Much of their top-notch equipment had a limited shelf life and their rental payments accounted for a good chunk of their 5-million-dollar budget, let alone other costly expenditures. Plus the project staff hadn't been paid yet.
It was a cliche, but artists had to eat too. Fang Zhao didn't want to mistreat his own people, so when he used up all his funding, he put the project on hold. They would continue whenever they received additional funding. The success of the first movement convinced Fang Zhao that Silver Wing wouldn't pass on such a promising project.
"Hiss—that's a loaded question." It finally dawned on Du Ang and company that the project was only budgeted for 5 million—and that was the result of Du's lobbying. It would have been even less had the original appropriation gone through.
Indeed, 5 million was too little considering the success of the project thus far. Fang Zhao and company had done an amazing job just launching Polar Light.
