"Pretend to be Tian Suimei? How am I supposed to pull that off?"
Was it just because he was known for cross-dressing that they wanted him to do this?
He knew the organization had experts in disguise techniques—but they also had actual women! Why send a man like him?
Tang Lingyi simply couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Didn't you notice Tian Suimei looks oddly familiar?" Yang Li asked.
"I only glanced at her photo this morning—I don't even remember what she looks like," Tang Lingyi admitted honestly.
Yang Li walked over to the computer, tapped a few keys, and instantly a large screen in the room displayed a photo of Tian Suimei.
In the picture, Tian Suimei had golden-red ombre, voluminous waves cascading down her shoulders. Her eyes were mesmerizing—seductive, almost hypnotic—and paired with her curvaceous figure, she looked less like a wealthy heiress and more like a glamorous movie star.
"Hmm…" Tang Lingyi stroked his chin, studying the photo intently. "She does look kinda familiar… Have we met her somewhere before? Wait—hold on!"
A sudden flash of realization struck him. Tian Suimei had abruptly fled overseas. Yang Jie had urgently recalled him. And now this mission—stealing confidential documents from Tianye Group—was supposedly only possible for him.
Putting all these clues together, Tang Lingyi arrived at a conclusion so absurd he barely dared to believe it himself.
"Don't tell me… I look like her?!"
"Bingo!" Yang Li snapped her fingers with a satisfied smile. "You're still sharp, Lingyi. I ran a facial comparison between the two of you—93% similarity. And conveniently, Tian Suimei just fled overseas. We've also obtained her fingerprint overlays and iris-matching contact lenses. You can easily impersonate her, walk right into Tianye Group, retrieve the documents openly and legally, and walk out without suspicion. Their entire verification system is fully automated—if you pass the biometric checks, no one will question your identity."
As she spoke, Yang Li pulled up Tang Lingyi's photo beside Tian Suimei's. The on-screen analysis confirmed their facial features shared over 93% similarity.
"But… I don't look anything like her…" Tang Lingyi started to protest, then paused. "Well… actually, now that you mention it, we do kinda look alike. Wait—could she be my sister or something?"
At first, he'd thought they looked nothing alike—mainly because of their vastly different vibes. Tian Suimei radiated mature, sultry allure, while Tang Lingyi, though slightly androgynous with his shoulder-length black hair, gave off more of a soft, Japanese-style bishōnen aesthetic.
Different styles could make even near-identical features feel worlds apart.
But was this just a coincidence… or was there actual blood relation between him and Tianye Group?
After this mission, he definitely needed to get a DNA test with Chairman Tian Yushu. What if he really was their long-lost biological son?
If that were true, he could reveal his identity after completing the mission, be welcomed as the rightful heir, and instantly ascend to the peak of life.
Thinking about it… it almost felt like fate had chosen him.
"Hehehe…" Lost in his daydream, Tang Lingyi couldn't help but chuckle aloud.
"What are you grinning about like an idiot?" Yang Li asked.
"Ah? Nothing…" He snapped back to reality. "So… you want me to go because I look like her? But we've got colleagues who specialize in disguise—wouldn't their impersonation be even more accurate than me?"
"You were smart a second ago, and now you're acting dumb again?" Yang Li sighed. "Tianye Group's security is so advanced, they definitely use infrared thermal imaging. If you wore a prosthetic mask, it'd be detected instantly."
"Right… Wait a minute, Sis Yang—if they've got thermal imaging, then I can't go either! I may look like her, but I'm still biologically male! The system would expose me the second it scans me!"
"Now you're asking the right question," Yang Li said with a nod. "Which is why, before you infiltrate Tianye Group, there's one more task you must complete."
"What's that?"
"Become a girl."
"Oh, become a girl—wait, WHAT!?"
······
"Damn it! Failed again!"
Li Tianlong clenched his fists in frustration as the screen displayed his fifteenth failed attempt to rank up to Gold.
At twenty-five, aside from occasionally taking on missions or doing some light cleaning around the base, he spent virtually all his time gaming.
And despite that, he was still terrible—"hopelessly bad but addicted," as Tang Lingyi liked to put it.
"Hahaha! Another failed promotion, Long Ge?" A silvery, bell-like laugh rang out from the doorway.
Standing there was no longer Tang Lingyi—but Tang Lingyi.
Her name had been slightly altered because Yang Jie felt that if the gender changed, the name should symbolically change too.
Though the voice was undeniably feminine, Li Tianlong didn't even need to look to know it was his childhood friend teasing him.
"Don't you start! If you hadn't barged in and distracted me earlier, I might've won!" he grumbled.
"Oh, come on! I caused you to die once, and that's my fault now?"
"You're just—"
Li Tianlong turned around, ready to blame his loss entirely on Tang Lingyi—
—and froze.
At the doorway stood a girl in a white short-sleeve top, a pink mini-skirt, and high-top white sneakers. Her long black hair framed delicate features, and her figure was unmistakably feminine.
"Why are you dressed like that? Did Yang Jie not beat you for this?"
Yang Li knew Tang Lingyi sometimes used cross-dressing as a tactical disguise during escapes, but she worried it might "mess with his head" if he did it too often. She'd strictly forbidden him from wearing women's clothing outside of missions.
"Beat me? She's the one who dressed me like this!" Tang Lingyi frowned, clearly annoyed.
"What are you mad about? You used to love styling yourself all androgynous anyway."
"Don't you notice anything different about me, Long Ge?" Tang Lingyi twirled gracefully in front of him.
"Different? Hmm…" Li Tianlong scrutinized her from head to toe—then his eyes locked onto the gentle swell beneath her white top. His expression shifted to shock. He reached out and gave it a light squeeze—only to find it soft and yielding.
"How'd your chest get like that? Are you stuffing it with something?"
Tang Lingyi rolled her eyes at his cluelessness. "It's real flesh."
"Yeah, right. Where'd you get 'real flesh'? Oh! Wait—you mean those things, right?" Li Tianlong's eyes lit up.
"What things?"
"Prosthetic breasts! The kind you use when cross-dressing. Man, you're getting seriously professional at this." He gave another experimental squeeze. "Honestly, the texture feels super realistic."
"Right? I think so too," Tang Lingyi smiled sweetly.
Well, duh—it *was* real. Of course it felt realistic.
···Flashback: Fifteen Minutes Earlier···
When Yang Li first said, "Become a girl," Tang Lingyi was utterly baffled.
She then pulled out several syringes from her drawer and explained, "This is a newly developed serum from the underground market. It targets chromosomal genes—essentially, it's a gender-altering injection."
"A gender-changing drug?! Does tech like this even exist now?"
"It's from the *underground* market—of course it's not available publicly. If something like this hit the open market, society would descend into chaos. Enough questions—come here, I'll give you the shot."
"Wait, wait, Sis Yang!" Tang Lingyi scrambled backward as she approached with the needle. "Does this stuff have side effects?"
Yang Li frowned. "You little brat! Would I give you something dangerous? This single dose costs hundreds of thousands! The client promised full reimbursement upon mission success—that's the only reason I even bought it."
"Oh, fair enough… Wait! Can I change back afterward?"
"Of course. This is XX-gene serum. Just inject the XY version later, and you'll revert."
"Oh, okay… Wait!" Tang Lingyi dodged again as Yang Li raised the syringe.
Exasperated, Yang Li crossed her arms. "Just ask all your questions at once so I can finally give you the shot."
"Uh… I don't have any more questions. It's just… I'm scared of needles—AHH!"
Before he could finish, Yang Li jabbed the needle into his arm.
As the serum flowed in, Tang Lingyi felt a wave of dizziness and heat flood his body. He quickly collapsed onto the nearby sofa.
About five minutes later, he—or rather, *she*—woke up feeling clearer. She rushed to the bathroom to check herself in the mirror.
Her face looked almost exactly the same—no dramatic changes. Her height hadn't changed either; she'd always been around 168 cm (though she insisted she was 170).
"Hmm… nothing seems different? Wait—my voice!"
When she spoke, her voice had transformed into a soft, naturally feminine tone—very similar to the falsetto she used to mimic girls, but far more authentic.
"And your body changed too—go ahead, take a look," Yang Li said, suddenly appearing behind her and swiftly lifting her shirt.
Staring into the mirror, Tang Lingyi gasped, hands flying to her mouth in shock at the sight of two perfectly shaped, teardrop-like breasts.
"Holy sh—?!"
"No swearing! You're a girl now!" Yang Li scolded.
Her very first thought after becoming a girl? To go prank her dear Long Ge.
So she hurried back to her room, changed into a full feminine outfit, and marched straight to Li Tianlong's room.
···Back to the Present···
Li Tianlong still had no idea what was really going on. He assumed the chest was prosthetic and marveled, "Did you just buy these? What's inside them like?"
Tang Lingyi hesitated. "Inside… it's exactly like real breasts."
"No way! Seriously? Let me see!"
Of course, Li Tianlong had zero romantic interest in his male friend—he was just genuinely curious.
"Uh… no," Tang Lingyi refused. Even *she* had felt shy looking at herself—letting Long Ge see would feel even weirder.
"Why not?"
"Because…" Tang Lingyi took a deep breath. "Long Ge… I've become a girl."
"Hah! Get lost."
In that moment, Li Tianlong's reaction speed surpassed even that of a professional esports player.