Ye Lan said to Yaceline, “You go ahead and gather the ingredients you think are easier to handle. We don’t have much time.”
“Oh… ah! Okay!”
Yaceline quickly snapped out of her daze and turned to search for ingredients.
But when she returned with her selections, she found the other students of Class E had gathered around, forming a circle around Ye Lan.
Could it be that they were trying to make things difficult for him?
Yaceline grew anxious. After all, Ye Lan was her only lifeline. She asked, “What are you all doing?”
Ye Lan popped his head out of the crowd. Seeing Yaceline, he told the surrounding Class E students, “Your captain is here.”
The crowd turned to look at Yaceline.
“What’s going on? Did someone not get their ingredients?” Yaceline was momentarily confused.
She had thought perhaps her leadership had disappointed them.
Someone in the crowd opened their mouth but, likely out of shame, looked around and said nothing.
Ye Lan didn’t think this was the time to waste on awkwardness.
He said, “Here’s the situation: they feel it’s not right for only some to benefit, so they want to help. Specifically, help you.”
Indeed, when Ye Lan first saw himself surrounded by the Class E students, he thought they were here to cause trouble.
He hadn’t expected these unburdened classmates to come to his and Yaceline’s aid.
But upon reflection, he understood.
After all, they weren’t bad people.
“Everyone…” Yaceline’s eyes welled up; she nearly cried.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, Ye Lan felt a surge of emotion.
Perhaps he shouldn’t overcomplicate people and situations.
Constantly tallying debts and favors belonged to adult society, not students.
While handling the poisonous ingredients in his hands, Ye Lan directed the others to assist Yaceline with hers.
To outsiders, the scene must have been dazzling, but for Ye Lan, it was not difficult.
After all, he often had to monitor battlefield holograms while issuing orders to multiple fleet departments simultaneously.
Some students approached, asking if he needed help.
Ye Lan would respond, “I don’t need help here. You’d only get in the way. Help your captain instead. Ask me if you don’t know how to handle an ingredient.”
His words could be frustrating, but his speed exceeded that of the other eleven combined. Uninformed interference would only slow him down.
Class D also noticed E’s coordinated effort.
They realized turning poisonous samples into edible ones counted in the tally.
But by then, it was too late—they didn’t have time to process forty edible samples.
To win, they had no choice but to force poisonous samples onto students who hadn’t yet collected twenty.
“No! I don’t want it!”
“Don’t blame us, it’s for the sake of winning.”
“So I have to sacrifice myself? Why? Just because you’re better at grabbing than I am?”
Clearly, when one’s interests were threatened, people would fight with all their might.
“Class D! Stop!” Teacher Cai’s voice cut through the chaos, halting their aggressive behavior.
Her face was iron-cold as she strode past each student with her spatula, stopping in front of Class D’s long table.
The table and floor were a mess—animal innards, torn plant roots and leaves—scattered from Class D’s frantic scrambling.
“Do you really think winning this way is honorable?”
The Class D students under her gaze lowered their heads in shame.
“But… Class E… aren’t they cheating?” Some D students protested, noting ten Class E students were handling poisonous samples for two.
“Cheating? What cheating?” Cai teacher scolded. “This is an exam, for your two classes, not individuals.”
“An individual’s strength is small; only as a collective is it great. You split your strongest forces, start infighting, bully each other, even though you’ve known each other only a few days—this shouldn’t happen.”
“Even though I am not your homeroom teacher, I hope to see class unity, not division. And now, you’ve already sown the seeds of discord!”
Returning to the podium, she declared, “I now announce Class E as the winners!”
By the time Teacher Cai reprimanded Class D, Class E had completed processing all poisonous samples.
Thus, Class E successfully completed Teacher Cai’s challenge without anyone being punished.
“We won!”
“Yay!”
“This is amazing!”
As Teacher Cai announced Class E’s victory, the students cheered—they had never imagined they could beat Class D.
All thanks to Ye Lan and Yaceline. Without Ye Lan’s knowledge and strategy, and Yaceline’s decisions and dedication, Class E would never have united.
Teacher Cai’s gaze softened as she looked at Class E: “Now, prepare to cook a dish with your ingredients. Of course, don’t use any poisonous ones.”
Ye Lan thought he could finally take a break—until he realized all eyes were on him.
The message was clear. He quickly protested: “Why are you all looking at me? I’m really bad at cooking.”
Yaceline said, “No way! You handled those ingredients so well, your cooking can’t be bad.”
“This is totally different!”
The students half-pushed, half-pulled Ye Lan to the stove.
Faced with the kitchen station, he had no choice.
Since everyone insisted, he decided to make it simple: scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
“Do we have tomatoes?”
Problem: he didn’t see any tomatoes among the ingredients.
Yaceline shook her head: “Where would we find such ordinary food? Ingredients that don’t need identification don’t exist here.”
Ye Lan, uncertain, said: “Then… just fry whatever?”
“Sure, whatever,” Yaceline said, puzzled by his hesitation. If he could handle the ingredients so well, surely his cooking was competent.
“This is your idea,” Ye Lan said, taking a deep breath and committing fully.
Under the gaze of the whole classroom, he sliced unknown ingredients, poured strange liquids into the pan, and added various seasonings.
Everything appeared normal—until thick black smoke rose from the pan.
The golden-red flames flickered violently, at one point reaching the ceiling.
“BOOM!!”
A loud explosion shook the classroom as dense black smoke poured out of the windows.