[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school":3,"chapter-the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-chapter-52":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The SSS Rank God Of High School",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1501919,1948,"Chapter 52: Hide Or Drop.","the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-chapter-52",52,"\u003Cp>MEANWHILE, IN THE CAMP DISPLAY ROOM\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You still don’t get my point, do you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brax was always angry at Kaia. Not that he’d grown it into a habit exactly, but that she was racist and kept finding new angles to take runs at his reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Last time it had been a fire. She’d monitored his schedule, then started it in the exact building where he was supposed to shoot the main trailer for his next film. Brax was a phoenix — so naturally, every person who heard about the fire assumed he’d caused it. That he’d put lives at risk. Which they did. Enthusiastically. Publicly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He still hadn’t recovered from that one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And just when he’d started sketching out how to be even, she’d pulled the next move. Sexual assault. Kaia had gone to the masses with full confidence, vouching for the rumour that a minor had been assaulted by him. Convincing. Coordinated. He knew she’d been the one to put the girl up to making the video.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was going too far now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You went ahead and told your fans that I assaulted that girl.\" He said. \"Nothing happened between us. We talked. That’s it. And I know you were the one who told her to make that stupid video just to tarnish my image.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kaia didn’t reply. She was quietly sipping ice tea and looking at him with amusement, the way you’d watch something that was mildly entertaining but not worth getting out of your chair for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know what you want. You hate my skin colour so bad that you want me out of the Corps.\" He said, frustration bleeding through the words. \"Well, too bad. I was here before you. Before your grandmother ever thought of giving birth to your father—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At least my grandmother gave birth to something better than a sun burned piece of—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Keep my grandmother out of this, you bitch!\" Brax was on his feet, hands flat on the table. \"You think I’m just going to keep letting you do this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kade hadn’t moved from his seat through any of it. Hadn’t shifted. Hadn’t breathed visibly. He just sat there, eyeballs fixed on the blank display screen like none of the noise behind him registered as relevant to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What are you gonna do, sun boy?\" Kaia’s voice dropped into full mockery. \"Let me guess, sexually assault me too?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brax opened his mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elevator rang. Short and sharp. The doors slid open, and what followed were slow, measured footsteps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Orrin Rook.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blonde hair. Kind blue eyes that didn’t necessarily communicate kindness — more that they had learned what kindness looked like and wore it comfortably. He was in the standard Apex Corps uniform, the black jumpsuit with hand gloves, same as the others. For the captain of the strongest team in the world, he didn’t look like much when he walked through a door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rest of the team stood when he entered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Welcome, captain—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Orrin raised one hand before Kaia could finish. The smile on her face dissolved completely. He moved to his seat, settled into it, and rested his head on his right arm with the ease of someone who had nowhere more important to be and didn’t feel the need to pretend otherwise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, with complete disinterest: \"Where is he?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The elevator rang again. Doors opened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ymir walked in carrying a tray of ice cream cups. The moment he registered Orrin sitting at the table, he stopped walking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Orrin...\" He produced a forced smile. \"I didn’t think you’d be here today.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My schedule moved.\" Orrin turned the chair to face him. \"Nothing better to do.\" He looked at the tray. \"What’s that.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s ice cream. I’ve got mint, chocolate and—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Throw it away.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ymir looked like he’d been asked to end his own life. \"But it’s for...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Throw. It. Away.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ymir hesitated. Then he trudged slowly to the bin and dropped the tray in — squinting through the pain of it — and stood next to the bin for another three or four seconds, as if attending a private memorial for the ice cream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he returned the fake smile to his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Since you’re here, we should proceed.\" He moved to the conference table and picked up the display remote. \"The first trial should begin any moment now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pressed the power button. A projector lit the display screen from behind. Ymir noticed his own busty shadow dominating the screen and stepped out of the way before Orrin could comment on it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The display split into multiple segments, surveillance feeds from across the trial zone, plus the cameras mounted on the battle drones. Students were already flooding through the gates in their hundreds, unknowingly clustering into groups. Different tag colours pairing up, already making plans, already talking strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had no idea what they were walking into.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Orrin smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Author’s POV]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They hadn’t stopped alerting us through the speakers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*\"All robotic drones will be dispatched within ten minutes. Until then, all participants are to find cover and stay out of sight. Once spotted, drones will engage. This is not a drill.\"*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly understandable. Would’ve been even clearer after the first three times instead of the fifteenth, but nobody had asked my opinion on announcement frequency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Malik and I and a few thousand others were still moving through the zone, getting a read on the place. I definitely had questions about why it was in such ruin — this was supposed to be an examination setting for high school students, not a documentary backdrop for what happens after society collapses. But the setting was what it was, and at this point the setting was less important than not getting shot by a robot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So how are you planning to handle the drones?\" Malik asked, kicking a random rock off the pathway. \"Ambush? Outrun? Head to head?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"None of that.\" I replied. \"We’re hiding.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hiding?\" He stopped walking. \"Look around you, Ren. Nobody’s hiding.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They will be soon enough.\" I turned to him. \"We just need to find a good spot before everyone else has the same idea and they become scarce.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I raised the gun and kept walking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So the plan is just... hiding? That’s it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Look.\" I stopped and turned back again. \"If you’re in the mood to play Batman, go ahead. But these people are not playing around. We don’t know what these drones are actually capable of, and judging from how casually Ymir talked about them while describing potential elimination — I’m willing to bet we’re in deep shit right now. So instead of running toward danger like a hero, wouldn’t it be more convenient to stay put and let someone else get eliminated instead of you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Malik opened his mouth. Closed it. \"Okay, you’ve got a point.\" He raised a finger past me and held it. \"But. They already found us.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I heard it before I turned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>SKRRR.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There it was. A robotic drone. Oval shaped, like a basketball fitted with mechanical wings. Its single lens glowed green, the same shade as something that had already decided what it was going to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then a laser shot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swerved right in the same instant, watching the beam pass through the exact space where my armpit had been. I landed shoulder first — heard the crack — and kept moving anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Run!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Malik didn’t pause for any kind of mental assessment. He flailed his arms and sprinted, somehow miraculously missing every laser that came his way until he crashed behind my cover beside me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three seconds. I pulled the charging handle, rested the gun on the barrier’s edge, and stared through a scope that wasn’t there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*Please work.*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shot came out through the muzzle. Red laser, direct hit to the drone’s core. It came down in pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Plus one for me.\" I managed through whatever breathing had survived the panic. \"You good?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glanced at Malik. He was shivering in his full petrification pose, hands wrapped around his own legs, looking like a child who had just confirmed that the monsters under the bed were real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey. Knock it off.\" I stood. \"Come on. We still need a hiding spot. Fast.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two minutes of moving later, we found something that mostly checked out. A small, old barn tucked behind a larger building that had been substantially rummaged — not immediately visible from the road, which was the main requirement. The inside was dark and enclosed with unused hay on the floor. Not luxurious, but functional. If we were going to be in here for hours, we needed more than cover though.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Food. Water. More ammo rounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You think there’s anything useful in one of those ruined houses on the street?\" I asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Doubt it.\" Malik said. \"This place is a designed zone. The damage is probably part of the aesthetic. I don’t think they left free supplies waiting for us as a feature.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Well, we could just—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leave me the fuck alone, okay?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zael’s voice. Coming from outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I put my eye to one of the thin gaps in the wooden wall. They were out there — the Order, minus Seraphine — walking the road in a loose group with their tags displayed like people who had assessed the situation and concluded that threats were not currently their problem. Zael and Riven both had red tags. Cael had yellow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hear me out for once, you bastard!\" Cael was the one yelling. \"Don’t you think it’s smarter to wait? These people will lash out at each other eventually. Why do we need to start it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Speed, Cael. Speed.\" Zael threw back. First time I’d seen him anything close to mad. Actually mad, not the performed version. \"Almost everyone here is either too skilled or too dumb. How long do you think before they figure out they’re supposed to be going after each other?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Give them time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t have the luxury of time. This place is making my skin crawl. The sooner this ends the better.\" Zael’s expression flattened. \"And if you think this is a bad idea, feel free to go solo from here. You’re a yellow tag anyway. You’re not one of us right now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence from Cael.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then someone walked into the scene from the left — a chubby boy with brown curly hair and grime already on his face, looking around like he’d taken a wrong turn three roads back. He clocked the group standing there and his steps slowed. He glanced down at his blue tag, confirming it was still intact, then looked back up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Uhm.\" He gestured vaguely at all of them. \"Are you guys looking for somewhere to hide too?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zael didn’t even let him finish registering the mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the kind of time that didn’t leave room for second thoughts, he’d raised the gun, aimed, and fired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The laser went straight through the boy’s tag, burning a clean hole through it. The boy went down unconscious before the smoke had cleared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared through the gap in the barn wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Holy fuck.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1857,"2026-06-06T04:35:02.744Z",1,"novelbin.me","cb94cafb48315ca506a8d949dff1c8935c8e20d0fd5d7e4c493b8c944dc3c4f3","the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-chapter-53","the-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-chapter-51",53,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-sss-rank-god-of-high-school-cover.jpg"]