Hollywood, I became a legend with special effects.

At 2:17 PM on the 10th, Jiang Yu's phone vibrated.

Bank notification: "Your account has received a transfer of $1,000,000. Current balance: $1,011,237.89"

He stood on the steps outside the bank, looking at the numbers on his phone screen, and took a deep breath of the cool afternoon air of Los Angeles.

50 million US dollars.

This is $40 more than the first angel investment he received when he started his business in his previous life.

He was 26 years old at the time and had four years of industry experience.

He is 21 years old now and is just an exchange student.

2005年11月16日，周三上午9:00

On the main street of Santa Monica, in front of a two-story brick and concrete building.

The real estate agent was a friendly Mexican-American man: "The monthly rent is $4500, three months' deposit and one month's rent in advance, utilities and internet are extra. The landlord said if I sign a three-year contract, it can be reduced to $4200."

Jiang Yu didn't haggle and nodded directly: "Sign for three years, but I have two conditions: first, allow me to make internal renovations; second, I have the right of first refusal to renew the lease after three years."

"No problem!" the agent exclaimed with delight.

In the afternoon, Jiang Yu opened two bank accounts:

Account A: Light and Shadow Era Technology Company Account!

Deposit: $500,000 (Pre-payment for Chen's special effects)

Purpose: Company operations, equipment procurement, team allowances

Account B: Jiang Yu's personal investment account.

Deposit: $500,000 (down payment for the script buyout)

Purpose: Stock investment

Instead of rushing to trade stocks, he opened his laptop and began to develop a detailed investment plan.

Apple stock price: $41.20

他知道，从2005年11月到2006年1月，苹果股价会在40-44美元之间震荡。

The real buying opportunity will be in late January 2006, when the stock price will briefly pull back to around $39 before starting a new round of upward movement.

He needs to wait patiently.

.......

On November 20, renovations began at the Santa Monica office.

Jiang Yu personally drew up the design: the first floor has an open office area, meeting rooms, and a small rendering farm; the second floor has private offices, a rest area, and an equipment room.

His renovation budget was $3, and he hired a Chinese construction team to handle both labor and materials.

"Boss Jiang, what are these pipelines for?" Foreman Lao Li pointed to the dense wiring markings on the blueprint.

"A 10-gigabit dedicated network line, and also a dedicated circuit," Jiang Yu explained. "We need to run high-performance computing, so there can't be any problems with the power or the network."

"Understood, follow the server room standards!"

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu and Zhou Mu began their first round of "recruitment".

It was called a recruitment drive, but it was actually a private invitation.

November 25, USC School of Engineering laboratory.

Li Haoran looked at the "Partnership Agreement" Jiang Yu handed him, his hand trembling slightly: "1% stock options, a monthly allowance of $2000? Jiang Yu, what exactly does your company do?"

"To build the future." Jiang Yu pulled up the 30-second technology demonstration video. "This photon prediction algorithm, if commercialized, would be worth at least tens of millions of dollars. You have a PhD in physics simulation, and we need you."

Li Haoran watched the video three times: "This is almost at the level of Industrial Light & Magic Labs. How did you guys do it?"

"Because we're doing what they started doing three years later," Zhou Mu pushed up his glasses, "and we're faster."

Li Haoran signed the document that day.

By December 15th, the team had grown to seven people:

Zhou Mu (12%, Chief Scientist)

Wu Na (5%, Technical Consultant)

Li Haoran (1%, Physics Simulation)

Zhang Wei (1%, Machine Learning)

Chen Zhiyuan (1%, Computer Vision)

Zhao Jing (1%, Operations & Finance)

Liu Chang (1%, Business Development)

There is 10% left in the option pool, which will be reserved for future core members.

The equipment arrived on December 20th.

Ten Dell workstations, each equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card.

The top-of-the-line consumer GPU in 2005, priced at $600 per unit.

A small server, equipped with dual Xeon processors and 64GB of memory, which is top-of-the-line configuration by today's standards.

Total equipment investment: US$8.

On New Year's Day, Jiang Yu hung up the company logo alone in the empty office.

The phone rang; it was my mother.

"Yu Yu, are you really not coming back for the New Year?" Teacher Zhou's voice was filled with undisguised disappointment.

"Mom, it's just started here, I can't leave." Jiang Yu looked out at the Pacific Ocean. "I'll definitely go back during summer vacation."

"So, what will you eat for Chinese New Year while you're all alone in America...?"

"There are Chinese people on the team, so we're all together," Jiang Yu said. "Mom, I'm doing very well here. I'll tell you in detail when I see concrete results."

After hanging up the phone, he stood by the window, watching the sunset over Santa Monica Beach.

This is his first Spring Festival after his rebirth, and he chooses not to go home.

For what?

For the dream that, in 2008, the Chinese special effects team could be credited in the credits of "Taken".

For the vision that, in 2010, Eastern aesthetics could have an equal voice on the global screen.

......

January 10, Patent Attorney's Office.

"Mr. Jiang, all five of your patent applications are very valuable."

Mark, a white lawyer, flipped through thick technical documents. "The photon prediction algorithm based on neural networks, the training data generation method for real-time global illumination, the deep learning acceleration framework for physical simulation, virtual pre-visualization and digital human production... these concepts are at least three years ahead of the industry."

"How long does it take to apply for a patent?" Jiang Yu asked.

「美国专利局的平均审查周期是24-36个月。」马克说，「如果走加速审查通道，可以缩短到12-18个月。额外费用是每个专利5000美元。」

"Speed ​​up." Jiang Yu said without hesitation.

That day, he paid $2.5 in acceleration fees, and with the basic application fee, his total patent investment was $8.

As he predicted, Apple's stock price began to correct on January 20.

AAPL: $39.87

Jiang Yu stared at the screen, his fingers rapidly tapping on the calculator:

With a principal of $30 and leverage of 5 times, the total purchasing power is $150 million.

At $39.87 per share, approximately 37,600 shares can be purchased.

He didn't go all in.

At 2 PM, he placed the order:

Buy 25,000 shares of Apple at a market price of $39.90.

Total amount: $997,500

Of which, self-owned funds: US$199,500

Leveraged capital: $798,000

Position consolidation:

Existing holdings: 12,337 shares, cost basis: $40.53

New holdings: 25,000 shares, cost $39.90

Total holdings: 37,337 shares, average cost: $40.07

Total market capitalization: approximately US$149 million

Net worth: Approximately US$30 (after deducting leverage)

Margin call threshold: $32.06 (down 20%).

This time he was more cautious; after paying his taxes, he left $10 in cash as a safety net.

February 1st, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

Jiang Yu organized the first team gathering in his Santa Monica office.

Twenty-two people squeezed into the half-renovated first floor, eating dumplings, spring rolls, and roast duck bought from a Chinese supermarket.

"President Jiang, let me toast you." Wu Na raised her Coke. "Thank you for showing me a different possibility."

"To everyone." Jiang Yu looked around at the young faces. "This year, we have three things to do: First, complete the visual effects milestone for Taken; second, release the first version of Luminous Render; and third, begin preparations for our own IP."

"What IP address?" Zhou Mu asked.

"A love story about a vampire and a human girl," Jiang Yu smiled. "But we'll talk about that later."

The party lasted until 10 p.m.

After the event, Jiang Yu stayed alone in the office and opened his laptop.

The screen displays a detailed "2006 World Cup Betting Plan".

He searched for Italy's schedule, player status, injury information... and wrote it at the bottom of the document.

Planned investment: US$1,500,000.

Betting method: Through the Chen Wei family's betting channels.

Implementation period: June-July 2006.

If successful, this money will be his seed money for the next stage.

........

The Santa Monica office officially opened on March 1.

The open area on the first floor was filled with people sitting at all twenty-two workstations.

The project schedule is posted on the wall:

Digital reconstruction of Paris street scenes from "Taken": 35% complete.

Photon Prediction Algorithm V2.1: Training complete, accuracy improved by 18%.

Luminous Render Alpha version: Expected to be released in May.

On the second floor, in Jiang Yu's office, hangs a huge world map, marked with thumbtacks:

Los Angeles (Headquarters)

BJ (Planned R&D Center)

Auckland (where Vita Digital is located)

San Francisco (home of Industrial Light & Magic)

March 15th is Jiang Yu's 22nd birthday.

The team secretly prepared a cake with the words "To the Future" written on it in cream.

As they blew out the candles, Zhou Mu asked, "What did you wish for?"

"We hope that by this time next year, our names will appear in the end credits of a movie," Jiang Yu said.

It's not a wish, it's a goal.

Monday, April 10th, morning meeting.

Zhao Jing reported on the financial situation: "Total expenses over the past five months: rent and equipment 18, team salaries 22, patent attorney fees 8, daily operations 7. Total: 55 USD. On the revenue side: Chen's prepayment of 50 has been used up, and General Manager Jiang personally advanced 10."

She paused, then added, "The company account has $5 left, enough to last only two weeks."

All eyes turned to Jiang Yu.

"I'll handle the funding issue," Jiang Yu said calmly. "Meeting adjourned."

He didn't sell his shares; Apple's stock price had just broken through $60, and the main upward trend had only just begun.

But he had other options.

In the afternoon, he arranged to meet Chen Wei.

"How much do you need?" Chen Wei asked bluntly.

"A short-term loan of 50 yuan, for three months, with an annualized interest rate of 15%," Jiang Yu said. "I'll use my personal Apple stock as collateral."

What's the current price range for Apple products?

"Around $64." Jiang Yu opened the stock quotes on his phone. "I hold 37,337 shares, worth about $2.4 million. With $500,000 as collateral, the safety margin is sufficient."

Chen Wei did the calculations: "Okay, but the interest rate will be 20%. And if the stock price falls below $50, we'll have to liquidate our position."

"make a deal."

Three days later, the $50 arrived in his account.

Jiang Yu deposited 30 yuan into the company account, keeping the remaining 20 yuan as a reserve.

October 20, 2006, Thursday.

Apple stock price: $64.53

姜宇的持仓市值：37，337股×$64.53 =$2，410，000

After deducting leveraged loans of approximately $110 million, net assets are approximately $130 million.

Five months ago, he only had $10 in capital.

Now, it's $130 million.

He knew that wasn't enough.

At the technical review meeting in the afternoon, Zhou Mu presented his latest achievements.

"Luminous Render Alpha is 8-12 times faster than traditional renderers."

On the screen, a complex Paris street scene rotates in real time, "and the quality loss is controlled within 5%, making it almost indistinguishable to the naked eye."

Wu Na added, "We used it to make the first test shot for 'Taken,' and the Chen Company was very satisfied with it, saying that it was even better than they expected."

Applause erupted in the conference room.

Jiang Yu stood up: "From now on, we need to do two things. First, turn Luminous Render into a product, not just a tool for our own use. Second, start contacting other Hollywood production companies; we need more projects."

"How much is the product priced?" Liu Chang asked.

"It's free." Jiang Yu's words stunned everyone. "There are two conditions: First, users must register and upload their usage data; second, there will be a charge if commercial licensing or customized development is required."

Why is it free?

"Because what we want is not short-term revenue, but market share."

Jiang Yu explained, "There are thousands of small studios and independent producers in Hollywood who can't afford Industrial Light & Magic's expensive tools. We give them the tools for free, and once they get used to our processes, they won't be able to do without us."

He paused for a moment: "This is called 'surrounding the cities from the countryside'."