422: Chapter 872 Damn it! You call this a researcher?

Zhao Yang's nanobots had captured the abnormal movements of those few people in advance.

On the screen, several red light dots were moving through the crowd toward his direction at an unnatural speed, and there were signals of metallic reflection at each person's wrist.

The moment he saw them reveal their knives, Zhao Yang pulled Wang Hai over and, almost simultaneously, turned sideways and lifted his leg, kicking the chest of the person rushing in front.

That person flew backward, crashing into the human wall behind, and the knife in his hand slipped out and fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.

A person with an Asian face nearby was about to bypass Wang Hai from the side, but was stunned for a split second by Zhao Yang's kick. Wang Hai backhanded and grabbed his wrist, twisted it forcefully, flipped him over, and pressed his knee directly onto the opponent's lower back.

"Go!"

Wang Hai shouted at Zhao Yang, then protected Zhao Yang and quickly retreated.

The other security personnel quickly filled in to seal the gap.

The crowd behind didn't know what had happened in front and was still pushing forward; some were shouting "God Zhao," and others were holding up phones to take pictures.

The scene was briefly out of control. Zhao Yang pushed through the crowd with very fast strides, Wang Hai following closely behind his side, one hand always pressed on the handle of the gun at his waist.

After returning to the hotel, Zhao Yang went straight into his room.

Wang Hai gave some low instructions to the security personnel at the door, then walked in and locked the door from the inside.

His expression was very ugly, and there was a shallow scratch on his left arm; his sleeve was torn, but it hadn't broken the skin. He leaned against the door panel and took a deep breath.

"Professor Zhao, those people just now were not ordinary thugs. Their positioning and timing of the attack were trained. If you hadn't reacted quickly, that knife would have stabbed me. They wanted to take me out first, then act on you." He paused, "This is my dereliction of duty."

"It has nothing to do with you. You have done very well."

Zhao Yang took off his coat and draped it on the back of the chair.

Meanwhile, inside a van in a narrow alley in Seoul.

Several secret service personnel disguised as students had just retreated from the square, their clothes still covered in dust from being jostled by the crowd.

These people were all silent at this moment, the expressions on their faces mixed with unwillingness and confusion.

The white man named Anderson leaned against the wall of the carriage, subconsciously rubbing his right wrist repeatedly; this was the bruised spot where he had instinctively backed up and hit the guardrail when Zhao Yang kicked his companion away.

"Damn it! His reaction speed is not like an academic at all. That bodyguard's reaction is already at a special operations level, but Zhao Yang's movements are even faster than his. I didn't even see clearly how he kicked, and Rogers had already flown out."

Anderson said somewhat angrily.

"What exactly is the intelligence department doing? Such important intelligence, and they knew nothing about it?"

Another person pulled off the wig on his head and threw it on the ground, cursing fiercely.

"This is an intelligence failure. In our mission report, Zhao Yang's threat level was marked as 'low,' saying he was just a researcher and lacked combat ability. Fuck the researcher! I've never seen a target with such nimble movements in my life."

The lead captain leaned against the partition behind the driver's seat, tapping his knees with his fingers.

"We should have used guns just now. Although it would have exposed us in the crowd, at least there would have been a chance to hit the target in the chaos."

"No one expected him to have that kind of skill."

Anderson said.

A middle-aged man who had been silent the whole time was squatting in the corner, rubbing the base of his right palm against the first knuckle of his thumb, and he slowly raised his head.

"Stop saying these useless things. The mission has failed, and the target has entered a state of maximum alert. It is impossible for us to find any opportunity to act in Seoul again."

He took a deep breath.

"Report the truth to the higher-ups. We must have headquarters update Zhao Yang's threat assessment. Next time there is an opportunity, he will not be treated as a 'low-threat researcher' but as a 'high-threat military target.' All operational plans must be redesigned. From now on, we need to treat Zhao Yang as an agent who has received professional combat training."

On the other side, inside the hotel.

Wang Hai closed the curtains and picked up the internal communicator to contact the embassy.

"Yes, Professor Zhao himself is safe. There are four of us here, and two more on the perimeter. We need to arrange an evacuation immediately."

After hanging up the communicator, Wang Hai turned to Zhao Yang and said.

"The embassy is already coordinating. There is a diplomatic plane on standby at Incheon Airport, ready to take off at any time. We must leave South Korea immediately. We are leaving now."

Zhao Yang nodded.

"Don't blame yourself too much. We had a contingency plan for this situation before we left."

"A plan is a plan, but when you actually encounter it, it's still..."

Wang Hai didn't finish his sentence, just wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it. Please pack your things first."

Zhao Yang put the fields medal and his documents into his backpack and zipped it up.

Then he sent short messages to Terence Tao and Vice President Tian, the gist being that something urgent had come up and he needed to leave early, and that Vice President Tian would handle the follow-up matters of the report meeting. He did not explain the reason.

Late that night, a black sedan with diplomatic license plates quietly drove into the hotel's underground garage.

Zhao Yang and Wang Hai went straight down to the garage by elevator and got into the back seat.

The car did not turn on its headlights, slowly drove out along the spiral ramp of the garage, passed through several alleys, and then turned onto the highway leading to Incheon Airport.

The special plane arranged by the embassy was waiting on the runway, and the engines had already been warmed up.

When boarding the ramp, Zhao Yang looked back at the night view of Seoul; the city was brightly lit, no different from when he arrived.

He bent down and climbed into the cabin, and Wang Hai followed behind and pulled the cabin door shut.

The plane taxied onto the runway, accelerated, and climbed for takeoff.

Just as it landed at Yanjing Airport, the cabin door opened. Wang Hai went down first to scan the surroundings, followed by Zhao Yang.

Standing on the ramp, he could already see a row of people standing below. In addition to General Li, there were several faces he didn't recognize, dressed in casual clothes but standing with straight postures.

General Li stepped forward and looked Zhao Yang up and down.

"Fortunately, you are unharmed. I was in a meeting when I received the news. If you hadn't dodged that, catching people afterward wouldn't be able to make up for it."

He patted Zhao Yang on the shoulder.

"I've let you be frightened. I still underestimated the shamelessness of those people. It seems that the next time there is such a trip, the security plan must be upgraded by another level."

"I didn't actually get hurt."

Zhao Yang shrugged and said, looking at General Li.

"That's because of your own skills, and your bodyguard also contributed a lot."

General Li smiled.

After Zhao Yang spoke briefly with General Li and a few other leaders, he bid farewell and got into the car.

When he returned to the villa, it was already early morning. He threw his backpack on the sofa, stood in the living room for a moment, and then walked into the basement.