703: Chapter 698 A Little Trouble

He had fantasized about these scenes countless times in his dreams.

But no one had ever defined it as a business goal as clearly and firmly as Shen Yan.

"I understand..." Zhou Qiming's voice trembled slightly.

"Mr. Shen, I understand!"

Shen Yan smiled and said no more.

He knew the seed had been planted.

Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

The caller ID showed "Wu Ya."

Shen Yan walked to a corner to answer it.

"Hello, Wu Ya."

On the other end of the line, Wu Ya's voice sounded anxious yet suppressed with anger.

"President Shen, something's happened."

"The 'lindenberg asml-3' lithography printer imported from Germany in the studio has burned out."

Shen Yan's brow furrowed instantly.

Phantom Power was a top-tier special effects and model-making studio he had acquired, specifically providing technical support for several game and film projects he was incubating.

And that printer was the heart of the entire studio.

It could print complex models with micron-level precision, serving as the foundation for the birth of many key props and character prototypes.

More importantly, this machine had been discontinued over a decade ago, and no replacement could be found on the market.

"Details," Shen Yan's voice was calm.

"While debugging the equipment last night, the voltage in that area of the studio was unstable, and a surge came through, burning out its core control unit."

"I've looked for all the repair experts I could find in the country, and they all said it's beyond saving. That control board is custom-made, using interfaces and protocols from twenty years ago; it's impossible to repair, and spare parts are nowhere to be found."

"At least three projects in the studio are stalled because of this now, and the liquidated damages are nearly ten million."

Wu Ya's tone carried a sense of deep helplessness.

She was a strong woman with exceptional execution skills; few things could leave her at a loss.

"I see."

"Steady the team and wait for my return."

Shen Yan hung up the phone, his expression unchanged.

He said to Zhou Qiming and Chen Guangke, who were discussing technical details,

"I'll leave the lab to you; I have to head back to T City."

Chen Guangke sensed something was wrong.

"Yan Zi, what happened?"

"A little trouble."

Shen Yan patted his shoulder.

"Remember, money is no object; what I want is speed."

After saying that, he turned and left the lab, leaving behind a decisive silhouette.

T City, Phantom Power Studio.

A burnt smell of electronic components permeated the air.

When Shen Yan arrived, Wu Ya was with several technicians gathered in front of the behemoth, everyone's face looking as grim as if they had suffered a personal tragedy.

The "lindenberg asml-3" printer, shaped like a precise silver altar, was full of the aesthetic of German industrial design.

But now, it lay there silently, like a dead steel beast.

"President Shen."

Seeing Shen Yan, Wu Ya felt as if she had found her pillar of support, but the worry in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

She handed Shen Yan a circuit board that had been removed, its edges already charred black.

"This is it, the core drive control unit, the brain of the entire machine."

Shen Yan took it and looked at it; the chip model and circuit layout were indeed products of a previous era.

With today's technology, it wouldn't be hard to replicate one.

The hard part was that no one knew what firmware program was burned into this circuit board.

Without the program, it was just a piece of scrap metal.

"Have you contacted the original manufacturer?" Shen Yan asked.

Wu Ya gave a bitter smile.

"Lindenberg Precision Instruments went bankrupt and closed fifteen years ago."

Shen Yan nodded and handed the circuit board back to her.

The situation was even thornier than he had thought.

This meant that the path to solving the problem through conventional business means was completely blocked.

He walked into his office alone and closed the door.

He needed absolute silence.

Shen Yan closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his mind.

[tycoon system activated.]

[Host: Shen Yan]

[Current Wealth Level: LV.4 (Rising Fame)]

[Available Ordinary Intelligence: 13 items]

[Available advanced wealth intelligence: 1 item]

During this time, through various investments and layouts, he had accumulated another opportunity to use advanced intelligence.

Every use was like a high-stakes gamble.

But this time, he had no choice.

"System."

Shen Yan thought to himself.

"I want to use one advanced wealth intelligence."

[advanced wealth intelligence use confirmed.]

[Please enter the core keywords you wish to query.]

The system's voice was as cold as ever, devoid of any emotion.

"lindenberg asml-3 lithography printer, repair solution, or alternative solution."

[Keywords received. Retrieving, filtering, and deducing from the information universe...]

Before Shen Yan's eyes, everything was pitch black.

A few seconds later, countless blue data streams poured down like a waterfall, eventually converging into clear images and detailed text.

The volume of information was so massive that Shen Yan's brain felt a slight sting.

[Intelligence generation complete.]

[Subject: Elegy of a "Failed" Masterpiece]

A buried history slowly unfolded in Shen Yan's mind.

[Background: Lindenberg Precision Instruments, founded in 1985 in Stuttgart, West Germany. Founder: Klaus Richter, a genius Engineer hailed as the "Poet of Mechanics."]

[Core Event: In 1998, Richter exhausted all the company's resources and spent five years building the ASML-3 lithography printer. The machine's printing precision was at least ten years ahead of the industry at the time, and its internal "Micro-vibration Mirror Dynamic Compensation System" remains an unsurpassed masterpiece to this day.]

[Reason for Failure: The manufacturing cost of the ASML-3 was too high, and its core control unit had a fatal design flaw—the power supply voltage stabilization module was under-specced. It had a very high probability of burning out when facing a voltage surge exceeding 5% of the rated value. Since the market at the time preferred low cost and stability over extreme precision, fewer than fifty ASML-3 units were produced before production ceased due to poor sales. Lindenberg also suffered a broken capital chain as a result and declared bankruptcy in 2007.]

So that's how it was.

Shen Yan instantly understood where the crux of the problem lay.

This wasn't an accident; it was the machine's inherent destiny.

But advanced intelligence provided far more than just a backstory.

The scene shifted, and the data stream began to reconstruct, pointing out three distinct paths for Shen Yan.

[Solution One: Seek the Creator]

[Person: Klaus Richter, 82 years old, currently residing in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.]

[Status: In seclusion. Disheartened by the company's bankruptcy, he has an extreme aversion to business. He possesses the only complete set of ASML-3 design drawings and the core firmware source code.]