Chapter 45 – It’s Just Poisonous

Ye Lan quickly located twenty poisonous samples by himself.

Then he began “walking around,” checking on the progress of the other students in Class E.

As he passed by one student, he noticed the student trying to hide an edible sample.

Ye Lan advised: “That’s an edible sample. I suggest you put it back.”

“Who are you? Do you have the right to tell me what to do? I’m not putting it back,” the student snapped at him.

Ye Lan didn’t get angry.

He knew human nature was unreliable, especially when people weren’t familiar with each other—hiding samples was inevitable.

But he said nothing more; others would not let it slide.

Other students noticed the exchange and saw the sample in the student’s hand was indeed edible.

They shouted: “Put it back!”

Yaceline also stepped forward: “If we don’t gather all 100 poisonous samples, everyone will be in trouble.”

Seeing all eyes on him, the student had no choice but to return the edible sample and honestly search for poisonous ones.

The flaw of the elimination method was clear: if anyone hid samples, the team couldn’t collect all 100 poisonous ones, and the process would fail, harming everyone’s interests.

So there was no need for Ye Lan to intervene—others would naturally prevent cheating.

Of course, Ye Lan’s main task was to identify the mistakenly chosen edible samples among the poisonous ones and return them to the pile.

With Ye Lan’s “help,” after ten minutes of sorting, Class E finally collected all the poisonous samples.

Exactly one hundred—no more, no less—showing no one had hidden any edible samples.

Now it was time for distribution.

All eyes in Class E focused on Yaceline, captain of the Logistics Squad.

Only she had the authority to decide how many edible and poisonous samples each person would take.

The pressure on her was immense, but she had no choice but to start thinking about distribution.

Should she distribute evenly or reward by contribution?

She chose the latter.

As the biggest contributor, Ye Lan deserved his reward: twenty edible samples.

Yet, he had gone from being the class’s underestimated outcast to their savior—a shift they found difficult to reconcile.

“I’ll take mine first,” she said.

But before Yaceline could announce it, Ye Lan had already taken twenty poisonous samples.

“How can you take them first?”

“No, he took the poisonous ones.”

“Are you sure he didn’t take the edible ones instead?”

“All these colorful samples—you really think they’re edible?”

Ye Lan’s twenty poisonous samples were obvious.

Even intuition alone could identify them, leaving no room for complaints.

Since someone was willing to take the poisonous samples first, no one could stop him.

This way, the remaining poisonous samples would be halved for others.

“Ah? You…” Yaceline stomped in frustration.

“Why are there people like this?”

Though he was the biggest contributor, he was now bearing the heaviest burden.

As a result, everyone in the Logistics Squad owed Ye Lan a favor.

But Yaceline’s dilemma was not over—she still had twenty poisonous samples.

The simplest solution would be to divide them evenly, but some would still be disadvantaged.

Did she have another option? Yaceline pondered.

Ye Lan meanwhile began opening the stove’s built-in drawer.

He pulled out pots, pans, knives, forks, and other utensils, putting on protective gloves to begin detoxifying the twenty poisonous samples in his hands.

He noticed Yaceline’s struggle as he worked.

Ye Lan predicted she had two choices.

One: split the twenty poisonous samples evenly.

If she did that, other team members wouldn’t resent her.

At most, her authority as captain would be slightly diminished.

The other: do what Ye Lan was doing—take the remaining twenty poisonous samples for herself.

This option carried far greater weight.

Ye Lan, as the class outcast, could take twenty poisonous samples—others would just feel awkward criticizing him.

But Yaceline, as the Logistics Captain, taking twenty poisonous samples would protect the remaining ten teammates, elevating her authority to its peak.

Her team would feel indebted and follow her unquestioningly.

Ye Lan did not doubt her intelligence.

He guessed she already realized what he was doing—he had a method to neutralize poisonous samples.

So when Yaceline chose the second option, she even had a fallback: she could come to Ye Lan for help.

The downside: she would owe him a favor.

Compared to running two hundred laps, this was almost negligible.

When Ye Lan felt a tap on his back, he knew it was Yaceline.

“Ah! Captain, what a surprise! Need something?” he feigned ignorance.

You’re mocking me, aren’t you?

Yaceline wanted to say so but needed his cooperation.

As captain, she had to appear firm: “I’ve given all the edible samples to the team and kept the poisonous ones for myself.”

“But I can only handle a small portion of these poisonous samples. You have some very troublesome ones, which I can’t fully manage. Since you can handle these difficult samples, surely the simpler ones on my side are no problem for you.”

Ye Lan suppressed a laugh.

Claiming one cannot handle something with such confidence—truly a comical bluff.

If he refused, would the girl cry?

It would be amusing, but Ye Lan didn’t expose her; time was short.

Meanwhile, in Class D, some students had collected their edible samples.

But as edible samples dwindled, the remaining students grew anxious, and scuffles intensified.

Teacher Cai ignored the chaos.

As long as no one suffered serious injury, she didn’t intervene.

After all, this wasn’t a regular school—it was a military academy.

Strength often dictated outcome.

Still, Class D’s scramble would end eventually.

Once it did, the timer would stop.

If Ye Lan hadn’t finished processing the poisonous samples by then, he would still face the penalty of running laps.

“I can handle these poisonous samples,” Ye Lan said as he worked.

He used a small knife to carefully cut open the belly of a toxic fish.

He removed the poison gland, threw it into the trash, and placed the fish on the cutting board.

The process took mere seconds.

Yaceline watched, stunned.

Without precise knife skills, perfect force, and keen eyesight, Ye Lan could never have detoxified a fish so quickly.