After their afternoon Basic Principles of Marxism class, the guys from Dorm 404 went their separate ways.
Wang Hao ran straight to the library, a look of tragic indignation on his face.
The continuous critical hits from Li Dong over the past two days had shattered his spirit beyond repair.
If he didn’t find a quiet place to bury himself in some higher-dimensional algebra textbooks, he felt he was on the verge of turning to the dark side.
As for Liu Qiang and Chen Nan, the resident grind-king duo, they were even more ridiculous. The moment class ended, they disappeared to go crash a lecture in who knows what department.
Li Dong could only watch them go, secretly clicking his tongue in amazement.
To be honest, he felt he could never out-grind those two beasts.
At a place like Yan University, it seemed these guys’ lives revolved solely around studying, with nothing else besides.
Sometimes, during their late-night dorm chats, they’d talk about the girls in upper or lower years. These guys would talk a big game for a minute, but he’d never seen them take any actual action.
Chen Nan: ??
Liu Qiang: ??
"You think we don’t *want* to hit on girls?"
"The problem is, the girls at Yan University are harder to hit on than the last, okay?"
"You try to talk romance and poetry with them, and they hit you with partial differential equations and quantum mechanics. Who can handle that?!"
Now Li Dong was all alone. He decided to grab dinner at the cafeteria and then head back to his dorm to see if the two chemistry titans in the group chat were still arguing.
’You’re both prominent figures. You can’t possibly argue all day about the spirit of adventure, can you? You’re bound to drop some chemistry knowledge eventually...’
He strolled over to Nongyuan Cafeteria, got a plate of spicy chicken with a few side dishes, and found a seat by the window.
Just as he was about to start eating, a figure carrying a tray sat down across from him.
"Fancy seeing you here, junior."
Li Dong subconsciously looked up. ’Hey, isn’t this the same upperclassman from the student orientation he’d met at the cafeteria entrance at noon?’
Her tray held boiled greens and chicken breast—an appallingly bland meal that stood in stark contrast to the plate of spicy chicken buried under dried chilies in front of Li Dong.
"Oh? Hi, senior," Li Dong said, quickly greeting her.
The young woman gave him a slight smile.
"You don’t have to call me senior. I’m Qi Yu, from Yan University’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering."
Since she had introduced herself, Li Dong naturally did the same.
"I’m Li Dong, from Yuanpei College."
"I know," Qi Yu said with a smile.
After the brief pleasantries, they both lowered their heads to eat, neither attempting to force any awkward small talk.
At a place like Yan University, eating in silence was often the most comfortable form of interaction.
As he ate his spicy chicken, Li Dong snuck a curious glance out of the corner of his eye—not at Qi Yu, but at the all-English professional textbook beside her.
Although he had previously fleeced Mendeleev to obtain the Basic Edition of Chemical Intuition, making high school and basic university chemistry a breeze for him, the book Qi Yu was reading was clearly about a cutting-edge field.
It seemed to be about the Quantum Chemistry characterization and spectral analysis of some complex molecule. The pages were packed with variations of the Schrödinger equation and electron cloud orbital models, and he struggled to make sense of it.
Before long, Qi Yu finished her meal.
She closed her book, picked up her tray, gave Li Dong a polite nod, and left.
Li Dong also quickened his pace.
After wolfing down the rest of his food, he headed back to the dorm.
Back in his room, the first thing Li Dong did was turn on his computer and log into the AMS submission portal.
Under Review
’Hmm, just as I expected.’ The submission status was still stuck there, unchanged.
Just as he suspected, the argument in the group hadn’t died down. In fact, it had only grown more intense.
However, Madam Curie and Mendeleev, those two peerless titans of the scientific world, were no longer debating topics like "whether riding a bicycle counts as an adventure" or "how romantic a hot-air balloon ride is."
[Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev]: Madam! The concept that elements cannot be transmuted is the very foundation of chemistry’s worldview. Do not be ridiculous!
[Mendeleev]: The atom is the smallest indivisible particle! There is no such thing as an "internal structure"! My periodic law is built entirely upon the eternal, unchanging standard of atomic weight!
[Mendeleev]: The "radioactivity" you speak of is merely the result of atoms interacting with the Ether! It is an external excitation, not a change from within the atom!
Li Dong could feel the fury of the father of the periodic table.
Mendeleev was a theorist through and through. He firmly believed the periodic law he had constructed through deductive reasoning was perfect and infallible.
Any theory that attempted to shatter the cornerstones of atomic indivisibility and elemental immutability was, to him, a desecration of his life’s work!
However, Madam Curie on the other side was a formidable figure in her own right.
How could this reigning empress of both experimental physics and chemistry possibly back down in the face of empirical evidence?
[Marie Skłodowska Curie]: Mr. Mendeleev, I implore you to open your eyes and look at the irrefutable experimental facts!
[Madam Curie]: Pierre and I personally extracted 0.1 grams of radium chloride from tons of pitchblende residue!
[Madam Curie]: My experimental data proves, with absolute clarity, that the intensity of radioactivity is directly proportional to the number of atoms of the element in question!
[Madam Curie]: It is completely independent of whether the element is pure or in a compound, and it is entirely unaffected by external conditions such as temperature or pressure!
[Madam Curie]: The only explanation is that radioactivity originates from *within* the atom! The atom is most certainly not the smallest indivisible unit; it possesses an exceedingly complex internal structure!
[Madam Curie]: Furthermore, we have now observed the phenomenon of decay.
[Madam Curie]: Radium, after continuously emitting alpha particles, spontaneously decays into radon, and ultimately transforms into lead!
[Madam Curie]: One element can absolutely transform into a different element! Elemental transmutation is an objective truth, even if it overturns the very foundation of your theory!
The atmosphere in the chat was palpable.
The conflict between the two scientific giants was far more than a simple personal grudge.
It was a clash of scientific methodologies: deductive reasoning versus experimental induction!
[Mendeleev]: Preposterous! If the same chemical element can exist in forms with different radioactivity and different atomic weights, then how, I ask you, is the periodic table to be ordered? If their atomic weights differ but their chemical properties are identical, does the very basis for the periodic law’s ordering not become a joke?
[Mendeleev]: Therefore, I refuse to acknowledge such a claim, which violates the fundamental principles of chemistry!
[Madam Curie]: Your periodic table is indeed a great achievement, but when an old theoretical framework cannot accommodate new experimental phenomena, it is the theory that must be revised! One must not ignore facts and cling stubbornly to dogma!
Watching the two of them go at it in the chat, Li Dong was practically trembling, not daring to make a peep.
But Li Dong was being naive.
Just as they reached a stalemate, a complete dialogue of the deaf where neither could persuade the other...
...the two titans, seeing red, simultaneously turned their sights on the same target.
[Mendeleev]: @SeniorYearGrind, Your Excellency! You are the Wise Man who once guided Sir Newton.
[Mendeleev]: Please, be the arbiter here! Is the eternal immutability of elements not a universal truth? Please, tell this stubborn lady that the atom is indivisible!
[Madam Curie]: @SeniorYearGrind, Your Excellency, please render a judgment! In the face of irrefutable experimental data, must not old dogma be cast aside? Is radioactivity not ironclad proof of the atom’s internal structure?
Being tagged by both scientific titans at once, Li Dong felt his scalp go numb.
"Holy shit!"
’What does this have to do with me?!’
Li Dong was so scared he mashed the lock button and threw his phone onto the bed.
’I don’t know anything! I’m completely clueless!’
’I’m just an ordinary college student who scored a measly 723 on my entrance exam!’
’And I’m busy tutoring my idiot nephew with his homework!’
Li Dong ranted frantically in his head.
But even as he denied it, his 0.3 Logic was telling him...
...if... if he could provide indisputable single-atom structural characterization data right now, clearly explain the principles behind it, and help them break this technological stalemate that spanned ages...
’The haul I could fleece from those two would be absolutely beyond imagination!’
’A peerless, dual-discipline haul of both chemistry and physics!’

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