SSS Ranked Taboo Student
Chapter 175: - Elite Base: The Bet-

Chapter 175: - Elite Base: The Bet-

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"Huh?"

Max blinked, caught off guard by the gathered crowd across the white hallway.

The bustling, noisy atmosphere a split second ago fell dead silent.

The crowd also froze, each with a slip of paper in their hands as their eyes roamed him over and over again.

"What the hell is going on?" Max wondered, instantly discarding the thought that all these people were gathered to welcome him.

Using a moment to reinforce his neutral gaze, he paid no heed to being the centre of the spotlight.

He was about to take a nonchalant step forward when suddenly—

Ding!

An elevator arrival notification went off and the crowd slowly tilted their necks in sync towards the left...

"Yes."

A voice laced with excited jubilation broke the silence, and the crowd and the rest of them tried to locate the source.

Waving the paper slip in his hand up, an ash-haired boy walked to the front as confused eyes followed him.

Upon getting to the front where everyone could now see him, he raised his thumbs at Max who was silently watching, and grinned at the rest of them.

"Check this."

Without much talk, he handed the slip to a youth next to him.

"–Please read it out loud," he added just as the unknown youth’s eyes widened.

Heeding his words, the youth proceeded to read out loud what was written on the paper slip.

"Max from second year... 100 Grand."

To Max’s surprise, after hearing his name called and the amount after, everyone’s gaze changed and the atmosphere went through a vacuum of silence before chaos ensued.

"Fuck!"

A blonde-haired youth with a face twisted in regret instantly tore his slip apart—he was the first to break the silence.

Chaos ensued. Groans, curses, and disbelief.

"This is definitely rigged."

"No way."

"You got to be kidding me."

"Wait—Max? This is that Max?"

Max’s eyes flickered between their expressions, suddenly understanding what the fuss was about.

From the look of things, a bet had been placed on who would exit the elevator depending on guesses.

"Too bad..." Feeling no pity for their loss, his amused gaze settled on the ash-haired youth’s appearance.

Tall, with sharp features. The latter slung his jacket above his shoulder while grinning at their reaction.

"Sucks to be you." Kissing the glinting gold chain around his neck, he met Max’s silent gaze and quickly came forward.

"Hello friend. I’m Ash."

Revealing a friendly countenance as he stood before him, Ash still stretched out his hand for a handshake despite Max’s unfriendly look.

Seeing the crowd quickly disband, Max chose to respond.

"...Max."

Seeing Max receive his handshake, Ash’s smile broadened.

"From what I heard, you aren’t friendly or ever seen communicating with any other student... that’s sure a lot of mis-information," Ash said, smiling as they disengaged their palms.

"I guess." Max replied in the same neutral tone.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you for the 3 M’s just now." Observing Max’s expression for any fracture or change as he said this, Ash smiled.

"Welcome." Resisting the urge to twitch his lips at the won amount, Max acted neutral.

"Okay then, welcome to Elite Base. I’ll see you later."

"Sure."

Meanwhile, watching all this, Brielle looked lost and confused.

<A few minutes back before she entered the elevator.>

Being a young, very beautiful girl at the start of her prime who had boys swooning over her while growing up and more interested in fame—Brielle was more excited than any other on this day. Because earlier this morning, she woke up and saw she had been promoted to become an S Ranked Elite.

Sure enough, her joy had been immense. First year, third term Elite was also a very big deal.

Although on the downside, she was going to lose her ranking as a Top 3 first-year senior beauty. The thought of the senior Elites swooning over her elicited her thrill.

Her expectation was high. Before she entered the elevator, she made sure to check in the mirror and even added a little lip gloss.

In her amazement that the Elite Building was actually built underground, the elevator arrived at its destination.

When the doors opened, a gathered crowd of boys—Senior Elites, rather—were actually here to welcome her.

"Oh..." ’...you guys didn’t have to bother.’ The reminder of her words drifted back into her thoughts before she could speak out the sentence.

Because in that moment, no one seemed to give a fuck about her but averted their eyes in sync.

Their silence? Attention? It was only directed at one person until a guy in the gathering came forward with a paper slip in hand after shouting "yes."

She watched as chaos ensued, and soon realized that a bet had been placed.

"Max?" she thought, instantly remembering the figure of a youth at the birthday party incident who rode a brand new Lamborghini and also beat up an SS Elite student for his sister, who was also an SS.

The whole school had been shaken by the revelation and his feat.

Brielle recounted every single detail of the event she knew, comforting herself that only such a person would indeed be able to take attention from her.

While, in truth, she arrived at the wrong moment.

Would guys about to lose their money in a bet have emotions to spare at the sight of a single beauty? Besides, every female Elite was a top-quality beauty or either blessed with good assets. There was no such thing as simps within the Elites either.

Without a single bit of attention, Brielle watched the ash-haired Elite walk toward Max.

Though she didn’t hear most of what they exchanged, she heard something clearly.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you for the 3 M’s just now."

...

Max watched Ash walk away and was about to search for his way around when he caught a figure walking toward him from the corner of his eyes.

To think I didn’t notice her this whole time.

"Please, can I walk with you?"