151: Chapter 151 Charity Gala (Part 2): Dimensional Reduction Attack

The host gave a dry cough, his forehead beaded with fine sweat as he forced himself onto the center of the stage.

The gaze of hundreds of eyes in the banquet hall made him feel as if he were standing on a volcano.

"Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening." His voice carried across the room through the microphone. "Now, we enter the most important segment of tonight—the charity donation."

As his words fell, everyone's eyes simultaneously turned toward the main table.

The atmosphere tightened instantly.

Chen Fan, sitting in the seat of honor, looked perfectly composed, even finding the leisure to peel a shrimp for Su Wanqing.

Opposite him, Chen Tianyou sat motionless, his eyes deep. He didn't look at Chen Fan, instead giving a subtle, imperceptible look to his son, Chen Zihao, beside him.

Chen Zihao understood immediately, a look of certain victory appearing on his face.

He stood up, adjusted his bowtie, and took a long red sandalwood box from the hands of the attendant behind him. The surface of the wooden box was carved with intricate cloud patterns, appearing quite aged at a glance.

Under the watchful eyes of the entire room, Chen Zihao carried the wooden box and walked slowly onto the stage.

He wasn't in a hurry to open it. Instead, he scanned the crowd below, his gaze lingering specifically on Chen Fan's table for two seconds, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Tonight, my father has entrusted me to contribute a modest effort to the cause of charity."

With that, he slowly opened the red sandalwood box in front of everyone.

A yellowed ancient scroll lay quietly nestled within bright yellow silk.

"This is..."

Below the stage, an elderly man with gold-rimmed glasses and white hair suddenly stood up. He was Elder Wu, the most prestigious antique appraiser in the Imperial Capital.

Chen Zihao took out the scroll, and two hostesses slowly unfurled it on stage.

In the painting were rolling spring mountains shrouded in mist. Several peach trees were in full bloom, and a bright-feathered bird perched on a branch, looking lifelike.

"The Ming Dynasty, Tang Yin, 'spring mountain with companion birds'!" Elder Wu's voice trembled with excitement. "I've seen a copy of it in the Palace Museum; I never expected to see the original today! The brushwork is bold and free, the ink is clear and moist—it's definitely authentic!"

Elder Wu's words were like a giant boulder dropped into a lake, setting off a massive wave throughout the room.

"An original Tang Bohu? Heavens, the market valuation of this painting must be at least thirty million, right?"

"More than thirty million! For a national treasure-level collection like this, money can't even buy it!"

"This is true heritage! Beijing Chen Family has stood for a hundred years, relying on more than just money."

The guests erupted in exclamations of wonder, their eyes full of admiration as they looked at Chen Zihao. When their gaze turned back to Chen Fan at the main table, it was filled with undisguised contempt and mockery.

In their eyes, this silent contest had already been decided.

You're just an upstart from out of town; so what if you have money? Can you produce a cultural treasure that has been seasoned by hundreds of years of history?

You cannot.

This is the rule, the social circle, the threshold you can never cross.

The host took the microphone, his voice rising an octave: "Our thanks to the Chen family for donating the national treasure-level painting, 'spring mountain with companion birds', to the charity cause! Valued at thirty million! Let us use our warmest applause to thank the Chen family for their generosity and profound heritage!"

Thundering applause rang out.

Amidst the applause, the host turned his gaze toward Chen Fan at the main table. His tone was respectful, but his words hid daggers.

"I wonder what kind of contribution Mr. Chen Fan has prepared for tonight's charity cause?"

The room fell silent instantly. Everyone looked at Chen Fan, waiting to see how he would handle this inevitable defeat.

However, Chen Fan didn't stand up, or even lift an eyelid, as if that thirty-million-dollar masterpiece was less interesting than the shrimp shells on his plate.

He simply gave a slight nod to his son, Chen Muyang, beside him.

Chen Muyang understood, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and stood up.

He didn't carry some precious wooden box like Chen Zihao. Instead, he pulled a black USB drive from the inner pocket of his well-tailored suit.

The USB drive was small and exquisite, contrasting sharply with his long fingers.

The crowd was in an uproar.

"A USB drive? What does that mean?"

"What is he doing? Donating a portable hard drive?"

"It couldn't be photos of checks worth hundreds of millions stored inside, could it? Hahaha!"

On stage, Chen Zihao laughed out loud even more directly. Holding the microphone, he mocked unreservedly, "What? Young Master Chen, is your cash flow cut off? Are you planning to come up and show us a PPT to introduce your father's inspirational rags-to-riches story?"

Bursts of laughter rose and fell within the banquet hall.

Chen Muyang was deaf to everything around him. Expressionless, he walked onto the stage and headed straight for the technical control area backstage.

He plugged the USB drive into a laptop port.

At the very moment he inserted the USB drive.

Snap.

The lights in the entire banquet hall went out in response.

The entire room fell into darkness and brief gasps of surprise. Only at the center of the stage, a spotlight shone on Chen Muyang.

The next second, several inconspicuous corners of the ceiling emitted several beams of deep blue light.

The beams of light interlaced, converged, and took shape in the empty space above the center of the banquet hall.

The outline of a scroll appeared out of thin air.

Light and shadow flowed, revealing that very 'spring mountain with companion birds'.

It was no longer a flat piece of paper, but suspended in mid-air in an incomprehensible three-dimensional form. The mountains in the painting had depth, the mist flowed slowly, the peach blossoms seemed to carry a fragrance, and every detail was so clear it made one's scalp tingle.

"This... is this a holographic projection?" Elder Wu adjusted his glasses, his face full of disbelief.

Just as everyone was stunned speechless by this surreal sight, an even more startling scene occurred.

Within the floating scroll, the eye of that tiny bird perched on the peach branch moved.

Immediately after, it preened its feathers and flapped its wings.

It flew out of the painting.

That bird, composed entirely of light and shadow, broke free from the constraints of the scroll and became an independent, living entity.

It flew around the entire banquet hall, the texture of its feathers changing colors under the light, its spirited eyes scanning the dumbfounded faces.

It flew past Chen Zihao's stiff smile, past Chen Tianyou's grim gaze, and finally landed gracefully on the rim of the crystal glass in the center of the main table.

It tilted its head and let out a crisp chirp.

That sound echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

Then, it transformed into a sky full of brilliant spots of light, slowly dissipating into the air.

The entire banquet hall was dead silent.

On stage, Chen Muyang pulled out the USB drive and put it back in his pocket. He walked to the microphone, looked around at the guests who were like petrified statues, and his calm voice broke the dead silence.

"Huihuang Group donates a technology."