CHAPTER 127: CHAPTER 126: YOU ACTUALLY BETRAYED THE RULING CLASS, CNM!

Le Yu had also realized that there were way too many holes in this "Hidden Yin" identity.

A lone white-haired assassin infiltrating upper-class society to gather intel just didn’t make sense—Hidden Yin’s choice to stay hidden in the slums, coordinating and relaying info, actually made a ton of sense. Thanks to his hair color, the odds of him getting exposed were sky-high, plus nobody would ever trust an assassin with terminal white hair anyway.

White Night’s setup was definitely smart: assigning Hidden Yin to handle logistics, assassinations, and backup—the stuff he was actually good at. And he pulled it off like a pro.

Even though everyone acknowledged Hidden Yin’s information-gathering skills, nobody thought he’d be out there moonlighting as a courtesan, surveillance staff, or store manager—the "field agents" who mingled in public. For gigs like that, where you have to show your face? Unless Hidden Yin went full Mr. Clean and shaved his head, he’d instantly get flagged by everyone as "a wild Sword Concealer (dim-light variant)," the kind you kill for loot and gold drops.

And don’t fool yourself into thinking Xuanzhu County is all chummy with Sword Concealers—remember why Le Yu got trafficked in the first place? Among the merchants, the "white-hair fetishists" aren’t above trying to mess with even an assassin.

Merchants pony up the cash, assassins risk their necks, all for profit. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, using normal logic, Hidden Yin really only had one play—

Stick to the tried and true.

Just like he’d gone undercover in White Night, Hidden Yin was definitely undercover in some organization now—and since that organization was tied closely to the Silver Blood Association, that explained how he was getting all that juicy secret intel.

So, the real question: which organization had Hidden Yin slipped into?

The answer was almost self-evident—Hidden Yin’s intel runs covered: the Shi Family’s black market deals, Jing Zhengwu’s little gold nest egg, Jing Zhengwei launching a newspaper, the Silver Blood Association moving to clear out unstable workers, and, conveniently enough, streamlining things for White Night’s people to get into the newspaper office.

Out of five key tips, three were tied directly to the Jing Family. White Night would absolutely figure Hidden Yin was hiding out inside the Jing Family!

Taking it a step further, guessing that Jing Zhengwei was Hidden Yin wasn’t even that far-fetched... Still, Le Yu wasn’t exactly sweating it. Seriously, what sane person would believe that the notorious, lecherous, cruel, and violent eldest son of the Jing Family would willingly join up with White Night to fight Silver Blood Association?

That’s not betrayal of class—that’s like having an ogre mage buff the enemy team with Bloodthirst Technique—a total suicide move.

If anyone else found out about what Le Yu was up to, they’d probably rage-scream at him,

"You actually betrayed your own ruling class, you motherfucker!"

But the fact that White Night suspected Hidden Yin was hiding in the Jing Family wasn’t all bad for Le Yu—in fact, now he’d have the perfect excuse to use White Night’s resources to stir shit up legitimately.

But there was one thing Le Yu had to do—

He couldn’t let White Night think that Jing Zhengwei was one of theirs.

He had zero interest in getting caught writing copy in the editor-in-chief’s office, only to have Mu Qingmei suddenly sneak in, pull down the blinds, and whisper the secret code all mysterious-like: "Hey, White Night Walker!"

That could very well lead straight into Le Yu’s absolute nightmare scenario: Jing Zhengwei, in reflection, not regretting wasting his life or feeling ashamed for doing nothing—but instead, on his deathbed, claiming he gave his whole life and energy to the noblest cause ever—to fight for the liberation of Dongyang District.

But that was the whole point—Le Yu just wanted to waste his youth and accomplish jack shit!

And running a newspaper? Way too much hassle. Le Yu’s crazy anecdotes and alt-Quora stories would dry up eventually, and—even though "Future Echoes" was flowing pretty easily right now—writer’s block could hit anytime.

Le Yu was already mentally prepared to ditch everything—once he got bored of pretending to be a capitalist, burned out on revolution, and lost interest in writing fiction, he’d just take a big pile of cash and globe-hop through mystical ruins until his feet fell off.

No way in hell was he going to give White Night a chance to "bind" to Jing Zhengwei!

That was why Le Yu would rather go full drag than pass up the chance to meet White Night’s people face to face—this way, at worst, White Night might doubt he was Hidden Yin, but they’d never suspect he was Jing Zhengwei!

Never mind the fact Mu Qingmei could vouch that Jing Zhengwei was still showing up at the news office—after all, what normal person would guess the grand young master of the Jing Family was moonlighting in drag?

But honestly, Hidden Yin and Jing Zhengwei were roughly the same height, both skinny, slightly delicate guys. Slap on a veil, pencil those brows, lay down a little powder, top off with a white wig, and Le Yu was dead sure that White Night’s crew would buy him as Hidden Yin—seriously, besides pro assassins, who the hell else would cross-dress this hard?

Bonus points: Le Yu had both Hidden Yin’s and Jing Zhengwei’s drag memories stored up. The first was all about using normal makeup and precise touchups; the second went for full luxury products and all-out styling.

He’d taken the best of both worlds, mixed the virtuoso skills of two masters, and decided his finished look was hotter than Qing Lan herself. He could waltz into Xiangxue Sea and actually snag herself a gig as a courtesan.

Still, the fact that Le Yu had impersonated three different people and two of them were makeup whizzes—thank god Qian Yuliu wasn’t into that, or else he’d have to start wondering if "drag artistry" was the shining tradition of the Yao men...

Since Wen Hong genuinely believed he was Hidden Yin, Le Yu figured there was no point in dragging it out, so he said, "I actually thought Yin Minghong would be the one coming today. Didn’t expect you, Medical Officer Wen Hong."

Calling her out directly—letting her know that I was onto her identity, so she could skip the usual intro spiel.

Wen Hong seemed to think of something, and couldn’t help cracking up, "You were hoping he’d walk into this tailor shop, and just like you did with me, you’d drag him into the changing room, make him think he was about to get lucky, then suddenly drop your male voice and scare the hell out of him?"

Le Yu couldn’t stop himself from stealing a glance at Wen Hong. Never thought his diabolical prank would get seen through in seconds—damn, you know your stuff!

"Too bad he didn’t come," Le Yu sighed, "otherwise, it would’ve been a blast."

Just imagine: you’re getting pulled into a changing room by a hot young woman, getting all worked up and blood is heading downtown, and then she suddenly busts out with a dude’s voice. That kind of psychological damage could cripple a man for life.

Le Yu had originally wanted to freak Yin Minghong out, but fate dealt him Wen Hong instead. What was supposed to be homoerotic instantly swerved into full GL vibes.

"Good thing he didn’t come," Wen Hong said, "the guy’s crazy cautious and has a massive hang-up about women. If you suddenly grabbed his hand, he might lash out and actually hurt you."

"Plus, you’re hauling him somewhere this cramped—what if his beast instincts kick in? He’s still a total virgin, and it’d suck if you accidentally got hurt."

Wen Hong grabbed Le Yu’s hand, and said sincerely, "You really ought to take better care of yourself."

Even though she sounded super genuine, oozing concern with every word, Le Yu still felt there was something a little off about Wen Hong—and her overly familiar attitude put him on edge. He pulled his hand back, pretended to play it cool, and replied, "Maybe you’re worrying about the wrong person—I am the Hidden Yin you guys are chasing, after all. Instead of pitying me, maybe look out for yourselves."

But Wen Hong just took it in stride, grabbed his hand again, and nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, you’re the last person who needs coddling, Hidden Yin. But if anything’s ever bothering you, you can always talk to us—since we’re partners now, White Night’s got your back."

"By the way, could you use your girl voice?" Wen Hong glanced at the back door, "Someone could walk by out there, and it’d be weird if they heard a guy’s voice. Plus, you might actually find it more comfortable."

I had no idea why using my girl voice would be "more comfortable," but I wasn’t about to shoot down the suggestion. Combat Technique actually did have some nifty voice-changing tricks, and huffing and puffing to fake it the hard way got old fast. At this point, I could do anything from gruff uncle to anime loli. My girl voice? Could out-flirt, out-party, and out-sweet Qing Lan any day.

After switching to my girl voice, Wen Hong’s favorability skyrocketed instantly—if we’d just been "good friends" before, we’d gone full "besties" now.

I figured I couldn’t sit around and banter with Wen Hong anymore—something about her was seriously GL-coded. "No way, does this world really have girls who are into crossdressing dudes? Seriously?"

"What does White Night want from me?"

Getting down to business, Wen Hong got serious too, "We’ve hit a rough patch lately, and we need your advice... or maybe some help."