I have a life simulator.

However, the remaining three members of Kitagawa Ryo's group still signed up for the same project as him, and it was a project that happened to include a chance to upgrade a regular card as a reward.

Either Ryuen Sho saw through his roundabout approach and obtained the correct information... or Kitagawa Ryo himself didn't trust Ryuen Sho and chose to search both sides.

He sent everyone else to the south, while he went to the north.

This also explains why Kitagawa Ryo isn't here.

While Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was brainstorming, the other three, including Sakayanagi Arisu, who had already registered, were also quietly discussing around the suddenly appearing Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

"If Ayanokouji is here, then Ryo has come to nowhere."

"This morning he said he would intercept and track Ayanokouji by himself, worried that we wouldn't be able to keep up, but in the end we were the ones who found Ayanokouji first, weren't we?"

"I've decided to make them laugh out loud at dinner tonight."

The three of them exchanged glances and, unusually, maintained a unified opinion.

"No matter what..."

A strong competitive spirit shone in Arisu Sakayanagi's eyes:

"Let's take him down first."

Chapter 183: This is our little secret among the three of us.

The person who drew number one was Shinji Matoba from Class A. On the first day of the special exam on the deserted island, he had traded his single tent plus a piece of fresh meat with Ryo Kitagawa for a double tent. Thanks to him, the barbecue that night was very plentiful.

To save time and for greater convenience, all drawings are done on tablets using drawing software. Each person has a maximum of five minutes, during which the image they draw is simultaneously displayed on the tablets of other people, who can then send their answers for guessing.

However, Shinji Matoba, the first artist to appear, quickly made many people frown. It wasn't because his drawing skills were abstract or because they didn't know how to describe the given words, but because Matoba didn't even seem to be drawing a single stroke.

Shinji Matoba crossed his arms and proudly proclaimed his plan. From the moment he heard the rules, he realized that the person guessing the picture had a much greater advantage than the person drawing it.

As a game won by a single player, each round of Pictionary will only result in the following possibilities:

First, if no one can guess the answer, then both the artist and the guesser will receive zero points.

2. If one to three people can guess the answer, the artist receives one to three points, and the guessers receive a total of three to six points. (The first to guess gets three points, the second gets two points, and the third gets one point.)

Third, if three to six people can guess the answer, the artist will receive three to six points, and the guessers will receive a total of six points.

Fourth, if six or more people can guess the answer, the artist will get six points or more, and the guessers will get a total of six points.

Given that everyone is a competitor, from the perspective of scores alone, only those who score six or higher can be said to have truly achieved a lead and advantage in their own round of drawing.

Otherwise, the guessers will always have the upper hand.

Unless the top three guesses are all members of this group, but the chances of that are really low.

Therefore, it's better not to draw anything at all, but to directly achieve result one and put oneself back in the position of the more advantageous guesser.

Moreover, if everyone realizes this and achieves result one, then everyone will get zero points.

Theoretically speaking, it can be considered as being tied for first place.

We'll see how the school handles it then.

With this thought in mind, Nobuyuki remained motionless.

But to his surprise, with two minutes left in the countdown, the teacher in charge suddenly grabbed a megaphone and shouted:

"The first keyword hint: is a four-character idiom."

You didn't expect that, did you? The school wouldn't let you exploit this bug.

The teacher in charge raised an eyebrow at the somewhat clever student, watching his next move.

To be honest, the first clue is not very useful. Four-character idioms, as the name suggests, are idioms composed of four Chinese characters. The range is quite wide, and it is impossible to guess the specific word based on just this one clue.

Just as Shinji Madoka was still desperately holding on, with one minute left on the countdown, the teacher in charge called out again:

"It involves states from the Spring and Autumn Period of China."

The second student in the audience saw that some students had already started writing down their answers and submitting them.

With ten seconds left in the countdown, the teacher in charge gave the final hint:

"The last character of this poem is 'boat'."

……

"This round is over."

The correct answer is "吴越同舟", which describes how people who have a bad relationship with each other can unite and help each other because they share common interests.

The teacher in charge looked at the dozens of answers displayed on the tablet in her hand, clicked on them to sort them in reverse chronological order, and announced:

"First place Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, plus three points."

"Second place, Sakayanagi Arisu, add two points."

"Third place, Honami Ichinose, one point added."

"Four people answered correctly in this round, and the score is 2 plus 4 points."

After hearing the situation, Shinji Matoba took a deep breath and clenched his fist. Although the process and his ideas had gone a bit wrong, the result was still good.

He and Ayanokouji, both from Class A, scored three and four points respectively, making them undoubtedly the biggest winners of this round.

At this point, Shinji Matoba realized that if he didn't draw it, all the students would be guessing based on the school's hints.

Isn't this just another kind of idiom competition?

Their Class A is absolutely good at this.

Just as Xin Er was leaving the stage in high spirits, the teacher in charge was reviewing the answers from the first round and found something interesting.

After his second prompt, a user named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka sent more than a dozen related four-character idioms within ten seconds, such as "besieged on all sides," "enduring hardship and biding one's time," and "an old horse knows the way." The final answer, "Wu and Yue are in the same boat," was naturally among them.

A broad knowledge base, coupled with extremely fast reactions and hand speed, were the key factors that enabled the opponent to take first place in this round.

Judging from this round alone, he is very optimistic about Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's performance in this project.

Horikita Suzune took a deep breath. Her answer was also correct, but she seemed to be a little slower than Ichinose Honami. Not only did she not get any points, but she also gave Matoba Shinji an extra point.

From this perspective, this topic might also contain elements of psychological warfare.

After all, if the first three people don't answer correctly, the subsequent correct answers will only give the artist extra points. Of course, if the artist is a member of the class or group, that's a good thing.

In many ways, this seemingly casual topic is actually not that simple.

The second student to take the stage was Shinobu Fukuyama from Class A. He wore glasses and was very polite. It was said that his academic performance was also quite good.

However, unlike Shinji Matoba before, Shinobu Fukuyama finally picked up a pen this time. Under everyone's gaze, on the white screen, he simply drew a flag.

The flag had nothing on it, just a white flag, and then a stick figure was drawn holding it.

The teacher in charge twitched his lips; people had already sent him answers like "Blitzkrieg France," "Insulting France Today," "Impregnable Fortress," and "Maginot Line"—purely luck-based responses.

Then, holding a pen, Shinobu Fukuyama drew an arrow pointing towards himself.

Horikita Suzune was completely baffled and had no idea what it meant, but her groupmates Shinji Matoba, Kazue Shimazaki, and Chikako Motohi seemed to have suddenly realized something and quickly started writing.

With two minutes left, the teacher in charge announced the first hint:

The answer is four words.

One minute to go, the second hint will be announced:

“It comes from Chinese military strategy.”

Ten seconds down, the third hint is announced:

"It is related to Takeda Shingen, a famous general of the Sengoku period."

Actually, when the second clue was announced, Horikita Suzune had already vaguely grasped the answer, but she didn't fill it in immediately because it was easy to tell from the reactions of the other students in Class A that they had already found out the answer through other channels.

"This round is over."

"The correct answer is 'Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain,' which is the full text: 'Swift as the wind, silent as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as a mountain.' Takeda Shingen once wrote this military strategy on a flag as his military banner."

Although the results haven't been announced yet, Fukuyama Shinobu couldn't wait to pop the champagne. He was a well-known Sengoku period history enthusiast in his class, and his favorite warlord was Takeda Shingen, which is why he drew an empty flag with a small figure pointing at himself.

Shinji gave him a high five, and as a classmate and good friend, he immediately understood.

Undoubtedly, Shinobu Fukuyama offered another solution to this problem: creating patterns whose meanings only the students in the class could know in advance by exploiting information asymmetry.

This way, you can not only get the guesser's points in one fell swoop, but also have a guaranteed three points for yourself. Other students who get the answer based on the keyword hints will not dare to submit it. It is really a win-win situation.

"First place in this round: Honami Ichinose, plus three points."

"Second place: Shinji Matoba, plus two points."

"Third place: Kazue Shimazaki, one point added."

"Four people answered correctly, and Fukuyama Shinobu scored four points."

Fukuyama Shinobu gaped in astonishment. In his mind, only the three students from Class A should have answered correctly first, with at most Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. However, the student with the highest score was from another class.

But if it's Ichinose Honami, then it seems quite reasonable.

After all, she is a social icon who reigns supreme in the entire grade, a figure who is comparable to Kikyo Kushida in some ways. She might be just as familiar with Class A as she is with Class D.

"So this is a question that people who are completely unsocialized cannot answer."

Honami Ichinose spoke softly.

Both Horikita Suzune, the number one completely socialite, and Sakayanagi Arisu, the number two completely socialite, gave her a thumbs up without prior agreement.

You're amazing! I give you a thumbs up.

However, Fukuyama Shinobu's approach did provide some ideas for the group, but thinking about it now is useless until they actually draw the word.

There were twelve people present. The pace of one question every five minutes was not slow. Soon, only Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and three students from Class D were left to draw.

The current score rankings are:

"First place: Honami Ichinose, 16 points."

"Second place: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, thirteen points."

"Third place: Shinji Matoba, 12 points."

After Shinobu Fukuyama pioneered the information gap strategy, the remaining two students in Class A also adopted it and achieved good results. Apart from Ichinose Honami taking second place once and first place once, all the other answers were correct by students from their own class.

Especially Shinji Matoba, who had already accumulated six points in the first two rounds, reached ten points after Class A ended, placing him alongside Honami Ichinose in the first tier.

But when it comes to teamwork and information asymmetry, Class B has never been afraid of anyone. The first three Class B students to appear gave the other classes almost no chance. As if they were of one mind, they casually drew some abstract lines, and the others immediately understood.

However, just when Class B was in a great position, the last student from Class B to appear, Himeno Yuki, made a mistake. She inexplicably abandoned the idea of ​​information asymmetry and instead followed Matoba Shinji's approach without making a single move. As a result, in the keyword competition, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Matoba Shinji from Class A directly snatched first and second place, sending the two of them to the top of the leaderboard.

After Himeno Yuki, came Ayano Kiyotaka.

Although they weren't in the same class, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, who stepped onto the stage, inexplicably understood the former's feelings.

He simply couldn't use the information gap approach, because ultimately, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji wasn't familiar with the other members of Class A.

There's simply no joke that only a few of us, or students in our class, would know.

However, he had another approach.

"...!"

The teacher in charge couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "So far, all the entries in the 'Pictionary' project have either been completely blank or abstract combinations of lines and blocks. Now, we've actually encountered a realist artist."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji received drawing training in the white room. Although it was only basic, it was still quite easy for him to sketch the desired pattern.

What appeared on the screen was a lifelike tiger, and then Kiyotaka Ayanokoji added wings to it.

In that instant, the teacher in charge was bombarded with messages.

"The correct answer to 'this round is over' is 'like adding wings to a tiger,' which describes giving help to someone who is already powerful."

"First place: Sakayanagi Arisu, three points."

"Second place: Shinji Matoba, with two points."

"Third place: Himeno Yuki, one point."

Almost all the answers came within three seconds.

"Then... a total of nine people answered correctly, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji got nine points."

Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami exchanged a glance. They were the only two who didn't answer, or rather, they stopped immediately after realizing that their hand speed wasn't fast enough to get into the top three.

All I can say is that Arisu Sakayanagi's hand speed, or rather, her reaction speed, is truly astonishing.