"S-points, exemption privileges for forced conscription, and intelligence on the hidden monster..." Ryuuen Kakeru raised an eyebrow. "That's a surprisingly generous reward spread."
Before Kanzaki Ryuuji could respond, Shiina Hiyori spoke up at exactly the right moment:
"One reward from three options. If the preliminary test had been decided by violence — the three students force-drafted into the exam would have had almost no chance of survival, even if they'd been mentally prepared going in..."
"Trading three lives for one winner. I'd say the reward was proportionate."
Kanzaki Ryuuji had no intention of hiding anything. He gave a brief, straightforward account of the negotiation mechanics behind the Wolf and Sheep game.
Ichinose Honami listened, then spoke with quiet thought:
"As Shiina-san says — last time, we pushed ourselves to the limit and barely managed to pull three people through alive. If participants were dropped straight into a monster horde while already exhausted... most of them wouldn't make it out."
"That must have been hard on you, Kanzaki-kun."
"My plan only succeeded because of the trust you've built, Ichinose. That's the real foundation..."
Kanzaki gave a self-deprecating smile and was about to add something modest — when Sudou Ken, who had been barely holding himself back this entire time, came barging through.
"Hold on, hold on, HOLD ON!"
He cut in, face lit up with excitement:
"So you're telling me you've got actual intelligence on this exam's hidden monster?! In your hands?! Right now?!"
"Holy — we're basically playing with cheat codes! We're flying! Let's GO!"
Ryuuen Kakeru slid him a glance — the kind you'd give a particularly oblivious piece of furniture — and closed his eyes, apparently too tired to bother with idiots.
Katsuragi Kohei, arms folded across his chest, was the one who stepped in with the actual warning:
"Given Ichinose's approach, it's true she's not likely to hold anything back... But assuming intelligence alone solves everything? That's a dangerous mindset."
"Intel is a reference point. Reality changes by the second. Leaning on it too hard is how you walk into disaster."
"Tch. Lecture over already?"
Sudou Ken rolled his eyes, shoved his sleeve up, and flexed his bicep for the room:
"Who do you think you're talking down to? I'm not much for exams, sure — but a fight?" He grinned. "That's my whole thing. I'm a professional."
...
Chris pulled his attention away from the pointless sideshow.
He turned his head toward Sakayanagi Arisu, who was still sprawled on the floor in a deeply undignified heap, apparently in no hurry to fix that.
He sighed and extended a hand.
"You can't just sit there forever. Why not ask the Black Sphere if you can use points to buy a special permit to bring your cane into the exam?"
Sakayanagi gave him an unamused look — but took his hand without hesitation, using the support to pull herself upright.
"And whose fault do you think this is?"
She smoothed out her disheveled skirt, her tone carrying a particular plaintive edge:
"The moment I heard there was going to be a preliminary test, I was already on my way to find you and discuss our options. And what did I find? You'd slipped off for a private rendezvous with Ichinose."
"So I waited. And waited. The flowers bloomed and wilted while I sat there. By the time your little private lesson finally wrapped up, there wasn't a second left to spare. What exactly was I supposed to do?"
"Getting force-teleported under those conditions — I obviously couldn't just drag Kamuro-san in with me..." She paused. "You understand, don't you?"
As she spoke, the girl's gaze grew increasingly aggrieved — first drifting to the thoroughly unfortunate Kamuro Masumi, then settling firmly on Chris's face, clearly fishing for some kind of reaction.
Chris remained as composed as ever, giving her absolutely nothing.
Kamuro Masumi, meanwhile — the completely innocent party who had been dragged into this by proximity alone — felt a dull ache bloom somewhere around her stomach.
She tried dodging left. She tried dodging right. There was no escape.
Was this just rotten luck? Or had she somehow absorbed the combined misfortune of these two disasters and gotten permanently flagged by this cursed Black Sphere?!
...The sheer disregard for whether anyone else can take it. Unbelievable.
It was right around then that Sudou Ken — running on a slight delay, as was tradition — finally registered that something was off.
He looked around the room. Looked at the very full crowd packed inside it.
"Hey — wait. Didn't Hirata say it's one official exam slot per class, plus one random? So why does this room feel..."
"...really, really crowded?"
Ryuuen Kakeru stared at him, all patience officially spent.
He turned and walked straight up to the Black Sphere in the center of the room.
"GANTZ. Stop stalling. Let's get started."
Hmmmmm——
The surface of the Black Sphere flickered. Familiar white text materialized across it.
Accompanying it: a photograph of two grotesque creatures — human bodies topped with the faces of chimpanzees.
[Target Name: Chimpanzee-Men* ×2]
[Traits: Genetic constructs. Taught but not transformed. Born enemies of humanity.]
[Likes: Philosophy, debate, natural selection.]
[Catchphrase: "I am a Chimpanzee-Man — neither fully human, nor fully chimpanzee."]
[Failure Penalty: Total party wipe.]
[Time Limit: 60:00]
[Friendly Note: Given that difficulty appears somewhat above standard, only three forced participants have been deployed this round.]
[Now then... shall the intelligence on the hidden monster be disclosed? The choice is yours, Kanzaki Ryuuji.]
"Disclose everything," Kanzaki Ryuuji answered without hesitation.
"Seriously, is anyone going to acknowledge me?!" Sudou Ken was still stuck on the headcount. "You're all seriously not confused by this?! This breaks the rules!"
Nobody had the bandwidth to deal with him. Every last person's attention was locked on the Black Sphere's screen.
Even Ichinose Honami — whose patience was essentially bottomless — was no exception.
Fewer targets to hunt meant fewer points available. And fewer points meant the classmates already deep in the negatives were facing survival pressure that had just multiplied.
On the screen, the image of the Chimpanzee-Men was replaced by a photograph of a man in casual clothes, his expression cold and sharp.
Beneath the portrait, a line of red text:
[Goto: The ultimate Parasyte, engineered in a laboratory. Four individual parasites coexist within a single body, operating under his unified command. Combat capability vastly exceeds that of any ordinary Parasyte.]
[Kill Value: 20 points.]
"Twenty points..."
Ichinose Honami's hand balled into a fist without thinking. Her expression darkened as she ran the numbers quickly:
"So even counting the hidden monster, we only have three scoring targets this round?"
For a squad of ten, that was an almost unreasonable constraint. Especially with members still sitting in the negatives.
"Not necessarily."
Sakayanagi Arisu studied the annotations on the screen, her voice calm and analytical:
"In the last exam — the one with the evil spirits — the final scores didn't add up if you calculated one point per spirit. Yet the scoring was based on kills. The math doesn't lie."
"Which suggests that for a boss-type composed of multiple individual components — each 'unit' inside the body may be counted as a separate kill target. The player who lands the finishing blow simply receives the consolidated bonus on top."
Chris gave a single nod and stepped in as the interpreter:
"Looking at it that way, this isn't a dead end. On top of that, we only have three forced participants to protect this time — our defensive load is significantly lighter than last round."
"If we coordinate properly, scoring might actually be easier than the last exam."
"Heh. Nicely reasoned."
Ryuuen Kakeru gave a cold half-smile, skipped the preamble, and cut straight to the decision:
"Then here's how it goes. The two Chimpanzee-Men go to Shiina and Shiranami — let them pad their scores and cover the three forced participants at the same time."
"As for the twenty-point heavyweight..."
Ryuuen ran his tongue over his lips, gaze sweeping to Ichinose and Chris — the two in the combat suits:
"Everyone else is with me. We're going to pay that Parasyte a visit."
"That's the call. Now pick your weapons — time's short!"
Hardly anyone objected.
Most people understood the logic: if someone was willing to volunteer for the hard fight, why argue? Let them.
Only Sudou Ken was still standing there half-confused, feeling increasingly like the whole world had decided to exclude him from the conversation.
"Like... seriously, guys..."
He pointed at Ryuuen, then at Ichinose. "Can literally anyone just tell me what's going on?"
Watching Sudou's expression of pristine, crystalline cluelessness, Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't quite suppress a laugh.
She released the arm she'd been holding — Chris's — and gestured to Kamuro Masumi, who shuffled over with the enthusiasm of someone walking to their own execution.
"Kamuro-san. As you can see."
Sakayanagi spoke softly: "There aren't many foot soldiers in this exam. Clearly, the heavy lifting will fall to Ichinose-san and Chris, the ones with the combat suits."
"So — I'm afraid I'll need to impose on you again. Would you mind being my legs for another round?"
She tilted her head slightly, tone edged with a playful little needle:
"I won't pretend I enjoy this arrangement either — but it does seem like we're a particularly star-crossed pair. Fate, perhaps."
Kamuro Masumi said nothing for a long moment.
She stared at Sakayanagi's flawless, infuriating face — the kind of face that demanded to be yelled at, yet somehow gave you no clean angle to do it from.
In the end, she pulled in a long breath and redirected every scrap of her suppressed frustration sideways — straight at Chris, who had been watching this unfold with the detached interest of a spectator at a zoo.
"Can I ask what is going on with your class?!"
Kamuro jabbed a finger at Sudou, who was still hollering in the background, and turned on Chris:
"He's been making noise this entire time and nobody's even given him a basic briefing?! Do you want me to go over there and bring him up to speed myself?!"
She caught the oddly bemused expression on Chris's face — couldn't figure out what it meant — but the act of venting had, at least, released some of the pressure that had been crushing her from the inside.
With a sharp exhale through her nose, she pivoted to giving orders:
"What are you looking at? Go. Grab two Y-GUNs. Since neither of us is exactly combat-ready right now, we'll just have to play support from the back line."
Faced with Sakayanagi spreading her hands in a helpless sorry, nothing I can do shrug —
Chris: ...
Fair enough. Wrong target, right instinct. You actually picked the right person for this job.
He shook his head with quiet resignation, walked up to the Black Sphere, and glanced over at Sudou Ken, who was still standing there in a daze:
"Time's tight. Pick your gear first."
"Once the exam's over, I'll add you to the internal group chat. Read the announcement and you'll get the full picture."
"For now — follow orders. And don't get yourself killed."
Sudou Ken wasn't thrilled about it — but the weight in the air had finally reached him. He scanned the weapon rack, and on gut instinct, his hand closed around a hilt.
Chris noticed. He offered, in good faith:
"That one's tricky to use. You might want to reconsider — the Y-shaped ones next to it are capture-type, the X-shaped ones are for offense. Both are ranged, both are forgiving if you make mistakes."
"I'm good! I know, okay — Hirata covered this in his handout!"
Sudou gave the hilt a swing. The black blade extended. A confident grin spread across his face.
"But I trust my body's instincts over any instruction manual. I've never lost a fight in my life — and I spent months in middle school watching the kendo club's senior girls train. That counts for something!"
"A real man doesn't use a gun!"
"A real man wields the tachi!"
"I'm going full swordsman!"
Chris went quiet again.
A perfectly good ranged weapon, and he picks a sword.
Does he think he's Nezha? About to pop open his genetic lock and go beyond human limits?
——End of Chapter——
(Promo: 「Omniverse Crossover: All I Ever Wanted Was to Farm Skill Entries」)
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
✅ New releases are dropping, plus get exclusive content & updates.
✅ Help us unlock community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!