Daily Intelligence: Forced to Save the Beautiful President at the Beginning

32: Chapter 32 An Unexpected Olive BranchJust as the taxi crossed the Linjiang Bridge, Zhang Fan’s phone rang.

The words ”Unknown Number” pulsing on the screen made him frown—these days, strange calls were either sales pitches or scams.

”Hello? Who is this?” he answered impatiently.

”May I ask if this is Mr. Zhang Fan? I am a project manager from Digital Power, my surname is Wang.”

The voice on the other end was steady and firm. ”We saw your studio’s information on the incubator’s outsourcing platform and would like to discuss a collaboration with you.”

”Digital Power?” Zhang Fan was stunned for a moment and almost dropped his phone.

This wasn’t just any ordinary company. It was the leader in the domestic game outsourcing industry, bar none.

Their business spanned 3D model construction, animation rendering, and even blockbuster-level CG production. Not only did they hold orders from domestic giants like Qixun and Wangnai, but even world top-ten game companies like EB and Sok had to cater to them—after all, 70% of the country’s top technical talent was registered on their freelance platform.

Come to think of it, Zhang Fan had even joined their VIP technical group back in college. At that time, he used to anonymously pick up small jobs in the group, optimizing 3D model loading speeds with code. Because he had solved a few tricky bottlenecks, he had even been called a ”master” by other group members.

But later, he was so overwhelmed by his ex-girlfriend and his boss that he had long since left the group.

”We’ve worked together before; you were even in one of our technical groups.” Manager Wang’s voice carried a smile. ”It’s like this: we saw the dungeon optimization plan you did for Blue Whale Games previously, and the approach was stunning. We have an urgent project now and would like to collaborate with a technical expert like you.”

Zhang Fan’s heart began to race. What did a project from Digital Power mean? It meant exposure, it meant industry resources, and it meant that ”Singularity Technology,” the small studio he had just registered, could jump straight into the circle. The one million that Tang Wanqing had invested finally had a place to be put to use.

”What is the project specifically...”

”It’s scene rendering for a new game for Sok. We need to optimize the existing engine, requiring a 40% increase in loading speed while ensuring the image quality doesn’t degrade.” Manager Wang spoke quickly. ”We’ve read your technical blog; you’re very familiar with Sok’s old engine, which is exactly what we need.”

Sok’s engine! Zhang Fan’s heart skipped a beat.

That was the engine he had reverse-engineered the source code for back in college; he could identify the locations of several bugs in it with his eyes closed.

This project was practically tailor-made for him.

”You don’t need to worry about the compensation,” Manager Wang said, as if reading his mind. ”The base fee is around several hundred thousand, with 30% paid in advance. If you can deliver ahead of schedule, there’s a 20% bonus.”

Several hundred thousand! And that’s not even counting the bonus! Zhang Fan’s breathing became heavy. Once this money came in, the studio’s cash flow would be completely revitalized.

”Our Digital Power office is also in Jiangcheng,” Manager Wang said. ”If it’s convenient, could you come over? The project is quite urgent; it would be best if we could finalize the collaboration intent today.”

The taxi happened to stop at an intersection as the red light turned on. Zhang Fan looked at the street scene passing by outside the window, his mind feeling like two little people were fighting.

On one side was Zhou Yurou. She was still lying in the hospital, having just lost her child, and the recording evidence of Yuan Mubai was in his pocket—this might be the key to helping her make a comeback.

On the other side was Digital Power. This was the high branch that so many people were desperate to climb, the opportunity for ”Singularity Technology” to take off, and the springboard for him to shed the ”loser” label.

”What’s wrong? Is it inconvenient?” Manager Wang’s voice carried a hint of probing.

”No, no!” Zhang Fan quickly snapped back to reality. ”I’m... I’m out right now, not far from your Shuzi Dongli Building. I can be there in half an hour!”

After hanging up, he realized his palms were covered in sweat.

”Driver, turn around, go to Shuzi Dongli Building.”

The driver was stunned for a moment: ”Not going to the hospital anymore?”

”Not anymore, I have an urgent matter.” Zhang Fan’s voice sounded a bit dry.

He took out his phone and opened the chat box with Zhou Yurou. He typed and deleted, deleted and rewrote, and finally just sent one sentence: [Sister Zhou, I have some urgent work here. I’ll come to see you later; I have something important to tell you.]

The ”sent successfully” notification popped up, but he felt empty inside.

”Sigh, in the adult world, there really is no such thing as easy.” He smiled self-deprecatingly.

Zhou Yurou’s matter was important, but he couldn’t live in ”helping” forever. He had to stand firm first before he would have the ability to help others; otherwise, it was like a mud bodhisattva crossing the river—he couldn’t even save himself.

The Shuzi Dongli Building was in the core area of the High-Tech Zone, its glass curtain wall reflecting the setting sun like a giant sapphire.

Zhang Fan stood downstairs, smoothing out his wrinkled hoodie, suddenly feeling a bit nervous—compared to the suit-clad office workers around him, he looked like a student who had wandered in by mistake.

The receptionist verified the appointment information and led him toward the conference room.

The walls of the corridor were hung with various game posters. The armor of the protagonist in ”Dark Era” gleamed with a cold light, and the giant squid from ”Deep Sea Voyage” seemed about to swim out of the painting. Each one was labeled ”Co-produced by Digital Power.”

”Mr. Zhang, this way, please.”

Three people were already sitting in the conference room. The one leading them was a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who must be Wang Tao.

He stood up and extended his hand: ”Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Zhang.”

”Hello, Manager Wang.” Zhang Fan shook hands with him and felt that the other person’s grip was very steady. He didn’t seem like a tech person, but rather like a businessman.

”This is our Technical Director, Engineer Li, and this is Lawyer Chen from the Legal Department,” Wang Tao introduced.

Zhang Fan greeted them one by one. When he sat down, he noticed a laptop on the table, and the screen was displaying the very code he had previously shared in the technical group.

”We really appreciate your approach.” Engineer Li pushed up his glasses, his tone direct. ”Traditional animation systems consume too much memory, especially on mobile devices. We need a lightweight solution that can adapt to low-end phones, preferably one compatible with both Unreal and Unity engines.”

”No problem.” Zhang Fan’s professional instinct was triggered. ”I’ve made similar attempts before. By using a combination of skeletal binding and frame animation, I can compress a single character’s animation package to under 5MB, with a stable running frame rate of 60 FPS.”

He picked up a pen and began drawing flowcharts on the back of the meeting minutes, from skeletal hierarchy to skinning weights, and then to LOD optimization schemes. The more he talked, the more excited he became, completely forgetting that he was here to talk business, acting more like he was attending a technical seminar.

Wang Tao and Engineer Li exchanged a look, both seeing satisfaction in each other’s eyes.

”Mr. Zhang’s technical skills are truly well-deserved of his reputation.” Wang Tao smiled. ”We have drafted the contract. The project cycle is only one month, so our budget is 500,000, with a 30% advance payment and the balance paid after qualified acceptance. Take a look; if there are no issues, we can sign today.”

500,000?

Zhang Fan’s heart skipped a beat. He had originally thought that 200,000 would be good.

Lawyer Chen pushed the contract in front of him. The terms were written very professionally, with no predatory clauses, and even the intellectual property ownership was specified as ”jointly owned by both parties”—this was already quite generous in the industry.

”I...” Zhang Fan looked at the signature line, his pen tip hovering over the paper and pausing. It wasn’t hesitation; it was the sudden excitement that made his fingertips tremble slightly—from a poor student typing code in a rented room to taking on a big order from Digital Power, this step was too fast, like a dream.

”What’s the matter?” Wang Tao noticed his daze and asked gently.

”Nothing.” Zhang Fan took a deep breath, gripped the pen tightly, and signed his name on the Party B signature line.

The rustling sound of the pen tip across the paper was exceptionally clear in the quiet conference room, as if beating a new drum for his life.

When he walked out of the Shuzi Dongli Building, the setting sun was dyeing the glass curtain wall a golden red, and even the air seemed to float with a bit of scorching joy.

Zhang Fan clutched the contract, his fingertips repeatedly rubbing over the ”500,000” figure, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn up.

First, do the Digital Power project well, build a reputation, then recruit talent and take on bigger orders... one step at a time, and he would always get closer to his goal.

Zhang Fan quickened his pace, the streetlights casting a long shadow behind him, like a road leading to the distance.

He could not let that light be extinguished completely.