Before long, almost everyone in Class C ran to the well.
Several girls were checking Shiina's physical condition.
The boys, meanwhile, were occasionally stealing glances at Amane.
Completely different from her previous active image as an athletic girl.
With her usually tied-up white long hair down, Amane appeared much more gentle.
Her silvery-white hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, and her soft purple eyes were now looking worriedly at Shiina Hiyori, who lay on the ground.
Her soaked white athletic T-shirt clung tightly to her body, outlining Amane's perfect figure.
Although Amane was wearing a tracksuit she had just picked up from the ground, the inadvertent glimpse of her slender, toned waist still captured the attention of all the boys.
Usually, Amane also wore her tracksuit to keep warm while sleeping, so most of the girls in Class C hadn't noticed anything.
But now that Amane had draped her tracksuit over herself.
They noticed Amane's exaggerated chest, and how her athletic T-shirt was stretched high.
Ibuki just took one look and turned away in frustration.
It was evident what a blow it was to her.
"Is Hiyori alright?"
Amane asked worriedly.
"According to the watch's Detection, everything is basically normal. Her heart rate is still a bit fast, but she should wake up after a while. However, it's best to send her to medical personnel for a check-up."
Sakaue-sensei said calmly after checking Shiina's watch.
"It's truly wonderful that nothing is wrong. Please, Sakaue-sensei, take Hiyori for a check-up."
Amane clasped her hands over her chest and looked at Sakaue-sensei imploringly.
"I will naturally take Shiina for a check-up. However, how did she faint? You and Shiina are the only ones here, and you're soaking wet… What were you and Shiina doing by the well in the middle of the night?"
Sakaue-sensei had actually roughly guessed the whole story.
Although being seen through was bound to happen sooner or later, what he didn't expect was that Amane had managed to get a hold of Shiina so quickly.
The clock-in device by the well showed that the point had been clocked in and occupied not long ago.
However, Shiina's key card was not found at the scene… When the girls checked Shiina's physical condition earlier, he had asked one of them to also check Shiina's pockets.
It was confirmed that the key card had disappeared.
At this moment, Class C was without a leader. As a teacher, there were some things he couldn't say directly. If no one noticed this matter, Class C's exam would probably end here.
"It's like this: Hiyori woke up in the middle of the night saying she couldn't sleep and wanted to clear her head, so I planned to chat with her to pass the time. Then Hiyori said she had a stomach ache and needed to go to the restroom. I was just about to draw some water to wash my face and freshen up, but my hair tie fell into the well. I went down to get it, and as soon as I came up, I bumped into Hiyori. It seems I scared her… and then she fainted."
Amane's explanation sounded logically sound, but Sakaue immediately noticed a serious flaw.
"Go down to find a hair tie? How did you get down there? Did you use the wooden bucket? If you used the wooden bucket, it would be impossible for one person to come up alone, and Shiina might not have noticed the sound of the rope turning. Were you really not planning to knock Shiina out, steal her key card, and then throw her into the well?"
As soon as Sakaue-sensei mentioned the key card, many people immediately reacted.
They all looked at Amane with suspicious eyes.
"Sakaue-sensei, are you suspecting me?… Firstly, going down the well is easy; this well is only less than three meters deep. Secondly, don't the walls on both sides of the well have grooves for climbing? The well opening is only about 1.2 meters wide; I don't find it difficult to climb up… As for your later speculation, why don't you check the surveillance footage?"
Amane's words astonished everyone.
"Surveillance? Isn't this an Uninhabited Island? Where would there be surveillance?"
"How can a well be only three meters deep! The wells I've seen in the countryside are over ten meters deep. It's impossible for someone to climb up with bare hands, right?"
Facing the skepticism, Amane looked at everyone as if they were fools, and then, under everyone's astonished gaze, she stepped directly onto the well opening and jumped down.
Accompanied by a loud splash.
"Miyako!"
Even Sakaue-sensei was startled by this scene.
Just as everyone gathered around the well, preparing to see what was wrong with Amane-san, they saw that although most of her body was submerged in the well water, she stood firmly at the bottom of the well, arms crossed, and looked up coldly at Sakaue-sensei.
It was clear that the well was indeed less than three meters deep. Immediately after, Amane-san demonstrated what it meant to be an expert climber; using both hands and feet, she quickly climbed out of the well.
Upon closer inspection, there were climbing holds carved into both sides of the well.
It was very easy to get out of the well.
"Why is this happening?"
A girl asked blankly.
She couldn't comprehend these strange occurrences.
"Haven't you ever wondered where the lighthouse and cabins on the Uninhabited Island came from? Haven't you wondered why the open-air well water you retrieved tasted almost like mineral water, while the nearby lake water tasted completely different? It's obvious that this well and the water inside are man-made. This isn't an Uninhabited Island at all; it's just a cage to keep you captive."
"Whether you indulge yourselves in this cage or endure hunger, your primary goal is survival. You, who constantly strive for survival, are being continuously tamed, domesticated into docile groups, either constantly rushing for survival or degenerating in comfortable environments, until you forget your aspirations. A little bit of petty gain will make you willing to accept exploitation, willing to accept harsh environments... This exam isn't about cultivating students' wilderness survival skills; it's about selecting the docile lambs society needs, isn't it, Sakaue-sensei?"
Sakaue-sensei's expression finally changed at this moment.
Amane-san walked over to a haystack where miscellaneous items were piled, grabbed a camera, and then directly dragged the network cable, stuffing the camera into Sakaue-sensei's arms.
"If you think I'm going to do something, just check the surveillance. Oh, I forgot, there's also this."
Amane-san smiled and pulled out a wet key card from her clothes pocket.
"I was afraid you might lose your key cards just now, so I casually put them on my person. It seems to have accidentally gotten wet, but it should be fine, right?"
Sakaue-sensei took a deep breath, silently taking the key card from Amane-san's hand.
Then, she looked at Amane-san with a solemn expression.
The school's intentions had never been discovered by anyone since this special exam was implemented. Even the teachers themselves only learned after graduation that every exam was actually about selection and domestication.
Those who were eliminated were certainly worthless, but there were also some who were not suitable for group survival.
The remaining people, even if not exceptionally capable, were lambs domesticated by the environment.
Every class had outstanding individuals.
But no matter how excellent they were, they were merely the lead sheep of the flock.
Lambs cannot change their own destiny.
Even graduating from Class A through the Kou-Iku springboard and finding their desired job was merely entering a new environment with a pre-arranged destiny.
They would still have to compromise some things for survival.
Miyako Amane.
Perhaps... she was even more dangerous than Ryuuen-san imagined.
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