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"Tsk... I've been played!"
Ryuuen's knuckles rapped heavily on the desk, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.
He stared intently at the red-flashing monitor on the ceiling, as if trying to burn through it with his gaze.
'Who's pulling the strings behind this?'
This thought spun wildly in his mind.
He almost instantly saw through the other party's scheme—the monitor's access was a sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
The constantly transmitted monitoring footage was like silent mockery, clearly declaring: either pay a high price in points to buy out the access, or live forever under surveillance.
"You can rent monitors? This school really takes 'points are everything' to the extreme." Ryuuen squeezed out a cold sneer from between his teeth. His account did indeed have over three million points collected in the past few days. This class fund, which should've made him feel smug, instantly became someone else's possession.
Ryuuen pondered for a moment, then decisively picked up his phone and sent a message to his homeroom teacher, Sakagami.
{How many points does it cost to rent the school's monitoring room?}
Sakagami replied quickly: {You can't rent it. The school has just issued a notice prohibiting students from purchasing, renting, using, or replacing any school equipment. In short, the school authorities reserve the right of interpretation.}
"Just prohibited?" Ryuuen's pupils suddenly contracted. "Then doesn't that mean... the other party was the first to try it!"
He immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, his fingers quickly tapping on the screen, tentatively sending a message to Tsuki Ao.
{How much do you want?}
The other party's reply was concise and direct.
{3 million points.}
"Damn it!" Ryuuen's hand holding the phone trembled slightly, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
The number was terrifyingly accurate—it was precisely the total balance of his class fund account today.
This mysterious person not only knew his financial situation inside out but also made an exorbitant demand, attempting to swallow all his class fund reserves in one gulp.
Even more terrifying, this meant that the other party's surveillance of him might've started long ago, and he didn't even know who the other party was.
"Since when..." Ryuuen gritted his teeth.
He originally thought his method of obtaining Class A's information through wiretaps was clever enough, but he never expected it to be child's play in front of this mysterious person who openly charged for using the monitoring system.
This all-encompassing surveillance, this precise control of information, wasn't a competition on the same level.
Ryuuen's temples throbbed. This feeling of being cornered made his blood boil.
'Not a second-year... Nagumo, the Vice President isn't that bored. The Student Council President from the third year wouldn't bother with this...'
'So it can only be a first-year student who's very short on points?'
"Ryuuen! What's wrong?" Ishizaki noticed his boss's unusual expression and quickly approached, concerned.
When he inadvertently glimpsed the message on the other party's phone screen, his eyes immediately widened.
"What? Someone's monitoring our class using the classroom monitors?" Ishizaki cried out in alarm, his rough voice exploding in the classroom.
"What's going on? When did this start?"
"Explain it clearly!"
"Aren't these monitors installed by the school?"
The originally quiet Class C instantly became chaotic, students clamoring with questions, and panic spreading like ripples.
"Shut up!" Ryuuen was momentarily stunned, then furiously kicked Ishizaki.
He hadn't intended to reveal the truth to these idiots—it would only shake the foundation of his carefully built rule. He didn't expect his own teammate to have such a loud mouth.
"Ryuuen!" Ishizaki rubbed his aching buttocks, his eyes wide with grievance.
But Ryuuen didn't even spare him a glance. His mind was entirely occupied with weighing the pros and cons.
Being forced to accept surveillance? The humiliation made his stomach ache.
As a hunter accustomed to controlling the entire situation, he was now reduced to a trapped beast in someone else's surveillance net.
But the cold lens of the monitor was like an unblinking eye, making him feel as if he had a thorn in his back.
Destroy the equipment? Too naive. The other party controlled the monitoring access. Smashing the hardware would be futile.
Perhaps it would also deduct a large amount of...
"Bang!"
A deafening crash interrupted his thoughts.
Ryuuen turned sharply, only to see Ishizaki holding up a chair, the monitor above his head shattered, wires dangling like severed snake tails.
"If the problem's with the monitor, smashing it solves it!" Ishizaki grinned triumphantly, his face full of pride.
"Good idea!"
"That way, we won't lose class points!"
A few scattered agreements even rang out in the classroom, and some boys even started rubbing their fists.
'Did these idiots not bring their brains to school?'
Ryuuen felt his temples throb, and the string of sanity snapped.
He abruptly stood up, kicking Ishizaki hard in the back of the knee. The latter fell to his knees, caught off guard. "What the hell's wrong with your brain? Monitoring data is transmitted over the network! What's the use of smashing this terminal? The school can replace it in minutes! By damaging school equipment like this, if all the class points are deducted, what'll you use to make up for it?"
Fine beads of sweat trickled down Ishizaki's forehead.
He opened his mouth, but in the end, could only lower his head dejectedly.
"Ryuuen... I was wrong this time. I'll listen to you from now on! Whatever you say, I'll do! If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west."
"Get out! Go back to your seat and stay there! Don't do anything! I'm too annoyed to deal with you right now!"
Ryuuen suddenly realized that the surveillance camera was recording his loss of control.
This would undoubtedly lead to more severe penalties for the class.
"Damn it... It seems I can only rent it!" He gritted his teeth, forced to make this decision.
On second thought, acquiring monitoring equipment wasn't without benefits.
This could effectively counteract hidden prying eyes and avoid the risk of losing class points due to disciplinary violations.
He was originally full of confidence, believing that his iron fist would be enough to make these idiotic students in Class C obey.
But reality dealt him a heavy blow—some people are simply beyond help. No amount of coercion or inducement can change their foolish nature.
Since that was the case, it was better to directly rent the monitors. At least it would provide some basic security.
This transaction was like poisoned honey, dangerous yet he had no choice but to swallow it.
Ryuuen's gaze swept ominously over his classmates in the classroom.
'...Are there no intelligent people left?'
His gaze finally settled on Shiina in the corner—in the entire Class C, only this silver-haired girl was watching him with a pensive look.
Ryuuen suddenly found it utterly absurd that this school, which claimed to be merit-based, had put a bunch of strong but stupid people in the same class as him.
'Who's the real Class D, anyway...'
'If I hadn't quickly established dominance through force at the beginning of the semester, these people would've probably lost all their class points by now.'
He couldn't help but clench his fist.
But the anger of being fooled burned brighter and brighter in his chest, especially when he thought of a certain possibility—
'Silver threads... spider web...'
Ryuuen suddenly grinned a dangerous smile.
'Could it be you? Sakayanagi Arisu... After all, your father is the chairman! Buying surveillance access from him seems plausible!'
If she really was pulling the strings, then this game would truly be interesting—using the points he extorted to extort him back, a truly genius tit-for-tat.
'Is this your revenge, Sakayanagi? Could it be that you've already discovered I eavesdropped on your class's hidden information?'
"Hahaha! This is getting more and more interesting!"
Ryuuen suddenly burst into laughter, scaring the surrounding students into silence.
He roughly wiped away the tears of laughter, his eyes growing sharper.
This cat-and-mouse game had just begun, and what he liked most was pulling a high-and-mighty queen off her pedestal.