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

The next morning, a rare tranquility filled the dormitory of Group A.

Bai Ye sat on his bed, his right leg bent and resting on the edge of the bed, flipping through the book "Introduction to Tactical Topography" in his hand. After eating and sleeping well last night, his complexion had mostly recovered. The gauze below his collarbone had been replaced with a new one, and the bandage on his left arm had been removed, leaving only a faint red mark.

Xuanxiao sat next to him—or rather, squeezed in next to him—holding a bag of blueberry candies and trying to stuff it into Baiye's pocket.

"Take it, it's not like it's contraband."

"don't want."

"Take it, just in case I get low blood sugar again?"

Bai Ye closed the book and tapped Xuan Xiao's hand with the spine. Xuan Xiao winced and pulled his hand away, dropping the blueberry candy onto the bed. He picked it up and persistently stuffed it under Bai Ye's pillow.

Just then, Li Mo's phone rang.

It wasn't a phone ringing, but a short, distinctive notification tone—a mission notification on an encrypted channel. This sound didn't ring very often in Group A's dormitory, but each time it did, it meant something.

Li Mo stood up from the long table and glanced at his phone. All eyes in the dormitory were on him—Xie Ran stopped tying his shoelaces, Shen Zhuo closed the acupuncture point chart, Lu Xiao climbed down from the top bunk, and Xie Huai'an put down his pencil. Bai Ye also looked up, his book paused on a particular page.

Li Mo stared at the screen for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow.

"We've got a job, guys."

There was a moment of silence in the dormitory, then Xie Ran slammed his fist into his thigh with a dull thud. His expression shifted from boredom to excitement in a split second: "Finally! I've been so bored I'm practically dying! The last mission was last month—that escort mission last month was so boring I almost fell asleep in the armored vehicle!"

Shen Zhuo sprang out of bed, his red hair sticking up in a mess, but his smile was so bright it could light up half the dorm: "What kind of job? How big is it? How far is it? What equipment do I need? I haven't even cleaned my gun—no, I just cleaned it yesterday, and the magazine is full, I'm ready to go anytime!"

Xuanxiao jumped up from beside Baiye's bed, looking like a large dog whose tail had been stepped on, his voice rising a half-tone in excitement: "Mission? What mission? Is it a field mission? I'll go too! I can—"

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Xiao had already walked up behind him. A hand reached out from behind, fingers spread, and firmly gripped the back of Xuan Xiao's collar. With a yank, Xuan Xiao was forced back into the chair, the chair legs scraping against the concrete floor with a screeching sound.

"This is none of your business." Lu Xiao's voice was smug, but the strength in his hands was unwavering as he pressed Xuan Xiao firmly into the chair. "Rookie, stay put."

Xuan Xiao struggled for a moment on the chair, but found that Lu Xiao's grip was much stronger than he had imagined, and he couldn't break free.

He pursed his lips, his mouth turning down, his expression shifting from excitement to extreme resentment and grievance: "Why? I'm in Group A too! My training results aren't bad—I ran the entire 30km race last time, I ranked in the top three in the shooting assessment, and I can fight—why can't I go?"

Xie Ran walked past him, raised his hand and smacked him on the back of the head with a crisp sound. The force wasn't heavy, but the point of impact was extremely accurate, causing Xuan Xiao to stagger forward.

"You? They'd take you out in a heartbeat." Xie Ran grinned, his tone carrying the disdain and mockery of a veteran looking at a rookie. "Do you know how many things in the rainforest can bite you to death before you even realize it? Mosquitoes don't even count—poisonous snakes, poisonous frogs, poisonous spiders, man-eating ants, and those parasitic flies that lay their eggs under your skin. You wouldn't even need the enemy to lift a finger; the insects alone would scare you to tears."

"I won't be scared to tears!" Xuanxiao retorted angrily, rubbing the back of his head.

"Last time you were chased around the training field by a patrol dog for three laps, and you barked louder than the patrol dog," Shen Zhuo added from the side.

"That's because it bit my trouser leg!"

"What else would a patrol dog bite if not your trouser leg? Your head?"

Xuan Xiao was about to continue arguing when Wen Yan stopped him with a gentle look.

Wen Yan arrived from the infirmary at some point, standing at the door, wearing a white coat over her military doctor's uniform, and holding a steaming cup of goji berry tea.

He adjusted his glasses, his tone still gentle, but one sentence shut Xuan Xiao up: "You haven't passed the tropical rainforest survival training. According to the rules of Pokong, team members who fail the relevant environmental survival assessment cannot participate in actual combat missions in that environment. This is a rule set by your captain, not me."

Xuanxiao opened his mouth, turned to look at Li Mo, his eyes filled with expectation, "Captain, can you make an exception?"

Li Mo didn't even look at him.

"Let's get down to business." He leaned against the edge of the long table, holding his phone, his gaze sweeping over the faces of several veteran members of Team A. "The mission briefing just arrived."

Wen Yan walked in, took off her white coat and draped it over the back of a chair, then sat down at the conference table. Xie Huai'an had already prepared the pencils. Lu Xiao loosened Xuan Xiao's collar and walked over to stand next to Li Mo. Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo stopped their playful banter and each pulled up a chair to sit down. Within seconds, the atmosphere in the entire dormitory shifted from relaxed to battle-ready.

"The mission location is deep in the rainforest on the border between Cameroon and the Republic of Congo," Li Mo began, his voice steady and his pace slow, each word clear as if hammered into a map. "There's an abandoned former French colonial mine there, which was taken over by a private military company and converted into an illegal weapons assembly plant. Intelligence from our clients indicates that this factory has been supplying multiple African rebel groups with everything from rifles to mortars to improvised explosive devices, operating on an assembly line with considerable production capacity."

"PMC took over an abandoned mine to make weapons?" Lu Xiao whistled, a sharp edge appearing in his smile. "Interesting. The French ran away halfway through mining, leaving them with a ready-made underground fortification. The mine's underground tunnel system is a natural concealment facility; satellites can't photograph it, and aerial reconnaissance can't detect it."

"Yes." Li Mo nodded. "So the client's requirements are very clear: three objectives. First, infiltrate the factory and obtain their customer list, shipping records, and electronic data. Second, plant explosives to completely destroy the entire production line. Third, if the factory manager is still on site, capture him alive."

"Capture them alive?" Xie Ran scratched his chin, his tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction. "Why not just kill these arms dealers? Capturing them alive is too much trouble."

"The client wants it alive." Li Mo glanced at him. "Live would cost extra."

"How much?"

"Total commission is two million." Li Mo placed his phone on the table, screen down. "US dollars."