This deskmate is obviously Brian Cooper's number one fanboy, and that's exactly the case. From the moment the seating chart was posted, Brian Cooper's deskmate felt like he was soaring through the clouds, happiness knocking him out!

Although Brian Cooper usually doesn't pay much attention to people, being able to sit next to his idol, study together, and make progress side by side is already a tremendous honor.

But Samuel Clark's mood at this moment is hard to describe.

He fell into a brief silence, overwhelmed by a wave of confusion.

He really didn't know how to do it.

Not only could he not solve this problem, but even if he flipped through that entire green-covered exercise book, he probably wouldn't find a single question he could answer.

But he couldn't exactly say: Wait a minute, let me go ask "Samuel Clark."

While memorizing vocabulary, Samuel Clark pretended to fiddle with a pen in his hand, but now he really didn't know how to react. He spun the pen around his fingers—actually, from other people's perspective, he looked calm and composed.

"This one, the third sub-question," his deskmate mustered up his courage again, dragging his chair a bit closer, "can it be solved by taking the logarithm or proving monotonicity?"

Samuel Clark's confusion deepened.

What the hell are logarithms and monotonicity?

These few seconds might have been the longest of Samuel Clark's life.

A few curse words exploded in his mind, and then, dizzy and disoriented, he started thinking: What should I say? Maybe I should just praise his approach?

...

Fortunately, Samuel Clark was pretty good at thinking on his feet and had strong nerves. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to spar with Victor Harris all year without getting caught for anything other than wearing the school uniform.

In the end, all those messy thoughts and plans faded away, and Samuel Clark unexpectedly calmed down.

He spun the pen around his fingers again, unhurried, and under his deskmate's increasingly hopeful gaze, he finally spoke: "You can't even solve this one?"

Deskmate: "..."

Across the aisle, Brian Cooper: "..."

Samuel Clark played this move ruthlessly, striking first. Brian Cooper's deskmate hung his head in shame and frustration.

Samuel Clark added, "It's not that I don't want to teach you."

Brian Cooper's deskmate regained hope and quickly looked up.

Samuel Clark paused here, spun the pen again, sighed, and said earnestly, "I just don't want to deprive you of your ability to think independently."

Samuel Clark pretended to ponder the third sub-question he couldn't even understand for two seconds, then habitually bit open the pen cap, circled the only three words he recognized—"positive integer"—with a flourish, highlighting that condition, not caring whether it was right or not. Biting the pen cap, he said, "How about this, I'll highlight the key point for you, and you think about it yourself first."

After marking the key point, Samuel Clark put the pen cap back on and, with the air of a top student, tossed out, "You think about it first. Learn to think independently."

"Read the questions more, try to understand the intention behind them. Have you heard the saying, 'Read a question a hundred times and its meaning will reveal itself'? Never mind, whether you've heard it or not doesn't matter—now you have."

After saying this, even Samuel Clark wanted to applaud himself for his performance!

Brian Cooper's deskmate's eyes sparkled with emotion: "Study god..."

Samuel Clark shamelessly replied, "No need to thank me, it's what I should do."

"......"

Brian Cooper propped his forehead with his hand, letting out a sigh of relief, but also really couldn't listen to any more.

Even though everything Samuel Clark said was nonsense, at first listen it actually sounded legit, and he had the confidence to back it up, leaving people stunned. Sure enough, Brian Cooper's deskmate started scratching his head, racking his brains over the third sub-question.

Taking advantage of the moment, Samuel Clark got up slowly and walked out the back door of the classroom. Before leaving, he secretly kicked Brian Cooper's chair and lowered his voice: "You, come out."

The two met secretly at the stairwell.

During morning self-study, most students were in the classroom, and hardly anyone was outside. Samuel Clark squatted on the stairs, while Brian Cooper, in his properly worn school uniform, somehow managed to look a bit laid-back: "What's up with your deskmate?"

School had just started, so Brian Cooper wasn't familiar with his deskmate: "Just a coincidence."

Samuel Clark couldn't be bothered to dwell on this coincidence. He stood up and took out the paper and pen he'd hidden in his pocket earlier: "We'll settle the score later... For now, tell me how to solve this problem."

Samuel Clark finally got to ask the questions he'd been holding in for so long. For the first time ever, he was asking a classmate for help, eager to learn: "What is an intercept?"

Brian Cooper: "It's the value of x or y when a function intersects the x-axis or y-axis."

Samuel Clark repeated the explanation to himself, then asked, "My deskmate just asked if you could take the logarithm, and something about monotonic... monotonicity?"

Brian Cooper sighed, not expecting him to be able to go back and explain it to his deskmate anyway: "Give me the paper and pen."

Samuel Clark handed them over.

Brian Cooper asked, "Did you copy down the problem?"

For the first time, Samuel Clark realized he could actually give off an aura of 'there's no problem in the world I can't solve,' like he was on a roll. He'd heard people call him a study god before, but only now did he really feel a bit of what that meant.

It was actually pretty awesome.

Samuel Clark: "Yeah, I copied it down on the paper."