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

Half an hour later, at the Beijing Museum, Exhibition Hall No. 1.

The scene had already been cordoned off with long police tape, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

A dozen forensic technicians were carefully conducting their investigation, but judging from their furrowed brows, they had clearly found nothing.

In the center of the exhibition hall, the huge bulletproof glass display case has been opened.

Where the majestic and imposing Western Zhou bronze ding should have been placed, there is now only a pile of ugly, dark red rusted metal lumps.

The metal was twisted and tangled together, its original shape completely unrecognizable. It looked like a pile of scrap iron salvaged from a junkyard, emitting a pungent smell of rust.

An elderly curator, dressed in a Zhongshan suit and with gray hair, was wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, muttering to himself repeatedly.

"It's over, it's all over..."

Next to the display case, several elderly experts, who looked like wise old men and were over seventy years old, were arguing heatedly, their faces red with anger.

"I still stand by my opinion! This is definitely a switch!"

An elderly man wearing gold-rimmed glasses spoke with absolute certainty.

"It must have been some top-tier international thief who used advanced technology beyond our comprehension to pull off the switch without anyone noticing!"

"impossible!"

Another old man with a goatee immediately retorted.

"I've studied bronze artifacts my whole life. Even if it were a fake, there's no way it would leave behind such a pile of scrap metal! Look at the color and distribution of the rust; it's clearly from a rapid and uneven oxidation reaction inside the metal! In my opinion, the material ratio was wrong during the casting of this replica, and over time, it eventually led to structural collapse!"

"You're all wrong!"

The third chubby expert waved his hand.

"This is completely inexplicable by science! I think there's something unclean in this cauldron..."

Just as they were arguing fiercely, Li Mingyu walked in with Lin Chen and Su Qingge.

Upon seeing Lin Chen, dressed casually and appearing excessively young, behind Li Mingyu, the older experts abruptly stopped arguing, their faces simultaneously revealing contempt and displeasure.

The elderly man with gold-rimmed glasses frowned and questioned Li Mingyu:

"Captain Li, what do you mean by this? We're conducting a serious academic discussion. What are you doing here with this kid? This is a museum, not a place for interns to visit! This involves extremely complex artifact authentication and criminal investigation. What does he know?"

"Exactly, young people these days are getting more and more outrageous."

The old man with the goatee stroked his beard, his face full of disdain.

Li Mingyu blushed deeply after being rebuked and was about to explain when Lin Chen stopped him with a look.

Lin Chen completely ignored those experts who were acting like they were old and condescending, as if they were just a few flies buzzing in his ear.

He walked straight to the huge display case.

Su Qingge followed beside him, her eyes filled with curiosity and trust.

She knew that as long as Lin Chen took action, there was no mystery that couldn't be solved.

Lin Chen did not wear gloves, nor did he carry any tools, and he did not even get too close.

He stood a meter away from the pile of "scrap metal," his hands casually in his pockets, his gaze sweeping over the rusty metal lumps with utter indifference.

[Divine Treasure Appraisal]! Activated!

[God-level Materials Science Mastery]! Unlocked!

[Amazing Chemistry Knowledge]! Unlocked!

hum!

In an instant, countless invisible data streams and chemical formulas appeared on the surface of that pile of scrap metal, refreshing Lin Chen's retina like a waterfall!

Iron, nickel, titanium...

Oxide layer thickness: 0.3 mm...

Crystal structure: Martensitic phase transformation...

Trigger temperature: 25 degrees Celsius...

Just three seconds.

A cold, mocking sneer curled at the corner of Lin Chen's mouth.

"hehe."

His ambiguous sneer instantly drew everyone's attention.

The faces of those veteran experts darkened.

"Hey kid, what are you laughing at?"

The elderly man with gold-rimmed glasses questioned him with displeasure.

"Do you perhaps have some superior opinion on our professional judgment?"

Lin Chen finally turned his head and glanced at them indifferently with an expression as if they were idiots.

"Switched? Weathered?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed clearly in the deathly silent exhibition hall.

"Are your so-called experts even capable of breathing?"

One sentence was enough to make those old experts so angry that they nearly had a heart attack on the spot!

"You...you dare to be so insolent! Who do you think you are, daring to speak to us like that!"

"Ignorant brat! Utterly arrogant!"

Lin Chen completely ignored their roars. He pointed a finger at the pile of scrap metal in the display case and said slowly and deliberately, in a tone that seemed to have sealed his fate:

"First, this is not the original bronze cauldron at all. From this point of view, your so-called 'switching theory' is half right."

"Secondly, it's not a matter of natural weathering or materials; it's been tampered with."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the stunned faces of everyone present, before finally uttering a word that no one had ever heard of before.

"This is a high-end counterfeit made using 'shape memory alloy' and covered with an extremely sophisticated 'chemical oxidation camouflage layer,' specifically designed for escape and creating confusion!"

"Shape memory alloy?"

Everyone present, including the criminal police and experts, looked bewildered.

Only Lin Chen's voice sounded like a teacher giving a lesson to a group of kindergarten children, exuding absolute intellectual superiority.

"Simply put, this alloy can be molded into any shape you want at a certain temperature, such as a bronze tripod."

"Then, through special processing, at another specific 'trigger temperature,' it will automatically revert to its original, chaotic metallic form."

"The bronze color and rust on the surface of this fake are not real bronze rust, but a highly photosensitive catalyst coating."

"When it is exposed to the strong light of the display case for a certain period of time, it will automatically decompose, revealing the true nature of the alloy inside."

Lin Chen spoke slowly, but every word was like a heavy hammer blow, striking everyone's heart!

"Therefore, the real bronze cauldron was replaced with this fake by that clever thief three days ago."

"However, the trigger temperature for this fake item was set to be the average room temperature in Beijing these past few days—25 degrees Celsius."

"That's why, last night, without anyone touching it, it strangely reverted to its current state as a pile of scrap metal!"

The words fell.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Those old experts who were just moments ago so arrogant and domineering were now completely stunned, standing there dumbfounded, mouths agape, eyes wide as bells, their jaws practically dropping to the ground in shock.

They felt their brains had completely shut down. The professional knowledge and pride they had built up over decades were shattered in the face of Lin Chen's popular science explanation, which was like a dimensional reduction attack!

Shape memory alloy?

Chemical oxidation camouflage?

These terms, which sound like they come from a science fiction movie, were spoken so casually by this young man, and he perfectly explained the extremely bizarre unsolved case before him!

This is no longer about identifying treasures; this is blatant technological superiority!

"This...how is this possible..."

The old man with the gold-rimmed glasses trembled, and the magnifying glass in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter" and shattered into pieces.

Li Mingyu and Su Qingge exchanged a glance, both seeing the same shock and acceptance in each other's eyes.

Sure enough, in front of this man, any seemingly impossible bizarre case eventually becomes a simple science question.

Lin Chen looked at the few old experts whose faces were ashen, and the sarcasm on his lips deepened.

"What? You don't understand?"

"Then let me put it even more simply."

He walked up to the pile of scrap metal, activated the [God-level Trace Identification Technique], and scanned the surrounding floor and display case glass with his eyes.

"The thief was about 1.78 meters tall, weighed no more than 70 kilograms, and was left-handed."

"He didn't break any security systems because he had the highest level of access card inside the museum and knew all the blind spots of the surveillance cameras."

"Three nights ago, he walked in here openly and exchanged the fake for the real thing."

"And you bunch of good-for-nothings, for three days now, not one of you has noticed that the museum's prized possession has been switched."

Lin Chen's voice was icy cold, each word like a resounding slap across the face of the museum curator and the group of experts.

"You are a disgrace to the entire cultural and museum community in Beijing."