Chapter 8: For Science, You Monster!
"This is illogical," Sheldon said, pointing to information he'd just pulled up on his phone, his gaze sharply fixed on David. "This game has been out for less than 72 hours.
According to Steam platform statistics, the average completion rate is extremely low, and the percentage of players stuck at this mid-to-late stage is very high.
Yet you, David Mitchell, not only operate smoothly, but your puzzle-solving process is remarkably clear—as if... as if you already knew the solution.
You can even produce such highly refined 'catchphrases.' This appears to exceed the realm of 'lucky guess' or 'sudden inspiration.' How do you explain this? Did you watch a walkthrough video beforehand?"
David had anticipated Sheldon's suspicion. He shrugged, attempting to deflect with a plausible explanation. "I'm just pretty good with spatial logic, and
I'm familiar with Valve's previous games, so I could roughly predict their design philosophy. As for that phrase, I just found GLaDOS's repeated cake mentions suspicious and made an offhand comment."
This explanation clearly failed to satisfy Sheldon. A mocking smile curved his lips. "'Good with spatial logic'? 'Offhand comment'? David, such vague excuses violate the scientific method. A rigorous, verifiable conclusion requires solid evidence,
not this quasi-mystical self-assessment. Your performance is more consistent with someone who's accessed privileged information."
David looked at Sheldon's smug "I've figured you out" expression and relentless interrogation, knowing a gentle explanation wouldn't cut it.
The relaxed look on his face slowly faded, replaced by a mocking expression mimicking GLaDOS. He countered in a slow, deliberate yet cutting tone: "Oh~ dear Sheldon, do you believe all insight and intuition in this world must conform to your quantifiable,
linear logical process? Are you unable to accept that someone might leap across cognitive chasms based on experience while you're still constructing theoretical models? Your suspicion precisely reveals your lack of understanding regarding cognitive diversity. How tragic. For science, you monster."
That final line, a direct GLaDOS quote, was the last straw.
Sheldon's face instantly flushed red. He pointed at David, his tone sharp. "You! This is... this is baseless slander and crude mockery! I refuse to accept this personal attack! David Mitchell! I demand a formal competition! Any time!
Any place! Any game! I will use undeniable evidence to prove who is the superior intellectual entity!"
A sudden gaming war erupted.
Round one: Resident Evil 4. The challenge was a speedrun puzzle through the village siege segment.
Sheldon knew the game mechanics and enemy patterns like the back of his hand, his route planning maximally efficient.
David, relying on muscle-memory from his previous life and some advanced tricks—like precisely exploiting boundary clips—reached the objective almost simultaneously with Sheldon. Too close to call. Sheldon snorted, grudgingly accepting the draw.
Round two: the fighting game Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
Sheldon chose Ken, with balanced stats, playing with rigorous technique and precise combos.
David unexpectedly picked the obscure character Twelve, utilizing bizarre moves and shape-shifting abilities to completely disorient Sheldon, winning three perfect rounds consecutively. Sheldon's face turned pale.
Round three: the shooter Gears of War.
David seemed possessed by divine gameplay—his movement flashy, his aim godlike. Especially his sniper rifle usage was masterful, repeatedly blind-firing over cover to nail Sheldon when he peeked. Sheldon didn't last five minutes before being completely demolished.
"WOOOAH!" Howard and Raj cheered. "Sheldon, you've met your match!"
"David, I had no idea you were such a gaming savant!" Leonard exclaimed.
David set down the controller and smiled slightly, looking at the pale-faced, rapidly breathing Sheldon, his tone calm yet radiating powerful confidence. "Sheldon, face it. While you're a genius, so am I. At least in gaming."
Sheldon's ego suffered an unprecedented blow. He couldn't accept being so thoroughly defeated in a field where he believed he held intellectual superiority (he viewed games fundamentally as contests of logic and reaction time). He abruptly stood, deciding to drag the battlefield back to his more familiar territory—Physics, David's field.
"Games! They're merely low-level combinations of reaction speed and pattern recognition!" he shrieked. "This proves nothing fundamental!
Let's discuss what truly reflects intellectual capacity—your academic field! Condensed Matter Physics! Dr. Mitchell, please explain how one can effectively distinguish and quantify the relative contributions of phonon scattering versus magnetic impurity scattering during inelastic scattering processes when considering electrical transport properties of topological insulator surface states?
Especially in the low-energy region near the Dirac point, where both might produce similar effects on observed resistivity behavior. I demand a specific physical picture and feasible experimental differentiation methods, not textbook generalities!"
This question was brutally complex, involving cutting-edge transport mechanism analysis in Condensed Matter Physics. Leonard and the others held their breath for David; this clearly exceeded casual conversation territory.
David's mind raced. Though Sheldon's question was vicious, its core—distinguishing different scattering mechanisms—happened to align with approaches he'd used in his previous life dealing with electronic structure problems in Computational Materials Science.
He paused, organizing his thoughts, attempting to package "future" concepts based on first-principles calculations and parameterized analysis into language comprehensible to the current physics community.
"Excellent question, Sheldon." David began slowly, his tone becoming serious. "Traditional magnetoresistance measurements and temperature-dependent analysis indeed easily fall into the difficulty you mentioned.
But perhaps we can introduce additional control and observation dimensions. For example, could we apply a vertical gate voltage for fine-tuning while simultaneously applying an extreme parallel magnetic field? By modulating carrier concentration
and Fermi level position, we could systematically scan this two-parameter space and observe conductance or resistance change patterns. Different scattering mechanisms should have distinct response functions to magnetic and electric fields, potentially leaving unique 'fingerprints' in this two-dimensional parameter space...
This would require combining highly precise experiments with possible multi-channel data analysis models, perhaps even incorporating machine learning algorithms to identify characteristic patterns..."
He spoke fluently. Some ideas he proposed—like multi-parameter space scanning and using machine learning to analyze complex transport data—sounded highly advanced and revolutionary in 2007, resembling cross-disciplinary thinking from computational materials simulation.
Leonard, Howard, and even Raj were stunned silent.
"Wow... David, that idea is incredible!" Leonard exclaimed. "This approach... though the experiment would be brutally difficult, it's theoretically sound! It could even expand into an entirely new research paradigm!"
"Exactly!" Howard agreed. "If an experimental protocol could be designed, this would definitely be Physical Review Letters material!"
Raj nodded vigorously. "Way more constructive than Sheldon's purely nitpicky question!"
David's heart trembled. Leonard's words had awakened something.
He realized the interdisciplinary knowledge and future insights stored in his mind could be groundbreaking in this era.
He could entirely combine the Computational Materials Science accumulated in his previous life with the experimental Condensed Matter Physics of his current life, achieving breakthrough results ahead of schedule. A brand new, brilliant academic path seemed to unfold before him.
Sheldon was also stunned. He hadn't expected David not only to handle his deliberately difficult challenge but to counter with an idea so... imaginative and cross-disciplinary. He was momentarily speechless.
Striking while the iron was hot, David smiled at Sheldon. "Sheldon, I've answered your question. Now it's my turn. Since you're so dismissive of my gaming ability, you must have unique, superior insights into game puzzles.
Tell me, in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Water Temple, without a guide, how do you most efficiently locate all the water level mechanisms and determine their optimal sequence? In Super Metroid, during a speedrun, which non-essential energy tanks and missile expansions are worth detouring for to maximize marginal benefit? In System Shock 2, if you choose a pure hacker build,
which three hacking skills should be prioritized for early upgrades, given extremely limited cyber modules, to handle the Medical Deck's security system?"
David's questions grew progressively trickier and more detailed—all hardcore content from classic games, all things he'd played countless times and knew inside-out from his previous life.
Sheldon could answer the first couple fluently, showing he'd indeed studied these games deeply. But as questions delved deeper—involving extremely obscure speedrunning techniques, optimal resource management, and specialized build optimization—Sheldon's speech slowed, his brow furrowed tighter, and he began stammering with "Uh..." and "Well..."
When David asked a detail in the third question about a skill combination to counter a specific turret model, Sheldon completely froze, mouth agape, unable to produce a word for an extended moment. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
David didn't press further. He simply maintained his half-smile and quietly watched Sheldon.
Silence engulfed the living room. Everyone watched Sheldon.
A few seconds later, Sheldon, as if finally unable to bear this intellectual defeat and public humiliation, violently pounded his chest and let out a mournful, almost primal roar:
"Da—vid—Mitch—ell——!!!"
The cry contained all his shock, defiance, rage, and a hint of indescribable... anguish at being utterly crushed.
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