Unable to connect to xray reality server via reverse proxy using brook-pf

[Heclalava]

I have a reverse proxy running Unicom as ISP, and I am unable to connect to the foreign VPS running Xray-core v25.12.8.

The reverse proxy uses broof-pf to port forward from a port on the reverse proxy to port 443 on the foreign proxy using the following rule:
./brook relays -l ":12250 FOREIGN_IP_ADDRESS:443"

This worked fine strangely with a Telecom reverse proxy, but the connection was unstable so switched back to a Unicom server.

I can confirm the foreign IP address is not blocked and the reverse proxy can create a connection to v2ray on the foreign VPS.

I have also tried using socat, rinetd, and even wrapping the xray reality connection in a ws+TLS tunnel as a test. Nothing works.
When using the ws+TLS tunnel I can see the reverse proxy is passing the connection through to the foreign VPS in the terminal. So there is a clear communication between both VPS, but it is as if xray just isn't accepting the connection or denying the connection.

I am unable to connect via the reverse proxy. However I can connect direct to the foreign xray proxy. So it is not an issue with the xray setup.

Server side config is:

{
    "dns": {
      "servers": ["9.9.9.9", "208.67.222.222", "localhost"]
    },
    "log": {
        "loglevel": "warning"
    },
    "routing": {
        "domainStrategy": "IPIfNonMatch",
        "rules": [
            {
                "type": "field",
                "ip": [
                    "geoip:cn",
                    "geoip:private"
                ],
                "outboundTag": "block"
            }
        ]
    },
    "inbounds": [
        {
            "listen": "0.0.0.0",
            "port": 443,
            "protocol": "vless",
            "settings": {
                "clients": [
                    {
                        "id": "UUID",
                        "flow": "xtls-rprx-vision"
                    }
                ],
                "decryption": "none"
            },
            "streamSettings": {
                "network": "tcp",
                "security": "reality",
                "realitySettings": {
                    "show": false,
                    "dest": "example.com:443",
                    "xver": 0,
                    "serverNames": [
                        "example.com"
                    ],
                    "privateKey": "private_key",
                    "shortIds": [
                        "b1"
                    ]
                }
            },
            "sniffing": {
                "enabled": true,
                "destOverride": [
                    "http",
                    "tls",
                    "quic"
                ]
            }
        }
    ],
    "outbounds": [
        {
            "protocol": "freedom",
            "tag": "direct"
        },
        {
            "protocol": "blackhole",
            "tag": "block"
        }
    ],
    "policy": {
        "levels": {
            "0": {
                "handshake": 2,
                "connIdle": 120
            }
        }
    }
}

The above config works fine when connecting direct to the foreign VPS. I did see this issue #5331 and the pull request was merged in to the core.

So my question, is the xray core denying the connection because the reverse proxy is untrusted?

If this is the case how do I get xray core on the foreign VPS to trust the reverse proxy connection using brook-pf? Or is there a better method to use a reverse proxy from one VPS to the xray VPS?

EDIT: I have tried older versions of the core without success.
I don't think the issue is my setup as it worked fine with Telecom. I have a suspicion that Unicom has a way to detect xray reality is blocking.