diff --git a/mixnet/node.py b/mixnet/node.py
index e914a68f..fd8b6774 100644
--- a/mixnet/node.py
+++ b/mixnet/node.py
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@
 from mixnet.config import GlobalConfig, NodeConfig
 from mixnet.packet import Fragment, MessageFlag, MessageReconstructor, PacketBuilder
 
-NetworkPacket: TypeAlias = SphinxPacket | bytes
-NetworkPacketQueue: TypeAlias = asyncio.Queue[NetworkPacket]
+NetworkPacketQueue: TypeAlias = asyncio.Queue[bytes]
 Connection: TypeAlias = NetworkPacketQueue
 BroadcastChannel: TypeAlias = asyncio.Queue[bytes]
 
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ def __init__(self, config: NodeConfig, global_config: GlobalConfig):
 
     async def __process_sphinx_packet(
         self, packet: SphinxPacket
-    ) -> NetworkPacket | None:
+    ) -> SphinxPacket | None:
         try:
             processed = packet.process(self.config.private_key)
             match processed:
@@ -83,19 +82,19 @@ async def send_message(self, msg: bytes):
         for packet, _ in PacketBuilder.build_real_packets(
             msg, self.global_config.membership
         ):
-            await self.mixgossip_channel.gossip(packet)
+            await self.mixgossip_channel.gossip(FLAG_REAL + packet.bytes())
 
 
 class MixGossipChannel:
     peering_degree: int
     conns: list[DuplexConnection]
-    handler: Callable[[SphinxPacket], Awaitable[NetworkPacket | None]]
-    msg_cache: set[NetworkPacket]
+    handler: Callable[[SphinxPacket], Awaitable[SphinxPacket | None]]
+    msg_cache: set[bytes]
 
     def __init__(
         self,
         peer_degree: int,
-        handler: Callable[[SphinxPacket], Awaitable[NetworkPacket | None]],
+        handler: Callable[[SphinxPacket], Awaitable[SphinxPacket | None]],
     ):
         self.peering_degree = peer_degree
         self.conns = []
@@ -118,26 +117,24 @@ def add_conn(self, conn: DuplexConnection):
 
     async def __process_inbound_conn(self, conn: DuplexConnection):
         while True:
-            elem = await conn.recv()
-            # In practice, data transmitted through connections is going to be always 'bytes'.
-            # But here, we use the SphinxPacket type explicitly for simplicity
-            # without implementing serde for SphinxPacket.
-            if isinstance(elem, bytes):
-                assert elem == build_noise_packet()
-                # Drop packet
+            msg = await conn.recv()
+            if msg[:1] != FLAG_REAL:
+                # Drop noise packet
                 continue
-            elif isinstance(elem, SphinxPacket):
-                # Don't process the same message twice.
-                msg_hash = hashlib.sha256(elem.bytes()).digest()
-                if msg_hash in self.msg_cache:
-                    continue
-                self.msg_cache.add(msg_hash)
-                # Handle the packet and gossip the result if needed.
-                net_packet = await self.handler(elem)
-                if net_packet is not None:
-                    await self.gossip(net_packet)
-
-    async def gossip(self, packet: NetworkPacket):
+
+            # Don't process the same message twice.
+            msg_hash = hashlib.sha256(msg).digest()
+            if msg_hash in self.msg_cache:
+                continue
+            self.msg_cache.add(msg_hash)
+
+            # Handle the packet and gossip the result if needed.
+            sphinx_packet = SphinxPacket.from_bytes(msg[1:])
+            new_sphinx_packet = await self.handler(sphinx_packet)
+            if new_sphinx_packet is not None:
+                await self.gossip(FLAG_REAL + new_sphinx_packet.bytes())
+
+    async def gossip(self, packet: bytes):
         for conn in self.conns:
             await conn.send(packet)
 
@@ -150,10 +147,10 @@ def __init__(self, inbound: Connection, outbound: MixOutboundConnection):
         self.inbound = inbound
         self.outbound = outbound
 
-    async def recv(self) -> NetworkPacket:
+    async def recv(self) -> bytes:
         return await self.inbound.get()
 
-    async def send(self, packet: NetworkPacket):
+    async def send(self, packet: bytes):
         await self.outbound.send(packet)
 
 
@@ -178,9 +175,13 @@ async def __run(self):
                 elem = self.queue.get_nowait()
             await self.conn.put(elem)
 
-    async def send(self, elem: NetworkPacket):
+    async def send(self, elem: bytes):
         await self.queue.put(elem)
 
 
+FLAG_REAL = b"\x00"
+FLAG_NOISE = b"\x01"
+
+
 def build_noise_packet() -> bytes:
-    return bytes(DEFAULT_PAYLOAD_SIZE)
+    return FLAG_NOISE + bytes(DEFAULT_PAYLOAD_SIZE)