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

Behind the bunker, Xie Ran's fingers were embedded in the mud, his fingernails filled with black mud.

Lu Xiao's lips still held that smile, but the smile was stiff as if it had been frozen, and his fingers holding the binoculars were trembling slightly.

Li Mo crouched at the edge of the cover, his left hand on the ground, his right hand gripping his gun, his eyes fixed on Wen Yan and Shen Zhuo. A trace of blood was faintly visible beneath the waterproof tape on his right arm—probably from the wound being pulled during the retreat—but he showed no reaction.

"The blade has penetrated about a third of the way in." Wen Yan's voice rang out, still steady. "Shen Zhuo, you should be able to feel something hard under your feet now."

"I can feel it." Shen Zhuo's voice was lower than before, sweat had already trickled down his forehead to his collar, making it damp. "Should I prepare to withdraw?"

"Not yet. The blade must completely cover the pressure plate, otherwise the uneven pressure when you pull your foot back will still trigger the fuse. Give me one more minute."

"One minute. Do you know how long a minute is to me? I feel like every second is as long as when the drill sergeant made me do a horse stance back in basic training."

"Then just pretend you're doing a horse stance right now."

"Is your horse stance a landmine?"

The blade continues to advance. Two-thirds. Three-quarters.

Wen Yan's fingers began to tremble slightly—not from tension, but from fatigue in her forearm muscles caused by sustained high-precision muscle control.

He took a deep breath, reducing his breathing rate from sixteen breaths per minute to eight, using the activation of his parasympathetic nervous system to stabilize the slight tremor in his fingers. The knife tip moved forward another five millimeters.

"The patrol has turned southeast." Lu Xiao's voice came from behind the cover, hushed but twice as fast. "They'll be passing your position in less than two minutes. If they hear any noise—"

"They won't hear you," Li Mo interrupted him, her gaze never leaving Wen Yan and Shen Zhuo. "Because they'll be gone before they even get past us. Wen Yan, how much longer?"

Thirty seconds.

That's enough.

-

On the high ground, Xuanxiao had already clenched his fists so hard that two dark sweat stains appeared on the knees of his training pants.

His lips were moving, but the sound was so soft that only he could hear it. If you listened carefully, you could make out that he was repeating the same sentence: "Don't blow it up, don't blow it up, don't blow it up..."

Bai Ye continued to stare at the audio waveform on the screen, his face expressionless.

-

The blade is fully inserted.

The thin blade rested firmly between Shen Zhuo's boot sole and the mine pressure plate, bearing all the pressure originally exerted by Shen Zhuo's weight.

Wen Yan released his left hand, leaving the hilt of the knife in place, the thin blade nestled motionless between the boot sole and the pressure plate. He looked up, adjusting his glasses, which had slipped down his nose due to sweat. "Withdraw your foot. Slowly. Keep your foot level, don't tilt."

Shen Zhuo finally stopped smiling.

He took a deep breath, slowly shifting his weight to his left leg, keeping his right foot perfectly horizontal, and lifted it millimeter by millimeter. The instant the sole of his boot left the blade, everyone heard the extremely faint sound of rubber rubbing against metal. Then Shen Zhuo's foot was completely withdrawn.

The landmine did not detonate.

Shen Zhuo took three steps back, each step landing precisely on the safe spots that Wen Yan had marked for him. His legs almost gave way on the third step, but he gritted his teeth and held on.

Wen Yan squatted down, his right hand on the hilt of the knife to keep the blade steady, and his left hand gestured behind him—everyone, back off.

Li Mo did not back down.

"Speak gently," he said.

"I'll count to three, then let go and roll towards you. Catch me." Wen Yan's voice remained steady, but her pace was faster than usual. "One. Two. Three."

He released his grip and rolled violently to the side and backward. At the same instant he let go, Li Mo rushed out from behind the cover, grabbed Wen Yan by the back of his collar, and dragged him towards the cover.

Thunder exploded.

It didn't explode instantly. It exploded almost a second and a half after Wen Yan let go.

Delayed detonation.

The shockwave, carrying mud, decaying leaves, shards of iron, and gravel, exploded into a bright orange fireball at the ventilation shaft opening. The sound of the explosion was reflected through the rainforest canopy, causing everyone's eardrums to ring simultaneously. Mud rained down, the sound of it hitting the bunkers as dense as machine gun fire.

Then everything went quiet.

Wen Yan lifted her head from Li Mo's hand, her face covered in mud, and the lenses of her gold-rimmed glasses were covered in mud spots.

He took off his glasses, wiped them with the corner of his shirt, put them back on, and then looked back at the crater left by the explosion—it was as big as a washbasin, and the surrounding trees had been stripped of their bark by shrapnel.

"It was delayed by one and a half seconds," he said, his tone returning to normal calm, as if he had just finished an experiment and was recording data.

"You fucking timed it?!" Xie Ran's voice exploded from behind the nearby cover, a mix of anger and relief that was hard to tell. "You almost got blown up, do you even know that?!"

"I know." Wen Yan stood up, patted the mud off her knees, and checked herself for any wounds. "The lightning exploded when I rolled, but everyone was fine. So it was worth it."

Xie Ran stared with his mouth agape at Wen Yan's calm yet irritating face, unable to utter a single word.

Lu Xiao stood up from behind the cover, hung the binoculars on his chest, and finally smiled normally: "Dr. Wen, this is the second time you've scared me today. If you do this again, I'll ask the captain to assign you a psychologist."

"Do you think I need a psychologist?" Wen Yan pushed up his glasses.

"The fact that you don't feel you need a therapist is itself a sign that you do need one."

Shen Zhuo sat behind the cover, his legs finally giving way. He buried his head between his knees, took a deep breath, then looked up, his smile returning, but his voice still trembled slightly: "That cigarette... can I still have it now?"

Li Mo had already stood up.

He pushed Wen Yan aside and glanced at the ventilation shaft entrance—the iron fence had been blown away, the ventilation shaft opening was exposed, and a musty smell wafted out of the opening, mixed with the smell of gunpowder residue from the explosion.

In the distance, the whistles and shouts of the patrol team rose and fell, rapidly approaching from the direction of the factory. The beams of searchlight began to sweep towards the direction of the explosion, and pale spots of light flickered on the treetops.

"Go!" Li Mo roared at everyone, "Follow the backup route! Lu Xiao, lead the way; Xie Ran, bring up the rear; Shen Zhuo, follow me; Wen Yan, in the middle! Run!"

The five members of Group A started moving simultaneously the moment the beam of the searchlight swept overhead, like a flock of startled falcons, plunging headlong into the depths of the rainforest.