Chapter 30: Invitation to Visit
"Alright, Penny," Sheldon said, operating the game while unceremoniously ushering Penny out, "your social venting session can end now. Please leave. Standing here distracts everyone, especially Leonard, affecting his reaction time and thus lowering our entire team's average efficiency."
Leonard, while frantically fending off enemy attacks, tried to maintain basic politeness. "Sheldon! Be nice to Penny!"
Penny clasped her hands together, pleading. "Please, guys, I just don't want to go back to my apartment and listen to Christie's endless stories about her sex life. Let me stay here for a while, I promise I'll be quiet!"
Sheldon looked up at her suspiciously, as if evaluating an unstable variable that might introduce system noise. "You promise? Promise not to make any unnecessary, emotional, or information-lacking sounds during the game? Including but not limited to exclamations, sighs, questions, and amateur advice on game strategy?"
"I swear! I'll be absolutely silent!" Penny quickly promised, even making a zipping motion over her lips.
Only then did Sheldon reluctantly agree. "Fine. But you can only sit in that chair over there and strictly adhere to your oath."
Penny, as if granted amnesty, quickly sat in the designated chair and indeed watched the game quietly.
Leonard couldn't help but retort, "Sheldon, you demand others be quiet, but you're incredibly loud when you play games yourself."
"My 'noise'," Sheldon retorted righteously, "is 'effective audio output' containing critical tactical information and logical analysis, which is fundamentally different from Penny's potential 'ineffective emotional noise.' It's like useful signals versus background static—they cannot be confused."
David listened to this profound statement, shaking his head with a smile, and continued focusing on the game. Under his command and timely operations, the squad gradually gained the upper hand.
However, halfway through the match, during the heated phase where both sides were vying for the critical central area of the map, David's phone, placed to the side, suddenly rang. "Sam Chen" flashed on the screen.
David frowned. Normally, he wouldn't answer calls during a game, but a call from Polaris's CTO likely meant there was a problem with the PUBG project.
He had no choice but to say "Sorry, emergency call" to his teammates, then quickly picked up the phone, trying not to affect his gameplay and moving his character to a relatively safe position.
"Hey, Sam... yeah, I'm busy... right, with friends... playing Halo..." David responded briefly while listening to Sam Chen's rapid-fire description of the problem on the other end.
Sam first asked, "Are those your scientist friends?..." and then mentioned a new issue regarding slight delay deviation in player hit detection on the server side under specific circumstances.
This problem was extremely difficult to reproduce in internal tests, but clues were found during log analysis, requiring David's unique insight into game mechanics and underlying logic to help analyze it.
"...I understand, sounds like a timing synchronization or collision detection priority issue..." David mused, his brain already racing, combining his past life's PUBG gaming experience and recently crammed technical knowledge, trying to pinpoint the root cause. "Might need to check the server frame updates and client prediction..."
Suddenly, Sam Chen on the other end seemed to say something, and David paused, then his face showed a surprised and amused expression. "What? Are you sure?... Haha, well, if you say so... I'll ask them."
David covered the receiver and turned to his friends, who were playing the game and looking over curiously. "Hey, guys, Sam, the CTO at Polaris, the game company I'm working with—they've run into a technical problem and need me to come take a look. He heard I'm playing Halo with you guys and said... since you're all gamers, if you want, you can come visit Polaris Interactive. He said, 'I guarantee you won't be disappointed.'"
"What?!"
"Visit a game company?!"
"Now?!"
"Polaris Interactive?! Oh my God!! Why did you never tell us the game company you're working with is Polaris Interactive?"
The living room, which had just been filled with game sound effects and battle cries, instantly fell silent, leaving only the idle sounds of unmanned characters in the game.
Leonard, Raj, and Sheldon all widened their eyes, their faces filled with unbelievable surprise.
"You mean, we can go to Polaris Interactive? The Polaris that made 'Abyss Raiders' and 'Stardust Saga'?" Leonard's voice was excited; he didn't even care that his character in the game had been ambushed and killed.
"Yes, that Polaris," David confirmed with a nod.
"I'm in! Absolutely in!" Raj was first to jump up, excitedly gesticulating. "That's Polaris! Oh my God! Can we see the development screens for the Stardust Saga sequel? Can we get beta access?"
Even Sheldon temporarily broke free from his obsession with game order, a look of intense curiosity on his face. "A field visit to Polaris? Some of the early Stardust Saga map balance data came from internal test feedback! This isn't just entertainment; it's a crucial part of video game development history! We must go!"
Leonard was even more radiant with excitement, nodding repeatedly.
"Okay, Sam, we'll probably have..." David said into the phone, "...five or six people coming over, is that alright?... Okay, we'll be there in half an hour. Thanks!"
Hanging up the phone, David said to everyone, "Done, let's go now."
"Yes!!!" Raj and Leonard high-fived and cheered.
Everyone immediately got up, ready to leave. At this moment, Leonard remembered Howard in the apartment across the hall and said, "Wait, we need to get Howard."
So, the group went to Penny's apartment door across the hall and knocked. The door quickly opened, and Howard stood at the entrance with a lingering smile on his face. Behind him stood a blonde, curvy young woman wearing a tight, low-cut tank top and short shorts, presumably Christie.
"Hey, guys, what's up? We were just... having a deep conversation," Howard said with a suggestive wink.
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