Yue Xiaofei took out a specially made phone that looked ordinary but was protected by the highest level of encryption. He deftly opened a hidden messaging app.
The screen was pitch-black except for a blood-red Reverse Scale emblem turning slowly at its center.
This was Reverse Scale's private encrypted channel.
The moment he logged on, a playful profile picture flashed.
Man-Rat. Han Duoduo.
A message popped up.
"Xiaofei, Goryeo's snapping at everyone like a rabid dog! They're smearing you and your father all over the internet. It's making us sick!"
"Public opinion's turning against us! Want me to hack their entire network and replace the presidential office's homepage with Peppa Pig?"
A cute, snarling emoji followed.
Yue Xiaofei's icy expression softened a little at Han Duoduo's irreverent message.
His slender fingers flew across the screen.
"No need."
He sent the two-word reply.
Han Duoduo answered almost instantly. "Huh? No need? Why? We're just going to let them drag your name through the mud? That doesn't sound like you!"
A cold smile touched Yue Xiaofei's lips.
"Shifting public opinion is too much trouble, and it won't solve the real problem. I'm going to deal with it at the source. I need a favor."
Han Duoduo replied at once. "Name it! I'd climb a mountain of knives or walk through fire for you without batting an eye!"
"Dig up every dirty secret you can find on Goryeo's current president, Yoon Seokjun, and his beautiful wife, Jin Xiuyan, from childhood to now."
A cold glint flashed in Yue Xiaofei's eyes.
"And I mean everything. How he rode his father-in-law's family connections to power, crushed his rivals, secretly traded favors for money, and hid a vast fortune... And his wife's tangled love life as a student, the bloodshed behind her family's original fortune..."
"The