Hollywood, I became a legend with special effects.

In USC apartment 312, only the desk lamp cast a warm yellow glow.

On the laptop screen in front of Jiang Yu, the ETRADE trading interface was displayed.

The cursor hovered over the "Confirm Order" button for a full three seconds.

AAPL: $40.53

With a principal of $100,000 and leverage of five times, the total purchasing power is $500,000.

可买入股数：500，000÷ 40.53≈ 12，337股

He took a deep breath and clicked confirm.

The trade was executed, and the positions were displayed a few seconds later.

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Shares held: 12,337 shares

Average cost: $40.53!

Current market price: $40.53!

Market value of holdings: $500,003.61

Account net worth: $100,000

Maintenance margin requirement: $25,000

Available margin: $75,000

Margin call threshold: $32.42 (down 20%).

Jiang Yu stared at the line of numbers, his fingers tapping lightly on the touchpad.

In the previous life, after the iPhone was released, Apple's price rose to $190 by the end of the year.

After closing the trading interface, Jiang Yu opened another document, which was a "Technology Roadmap and Equity Incentive Plan" prepared for Zhou Mu.

For the past two weeks, he has spent almost every day in the laboratory with Zhou Mu.

The data generator is now able to output training data stably, and the first prototype of the neural network model is being trained.

More importantly, Zhou Mu's attitude gradually shifted from initial academic cooperation to becoming a business partner.

It's time for a formal invitation.

The last few pages of the document contain the equity structure:

Light and Shadow Era Technology

Registered capital: US$100,000.

Jiang Yu: 70% (Technical architecture, business plan, initial funding)

Zhou Mu: 10% (core technology, algorithm implementation)

Reserved option pool: 20% (for future core members)

Additional Terms and Conditions:

1. Prior to the first round of financing, the two individuals need to jointly invest $50 in research and development.

2. Zhou Mu will be required to join full-time after graduation, with a starting annual salary of $8 plus performance bonuses.

3. If the company's valuation reaches US$5000 million within three years, Zhou Mu has the right to increase his stake to 15% at a preferential price.

Jiang Yu printed out the document and put it in a folder.

He is going to have a formal talk with Zhou Mu tomorrow afternoon.

......

The NASA project lab is located on the third floor of the Computer Building in the School of Engineering.

Zhou Mu stared at the training loss curve jumping on the screen, his glasses reflecting the faint light of the code.

"It's converged," he said softly, his voice trembling with disbelief. "In the seventy-sixth iteration, the validation set loss decreased by 3.2%, and overfitting was under control."

Jiang Yu stood behind him, looking at the complex neural network architecture, the culmination of their hard work over the past two weeks.

"Faster than expected," Jiang Yu said.

"Because the architecture you provided is too reasonable." Zhou Mu turned his head, his eyes complicated. "It's like you already knew which structure would work. The design of those jump connections and residual blocks is practically copied from the future."

Jiang Yu smiled but didn't reply.

He took the folder out of his backpack and placed it on the console.

"Zhou Mu, we need to talk about the future."

Zhou Mu glanced at the folder cover, which read in handwriting, "The Era of Light and Shadow: Technical Roadmap and Partnership Agreement".

He silently opened it and turned the pages one by one.

The only sound in the lab was the hum of the server fans.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Mu closed the folder.

"70% to 10%." He looked up. "Why do you have so much?"

"Because I bear all the financial risk, provide all the business resources, and..."

Jiang Yu paused for a moment, then said, "I know the direction, but you know that if the direction is wrong, everything will be in vain. What I'm providing is the direction that won't be wrong."

How can you guarantee you won't make a mistake?

"I can't guarantee it," Jiang Yu said honestly, "but I can prove it with my actions. Next week, I will bring in our first commercial contract. A $500,000 advance payment will be used for the research and development and application of our technology."

Zhou Mu's eyes widened: "Five hundred thousand? US dollars?"

"Yes." Jiang Yu nodded. "A film investment company has taken a liking to our real-time rendering technology and wants to use it for special effects in an action movie. The contract was signed, and the first payment was 500,000."

"What movie?"

"Taken," Jiang Yu said, "is a story about a retired special agent rescuing his daughter. We needed to create digital Paris street scenes, physics simulations for car chases, and CG enhancements for fight scenes. It's the perfect application scenario for our technology."

Zhou Mu took a deep breath.

"If I agree," he said slowly, "what do I need to do?"

"First, continue to refine this model and create a usable tool prototype within two months."

Jiang Yu said, "Secondly, we started looking for team members. What other technically skilled, promising, but overlooked Chinese American students are there at USC?"

"Third?" Zhou Mu asked.

"Third," Jiang Yu looked at him, "we need to start thinking about how to transform academic research into industrial pipelines. Papers need to be published, patents need to be registered, and products need to be launched."

Zhou Mu remained silent for a long time.

"My parents want me to get a PhD and then work at Google or Microsoft," Zhou Mu said softly. "Stable, high-paying, and with a green card."

"I know," Jiang Yu said, "but have you thought about this? At Google, you might just be one of tens of thousands of engineers, working on projects defined by others. Here, you can define projects and create things that truly change the industry."

He walked to the window, his back to Zhou Mu.

"Zhou Mu, for Chinese people in Silicon Valley and America, the glass ceiling is there. Technical backbone is possible, but decision-making is difficult. Why? Because we always follow other people's rules."

He turned to me: "I want to establish my own rules. Use the best technology, tell the best stories, and make the money I deserve. Want to join me?"

Silence fell over the laboratory again.

This time, Zhou Mu spoke first: "When will the contract be signed?"

Next Wednesday.

"I'll sign it, I'll sign this agreement," Zhou Mu said, "but I want to add one condition."

"you say."

"If my parents object, I need your help to persuade them," Zhou Mu said with a wry smile. "Their generation can't understand this kind of risk."

"Deal." Jiang Yu held out his hand.

.........

Two weeks later, on Wednesday, November 9, 2005, at 2:00 PM.

Conference room on the 12th floor of Chen's International Headquarters in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Jiang Yu sat on one side of the long conference table, with three documents spread out in front of him:

1. The complete script of Taken (78 pages, English version)

2. Special Effects Technical Proposal (45 pages, including technical architecture, timeline, and budget)

3. Draft Cooperation Agreement

Sitting opposite him were Chen Wei and a middle-aged man around fifty years old, Chen Wei's father, Chen Guohua, chairman of Chen's International.

There was also a middle-aged white man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, James Miller, Chen's legal advisor.

"I've finished reading the script," Chen Guohua said, his voice steady and slightly accented with Cantonese. "The structure is very professional; it doesn't seem like it was written by a novice. Have you written scripts before?"

"This is the first one," Jiang Yu said frankly. "But I studied all the successful action movies from Hollywood over the past decade and dissected their structure. 'The Bourne Identity,' 'Die Hard,' 'Lethal Weapon'... I did detailed beat analysis."

Chen Guohua nodded and turned to the budget page of the script.

"The production budget is $2800 million, with $600 million allocated to special effects." He looked at Jiang Yu. "Your proposal states that with your team, the special effects cost can be reduced to $400 million, with comparable or even better results. Why?"

"With our technology," Jiang Yu said, opening his laptop and connecting it to the projector in the conference room.

A 30-second demonstration video appeared on the screen, which he and Zhou Mu had worked on for four consecutive nights over the past two weeks.

The video shows a digital reconstruction of a Paris street scene: the buildings are started from wireframes, and textures, lighting, and details are automatically generated.

Then came the physics simulation demonstration of the car chase scene, with real-time calculations of the collision between the two cars and the flying debris.

Finally, the motion capture optimization for the fighting scenes blurred the lines between realistic filming and CG enhancement.

The video ended, and the conference room was silent for a few seconds.

"The rendering quality is good," Chen Guohua said, "but many companies can do that."

"They need two weeks, we only need five days." Jiang Yu switched to the next chart, "because we use machine learning to predict lighting and physical effects, which greatly reduces trial and error time. The director can see near-final results in real time, instead of waiting for overnight rendering."

James Miller adjusted his glasses: "Who owns the technology patents?"

"The core technology patents are held by my company," Jiang Yu said, already prepared. "The Chen family can obtain exclusive commercial licenses for this project and subsequent projects. If the cooperation goes well, we can discuss a deeper partnership in the future."

Chen Guohua looked at his son.

Chen Wei nodded: "I had my friends at Industrial Light & Magic evaluate this technical direction, and they think it's feasible."

The meeting room fell silent again.

Chen Guohua flipped through the draft contract, pausing at a certain clause.

"The script buyout fee is $50." He looked at Jiang Yu. "You said $100 million last time."

"Because I reassessed the risks," Jiang Yu said. "A buyout of 100 million is a lot of pressure for you, and it would require a lot of cash for me. It would be better to lower the buyout fee but increase the revenue share. I want 2% of the global box office revenue."

"2% is too high." Chen Guohua shook his head. "The commission for novice screenwriters is usually between 0.5% and 1%."

"But my value goes beyond just being a screenwriter," Jiang Yu said calmly. "I also provided special effects solutions and a complete plan for the subsequent series. The 2% I paid for is a long-term partnership, not a one-off transaction."

Chen Wei interjected, "Father, if we do the special effects ourselves and outsource it to Industrial Light & Magic, a budget of 600 million might not be enough. Using Jiang Yu's team will save 2 million, and we can give him 200% of the profits, which will actually reduce the cost. Besides..."

He paused, then added, "And if the film is successful, the value of this technical team will increase exponentially. Then we'll have priority if we want more collaborations."

Chen Guohua pondered.

Jiang Yu added, "One more thing: if you prepay 50 yuan for special effects R&D, this money will be directly invested in building the technical team. It's like you're using 50 yuan to both secure the script and invest in a potential partner. The risk is controllable, and the returns are multiple."

That statement hit the nail on the head.

Chen Guohua is a businessman who understands the value of multiple returns.

"But what if the special effects are a disaster?" Chen Guohua asked.

"The contract can set milestones and acceptance criteria," Jiang Yu had prepared beforehand. "The first milestone: a digital Paris street view prototype. Upon successful acceptance, the first payment will be made. If it fails acceptance, you have the right to replace the team, and the advance payment will be refunded."

The risk has been further reduced.

Chen Guohua finally nodded.

"The contract needs to be revised in several places," he said. "First, the profit sharing will be changed from global box office revenue sharing to North American revenue sharing, and it will be tiered: 1% for over 1 million, 2% for over 1.5 million, and 3% for over 2 million. Second, the advance payment will be paid in two installments: half upon signing the contract and the other half upon completion of team building. Third..."

He looked at Jiang Yu: "You should take on an advisory position at Chen's company to facilitate project communication."

Chen Guohua was more thoughtful than he had imagined. By offering him a consultant position, he could legally and compliantly pay his remuneration while also establishing a formal cooperative relationship.

"I agree," Jiang Yu said.

The meeting lasted another hour, finalizing various details.

The contract revision was completed at 4:30 p.m.

........

7:00 PM, a Chinese restaurant near USC.

Jiang Yu and Zhou Mu sat in a private room, where several dishes were laid out on the table: Mapo Tofu, Twice-Cooked Pork, and Stir-Fried Vegetables.

"Signed?" Zhou Mu asked.

"Signed." Jiang Yu took out his checkbook from his bag, turned to the first page, and saw a check from Chen's International for $50, payable to Light and Shadow Era Technology.

Zhou Mu stared at the check, remaining silent for a long time.

"The first payment," Jiang Yu said. "Tomorrow we'll go to the bank to open a bank account and register the company. You can sign your agreement now."

He took out the revised partnership agreement from his bag, adjusting Zhou Mu's share from 10% to 12% as compensation for the extra work he had done over the past two weeks.

Zhou Mu took the agreement, turned to the last page, and signed it directly.

No hesitation.

"Aren't you going to ask why it went up by 2%?" Jiang Yu laughed.

"You have your reasons for doing things this way." Zhou Mu put away his agreement. "What's next?"

"Two things," Jiang Yu said, holding up a finger. "First, use this 50 to build a team. Second, rent a small office space and buy equipment."

Zhou Mu smiled wryly: "Your ambitions are too great."

"Not much," Jiang Yu shook his head. "This is just the beginning. Once this project is successful, we'll be qualified to discuss larger collaborations."

He raised his teacup: "Come, let's toast with tea instead of wine. To the era of light and shadow, to the future."

Zhou Mu raised his glass.

The teacups clinked lightly.