Rebirth of a Mercenary: The Ace Mercenary Forced to Be the Beloved of the Group

The training ground was scorching hot in the afternoon sun, the gravel crunched underfoot, and the heat waves in the air distorted the outline of the distant shooting range.

The people in Group A who were punished by running laps this morning have recovered.

Bai Ye sat on a cement platform by the training field, with the introductory book on tactical topography that Xie Huai'an had lent him spread out in front of him.

"Little cabbage—" Shen Zhuo jogged over from the other end of the track, his red hair particularly striking in the sunlight, a standard grin on his face, his voice drawn out and smug, "Stop looking, stop looking! You can read books anytime. Come on, let's spar! I'll give you three moves—no, five! I promise I won't hurt you!"

Bai Ye looked up from her book, glanced at him, and then shook her head.

"I'm not good at fighting."

Shen Zhuo's smile froze for a moment. He turned around and glanced at Xie Ran, who had followed behind him. Xie Ran's expression was exactly the same as his—questioning his existence.

Lu Xiao was leaning against the horizontal bar drinking water when he heard this and almost choked. His water bottle was suspended in mid-air, his eyebrows were raised high, and his mouth twitched twice before he swallowed the water.

Xuan Xiao sat not far from Bai Ye. When he heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched. He remembered the time when Bai Ye was kicked in the shin by Lu Xiao during basic training and almost choked in retaliation. He didn't say anything, but just changed the direction of the grass stem he was holding in his mouth.

"You're no good at fighting?" Shen Zhuo's eyes widened as he pointed at Bai Ye, then at the training ground, as if the scene of Fu Qiu's eyes being gouged out yesterday still remained. "You gouged Fu Qiu's eyes out yesterday! One clean, swift cut! Your technique was more ruthless than any fighting instructor I've ever seen! And you're telling me you're no good at fighting?"

Bai Ye turned a page of the book, his tone still calm, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself: "That was him standing still. It doesn't count as fighting."

Shen Zhuo opened his mouth, only to find that he couldn't refute it. Gouging out someone's eyes doesn't count as fighting—it's execution, it's one-sided crushing, but it doesn't count as fighting.

He scratched the back of his head, looked at Bai Ye's thin shoulders and slender wrists, then at the bandages covering his body, and suddenly realized that what Bai Ye said wasn't impossible. After all, he was only sixteen years old; his frame hadn't fully developed, his strength wasn't up to par, and even the best technique would be a disadvantage.

Shen Zhuo thought about it more and more and it seemed reasonable, so he finally gave up.

"Alright, alright, then watch us fight." Shen Zhuo didn't insist. He turned around and beckoned to Xie Ran with his finger. The smile on his face switched from a playful grin to an eager provocation. His tone was smug. "Brother Ran, come on. What did you say when we were running laps this morning—you said my running form was like a crane with its feet burned? Now I'm giving you a chance to say it again in front of Xiao Baicai."

Xie Ran finished chewing the compressed biscuit he was holding in his mouth in two bites, patted the crumbs off his hands, and strode to the sandy ground in the center of the training field.

He cracked his neck, then grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "What's wrong with you? When you were lying in wait, you were like a chicken with its neck being strangled, but after you were discovered, you screamed louder than a patrol dog—even the Second Captain's dog doesn't have your voice."

"That's because you stepped on me three times! Three times!" Shen Zhuo held up three fingers and waved them in front of him, raising her voice by half a tone. "Are your feet equipped with magnets or something? Wherever I put my foot, you step on it, and then you even grind it down—are you trying to stomp on a cigarette butt?"

"I stepped on you because you were lying in the wrong spot! Who told you to lie in the main passage? You call that lurking? You're blocking the way! You know you're blocking the way! The enemy can walk right over you without even having to go around you!"

"That was tactical! Tactical! I called it deliberately exposing myself to draw fire and then counter-attack—you reckless brute who only knows how to fight head-on would never understand!"

"Oh—getting chased and bitten half the playground by a patrol dog is considered tactical? Getting punished by the second captain to run fifteen laps is considered a counterattack? Your apology letter is still on Brother Huai'an's desk, do you want me to read it to you?"

"Xie Ran, you motherfucker—!"

Lu Xiao straightened up from the horizontal bar, put his water bottle on the table next to him, crossed his arms, and walked to the sidelines with a standard "watching a good show" smile on his face: "Come on, I'll be the referee. The rules are the same as always—falling to the ground means losing, no hitting the face, no grabbing the groin, no biting. Shen Zhuo, I still remember you biting someone last time, if you bite again, you'll have to wash the whole team's socks for a month."

"He put his finger in my mouth that time!" Shen Zhuo protested without turning his head.

"I was trying to choke you! Who knew you'd open your mouth so wide!" Xie Ran roared back defiantly.

"Alright, alright," Lu Xiao waved his hand, took a step back, and raised his right hand. "Ready—"

The two of them simultaneously stopped laughing.

"start!"

The two people moved at the same time.

Xie Ran struck first, delivering a straight punch straight to Shen Zhuo's chest. The punch was powerful and the wind howled – if it landed, Shen Zhuo would have to stagger back at least three steps.

But Shen Zhuo easily dodged to the side, then slapped Xie Ran's fist with his backhand, making a crisp cracking sound. He used the force to take half a step back, a sly smile still on his lips: "Too slow! Too slow! Your punching speed is like running laps this morning—you should speed it up!"

"You fucking bastard, don't dodge!" Xie Ran chased after him and threw another punch.

"Only an idiot wouldn't dodge!" Shen Zhuo dodged to the side, circled around to Xie Ran's side, and hooked his ankle with her foot. "If you've got the guts, don't chase me!"

Xie Ran raised his foot to dodge the hook, then turned and swept a punch across Shen Zhuo's temple.

Shen Zhuo leaned back slightly, the wind from the punch grazing his nose. He then flipped halfway backward, using his hands to push himself up and bounced up, the movement as fluid as a gymnastics move he had rehearsed countless times.

After fighting for a while, Xie Ran's patience finally wore thin under Shen Zhuo's tactic of only dodging and not attacking. He suddenly reached out, spread his fingers, and grabbed Shen Zhuo's wrist.

Shen Zhuo's expression changed, and he tried to break free. He pushed off the ground and bounced backward, but Xie Ran's grip strength was no joke. He had once squeezed a hand gripper to a weight of nearly 100 kilograms. His hands gripped Xie Ran like a pair of pliers, and his bones cracked as he squeezed them.

"Run!" Xie Ran grinned, his smile shifting from aggression to the smug satisfaction of finally catching his prey. "Go ahead and run! Weren't you running pretty fast just now? Jumping around like a flea—why aren't you jumping anymore?"

"Let go—you fucking pinched my bone—this is a human wrist, not a hand gripper!" Shen Zhuo struggled twice but couldn't break free, so she tried to kick his knee with her toes.

Xie Ran sidestepped, twisted his arm around, grabbed his belt with his other hand, lowered his center of gravity, bent his legs slightly, and channeled his power from his feet to his waist, hips, and shoulders, preparing to give this slippery assault soldier a standard over-the-shoulder throw.

Just then—