This is also due to the influence of the rankings being publicly displayed. After all, only the bottom four groups will be severely punished. As long as you are sure that you are not in the bottom four, you will feel that you are relatively safe, and you will naturally start spending your points uncontrollably.

Kitagawa Ryo munched on a baguette while glancing at his watch. The school had probably taken food preservation into consideration, as all the bread they provided was a French baguette, and even with Kitagawa Ryo's strength, it would take him a long time to twist off a single piece.

The other three girls had even more trouble eating. Kitagawa Ryo initially planned to help them break the food into smaller pieces, but for some reason, the three girls developed a strange competitive mentality and refused, insisting on holding the food and gnawing on it themselves. Kitagawa Ryo's teeth ached just watching them eat.

Since most groups had used up their points, the group rankings started to change again. Everyone was used to this ups and downs. Anyway, it was only the second day of the deserted island exam, and the current lead or fall behind might not be maintained until the end.