You're Not Even as Alluring as the Twenty-Six Letters

Alright, I'll grow stronger on my own.

Shen Nian was thrilled. The system neither forced him to do anything nor skimped on rewards—already a huge advantage.

The countdown for the boosted combat skill learning efficiency was still ticking away, and Shen Nian didn’t waste a second, immediately diving back into memorizing vocabulary.

The system didn’t specify the exact efficiency boost, so Shen Nian had no clue. All he knew was that in the blink of an eye, the last class had ended.

He didn’t even hear the bell. If Chen Dong hadn’t bumped his desk while standing up, he wouldn’t have realized class was over.

This buff... seemed kinda overpowered.

After studying all afternoon, he’d already been exhausted, but this buff forcibly shoved him into a state of hyper-focused concentration.

Memorizing English words had always been torture for him, but just now... he’d been completely absorbed.

Flipping back through his notes, he’d memorized nearly seventy words in one class.

"Xia Yanchun."

"Hmm?"

Xia Yanchun’s upper lip curled slightly as she balanced a pencil on it, her delicate features framed by shifting light and shadow.

Shen Nian gestured to his palm-sized vocabulary booklet and asked curiously, "How many English words can you memorize in one class?"

"About forty or fifty."

"One word per minute? Don’t you forget them?"

"It’s fine. I just review them with someone a couple days later, and the ones I can’t recall get re-memorized. Works every time."

"You’re a legend." Shen Nian gave her a thumbs-up before lapsing back into thought.

A top-scoring English student like Xia Yanchun only managed forty or fifty words per class, yet his system buff let him memorize seventy.

The system didn’t spell it out, but Shen Nian had a strong feeling—this buff’s enhancement was exponential.

A learning efficiency boost could mean 1%, 100%, or even 1000%.

This was insane!

Wait, he activated it himself?

Even better.

Shen Nian’s problem wasn’t memorizing words—it was forgetting them too fast. He’d learn them today, only to wake up with a blank slate tomorrow.

The system buff kept his attention laser-focused, letting him memorize at lightning speed, but he still worried about retention.

If he could actually remember the words, why would he be stuck scoring forty or fifty in English?

"I’m starving." Chen Dong twisted around, smacking his lips. "Still memorizing? At this point, let’s just eat first."

"Sure."

Shen Nian was drained too. The mental toll of senior year was brutal, and his appetite had skyrocketed—he felt like he’d starve to death any second.

The buff was still counting down. Shen Nian checked—damn, this thing had no pause button!

Freaking system, treating this like a game. In games, a double XP card expires whether you use it or not. Was this buff the same?

Fine. Whatever.

"Gotta run!"

Shen Nian bolted.

Every second counted. Honestly, he was kinda addicted to that hyper-focused learning state.

It was like being violated by unfamiliar knowledge—resisting at first, then adapting, and finally succumbing... now he was completely shaped by English vocabulary (sigh).

Chen Dong stared, baffled. Kid was so hungry he’d turned into a zombie.

Evening self-study.

Golden light spilled over the school building’s pillars, and ginkgo leaves fluttered down, edges gilded.

The clamor from the sports field faded, birds slicing through sunset clouds as the scent of ink drifted through dusk.

After dinner, Shen Nian rushed to the bathroom, borrowed a wet wipe from Xia Yanchun to freshen up, then—under her stunned gaze—buried himself in vocabulary again.

Before, memorizing words had been a slog. To retain them, he’d write, read, and recite simultaneously, only to forget almost everything by morning.

Thanks to the system buff, he was terrifyingly strong now.

Xia Yanchun was genuinely moved. "Even if you’re pushing hard, you should balance work and rest. You’ve been at it all day."

Going all-in on one thing could burn out your passion fast. She worried Shen Nian would crash tomorrow—just another burst of short-lived enthusiasm.

She spoke to him, but Shen Nian didn’t even glance her way.

In his hyper-focused state, the world fell silent, leaving only the sound of pages turning.

"Hey, I’m talking to you!" Xia Yanchun frowned, smacking his stack of books.

"Audacious!" Shen Nian snapped. Who dared interrupt his studies—someone without 36D legs, wealth, or beauty?

"Are you deaf?"

"No, but I’m busy studying. What do you want?"

"Stop studying."

"First, you nag me to study. Now, you tell me not to. Make up your mind." Shen Nian shook his head, smirking. "Right now, even the alphabet is more appealing than you."

"!!"

Xia Yanchun laughed in disbelief.

"Fine. Study all you want. Let’s see how long you last."

She plopped into her seat, resolved not to spare him a glance all night.

At 10:30 PM, the bell rang, marking the end of the grueling Monday.

True to her word, she hadn’t looked at him—except for the occasional furtive glance, disguised as stretching.

Besides, Shen Nian had spent the entire self-study session buried in books, his face invisible.

Xia Yanchun slung her backpack over her shoulder and approached him. "If you’re not leaving, I’m going alone."

"Hold on, I’m done." Shen Nian stuffed the vocabulary booklet into his pocket.

No pause button meant no time to waste.

Walking down the campus path, Xia Yanchun was baffled. Shen Nian, who’d always hated English, was now reciting words even while walking.

"Did something happen?"

"I’m just serious about improving now."

"Uh-huh." Xia Yanchun narrowed her almond eyes. "How far’d you get? I’ll quiz you tomorrow."

"Up to here." He flipped to the pages he’d memorized.

"That fast?"

"See? Maybe I’ve always been capable—just lazy. Once I put in the effort, I might outshine everyone."

"At the parent-teacher meeting last year, even the homeroom teacher said I was smart but didn’t apply myself."

"The homeroom teacher said the same about Huang Chen."

Huang Chen was the class jock—dark-skinned, white socks, obsessed with basketball, always tossing drink bottles into the trash like fadeaway shots.

His final exam score last semester? 308.

"Whatever. You wouldn’t get it."

Shen Nian said nothing, just kept reciting.

Xia Yanchun didn’t press further. Whether he was genuinely memorizing or just pretending would be clear tomorrow.

True effort or performative struggle—only Shen Nian knew. He could lie to himself, but not to his scores.

She’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

Home, shower, room, study.

Shen Nian’s drive left even Shen Yue speechless.

At 4 AM, Shen Yue stepped out for a bathroom break and saw light seeping under Shen Nian’s door. She couldn’t hold back.

"Shen Nian, are you trying to die? Staying up every night—do you even plan to attend class tomorrow?"

"If you won’t listen to me, I’ll get Mom to deal with you. Believe that?"

A faint creak came from inside—probably the bed.

Shen Yue fumed but didn’t dare barge in. If Shen Nian wasn’t responding, he likely hadn’t heard her.

For all she knew, he had headphones on and was... doing who-knows-what.

Sigh, the kid isn’t so little anymore. That adorable younger brother who used to trail behind her begging for candy was long gone.

She returned to her room and sat blankly on the edge of the bed. She still had work tomorrow, but most of her drowsiness had already faded.

Pulling out her phone, she tapped away furiously, sending Shen Nian a barrage of QQ messages.

[Shen Yue]: Shouldn’t you be more mindful of the time? Do you even see how late it is? You have class tomorrow!

[Shen Yue]: Take care of yourself, you little brat.

[Shen Yue]: Staying up late is really bad for your health!

Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato Novels requesting over 3 million daily visits, our servers are under heavy strain. We now recommend switching to other providers' sources.