diff --git a/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ProcessHelper.java b/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ProcessHelper.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 03525dc3..00000000
--- a/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ProcessHelper.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-package io.vertx.grpc.server;
-
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Objects;
-
-public class ProcessHelper {
-
-  private ProcessHelper() {}
-
-  public static Process exec(Class<?> main, List<String> args) throws IOException {
-
-    List<String> command = new ArrayList<>();
-    // java binary executable
-    command.add(System.getProperty("java.home") + File.separator + "bin" + File.separator + "java");
-    command.add("-cp");
-    // inherit classpath
-    command.add(System.getProperty("java.class.path"));
-    // main class name
-    command.add(main.getName());
-    // args
-    command.addAll(Objects.requireNonNullElse(args, Collections.emptyList()));
-
-    return new ProcessBuilder(command).inheritIO().start();
-  }
-}
diff --git a/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ServerBridgeTest.java b/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ServerBridgeTest.java
index bb3bc794..6463215f 100644
--- a/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ServerBridgeTest.java
+++ b/vertx-grpc-server/src/test/java/io/vertx/grpc/server/ServerBridgeTest.java
@@ -23,11 +23,20 @@
 import io.grpc.stub.ServerCallStreamObserver;
 import io.grpc.stub.StreamObserver;
 import io.vertx.core.Promise;
+import io.vertx.core.Vertx;
+import io.vertx.core.net.NetClient;
+import io.vertx.core.net.NetServer;
+import io.vertx.core.net.NetSocket;
 import io.vertx.ext.unit.Async;
 import io.vertx.ext.unit.TestContext;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
+import java.net.SocketAddress;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
@@ -478,7 +487,7 @@ public void testCallNetworkInterrupted(TestContext should) throws InterruptedExc
     StreamingGrpc.StreamingImplBase impl = new StreamingImplBase() {
       @Override
       public StreamObserver<Item> pipe(StreamObserver<Item> responseObserver) {
-        return new StreamObserver<Item>() {
+        return new StreamObserver<>() {
           @Override
           public void onNext(Item item) {
             requestCount.incrementAndGet();
@@ -504,11 +513,21 @@ public void onCompleted() {
     serverStub.bind(server);
     startServer(server);
 
-    Process client = ProcessHelper.exec(ServerBridgeTest.class, Collections.singletonList(String.valueOf(port)));
-    // waiting for doing request
-    Thread.sleep(1_000);
-    client.destroy();
-    client.waitFor();
+    try (var proxyServer = new ProxyServer(vertx, port + 1, port)) {
+      proxyServer.start();
+
+      int proxyPort = proxyServer.proxyServer.actualPort();
+      Channel channel = ManagedChannelBuilder.forAddress("localhost", proxyPort).usePlaintext().build();
+      StreamingGrpc.StreamingStub stub = StreamingGrpc.newStub(channel);
+      StreamObserver<Item> requestObserver = stub.pipe(new NoopStreamObserver<>());
+      Item request = Item.newBuilder().setValue("item").build();
+      requestObserver.onNext(request);
+      requestObserver.onNext(request);
+      requestObserver.onNext(request);
+
+      // waiting for the connection to be established.
+      Thread.sleep(1000);
+    }
 
     async.await(20_000);
 
@@ -516,30 +535,70 @@ public void onCompleted() {
     should.assertTrue(completed.future().failed());
   }
 
-  public static void main(String... args) throws InterruptedException {
-    StreamObserver<Item> noop = new StreamObserver<Item>() {
-      @Override public void onNext(Item item) {
+  static class NoopStreamObserver<T> implements StreamObserver<T> {
+    @Override public void onNext(T ignored) {}
 
-      }
+    @Override public void onError(Throwable ignored) {}
 
-      @Override public void onError(Throwable throwable) {
+    @Override public void onCompleted() {}
+  }
 
-      }
+  static class ProxyServer implements AutoCloseable {
 
-      @Override public void onCompleted() {
+    private final int listenPort;
 
-      }
-    };
+    private final int targetPort;
+
+    private final NetServer proxyServer;
 
-    Channel channel = ManagedChannelBuilder.forAddress("localhost", Integer.parseInt(args[0])).usePlaintext().build();
-    StreamingGrpc.StreamingStub stub = StreamingGrpc.newStub(channel);
-    StreamObserver<Item> requestObserver = stub.pipe(noop);
-    Item request = Item.newBuilder().setValue("item").build();
-    requestObserver.onNext(request);
-    requestObserver.onNext(request);
-    requestObserver.onNext(request);
+    private final NetClient proxyClient;
 
-    // waiting to be killed
-    Thread.currentThread().join();
+    // live or dead
+    private final List<Map.Entry<NetSocket, NetSocket>> sockets = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    ProxyServer(Vertx vertx, int listenPort, int targetPort) {
+      this.listenPort = listenPort;
+      this.targetPort = targetPort;
+      this.proxyServer = vertx.createNetServer().connectHandler(this::handle);
+      this.proxyClient = vertx.createNetClient();
+    }
+
+    void start() {
+      this.proxyServer.listen(listenPort).toCompletionStage().toCompletableFuture().join();
+    }
+
+    void handle(NetSocket socket) {
+      socket.pause();
+
+      proxyClient.connect(targetPort, "localhost")
+        .onComplete(ar -> {
+          if (ar.succeeded()) {
+            NetSocket proxySocket = ar.result();
+            proxySocket.pause();
+
+            socket.handler(proxySocket::write);
+            proxySocket.handler(socket::write);
+            socket.closeHandler(ignored -> proxySocket.close());
+            proxySocket.closeHandler(ignored -> socket.close());
+
+            sockets.add(Map.entry(socket, proxySocket));
+
+            proxySocket.resume();
+            socket.resume();
+          } else {
+            socket.close();
+          }
+        });
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void close() {
+      this.sockets.forEach(entry -> {
+        entry.getKey().close();
+        entry.getValue().close();
+      });
+      this.proxyClient.close();
+      this.proxyServer.close();
+    }
   }
 }