European and American Learning Materials

Six o’clock, dawn.

Shen Nian emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes, mechanically brushing his teeth and washing his face. He pressed a cold, damp towel over his eyes for a while before finally shaking off the lingering exhaustion from his all-nighter.

[Combat Skill Learning Efficiency Boost]—a 12-hour limited-time effect—had worn off before 5 a.m. Waking up at six after just an hour of sleep would only leave him more drained, maybe even with a migraine, so he’d decided to power through the night instead.

Senior year of high school, all-nighters, studying, classes the next day... The combination was downright brutal.

His schedule was already packed with study time, and now he was sacrificing rest for more learning...

"Genius? Please. I just use my downtime to study."

Mr. Zhou Shuren was born a century before me—was it a case of two kings never meeting, or was he simply avoiding my brilliance?

As he got ready to leave, he noticed a message from Shen Yue.

What’s this about? Feels kinda off.

Shen Yue was still asleep, so he replied with a random emoji and, at 6:10, slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out.

By coincidence, Xia Yanchun opened her door at the same time.

She wore a blue-and-white short-sleeved shirt and black pants, her hair tied into a small ponytail that swayed lightly with each step.

"You..." Xia Yanchun took one look at the heavy dark circles under Shen Nian’s eyes and immediately knew he’d pulled another all-nighter.

Another short-lived burst of motivation, huh?

"What? Got something on my face?" Shen Nian rubbed his chin.

"You stayed up again, didn’t you?"

"Damn, you stalking me or something?"

"Even if you were Wu Yanzu, I wouldn’t spare you a glance. Stalking you? Please. More like ignoring a stray dog on the street." Xia Yanchun rolled her eyes. Were all guys this delusional?

She strode ahead to press the elevator button. Still pulling all-nighters in senior year? Doesn’t even look like he’s studying.

If he’s already studying all day at school, why bother staying up late to study at home? Might as well believe those scam texts about Qin Shi Huang needing 500 bucks to reclaim his throne.

Even if he was studying, using rest time for learning and then trying to catch up on sleep during study time was just plain dumb. Totally backwards.

Shen Nian, baffled, followed her to the breakfast stall near their neighborhood and bought two steamed buns.

The walk to school was silent.

Xia Yanchun finally broke the quiet. "What’s on your mind?"

"Tell me... is Wu Yanzu really more handsome than me?"

"Tell me something I don’t know."

"Once, I snuck into your house and stole one of your peanut butter sticks."

"So it was you!"

"Hey, hey—ow! Stop hitting me!"

......

After staying up all night, he was dead tired.

The moment he got to school, Shen Nian face-planted onto his desk, arms folded under his head. In what felt like a blink, 6:40 became 7:10.

If Chen Dong hadn’t turned around and shaken him awake for morning reading, he would’ve kept sleeping.

"Rewarding yourself hard last night?"

"What if I was pulling an all-nighter to study? Ever think of that?"

"What kind of study materials?" Chen Dong smirked.

Shen Nian rubbed his chin. "Western ones, mostly."

"Ah, a man of culture. Not a fan of the Japanese or Korean stuff myself."

"??? Are we even talking about the same thing here?"

This damn kid. A true gem of society, a shining beacon of the nation’s future.

Share the link.

With teachers patrolling during morning reading, no matter how exhausted he was, Shen Nian had to force himself to stay alert.

Since the freshmen were doing military training this week, the sophomores and seniors were spared morning exercises, leaving them with a bit more free time between classes.

The moment Shen Nian slumped back onto his desk, a faint floral scent tickled his nose.

He lifted his heavy eyelids. "What’s up?"

"Pop quiz. Like we agreed yesterday." The morning sun cast a soft glow on Xia Yanchun’s face, and for a split second, Shen Nian was mesmerized.

Then he remembered that this sweet-looking girl had once been the type to set off firecrackers in cow dung, and the spell broke.

Ugh. For a second there, I actually found this menace charming. Must be the sleep deprivation.

"Bring it on!" He flipped open his notebook and handed her the vocabulary list.

Xia Yanchun played the role of strict teacher perfectly, her peach-toned elbows resting lightly on Shen Nian’s stack of books.

"Ability—talent, skill."

"Abolish—to eliminate."

"Abrupt—sudden, unexpected."

With each word Xia Yanchun recited, Shen Nian scribbled it down. Normally, he’d forget half of what he’d memorized overnight, but this time, the words stuck. The moment she spoke, the spelling and meaning flashed into his mind like second nature.

This feeling of being an English prodigy... chef’s kiss.

The system’s buff was no joke. It was like in games—it didn’t just hand you levels. You still had to grind, but the EXP gains were boosted.

Put in the effort, and it might as well be a free level-up. Slack off, and the reward was worthless.

A little cheat never hurt anybody.

Word by word, Xia Yanchun tested him on thirty terms. Shen Nian nailed every single one.

"Check it yourself." He flashed a smug grin.

"Ugh, that grin’s terrifying." Xia Yanchun rolled her eyes (gracefully, of course) and began comparing his answers to the list.

Her eyes widened. He’d... gotten all of them right.

"Did you actually have an epiphany or something?"

"You doubting me?"

"Not exactly... It’s just that you don’t seem like the type to take studying seriously. Plus, you did stay up all night."

"I study in my sleep. None of your business. Now scram, I need my beauty rest."

Shen Nian tucked away his notebook and rearranged his book barricade to shield himself from the teacher’s line of sight. Sure, they’d still notice him snoozing, but blatantly sprawled out would be downright disrespectful.

"Sleep yourself into a coma, then!"

Xia Yanchun huffed and returned to her seat just as the bell rang. By then, Shen Nian was already face-down on the desk, leaving her with nothing to look at but the back of his fluffy head.

Out cold.

First period was English. The teacher was going over a test, but Shen Nian could afford to skip it. For someone averaging 40-50 points, memorizing vocabulary was priority number one. No point learning grammar if you didn’t know the words to use it with.

Still, it was good to see Shen Nian putting in effort.

Even if they bickered constantly, Xia Yanchun genuinely wanted him to do well.

Life was looking up.

Shen Nian slept straight through until the long break. The last two periods were Su Kexi’s literature class, and sleeping through that would be suicide.

He splashed water on his face, hit the bathroom, then leaned against the hallway railing to let the breeze clear his head.

The air in senior year carried the scent of... books?

Wait, no—who the hell ate leeks for breakfast?!

Shaking off the drowsiness, Shen Nian plopped back into his seat. The sleep deprivation was hitting hard now—his head throbbed, his eyelids weighed a ton, and his brain felt like mush. He was basically a walking corpse.

But the thought of memorizing 600-700 English words in one night—and retaining them—made him crack a tired smile.

Literature class. Time to power through.

Su Kexi was a dedicated homeroom teacher, usually warm and approachable.

But fall asleep in her class? Instant exile to the back of the room.

Pathetic. You think mere exhaustion can challenge my iron will?

"Are you seriously looking down on me? Fine... let me show you what I’m really capable of."

Five minutes later—

Su Kexi pinched the back of Shen Nian’s neck, her tone icy. "Sleeping in class, huh? Go stand in the back until you’re awake enough to return."

"Teacher, I was just studying..." Shen Nian attempted to argue.

"I’ve been watching you for the past few minutes."

"Understood, teacher. Right away, teacher."

Shen Nian gave up and shuffled one step back, moving from his chair to the space behind it.

He was already in the last row anyway.

Glancing over, he saw Chen Dong, that little bastard, trying hard not to laugh.

"Chen Dong, you think this is funny? Join him in the back."

Chen Dong: ???

The smile didn’t disappear—it just transferred from Chen Dong’s face to Shen Nian’s.

Getting punished alone was awkward, but getting punished with your best friend? That was a whole different story.

"Chen Dong, let me ask you something. How do girls compliment a guy who’s both cute like a puppy and handsome like a heartthrob?"

"Uh... school heartthrob? Oppa?"

"Wrong. Milky and dreamy."

"...Pfft."

Su Kexi frowned. "What’s all the chatter? Chen Dong, stand outside the door."

"?"

Chen Dong turned to see Shen Nian’s smug, troublemaker grin.

Damn, bro. I keep you in my heart, and you stab me twice?

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