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

The echoes of the gunshots still bounced back and forth between the concrete walls of the interrogation room, causing the fluorescent light tubes to sway slightly.

The man still had that smile, but there was a huge, dark bullet hole in the middle of his forehead, and the blood and brain matter from the explosion at the back of his head sprayed onto the wall behind him, creating an abstract painting.

Li Mo lowered the gun, the muzzle still emitting blue smoke.

He turned and glanced at the new recruits, said nothing, pushed open the iron gate, and walked out.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo remained standing—for about two seconds. Then, their stomachs churned simultaneously.

"Ugh—" Zhao Xiaohu bent over, supporting himself on his knees with both hands, and vomited the braised pork and scrambled eggs with tomatoes he had eaten for lunch onto the ground intact.

Qian Duoduo was in an even worse situation. When she was vomiting, she lost her balance and sat on her own vomit. Then, because of the sensation under her buttocks, she vomited again.

The two of them vomited one after the other for almost a minute, until there was nothing left to vomit in their stomachs, and they could only dry heave bile.

"I—I can't go on—" Zhao Xiaohu's voice was squeezed out of his throat, barely a whisper, "I saw it—I saw his brain—all white—still moving—"

"Stop talking—ugh—" Qian Duoduo straightened up but then bent over again.

Lu Xiao stood to the side, his hands in his pockets, looking down at the two chubby little boys sprawled on the ground, vomiting and oblivious to the world around them.

His lips twitched twice, then he turned to Wen Yan, pointing to the two men on the ground vomiting violently: "Dr. Wen, tell me—what were those two thinking, joining the army? One got slapped by a fish's tail while killing it, the other kept dropping rice on his foot while carrying it, their legs trembled like leaves when they saw an execution, and they vomited like this after watching a close-up shot. What were they thinking?"

Wen Yan glanced down at the two new recruits who were still vomiting, and said in a calm and professional tone: "From a psychological point of view, some people join the army out of ideals, while others do so out of practical considerations. These two most likely belong to the third category—they came without thinking it through."

"You came without thinking it through?" Lu Xiao repeated the question. "Fine. You're already here, you've already thrown up, you'll get used to it eventually."

On the other side, Xuan Xiao stood against the wall, his expression also not very good.

The sound of a bullet piercing a skull was so close, so close that you could hear the cracking of bones breaking. The sound of blood and brain matter splattering on the wall was so clear, so clear that it sounded like someone had just slammed a wet mop against the wall.

Bai Ye stood next to Xuan Xiao.

His face remained expressionless—he had seen too much in his past life, and this confrontation wasn't even particularly exciting for him. But he noticed Xuan Xiao's state.

Xuan Xiao, usually so talkative he could rouse a dead person from the dead, was never quiet from the training ground to the cafeteria to the dormitory, but now he had been silent for almost two minutes. Bai Ye frowned and turned to look at him: "Are you alright?"

Upon hearing Bai Ye's voice, Xuan Xiao seemed to have a switch flipped. He propped himself up against the wall, took a deep breath, and covered his pale face with a deliberate, overly forceful smile.

He looked at Bai Ye, a forced smile playing on his lips: "It's nothing, it's nothing. What could possibly happen to me? What kind of situation hasn't your brother Xiao seen—well, this one is definitely one I haven't. But don't worry, I'm fine, really fine. It's just that when that brain matter splattered out just now, I was a little—"

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing, swallowing back the rest of his words. He looked at Bai Ye, his voice very soft: "Just let me hug you."

Bai Ye stared at him, completely bewildered.

Seeing him like this, Xuan Xiao's defenses crumbled completely.

All those bloody scenes, brain matter, gunshots, and the man's last words—everything that had been causing him distress—were pushed into a corner in that instant.

His heart felt as if it had been gently squeezed by a warm hand, and all his tense nerves relaxed at the same time. He didn't say anything, but reached out and pulled Bai Ye into his arms.

Bai Ye's face was pressed against Xuan Xiao's chest, and he could hear the pounding of his heart beneath his training uniform.

His first reaction was to struggle—his hands instinctively rose to press against Xuan Xiao's chest, his arm muscles tensing, ready to throw him away. In his past life, who would dare to hug him like that? They would be thrown to the ground and have their joints dislocated in the next second. But just before he exerted his strength, he sensed a detail.

Xuan Xiao was trembling. It was a very subtle tremor, spreading from his chest to his shoulders and then to his arms, like some kind of aftershock that he was trying to suppress but couldn't.

His chin rested on Bai Ye's head, his breathing was rapid and shallow, and his arms around Bai Ye were tightly wrapped around her, as if she were clutching a lifeline. He said he was fine and had a smile on his face, but his body language was a hundred times more honest than his words.

Bai Ye stopped pressing his hand against Xuan Xiao's chest. He remained silent for a moment, then lowered his hand and stayed quietly in Xuan Xiao's arms without moving.

Xuan Xiao felt the person in his arms stop struggling, so he nuzzled his chin against Bai Ye's head and closed his eyes. His breathing gradually calmed down, and the frequency of his trembling slowly decreased.

The stench of blood was still strong in the interrogation room, the brain matter on the wall was still wet, and the fluorescent light was still flickering overhead, but he couldn't feel anything now, only the warm, quiet presence of the person in his arms who wasn't pushing him away.

Zhao Xiaohu finally got up from the ground. He had vomited so much that his legs were weak, and he was swaying when he stood up. He had to hold onto the wall to steady himself.

He wiped his mouth, his eyes still a little red, and his first reaction was to look for Bai Ye—when they were in basic training, Bai Ye was the one who protected them, and with Bai Ye around, they felt like they had a pillar of support.

Now that he had finished vomiting, his stomach was empty, and so was his heart. He desperately wanted to talk to Bai Ye. He glanced around the interrogation room, spotted Bai Ye, and started walking towards him.

Qian Duoduo also stood up, his pants still stained with vomit, but he didn't care anymore. He followed Zhao Xiaohu and stumbled towards Bai Ye.

They hadn't walked a few steps when a hand reached out from the side and blocked their way.

Lu Xiao appeared beside them unnoticed, one hand covering Zhao Xiaohu's chest, the other in his pocket. He gestured with his chin towards Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao, and whispered, "Don't go over there."

Zhao Xiaohu followed his gaze and looked over—Xuan Xiao had Bai Ye completely embraced in his arms, his chin resting on Bai Ye's head, his eyes closed, and a quiet and satisfied smile on his lips that was completely different from his usual demeanor.

Bai Ye stayed quietly in his arms, without struggling, pushing him away, or even frowning. The pale light of the fluorescent lamp shone on them, casting overlapping shadows on the ground.

"them--"

Lu Xiao's lips curled up even more, his tone filled with a gleeful anticipation of a good show: "Your Brother Xiao is charging up. Don't bother him, or you'll get kicked."