"And the rest of you?" Long Lu asked the ss. "Surely you''ve seen how horribly we lost in the previous exam. Luckily, that was just a diagnosis and wasn''t worth all that many points, but with this, we now know just how weak we arepared to the other sses. If we want to have a shot at winning, we have to work together. There''s no way out of this."


    All the ssmates gathered around nodded in response, a serious look on their faces.??


    "We''ll all listen to your instructions, ss rep."


    Long Lu smiled. "Good. Now that I''ve made sure everyone is on the same page here, we can begin actually preparing for the exam. The gs are being sent out tonight, ording to Ms. Cai, so we have now until then to familiarize ourselves with this forest. The more advantageous locations we know about, the better. It''ll give us an edge when the exam actually begins."


    "What about the actual battle n?" Han Xiao Bing asked impatiently.


    "Give me some time," Long Lu replied. "I have something in mind, but I need to work out the details still. I want everyone to group back here at 7 PM tonight. I''ll have everything figured out by then. For now though, just split into groups of four and explore the forest. Combat is forbidden until they announce the start of the test tonight, so you needn''t worry about anything."


    "Alright, whatever, man." Han Xiao Bing snorted and headed off, dragging Da Bao with him. The other ssmates hurried off as well, now more motivated than before to actually give these exams their best shot.


    Withst time''s defeat, they now knew remaining in this school wasn''t going to be an easy task. I had no doubt there were still hidden rules to this exam yet to be revealed, such as those concerning expulsion. Ms. Cai herself had said at the beginning of the school year that expulsions were going to be frequent in the special exams, apart from the first one which was a mere diagnosis.


    I doubt the school would just expel whichever ss that camest, but there had to be some sort of way of determining who would be kicked out.


    Once everyone else had left, it was just Long Lu, the girls, and I left in the room.


    "Okay… I hope you have a n, Xuan Kai," he nced at me briefly, raising an eyebrow.


    I closed my eyes. "Rx. I have a general idea of how to win this."


    "E-Eh? Win? Aren''t we going for third or second at most?" Feng Mian asked, confused.


    I smiled wryly. "I have a way to win thispetition with the other sses unable to believe the results when they are announced. In the end, the number of gs we''ll have will seem impossible."


    "But… how?" The girls were still perplexed, so I sighed and put it in a simpler way.


    "Essentially, what we''ll do in this exam is not all that different from thest. Wepletely give up on winning and use all our efforts to help ss A instead — at least, on the surface."


    "…?"


    "We willpletely abandon this temple, and lodge at ss A''s instead. We''ll essentially merge sses with them, helping them gain as many gs as possible. With the power of two sses together, we can raid any of the two other ones, who won''t stack up together like us. After getting the gs, we will then move them all to ss A''s temple. But on the final day…"


    "… We''ll take them back to our abandoned base, is that it?" Obsidia finished.


    I shrugged. "Kind of. Rather than physically bringing them back, all we have to do is touch them. Don''t ask how I know that, because I don''t want to exin it at the moment. Given our performance in the previous exam, ss B and C will both think we are once again just helping ss A win this one as well. They won''t even consider the gs to belong to ss D in the end."


    "But… even if we abandon the Base, every night, gs will still spawn in there. Wouldn''t that just be free points for the other sses…?" Lan Xiao Su asked, raising her hand.


    I nodded. "That''s why I asked whether or not we could steal back stolen gs. We will have ss A take all of our gs as soon as they spawn in. That way, the other two sses can''t get them. It''ll also help contribute to the whole act of us supporting ss A with everything we have."


    "I see… but will ss A agree to this? They''ll most likely fall inst because of this," Yu An Yan analyzed.


    "They will," I chuckled. "In fact, they''ll even be grateful, most likely. This is still only the second exam of the school year — it won''t be worth all that many points. Them not being first by the end of the exam will make ss B and C so shocked that they''ll think it''s some sort of miscalction on the school''s side. Naturally, I''ll have Ming Hao cooperate with me to make shocked expressions when they announce the results. As for the rest of our ssmates and ss A''s students, well… they don''t need to pretend."


    "So… you don''t want me to tell the ss of the full n?" Long Lu asked.


    I nodded firmly. "Now that you have their full support, they can''t back out now. Even if your n seems like a total mistake, they have no choice but to go with it. All you have to do is insist they see it through to the end. As for how much you''ll be able to convince them, well… that''s up to your charisma."


    "But when we turn out as first in the end… they''ll think I''m some sort of genius…"


    "That''s the point," I replied with a chuckle. "As long as all the credit goes to you, I can remain inconspicuous. Sorry, I have my reasons."


    "… Right. I won''t ask. The whole n still seems a bit hazy to me, but I''ll do my best to ry it to the others when they get back."


    "Good." I stood up from my chair and began heading for the door. "The rest of you can go explore the forest as well, since more information on thend could never hurt for the raids we''ll beunching. As for me… I have some preparations to make."


    *****


    - Several Minutes Later -


    "You alone right now?" I asked through the phone.


    "Yeah. Wussup?"


    "I want to discuss our strategy for this exam. Can we talk in-person to make sure there aren''t any… eavesdroppers?"


    "Sure! When and where?"


    "Now. Come to my ss''s Base. No one else is around at the moment."


    "Got it. On my way."


    He hung up after that, and I lowered my phone.


    Back there in the meeting room, I hadn''t told the girls and Long Lu everything. Mei Gui probably understood thanks to our telepathic connection, but that was fine since I knew she wasn''t going to tell anyone else without my permission anyway.


    For one, Qian Hua had specifically said your ss''s own gs had to be ced inside the Base — not the ones stolen. In other words, the stolen ones could be ced anywhere on the map. Because of this, I assumed the school calcted the ownerships of the gs based on who touched themst — hence why I said earlier that we didn''t even need to bring the gs back to our Base.


    I also predicted ss B and C to join forces sometime during the exam andunch a full-scale attack on ss A''s Base, but given the results of the short four-way duel between the four ss repsst week, I wasn''t too worried about that. No matter the oue, victory or defeat, I would still win in the end.


    Even if ss A''s defenses fail, it was fine — because of a few certain moves I would be making behind everyone''s back.


    *****


    Soon after, Ming Hao met up with me by ss D''s Base, within a sound barrier I put up.


    "Alright. I''m here. I''m assuming you''ve already thought of something, huh?"


    I nodded. "This exam, ss D will take first."


    At this, he blinked in surprise. "H-Huh? Woah, back up. I wasn''t expecting that at all."


    Clearing my throat, I continued. "The n is this: on the surface, ss D will abandon our Basepletely and join your ss in wholeheartedly defending ss A. But on thest day, I will turn all of the gs into ss D''s."


    "How…? By moving them back to your Base discretely?"


    I scanned our surroundings, then looked at him in the eyes. "Before that… can other people read your mind?"


    Ming Haoughed boldly. "Ha! You''re so overly cautious, Xuan Kai. Though I guess that''s part of who you are. But to answer your question, my family gifted me a little Magic Artifact that prevents any and all mental attacks from affecting me — including mind reading. Maybe a Divine God or something could break past this Artifact and invade my mind, but our fellow schoolmates? Heh. No shot."


    I sighed in relief. "Good… this saves some trouble. In that case… I''ll tell you the most essential part of my n — the hidden detail to this exam no one else caught."