Chapter 21 The Partner Ran Away, Xiao Li hurriedly pushed open Lin Yuwei's office door...

There was a noticeable pause and a hint of panic on the other end of the phone: "Ah...yes, yes, I just finished a meeting and was about to head back. Don't worry, Mr. Lin, I'm keeping an eye on the progress! There won't be any problems." However, the sounds of a television program and children's laughter could be faintly heard in the background.

In the third week, the situation worsened. Lin Yuwei's emails asking for technical details went unanswered, and the scheduled weekly synchronous meetings were repeatedly postponed. Only when Lin Yuwei insisted that they must meet in person did President Wang reluctantly agree.

On the day of the meeting, Mr. Wang came alone, without any technical staff. "The engineers are all too busy to come," he explained with a smile.

Lin Yuwei directly posed a technical question: "Please explain why even a simple rotation of a 3D model causes stuttering?"

Mr. Wang hesitated and said, "Well... it might be a server configuration issue, or it might be due to insufficient algorithm optimization. I don't really understand the technical details."

“Then please arrange for us to communicate directly with the technical staff,” Lin Yuwei insisted.

"Okay, okay, I'll arrange it when I get back." Mr. Wang readily agreed, but he never kept his promise.

With only five days left until the demo review, Lin Yuwei sent out an ultimatum email, demanding that a working initial version of the demo be available within three days.

The next day, Mr. Wang, unusually, called me first, his tone unusually sincere: "Mr. Lin, I'm so sorry! My elderly mother has suddenly been hospitalized, and I have to go back to my hometown. I've already handed over the demo to the vice president, and he will definitely deliver it on time."

However, the so-called "vice president" could not be contacted at all; the office phone went unanswered, and the mobile phone was always switched off.

Inside the Shiguang Studio, the designers looked at each other, a sense of unease hanging in the air.

"Teacher Lin, something's not right." Assistant Xiao Li whispered a reminder: "I asked some friends in the industry, and I heard that Zhichuang Internet has recently taken on several projects at the same time, but the core technical staff have all left, and now it's just a bunch of newbies barely keeping it going."

Lin Yuwei stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in her office, gazing at the gloomy sky outside. The coffee in her hand had gone cold, but she was completely unaware of it.

The ignored anonymous warnings, the initial communication breakdowns, Mr. Wang's various excuses, and the demo that showed no progress—all these things were now piecing together in her mind like a jigsaw puzzle, creating an unsettling picture.

Outside the window, the first raindrop hit the glass, quickly forming a curtain of rain. Lin Yuwei felt a chill rise from the bottom of her heart. She realized that the project might have begun to rot from the inside out, and the demo review meeting was likely a disaster that was already destined.

The demo review meeting was held as scheduled at the Shiguang Studio.

The air conditioning in the project conference room was blasting, but it couldn't dispel the tense atmosphere. On one side of the long conference table sat Director Zhang from the Cultural Bureau and his team, and on the other side were Lin Yuwei and Zhou Xubai. The head seat was reserved for today's protagonist—General Manager Wang from Zhichuang Internet and his technical team. However, the other seats were still empty.

The clock on the wall was about to strike ten o'clock. Director Zhang frowned slightly and tapped the table lightly with his fingers. Lin Yuwei and Zhou Xubai exchanged an uneasy look.

Just then, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open, and General Manager Wang hurriedly walked in alone, beads of sweat on his forehead, carrying a laptop in his hand.

"Director Zhang, I'm so sorry, the traffic was terrible!" He said with an apologetic smile as he quickly connected the projector. "The engineers are all at the company dealing with an urgent technical issue, so I'll be the one to report first today."

The projection screen lit up, and Mr. Wang wiped his sweat and opened the file named "Longquan Wood Carving VR Experience Initial Demo". The loading interface froze for nearly half a minute, and the final image stunned everyone present! The modeling was so rough that it looked like a game scene from ten years ago. The wood carving texture was blurry and distorted, the edges of the objects in the VR scene were obviously jagged, and the lighting effects were pitifully rudimentary.

"Uh, this is the initial version, and the image quality hasn't been optimized yet..." Mr. Wang hurriedly explained, his voice a little dry. Lin Yuwei's face instantly darkened: "Mr. Wang, please demonstrate the core interactive functions to Director Zhang."

"This... okay." Mr. Wang clicked the button to enter the VR experience. The screen immediately froze so badly that it made him dizzy. When he tried to pick up a virtual wood carving, the model actually passed through his virtual palm and fell out of the scene.

"This, this is a version compatibility issue..." Mr. Wang hurriedly explained, but even more sweat was pouring down his forehead.

Director Zhang leaned forward, squinting as he stared intently at the projected image on the wall, his tone serious: "What about the written description? I remember the plan required a detailed interpretation of the wood carving culture."

"Yes, yes... I remember it's here." President Wang switched to a display interface, and everyone immediately made a fuss. The few lines of content on the screen interpreted "Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Auspiciousness" as "a symbol of the emperor", completely misunderstood the meaning of the Four Gentlemen of Plum Blossom, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum, and even contained typos.

"Stop for a second." Lin Yuwei suddenly interrupted his cringeworthy presentation: "President Wang, is this the result of your company's promised 'elite team'? You can't even guarantee the most basic cultural accuracy?"

Mr. Wang forced a smile, frantically wiping his sweat: "Director Zhang, Mr. Lin, I'm so sorry! Time is just too tight, and your needs are indeed a bit complicated, we..."

"Complex requirements?" Lin Yuwei stood up and walked to the screen, zooming in on a severely distorted wood carving texture: "Restoring the essence of Master Li's knife skills to this level has nothing to do with the complexity of the requirements; it's a matter of basic attitude."

Director Zhang's face grew increasingly grim. He looked at General Manager Wang and said sternly, "General Manager Wang, this is completely different from the quality level you promised. We need a reasonable explanation."

"We'll fix it right away, we definitely will!" General Manager Wang assured him repeatedly, his voice trembling. "The main problem is that Xiao Zheng, who's in charge of this project, is new and lacks experience. I'll go back and personally supervise the work, and I guarantee we'll have a new version by next week... no, within three days!"

The meeting ended hastily in an unpleasant atmosphere. Mr. Wang practically fled the meeting room, almost forgetting to take his laptop with him.

Three days later, Lin Yuwei still hadn't received the updated demo version from Zhichuang Internet. She contacted General Manager Wang directly, only to find that his phone was switched off. For two consecutive days, she sent countless emails and made countless phone calls, but he either didn't answer or, when he did, he would agree but then fail to provide a concrete plan or timeline. Lin Yuwei had no choice but to ask Xiao Li to go to Zhichuang Internet in person to inquire about the situation.

Soon, Xiao Li hurriedly pushed open the door to Lin Yuwei's office: "Teacher Lin, something terrible has happened! The boss of Zhichuang Internet has run away, and the company is deserted!"

The pen in Lin Yuwei's hand fell to the ground with a thud: "What? Where is President Wang?"

"We can't get in touch with them either! I asked someone to go to their office, and it's completely empty! I also heard they owe money for several projects, so our project is probably..."

At this moment, Director Zhang called, his tone heavy and serious: "Ms. Lin, we have learned about the situation of Zhichuang Internet. We bear the main responsibility for this matter. We were blinded by their qualification materials and low price quote in the early stage. The problem now is that cultural projects have strict time limits and budget requirements. We must find a solution as soon as possible."

He paused for a moment, his voice filled with a sincere plea: "Currently, you are the person who knows the progress and specific needs of the entire project best. We need your assistance to find a technical partner who can take over within a week. If there is no feasible solution by next week, the project may have to be forced to terminate, and all the funds and effort that everyone has invested in the early stages will probably be wasted."

Lin Yuwei's heart sank suddenly. Her fingers, which were holding the phone, trembled slightly, and her palms were sweaty.

Director Zhang continued, his tone tinged with helplessness: "At that time, not only will the government's funding be returned and the project put on hold, but the large amount of manpower and resources your studio has already invested, as well as the final payment you are entitled to... will also be difficult to realize."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Yuwei felt a chilling pressure creep up her spine. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in her office, watching the endless stream of cars below, her heart was filled with turmoil.

Terminating the project not only meant that more than a month of hard work had gone down the drain, but also that Shiguang Studio would face considerable financial losses. What worried her even more was its reputation. In this industry, project failures are often not investigated in detail. Although the problem was with Zhichuang Internet, once the project failed, some people would inevitably speculate and blame Shiguang Studio's design plan as "impractical" or "difficult to implement".

If it is fabricated by people with ulterior motives, Shiguang, which has just gained a foothold in the industry, may be burdened with a reputation for being "unprofessional" and "unreliable".

She recalled that when she was bidding for this project, some competitors spread rumors that Shiguang got the project "through connections." If the project is really canceled now, those rumors will only become more rampant.

The sun shone brightly outside the window, but Lin Yuwei felt a chill. She knew that now was not the time to wallow in self-blame or anger. She had to take action for the sake of her team's months of hard work, for the reputation of her studio, and to prevent the precious cultural heritage of Longquan wood carving from losing its opportunity for digital preservation because of an unreliable partner.

She walked out of the office, and everyone seemed to know what had happened, looking at her with anxious and expectant eyes. Lin Yuwei took a deep breath and her voice became firm: "The plenary meeting will begin in ten minutes. We need to discuss and come up with a solution."

The atmosphere at the team's emergency meeting was so tense it was almost palpable.

The whiteboard was already covered with a dense list of possible options, and everyone's face showed exhaustion and anxiety, yet they were forcing themselves to offer suggestions.

Xiaoyu, the design team leader, spoke first: "I think we can try 'Xuan Technology'. They did an AR project for the provincial museum before and have a lot of experience in cultural digitization. My college classmate works there as a project manager, so maybe he can help us make a connection."

“I recommend Yunteng Interactive. Although they are not large in scale, they have strong technical capabilities. They did the cultural tourism project in Qingcheng Mountain last year, and the response was very good.”