108: Chapter 108 Awards, Budget, and the Invisible Wall

On the night of the Sundance Film Festival awards, Alex and Taylor were watching the ceremony via streaming in the theater room of their new home in Brentwood.

When the "Special Jury Prize: Award for Courage" was awarded to sands of the return journey, the screen cut to Director Martin and the main cast embracing excitedly.

It lacked the top-tier prestige of Best Picture or Best Director, but this award, specifically recognizing "extraordinary courage in filmmaking," carried significant weight and fit the film's theme perfectly.

Alex's phone was immediately flooded with congratulatory messages.

Marcus sent a flash report: within five minutes of the award announcement, the number of advance bookings for sands of the return journey on the "Voice of Truth" platform surged by 300%, and the purchase negotiations with the partner streaming platform successfully finalized with terms that increased the price by 15%.

Social reputation and commercial returns had resonated once again.

"This award is more meaningful than a simple 'best'," Taylor said softly, leaning on Alex's shoulder.

"Because it validates the storyteller, not just the way of telling."

Alex turned off the projector, and the room sank into soft, indirect lighting.

He felt a calm satisfaction.

This investment, originally carved out from the Northrop settlement, had yielded returns far beyond expectations—not just money, but immeasurable brand value and industry status.

He sent a brief congratulatory message to Director Martin and asked Marcus to arrange an additional bonus for the entire production team.

However, the joy was quickly diluted by urgent reality.

The Echoes and Wavelengths tour was in its final two-week countdown.

During stress testing, a hydraulic system responsible for controlling the synchronized lifting and lowering of twelve ice screens exhibited intermittent desynchronization; although the error was only at the millisecond level, in the pursuit of ultimate stage effects, this was unacceptable.

The technical team investigated throughout the night, suspecting that a sensor's signal was being interfered with by the complex electromagnetic environment in the warehouse.

The solution was either to replace it with more expensive shielding materials and sensors (time was tight), or to reprogram the system to allow for millisecond-level errors and self-compensate (potentially sacrificing some precision).

Alex was called to the warehouse in the early hours.

After listening to the report, he didn't make a decision immediately but asked the engineers to pull up all data streams and live monitoring from the time of the malfunction.

With the synergy of Information Reception Filtering and Environmental Perception Enhancement (a byproduct of intermediate Spider-Sense), he "listened" to the engineers' analysis while his gaze swept over the cluttered cable layout around the console, the location of the high-power transformer nearby, and even the ballasts of the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

"Turn off all non-core power in Zone B, including that row of backup lighting and the number three exhaust fan," Alex suddenly said.

The engineer was stunned but complied.

Upon retesting, the hydraulic system's synchronization error disappeared.

"There is more than one source of electromagnetic interference, but it mainly comes from the motor of that old exhaust fan and the low-quality ballasts," Alex pointed to the ceiling.

"Replace them and optimize the cable shielding around the console.

If the budget isn't enough, take it from my emergency reserve.

I want absolute reliability, not something that barely works."

The root cause of the problem was quickly located and resolved.

The additional expense was negligible for the entire tour budget, yet it avoided a potentially catastrophic failure on site.

The tour production manager wiped his sweat, feeling amazed at Alex's precise judgment.

Alex just patted his shoulder: "Details determine success or failure, especially in front of tens of thousands of people."

Almost simultaneously, the project for city of instantaneity encountered its first substantial wall: budget.

Sophia Chen and her producer presented a detailed pre-production budget table, with figures that had expanded by nearly 40% from the initial rough estimate.

The main reason lay in the "Time Marks" and "Memory Precipitation" effects insisted upon by Alex, which required the development of entirely new real-time rendering and post-production compositing workflows.

They could not fully apply existing, mature special effects solutions, which meant higher R&D costs and labor hours.

At the first official board meeting of the Echo Vision company (attendees included only Alex, Sophia, Lauren, and an external production financial consultant), the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

"We consulted three top special effects companies, and the quotes are all in this range," Sophia pointed to the chart, her tone calm but pressured.

"Either we lower our ambition for visual effects, or we find more money."

Lauren reviewed the terms and raised a key question: "If we invest according to this budget, the equity share of Echo Vision needs to be reassessed, and we need to introduce additional guarantees or completion bonds.

The risk is very high, Alex."

Alex pondered.

He could certainly use personal funds to fill the gap, but that didn't align with business principles and would make the project overly dependent on him personally.

He thought for a moment and asked: "What if we spin off the core algorithm development for 'Time Marks' and 'Memory Precipitation' as an independent R&D project and look for a strong technology company for co-investment?

We provide the creative and partial funding, and they provide the technical team and share future intellectual property.

This not only spreads the risk and costs but may also give birth to general technology that transcends this film."

This idea stunned everyone.

Sophia's eyes lit up: "You mean, package the film's special effects problem into a cutting-edge 'visual technology' startup project?"

"Yes.

I remember Organization D has contacted some startups or laboratories with deep backgrounds in graphics computing and real-time rendering," Alex looked at Lauren.

"Lauren, assist Sophia's producer in drafting an investment invitation for technical cooperation.

We can concede a portion of the film's future revenue share in exchange for shared R&D costs and exclusive use of the technology.

At the same time, contact Apple or Google's cutting-edge media labs to see if they are interested in acting as observers or providing a testing platform.

This can enhance the project's technical credibility."

The direction of the meeting shifted instantly.

It went from how to "cut the budget" to how to "leverage creativity and attract strategic investment."

Alex's thinking once again demonstrated his perspective, which was not limited to entertainment.

Lauren quickly recorded the key points and prepared to start looking for potential partners.

Sophia began to conceive how to describe this visual language with more technical foresight and commercial potential.

In the realm of private life, as wealth and influence stabilized, more complex needs emerged.

Lauren brought in a top private wealth management consultant and a tax lawyer for a long, closed-door meeting with Alex.

The content involved: the embryonic structure of establishing a family office, tax optimization strategies for global income, long-term holding and licensing structures for intellectual property (song copyrights, film and television investment rights), and planning for a future charitable foundation.

The meeting was boring but necessary.

Alex listened to the advice but insisted on core principles: control must remain firmly in his own hands and those of his absolutely trusted small team (Lauren, Marcus); investment preferences should balance steady appreciation (such as tech stocks, quality real estate) and supporting creative projects (such as films, new technologies); legal compliance is the bottom line, but one must also make full use of the rules.

"Your clear understanding of assets and risk awareness far exceeds your age," the tax lawyer said sincerely as he left.

Alex just smiled.

Having lived two lives, combined with the long-term vision brought by the system, his attitude toward money was both bold and cautious.

One week before the tour opened, an unexpected cross-industry invitation arrived.

A top global Swiss watch brand "Parmigiani" (fictional, positioned similarly to Patek Philippe or Richard Mille) extended an olive branch through layers of connections, inviting Alex to serve as its new "Youth Pioneer Ambassador."

It wasn't a simple endorsement, but rather participation as a design consultant for a new watch facing the future, integrating classical watchmaking with intelligent interaction concepts.

The remuneration was an astronomical figure plus a share of future sales.

The brand valued his dual image as a "traditional pop culture disruptor" and a "tech-art crossover upstart."

Alex did not agree immediately but let Lauren deeply understand the cooperation details and requested the other party to provide more specific design participation rights.

"If they just want to borrow my face, that's not interesting.

If they are truly willing to listen to the opinions of a layman who has special thoughts about 'time,' then perhaps it's worth a chat," he explained to Taylor.

At night, in the gaps where everything was running at high speed, Alex spent a while alone in the rehearsal room of his new home.

He didn't turn on the lights, and moonlight streamed in through the high windows.

He simply exercised his body, feeling the coordination and strength brought by the third stage of physical constitution.

Then, he summoned the system.

[Comprehensive Settlement: Sundance Awards / Tour Crisis Resolution / Film Budget Breakthrough / Financial Planning Launch / High-end Brand Invitation]

[Popularity Acquired: +3,850,000 points]

[Current Available Popularity: 21,060,030 points]

(Historical Cumulative: 41,060,030 points)

[Next Goal: 'Physical Function Overload (Temporary)' (Requires 28,000,000 points)]

Progress: 21,060,030 / 28,000,000 ≈ 75.2%

Three-quarters passed!

Less than seven million points away from redeeming the next extraordinary ability.

Once the tour started, every sold-out performance, crazy media coverage, and secondary dissemination on social networks would bring massive, continuous popularity income.

Breaking through twenty-eight million points seemed to be right before his eyes.

Alex closed the interface and exhaled gently in the moonlight.

He could feel that a stronger force was waiting on the other side.

It would no longer be auxiliary or sensory-based extraordinary abilities, but an explosive change acting directly on the physical body.

This filled him with a different kind of anticipation for the upcoming global tour, which would be extremely demanding on physical strength and energy.

Challenges remained many: the tour could not have any mistakes, the film needed to find financiers and technical partners, brand cooperation needed to be clarified, huge assets needed to be properly managed... but all of these, at this moment, had turned into surging power that propelled him forward while accumulating "fuel" for the extraordinary path.

He walked out of the rehearsal room and saw that the study was still lit.

Taylor was wearing his old shirt, modifying the connecting lines for the tour setlist in front of the computer screen.

"Not sleeping yet?"

"Thought of a better opening statement," Taylor didn't look back.

"Come over and listen."

Alex walked over, gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, rested his chin on her shoulder, and listened to her whisper those sentences full of imagery and connection.

Los Angeles outside the window was still brightly lit, but in this newly built nest, they possessed a tranquility and combined strength to resist the noise of the whole world.

The high walls might still exist, but the bulldozer was already in place.

The fuel was sufficient, and the goal was clear.

Alex closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the person in his arms, and also feeling that surging double power within him—belonging to the peak of the mortal and the starting point of the extraordinary.

The countdown began.