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

It was already dark when we got back to the base. Winter nights come early in the Gobi Desert; the temperature drops as soon as the sun sets, and the snow that had melted halfway during the day refreezes into thin ice, making a crunching sound when you step on it.

Li Mo didn't go back to the dormitory. He walked alone to the edge of the training field, leaned against the horizontal bar, and took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The flame flickered on the lighter, reflecting on his face and making his already angular features appear even colder.

He took a drag, the smoke exhaling from his nostrils and dissipating in the night wind of the Gobi Desert. The words the man had spoken before he died in the interrogation room still echoed in his mind—"She knelt on the ground and begged me, begged me to let you go."

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, and took another drag of his cigarette.

When Lu Xiao found him, he had already burned through three cigarettes.

Lu Xiao walked to his side without saying a word. He first tilted his head to look at the cigarette in Li Mo's mouth, then reached out, pinched the cigarette tail between two fingers, and pulled the cigarette directly out of Li Mo's mouth.

Li Mo frowned and turned to look at him. Lu Xiao calmly stubbed out his cigarette on the horizontal bar, took a lollipop from his pocket with his other hand, tore open the wrapper, and precisely stuffed it into Li Mo's still slightly open mouth.

Li Mo's brows furrowed even more.

He had a lollipop in his mouth, the sweetness melting on his tongue, mixing with the bitterness of the tobacco he'd just tasted. The flavor was so strange he didn't know whether to spit it out or swallow it. A cold-faced captain with a white stick stuck in his mouth—the scene looked utterly incongruous.

"Smoking is bad for your health." Lu Xiao clapped his hands and threw the cigarette butt into the trash can next to him.

Li Mo pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, looking at Lu Xiao as if he were a lunatic. But he didn't throw the candy away; he just put it back in his mouth and put it on the other side of his cheek.

"What are you doing here?"

Lu Xiao did not answer immediately. He leaned against the other side of the horizontal bar, his hands in his pockets, looking up at the night sky over the Gobi Desert.

"Still thinking about your uncle?"

Li Mo paused for a moment, the lollipop in his cheek still. "He's not my uncle." His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be chilled by a cold wind.

"Okay, okay, I'm not your uncle. Whatever makes you happy." Lu Xiao raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

He knew, of course, that the man wasn't Li Mo's maternal uncle—Li Mo's parents were only children; they had no siblings. The man was a sworn brother of Li Mo's father from the battlefield, who later betrayed him and killed Li Mo's entire family. But the man liked to call himself "uncle," and he used that title to disgust Li Mo every time they met.

"Alright, let's get down to business." He changed his posture, crossed his arms, and leaned his shoulders against the horizontal bar. "It seems like our little cabbage is beyond saving."

Li Mo turned his head abruptly. He was faster than when he encountered an emergency on the battlefield, and he almost bit the lollipop in his mouth to pieces.

"What's wrong with Xiaobai?" His voice turned cold, a temperature that only appeared when Baiye was in trouble.

Seeing his reaction, Lu Xiao silently made a mental note—before reporting anything related to Bai Ye in the future, he should first prepare a plan to appease him.

He briefly recounted what had happened in the interrogation room, from Xuan Xiao's hug that lasted for several minutes, to "it's normal for good friends to hug," to Bai Ye's calm reply, "I see."

"You didn't see it, the way Xiaozai hugged Xiaobaicai, the look of pure bliss on his face—let's be honest, even my brother isn't this invested when he's dating." Lu Xiao laughed as he spoke. "And then he actually told her it was normal interaction between good friends. The thing is, Xiaobaicai believed him. She believed him! She even nodded seriously and said, 'I see!' I almost had a heart attack on the spot. This kid looks so smart, how come he's like a brand-new robot when it comes to this kind of thing?"

After he finished speaking, he waited for Li Mo's reaction.

He thought Li Mo would be speechless, helpless, and would sigh, pinch his brow, and say, "I'll talk to him later." He had even prepared a joke in his mind—look, the Bai family members are all like this, Xiao Baicai is, and so is Brother Chen, each one more oblivious than the last.

But Li Mo's face darkened, and he snapped the lollipop in his cheek with a crack.

He pulled the crushed candy stick from his mouth, clenched it in his hand, then raised his head, his voice coming from deep in his throat, each word like a frozen nail: "That little bastard surnamed Xuan—I'm going to cripple him."

Lu Xiao's smile vanished instantly.

He subconsciously took a half step back, then remembered that the last time Li Mo said something like that was in the conference room—that night he said, "If Xuan Xiao does anything out of line, I will kill him with my own hands."

At the time, Lu Xiao thought it was just something said in anger, but now it seems that this person was serious from beginning to end.

"No, no, no—Old Li, calm down!" Lu Xiao grabbed Li Mo's shoulder, his voice switching from lighthearted teasing to a rapid-fire, tense barrage. "Nothing out of line! It was just a hug! Friends can hug! Look, I've hugged you before—okay, I haven't, and I wouldn't dare—but the point is, he really didn't do anything! Bai Ye didn't think anything was wrong! Look, even Xiao Baicai didn't object. If you stand up for him, he'll just feel confused! Besides, although Xuan Xiao is annoying, he's genuinely good to Bai Ye—bringing him yogurt, scarves, and candy. When Bai Ye had low blood sugar, he knelt on the ground, his hands shaking—if you cripple someone like that, do you believe Bai Ye will be the first to turn against you?"

Li Mo paused for a moment.

It's not because she's "truly good," it's because "Bai Ye is the first to turn against you."

"And look, Bai Ye is sixteen. You know his family situation—no one has ever been kind to him except for his brother. His understanding of relationships is basically a blank slate. Xuan Xiao said it's normal for good friends to hug, and he actually thinks it's normal. What does that mean? It means that Xuan Xiao is a coward! He has the desire but not the courage, and only dares to use this roundabout way to take advantage of others. At this rate, by the time he actually wins Bai Ye over, Bai Ye will probably be the team leader." Lu Xiao was already out of breath by the end, his hand still pressing tightly on Li Mo's shoulder.

Li Mo remained silent for a long while.

"Alright." He finally spoke, his voice regaining its usual calm, though the wrinkles between his brows hadn't completely disappeared. "But he better remember this—if he crosses the line, I'll make him run laps until he retires."

"Alright, alright, I'll retire. I'll keep an eye on things for you, and I'll report it immediately if there's any sign of them crossing the line." Lu Xiao released his hand from his shoulder and let out a long sigh of relief.

He silently lit a hundred candles for Xuan Xiao in his heart—that kid was still stuffing yogurt into Bai Ye's mouth in the dormitory, completely unaware that his life had just brushed with death.