You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

"What are you trying to do!"

Seeing Lin Chen pick up the knife, Chu Yunfei's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sharply.

"You dare touch it! This Buddha statue is worth 500 million. Can you afford to pay for it if you damage it?!"

The two martial arts bodyguards behind him also stepped forward instantly, their eyes fiercely locking onto Lin Chen, as if they would kill him on the spot if he made any further moves.

The guests below the stage gasped in surprise. Everyone thought Lin Chen had gone mad, enraged and ready to throw caution to the wind.

However, Lin Chen ignored everything around him.

He took the knife and walked back to the display case, his face still showing that calm and collected expression.

"Young Master Chu, don't be nervous."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the entire banquet hall.

"I just felt that this national treasure was a bit dirty and wanted to help clean it."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly jerked his wrist!

In his hand, the silver dinner knife seemed to transform into the most precise scalpel, slicing through the air with an extremely fast afterimage!

The ingenuity of "God-level Physics Mastery" erupted at this moment!

The knife tip didn't touch the glittering surface of the Buddha statue. Instead, it cut into the gap between the base of the Bodhisattva statue and the lotus pedestal with incredible precision and without deviation, a gap a hundred times thinner than a hair and imperceptible to the naked eye, at an unbelievable angle!

Throughout the entire process, there were no harsh friction sounds, only a very slight "click".

It was as if it weren't cutting, but rather like a surgeon using a scalpel to separate adhered tissues—precise, delicate, and yet full of a certain violent beauty.

Before anyone could react, Lin Chen had already put away his knife.

He extended two fingers, gently pinched the base of the standing Bodhisattva statue, and lifted it slightly.

A shocking scene has unfolded!

The gilded Buddha statue, which appeared to be a single, seamless piece, had its base easily and completely peeled off by him!

The cut was as smooth as a mirror, without causing the slightest damage to the Buddha statue itself.

"this……"

The experts in the audience were all dumbfounded; this level of control was beyond human comprehension!

Ignoring the shock of the crowd, Lin Chen took the separated brass base in his hand, turned it over, and showed the inside to everyone.

Then, he pointed to a line of tiny English letters engraved on the inside of the base using micro-carving techniques, so small that they could only be seen with a high-powered magnifying glass, and a mocking sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

"A Tang Dynasty national treasure? Young Master Chu, your Tang Dynasty national treasure even has English inscriptions?"

"It says 'Made in Yiwu' on it, followed by a number, 9527."

"Young Master Chu, you spent 500 million to buy a small commodity made in Yiwu from European nobles, and you treat it like a treasure."

Lin Chen's voice suddenly turned cold, each word like a resounding slap across Chu Yunfei's face.

"I really want to ask you, did a donkey kick your brain?"

boom!

The entire audience erupted in uproar!

"What? Made in Yiwu?"

"My God, this is a fake! A fake worth 500 million!"

"Young Master Chu was actually fooled? This...this is so embarrassing!"

The whispers, the jeers, and the gloating glances were like countless steel needles piercing Chu Yunfei from all directions.

Chu Yunfei's face turned deathly pale in an instant!

He stared intently at the base in Lin Chen's hand, his body trembling uncontrollably.

impossible!

That's absolutely impossible!

This Buddha statue was authenticated by a top-notch team of experts through the most secretive channels, so how could it be fake!

However, Lin Chen did not give him any chance to catch his breath.

He approached Chu Yunfei step by step, his eyes sharp as knives, as if he wanted to cut him open.

"Do you really think I don't know your real purpose in pulling this stunt tonight?"

Lin Chen's voice resounded throughout the venue, filled with a cold, penetrating power.

"This isn't an antique appreciation event at all; it's nothing more than a clumsy performance by your Chu family to launder money overseas!"

"First, you register a shell company overseas, and then use a sum of illicit money to bid a 'high price' for this fake item that costs no more than a thousand dollars."

"Then, you, Chu Yunfei, will step forward and, under the guise of 'the return of a national treasure,' use another sum of legitimate domestic funds to 'buy' this fake item back from that shell company."

"In this back-and-forth transaction, five hundred million yuan of illicit funds, disguised under the legal guise of 'antique trading,' flowed into your Chu family's accounts within the country without anyone noticing!"

"Whether that fake is real or fake is completely irrelevant! It's just a prop you're using to deceive others!"

As Lin Chen spoke, he held up his phone, and on the screen were numerous screenshots of fund transfer records from overseas banks.

"Unfortunately, just as you were smugly showing off your 'national treasure,' I had already packaged up all the overseas offshore accounts you used to operate this transaction, the flow of funds, and the evidence of their connection with domestic companies and sent them to the joint investigation team of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and international anti-money laundering organizations."

"Chu Yunfei, guess when they'll invite you for tea?"

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell into a deathly silence!

If exposing the counterfeit was just embarrassing for Chu Yunfei, then what Lin Chen is revealing in public now is a shocking secret that could drag the entire Chu family into an abyss!

Chu Yunfei panicked completely.

His biggest secret, his supposedly flawless scheme, his proud financial skills... all of it was torn to shreds and exposed to the light of day by the man before him in the most cruel and thorough way, in front of all the celebrities of Jiangcheng!

The fear and humiliation of falling from the clouds to hell completely drove him to lose his mind.