Xia Li hurriedly prepared to leave, turning around to depart. But Ke Xiao suddenly rapped the table hard.

  "I already made you coffee—you're not going to drink it?"

  Ke Xiao's tone was somewhat serious. Xia Li hesitated for a moment before turning back to pick up the coffee on the table.

  The taste was very smooth, with a milky aroma—should be a classic latte.

  Come to think of it, Xia Li hadn't had coffee in a very long time.

  "How is it?"

  "Very good."

  "Then drink it slowly. This mission doesn't require you to go immediately. The transaction is tomorrow night—you still have time to prepare. And you'd better prepare carefully!"

  With that, Ke Xiao's fingers tapped on a virtual console Xia Li couldn't see, and more information appeared on the screens.

  Such as route information and equipment information needed for the mission.

  "The preliminary work for this mission was done by me, just waiting for the right person to take over. The organization already had someone who'd accepted it—they were on their way. Your stealing the mission like this requires some show of appreciation."

  "According to organization rules, half the spirit stone reward goes to them, and they also take one-third of the points reward. Depends on whether they agree too—can you accept this?"

  Stealing a mission someone else had already accepted was indeed improper, so Xia Li directly nodded in agreement.

  He didn't care about mission rewards anyway.

  "Good. I'll communicate with them."

  After saying this, Ke Xiao closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, looking like she was sleeping. After about several minutes, she opened her eyes again.

  "They agreed. But she'll still come by first—some necessary equipment is with her."

  "Then why don't I just complete this mission together with them? I can work for free without any rewards."

  "No. This is a solo mission. The organization only made preparations for one person. Only one of you can go."

  "Alright..."

  Xia Li knew Hidden Wing's style—minimizing impact, focusing on assassination and infiltration, not subscribing to the "strength in numbers" approach.

  "Then I'll continue. Because the transaction location is in Upper City, first is how you'll enter Upper City."

  "If you don't go through the Grand Elevator to reach Upper City, you're considered illegally smuggling yourself in. Get caught by the various cameras throughout the city and you'll attract the Mechanical Enforcement Squad."

  "But going through the Grand Elevator leaves access records. So you have three options."

  "Cargo passage, garbage passage, Grand Elevator."

  "The cargo passage is slower. To prevent scheduling conflicts and delays, the cargo box you're hiding in needs to be expedited—this leaves records and is a potential risk."

  "The garbage passage has almost no risks, but the passage is filled with various sensors. You need to master Divine Sense Intrusion to a sufficiently high degree."

  "If you take the Grand Elevator, there's an identity forger, but the failure time is uncertain—usually within one hour. This makes timing extremely strict."

  "Or... you can pay out of pocket to purchase a completely convincing identity from the organization."

  Infiltrating Upper City wasn't simple. AI distributed across all industries and locations frequently performed data self-checks, minimizing errors.

  This meant that once AI self-checks occurred, there was a very high risk of exposure.

  For example, if Xia Li forged an identity to go up, during AI self-check it would evaluate that identity's legitimacy and trace the identity's past experiences.

  If any of that data didn't match up and the AI found the identity suspicious, it would immediately trigger an alert.

  The organization also wouldn't fully fabricate an identity for a B-rank mission. In this new era, because counterfeiting was easy but authentication was also easy, creating something truly convincing required enormous cost.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Any fully fabricated identity required at least over a decade of work, forging from the birth certificate onward.

  A forged identity was very valuable—after all, it required a real person to constantly maintain that identity.

  In Hidden Wing, such people were called "Impostors"—identities ready to be replaced at any time when needed.

  "I choose the garbage passage."

  Xia Li barely considered the cargo passage or forged identity. Pre-infiltration safety was directly proportional to post-mission cleanup difficulty.

  This type of mission was destined to need someone cleaning up afterward.

  If the mess was too dirty to clean, there was a possibility of being abandoned.

  Hidden Wing wasn't some charity organization. Conditions were given—whether you succeeded depended on personal ability. Being able to complete missions with lower requirements made you more worth cultivating.

  "Good. Although we're a force supported by the Democratic Government, their support is mostly informational. They won't cooperate with operations—they might even eliminate you to distance themselves. Outside the city they'll do their best to provide convenience, but for operations inside the city..."

  "They hit the hardest!"

  Ke Xiao warned Xia Li to be extremely careful. Don't be careless just because Hidden Wing had good relations with the Democratic Government—at critical moments, the Democratic Government would only add insult to injury to cover secrets.

  "Understood."

  Xia Li didn't blame the Democratic Government for this. It was the reasonable thing to do—otherwise, if everyone knew the Democratic Government maintained an intelligence department called Hidden Wing, what would be "hidden" about it?

  "Here's the garbage passage route map. Pick a location you think is reasonable. I'd suggest the sewage treatment center—fewer people there."

  "After you emerge, just knock out any employee and disguise yourself as them. The spiritual artifact Thousand Faces is with the person whose mission you stole. She can get here tonight."

  "Will this be dangerous for the person I'm disguising as?"

  "No. Once you're confirmed as an impostor, they won't bear any responsibility—they're a victim too."

  "Good."

  Xia Li wanted to avoid harming innocents as much as possible.

  Disguising as someone who already had an Upper City identity could withstand AI self-checks better than suddenly producing an unknown identity.

  "As for subsequent implementation, I'll communicate with you in real-time based on the situation."

  With that, Ke Xiao tilted her head back and drained the last of her coffee.

  "Xia Li, this is high-risk work that tests personal ability more than technique. The organization can accept failure on this one, but can you? You can't afford the consequences of failure."

  "Once your true identity is exposed."

  "For the sake of secrecy, the Democratic Government won't let you go. The organization won't let you go either."

  "And even if you succeed, it's equivalent to stepping from backstage onto the stage. Are you really prepared to go on stage?"

  "Offstage you still have freedom—you can refuse. Once you step onto the stage under everyone's gaze, you must keep performing. Either you drop dead from exhaustion, or you satisfy the audience and complete an entire act."

  Stepping onto the stage meant receiving more attention from the organization and Democratic Government. Being treated better, while also being required to do more.

  Perhaps unable to refuse!

  "When you first joined us, you worried about being forcibly assigned missions. You can still back out now."