418: Chapter 868 In the Shadows!

As someone called out for Zhao Yang.

The students around him who had come to attend the International Congress of Mathematicians received the signal, and quickly began to gather around.

Everyone's eyes were filled with curiosity and excitement.

"God Zhao! I am your fan!"

"Me too! Our professor said in private that Zhao Yang has dragged the mathematics community forward by twenty years all by himself. He has mentioned your name at least three times during class, and his expression is always very complicated whenever he mentions it."

"I'm in a research group at MIT, and we spend half of our group meetings discussing your paper on P vs NP."

"Our professor is even more exaggerated; he makes students memorize Appendix Two of that paper."

The noise gradually grew louder, and more and more people surrounded them. Wang Hai pulled Zhao Yang half a meter behind him and shouted in alternating Korean and English for everyone to keep their distance, but it was useless.

These students had no malicious intent; they were simply overwhelmed by the excitement of having their idol right in front of them. Someone handed over a notebook, someone else held up a phone to take pictures, and another person tried to squeeze through the wall of people to shove a marker into Zhao Yang's hand.

Only then did the stall owner recognize who the person in front of him was. The young man who had just pointed at his manuscript and called him a "fraud" was that very Zhao Yang.

He stood behind the stall, stunned for a long while. The expression on his face changed from anger to confusion, and finally to dejection. He lowered his head and began to silently gather up the scattered printed papers on the table one by one, stuffed those manuscripts into an old canvas bag, and then shouldered the bag and turned to leave.

Zhao Yang didn't even notice the stall owner's departure.

At this moment, he stood in the middle of the crowd, signing the notebooks that were thrust in front of him. Someone nearby was asking him questions in English; some asked what he would be talking about at the conference report, and others asked if the Hodge Conjecture might become the next Millennium Prize Problem to be solved.

There was even someone who said that their doctoral thesis cited his Polynomial method framework and wanted to ask if they could put his name in the acknowledgments section. Zhao Yang picked a few questions to answer briefly, then nodded to the crowd and turned to walk away under Wang Hai's escort.

While pushing their way out, Wang Hai kept a straight face the entire time, protecting Zhao Yang's shoulder with his left hand and pushing away the people blocking their path with his right.

Zhao Yang followed closely behind Wang Hai, walking quickly across the plaza, with Wang Hong following right behind. After a while, the two returned to the hotel lobby.

Upon arriving here, they finally left those boiling crowds behind.

At this moment, Wang Hong looked at Zhao Yang with a hint of admiration and said.

"Teacher Zhao, only now do I realize just how much influence you have internationally. I studied for four years as an undergraduate and two years for my master's at Peking University, and I always thought you were amazing at Peking University, but the scene today—those were all doctoral students from the world's top universities, not ordinary passersby. The way they looked at you didn't look like they were looking at a scholar, but more like they were looking at a legend."

Zhao Yang leaned back in his seat and rubbed his temples.

"This isn't a good thing. It's inconvenient to go anywhere. I was just chatting with that amateur scientist, and before I could continue, I was surrounded."

Zhao Yang's tone was full of helplessness.

However, he also understood clearly that it was because the average educational level in this place was too high, and there were simply too many people who recognized him.

Wang Hong laughed.

"But this is a reflection of your influence. Others can't even beg for this kind of influence."

"You should go have some free time. There are still some places in Seoul worth visiting; Myeong-dong is quite lively at night."

By the time Zhao Yang said this, he no longer had the mood to go out again. He had originally wanted to go to the venue to take a look around and see if there were any notable new achievements, but now it seemed there was no need for that. Wang Hong looked at him, knew that he was probably really tired, and nodded.

Zhao Yang turned and returned to his room. The electronic sound of the key card unlocking the door was exceptionally crisp in the empty corridor. He took off his coat, draped it over the armrest of the sofa, walked to the window to close the curtains, and sat down at the desk.

Meanwhile, in an inconspicuous gray building somewhere in Seoul, a windowless meeting room was filled with smoke.

Several people dressed in casual clothes were sitting around a long table, with several documents spread out on the table; the letterhead of the documents bore the logo of the Secret Service. The person leading them was a white man in his forties with very short hair and a serious expression.

His gaze swept over the people around him, and he spoke in a cold tone.

"The target has been confirmed to have arrived in Seoul. They are staying at the InterContinental Hotel in the Gangnam District, room number on the 32nd floor; we have confirmed the specific floor and room number through the hotel's internal system."

He spread a floor plan of the hotel on the table, with several red dots and arrows marked on it.

An Asian face sitting across from him pushed up their glasses.

"The driver in charge of his security, based on our previous observations, is at least from special forces. The Dragon Country Embassy in South Korea has also dispatched additional accompanying security personnel. A direct confrontation is not a good choice."

"His people are staying on the same floor, with two rooms—one at the end of the left corridor, and one right next to the target's room. However, there is a brief gap during shift changes, with an overlapping window of about two minutes."

A technician in a dark shirt next to him turned the laptop screen over; on it was a screenshot of surveillance video, where one could vaguely see the movements of security personnel changing guard in the corridor.

"What about the second plan?"

The leading white man tapped the table impatiently.

"Disguise ourselves as room service staff and use a food delivery cart to enter the room. But the target hasn't called for any room service since checking in, and approaching them proactively carries too high a risk. If we could install micro-surveillance in the room in advance while the target is out, subsequent actions would be more certain, but there's a problem: the target's time out is extremely erratic, and it's hard to pin down a window for setup before they leave. The only truly feasible opportunity is likely the time when he leaves to go to the venue."

"The venue is crowded and chaotic. Execute the first plan. While he is on his way from the hotel to the venue, find someone to blend into the crowd to create a small crush, and take close-range control of the target during the chaos. If we cannot successfully take him away, immediately switch to the backup plan: create an accident on the spot to ensure the target cannot leave alive."

"We have already decrypted part of the communication encryption used by the South Korean police, so it won't trigger an immediate alarm. But the window for action is very limited. Once the target enters the venue, the security presence will increase exponentially, leaving almost no room for operation."

"That is why we need to solve the problem on the way."

The leader stood up, pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray to extinguish it, and said to everyone around him with a serious expression.

"You all know the consequences of failure; I don't need to emphasize the importance of the target again. This person holds a vast amount of technology and intelligence, and this technology and intelligence are very likely directly related to the strategic layout of the Dragon Country for the next ten-plus years. Therefore, no matter what the final result is, the target must not be allowed to leave Seoul alive!"