I have a life simulator.

"What are your thoughts on the current situation, Ayanokouji-kun?"

Katsuragi Kohei, who had been worrying and had a headache all night and hadn't slept well, turned his head and asked Ayanokouji Kiyotaka beside him.

"Let them shift their attention to other things and create an even more hateful enemy for the team."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji naturally didn't want Class A to fall into such a predicament because of a few secrets, so after a moment's thought, he gave his opinion.

"The enemy? Class B?"

"Class B has already used it, so using it again won't be very effective."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji shook his head. He looked at the somewhat somber atmosphere of the camp before him and softly voiced his thoughts:

"If a student in our class who's fairly popular gets ambushed and injured by a student from another class, forcing them to withdraw from the exam, that should be enough to garner sympathy, right?"

"It's not that easy. Our watches all have the school's GPS tracking system installed."

Katsuragi Kohei shook his head and expressed his concerns.

"But there's one person on the island who likes to wander around without a watch."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said this.

Chapter 210: Falling into the Trap

"You mean Ryuen from Class C?"

Upon hearing Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's description, Katsuragi Kohei immediately thought of Ryuen Sho, who delivered supplies to their group daily, and asked with some doubt:

"Aren't we in a cooperative relationship with Longyuan?"

Ryuen Sho's score remained zero not because he didn't participate in any projects to earn points, but because he converted those points into supplies every day and sent them to Katsuragi Kohei's group for their use.

It can be said that the reason why Katsuragi Kohei's team has been able to maintain its position in the top three of the group rankings is not only because of their own excellent abilities, but also because of the support provided by Ryuen Sho.

That's why Katsuragi Kohei was so confused when he heard that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka planned to take action against Ryuen Sho.

"I did reach a cooperation agreement with Longyuan beforehand, but now I believe that his elimination at this moment would be more beneficial to Class A."

Having already realized that Ryuen Sho was a double agent and had even deceived him once, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka told Katsuragi Kohei about his speculation that Ryuen Sho might have reached an agreement with Class D.

"He is now probably the most flexible individual on the entire island. The resurrection card ensures that he is completely unrestrained by rules and tasks. He only needs to perfunctorily complete one task each day to deliver the supplies to you, and then he can move around the island without restraint."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka glanced at Katsuragi Kohei expressionlessly:

"And we can also use the pretext of delivering supplies to spy on your strongest team in Class A."

His meaning was very clear: compared to the intelligence disruption that Ryuu Yuen-sho might cause to Class A, the supplies the other side sent could be completely discarded.

"I understand."

Katsuragi Kohei also made a quick decision. He took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and continued to ask Ayanokoji Kiyotaka:

"So—Ayanokouji, have you decided who you want to remove from the stage?"

Karuizawa Kei had already proven in the early stages of the deserted island exam that if you want to maximize the emotions and fighting spirit of the students in Class A, the person being targeted must be popular in the class.

As we all know, the most popular boy and girl in Class 1-A are Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo, but both of them happen to be members of Katsuragi Kohei's group. If they leave at this time, the effect will indeed be achieved, but Katsuragi Kohei's group, which is missing one member, will probably have to say goodbye to the top three groups in this special exam.

Seemingly sensing Katsuragi Yasuhira's concerns, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka did not reveal the two men's names, but instead spoke softly:

"Masayoshi Hashimoto".

"……Um."

After considering it for a while, Katsuragi Kohei felt that Hashimoto Masayoshi was indeed a good candidate. On the one hand, Hashimoto Masayoshi was quite popular in Class A, and on the other hand, since only he and Kito Hayato were left in his group after they were eliminated, they could no longer compete for a higher ranking.

"However, it would be best if you, Katsuragi, personally persuaded him to agree, since you are the leader of Class A."

"it is my responsibility."

Katsuragi Kohei was naturally unaware that Hashimoto Masayoshi had been secretly exchanging information with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. He only felt that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka respected him quite a bit and had also begun to work hard for the class affairs, which were undoubtedly welcome changes.

After discussing the new plan with Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Kohei Katsuragi took the initiative to find Masayoshi Hashimoto. After explaining the pros and cons in detail and fully demonstrating his personal charm, Masayoshi Hashimoto nodded in agreement.

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

Long Yuanxiang continued to wander through the forest as always. After more than a week, he had become familiar with the terrain and paths of the entire uninhabited island. Especially now that the four-wheeled circle had ended and the range of activity was shrinking, his efficiency in capturing useful intelligence was even faster than before.

Just as Long Yuanxiang nimbly jumped off a cliff, preparing to take a shortcut to another area, he suddenly heard a sound that was quite familiar to him from ahead.

It's the alarm sound from my watch.

As one of only two students (the other being Kaneda Satoru, who drank tap water) to have triggered the watch alarm system during the special exam on the deserted island, Ryuen Sho recognized the voice almost instantly.

He frowned and quickly walked toward the source of the sound.

For Long Yuanxiang, he wanted to obtain this information, but he was also worried that some of the students in his class might be in danger.

After all, since the special exam on the deserted island began, only he and Kaneda Satoru from his class had triggered the alarm, which was really strange.

Long Yuanxiang pushed aside the weeds and branches in front of him, and after turning a corner, he saw a student lying on the ground at the bottom of a hillside at the end of his field of vision. It looked like he had fallen off a cliff, and he was lying in the weeds, covered with grass clippings and leaves, so he was not very clear.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Faced with this situation, Long Yuanxiang first called out from a distance. When he saw that the other party did not respond and seemed to have lost consciousness, he clicked his tongue helplessly, took two steps closer, and was about to reach out to pat the other party's shoulder when he immediately recognized the student's blond hair.

Masayoshi Hashimoto from Class A?

Just as the name flashed through Long Yuanxiang's mind and he was about to withdraw his hand, he heard hurried footsteps coming from the woods beside him. Several students from Class A, led by Katsuragi Kohei, rushed out from there and shouted sharply the moment they saw the scene:

"Ryuen! What did you do to Hashimoto?"

Realizing he had been tricked, Ryuu Yuen-sho maintained his composure, calmly stood up, and sneered. The students from Class A quickly stepped forward and surrounded him tightly, as if to restrict his movements.

About two minutes later, the school's medical team, which had quickly located the location via the alarm, also arrived at the scene. Because the alarm indicated that it was for a student in Class A, Class A's homeroom teacher, Sae Chahashi, also rushed over.

"what happened?"

Seeing that Hashimoto Masayoshi had been given a simple bandage by medical staff and then carefully lifted onto a stretcher to return to the school headquarters for further medical examination, Chabashira Sae asked with a somber expression.

“We came after hearing the alarm, and then we saw Hashimoto lying here, and we also found Ryuen.”

Katsuragi Kohei calmly explained.

Having also learned of this, Class C's homeroom teacher, Sakagami Digital, rushed over and immediately refuted with a serious expression:

"I believe Longyuan would not do such a thing."

Actually, he didn't believe that Longyuan was incapable of doing such a thing, but he just didn't think that Longyuan would do it so crudely and be caught off guard on the spot.

"Before Hashimoto woke up, I suggested that the school retrieve the watch's GPS location data for investigation."

Katsuragi Kohei immediately raised his hand.

Sakagami Digital initially thought it was a good idea, but he immediately noticed that Ryuen Sho's right wrist was empty.

His heart sank.

This is... indeed a bit difficult.

Chapter 211: Believe First

The school staff present at the scene were not limited to Chabashira Sae and Sakagami Digital. After a quick inspection and taking photos of the scene, another staff member offered a more neutral perspective:

"Although we can determine that the injured student fell from the hillside, we don't actually know whether it was an accident or intentional. There's no point in the two of you arguing here now."

Sakagami Digital breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Class A's attack was too swift; he had almost forgotten that this incident could very well be a non-human-caused accident, just like the one involving Ryuen Sho.

But Ryuen Sho still sneered. He wasn't as naive as the homeroom teacher, expecting the unconscious Hashimoto Masayoshi to give testimony that he accidentally fell off a cliff after waking up.

The moment Katsuragi Kohei arrived at the scene, he realized that this was a long-planned move by Class A, aimed at him.

Just like when Kitagawa Ryo, who was the first to arrive at the scene after his watch went off due to injury, was considered a suspect, it would indeed be easy for him to be suspected if he appeared at the scene of the incident.

However, unlike Kitagawa Ryo, who was able to prove his innocence by using the tracking system on his watch to establish his route, Ryuen Sho, who destroyed and removed the watch without authorization, is now in a much worse situation.

If Hashimoto Masayoshi, upon waking up, insists that it was him—no, the other party doesn't even need to be so certain—simply saying that he felt someone push him off the cliff from behind, then Ryuen Sho, who cannot prove that he was not at the scene of the crime, would undoubtedly be the biggest, or even the only, suspect.

Ryuen Sho narrowed his eyes, convinced that all of this must have been the work of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was not present at the moment.

He had been caught wearing a watch before, but the other party had once used the vibration of his phone's ringtone to identify him.

But now that he no longer wears a watch, he has once again fallen into a trap that was tailor-made for him.

If it weren't for the monster that is Kitagawa Ryo still existing in Class 1-D, Ryuen Sho would probably have already raised Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's name to the highest alert level.

Long Yuanxiang pondered as he tried to find a way to break the deadlock.

"How about this, before we figure things out, Longyuan, come back to the school's headquarters with us. Anyway, you don't have a watch now and can't participate in the project scoring, so it shouldn't cause any problems, right?"

After a brief stalemate, the staff discussed the situation and ultimately made a temporary decision.

"I see."

Before he could prove his innocence, Long Yuanxiang had no choice but to agree to the school's request in silence.

At this moment, he understood another layer of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's intentions in this plan.

Regardless of whether he could prove himself during this period, he was no longer able to act and gather intelligence on the deserted island as recklessly as before.

However, Ryuen Sho wasn't overly panicked, because most importantly, he had already conveyed the information about the final task to Kitagawa Ryo this morning.

Perhaps this can be considered a kind of unfortunate good fortune.

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

Just as Ryuen Sho was framed and embroiled in a case of intentional assault, Kitagawa Ryo, unaware of the situation, was leading his team to easily win their first task.

In the [Liberal Arts Comprehensive Knowledge Team Competition], the school, as always, liked to arrange a lot of academic-type questions in the first round early in the morning. However, for the Kitagawa Ryo team, these academic-type questions were essentially no different from giving them first place. In fact, their average score in the end was even higher than the highest score among other groups, almost reaching full marks.

Because it was an algorithm based on average scores, Hiyori Shiina was eager to try, but considering the academic level of her groupmate Mio Ibuki, the two ultimately chose to give up on this round of the project.

"Two thousand five hundred points in hand."

After nearly an hour of working on the problems, Kitagawa Ryo stretched. Although the problems weren't too difficult for him, he was still mentally exhausted.

It's one thing to take exams at school, but now that we're on a deserted island, they're setting up tables in the forest for students to take exams again.

"Let's find some interesting topics."

Sakayanagi Arisu also covered her mouth and yawned softly. She handed in her paper at a speed comparable to Kitagawa Ryo. Although she looked extremely sleepy after the exam, she still received a perfect score of 100.

"It has to be interesting, but not too physically demanding... It seems hard to find one."

Honami Ichinose frowned slightly, constantly checking her watch. She still remembered the disastrous scene of Arisu Sakayanagi's "tug-of-war" project, so she hesitated a bit.

"As long as we can score more points, that's fine."

Horikita Suzune nodded in a rather pragmatic manner and expressed her opinion. After all, Kitagawa Ryo's dozen or so phone calls that morning had put all the class's material expenses on their group's account, which was already quite a burden.

Hiyori Shiina and Mio Ibuki also joined the discussion. They hadn't signed up for this round, but they sat in the rest area for over an hour, which was quite boring.

Just as Kitagawa Ryoya raised his right wrist, trying to find a good topic, he suddenly received a communication from Ishizaki Daichi.

"Hello, this is Kitagawa, what's up?"

Kitagawa Ryo remembered that Ishizaki Daichi had left with Ryuen Sho that morning, so he asked another question:

"Did Longyuan send you to call me?"

After all, it's perfectly reasonable for Ryuen Sho, who has been penniless for years and can't even get a hundred points in communication, to communicate with Ishizaki Daichi.

“I am Ishizaki—no, it wasn’t Boss Ryuen who told me to call you, Kitagawa.”

Ishizaki Daichi's voice rarely revealed anxiety and panic:

"Beichuan, Beichuan, you must come and save Longyuan."

"what happened?"

Kitagawa Ryo frowned slightly upon hearing this, but spoke gently to soothe him:

"Calm down and explain yourself clearly."

Perhaps because Kitagawa Ryo's words had an effect, Ishizaki Daichi swallowed loudly on the other end of the communication line before straightening his tongue and recounting everything he had seen:

"When I got there, I heard school officials say that before the matter was investigated, they asked the leader of Longyuan to come back to the school headquarters with them, as if they suspected him of harming a student in Class A."

"...I understand. First, gather as much information as possible, such as who the injured student from Class A is, what their current condition is, and what the circumstances were at the time of the incident?"

After Kitagawa Ryo gave him clear and logical instructions, Ishizaki Daichi seemed to have found a pillar of support, and quickly nodded in agreement before hanging up the call.

Kitagawa Ryo put away his watch and shook his head slightly.