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

The dormitory corridor lights were already on, and the dim yellow light shone through the cracks in the door, casting a thin beam of light on the floor.

Zhao Xiaohu crawled into the dormitory, muttering, "I'm going to die..."

Qian Duoduo followed him in, and her situation wasn't much better: "One day... two two-kilometer runs... one military-style standing at attention... Are we here to be soldiers or donkeys...?"

"Even a donkey wouldn't be this tired," Zhao Xiaohu echoed weakly.

"My legs are no longer my own."

"My back is also broken."

"I don't feel like I belong to myself anymore."

The two of them let out a long sigh at the same time, like two turtles that had been flipped over.

Bai Ye sat on her bed.

He was in much better shape than the others, but he was exhausted. He closed his eyes, his eyelashes casting a small shadow under the light.

The door was pushed open.

Xuan Xiao walked in. He glanced at the mess in the dormitory, then his gaze fell on the lower bunk by the window.

Bai Ye leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, the faint blush on her face not yet completely gone.

Xuan Xiao walked to his cabinet, opened the door, and rummaged through his bag to find something. It was a small, white, round box, unlabeled. Inside, when the lid was unscrewed, was a pale green ointment that emitted a cool, minty scent mixed with herbs.

He held the box in his hand and turned to walk towards Bai Ye's bed.

Xuanxiao sat down next to Baiye.

Bai Ye opened his eyes and turned his head. His gaze shifted from Xuan Xiao's face to the space less than a fist's width between the two of them, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"What are you doing?"

Xuan Xiao didn't answer. He scooped out a small piece of pale green ointment from the round box with his fingers, raised his left hand, his fingertips still carrying that cool green color, and stretched it towards Bai Ye's face.

Bai Ye subconsciously leaned back, his head hitting the wall, with nowhere to retreat.

Xuanxiao's fingers landed on his cheekbone.

It's cold.

The moment the cream touched his skin, Bai Ye froze.

Xuanxiao's calloused fingers, coated with a cool ointment, slowly applied it from Baiye's cheekbone to the bridge of his nose, and then from the bridge of his nose to the other cheekbone.

The ointment melted on the skin, leaving a thin, transparent protective film. The coolness of the mint penetrated it, gradually suppressing the burning sensation of the sunburn.

Bai Ye did not move.

Xuanxiao tapped Bai Ye's nose one last time with his finger, then withdrew it. Looking at Bai Ye's expression, he finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"puff--"

His laughter wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet dormitory. Xuan Xiao's shoulders trembled, and he almost dropped the box of ointment in his hand. His emerald green eyes curved into two arcs.

"Your...your expression—" he stammered, laughing incoherently, "like a cat being forcibly hugged—"

Bai Ye finally came to her senses.

He raised his hand and touched his face, his fingertip touching a little bit of ointment that hadn't been fully absorbed. He brought it to his nose and smelled it.

"What is this?"

"Sunburn ointment." Xuan Xiao stopped laughing, but the corners of his mouth were still upturned. He handed the round box to Bai Ye and waved it. "My old man had someone make this formula, specifically for dealing with sunburn. Your skin is so delicate. I saw your face was so red on the playground today, you could practically fry an egg in it."

He shoved the ointment box into Bai Ye's hand.

"Apply it twice a day, morning and night, and it will be better in two days. It's such a waste to ruin such good skin in the sun."

Bai Ye looked down at the white round box in his hand, then looked up at Xuan Xiao.

He was silent for two seconds.

"...Thanks."

Xuan Xiao stood up with a smile and casually ruffled Bai Ye's hair. A few strands of his black hair stood up because of the ruffle, and Bai Ye frowned and reached out to press them down, but did not dodge.

"Don't mention it, we're in the same class."

Zhao Xiaohu was still lying on the ground, but his head remained raised, having witnessed the entire scene. His mouth was agape in an irregular oval shape, and the fatigue on his round face was swept away by the light of gossip.

Qian Duoduo, standing next to him, had the exact same expression.

The two men exchanged a glance, and simultaneously read the same message on each other's faces: Something's up.

But both of them chose to keep quiet. Xuan Xiao was walking past them, and the gray-haired boy's cold gaze swept down from above, like two unsheathed swords.

Both heads fell back to the ground at the same time, one looking up at the sky, the other looking down at the ground.

-

The rooftop across the street.

Li Mo stood on the edge of the rooftop, clutching a military green water bottle in his hand.

The kettle is made of stainless steel.

It is deforming.

Lu Xiao stood beside him, his golden hair slightly disheveled by the night wind. His gaze pierced through the distance between the two buildings, and through the gap in the slightly ajar curtain of the dormitory room, he clearly saw everything that had just happened.

Bai Ye leaned against the wall, and Xuan Xiao sat down beside him, reaching out to apply something to his face. Bai Ye froze, and Xuan Xiao laughed, finally ruffling Bai Ye's hair.

Then he heard a screeching sound of metal being squeezed next to him.

Lu Xiao turned his head.

The stainless steel kettle in Li Mo's hand had been pinched to the point of having a clear fingerprint indentation, and the body of the kettle had changed from a cylindrical shape to an irregular flattened oval.

"Old Li," Lu Xiao said softly, as if soothing a large, ferocious beast about to explode, "calm down."

Li Mo didn't speak. He stared at the window opposite, while Bai Ye was looking down at the small white round box in his hand.

"It's normal for comrades to care for each other." Lu Xiao moved half a step closer to him. "Applying some ointment to sunburn is perfectly normal. Think about it, when we went on missions before, we would apply medicine to each other's skin when we got sunburned and peeled, right? Half of the sunburn on your back was applied by me."

Li Mo's lips twitched.

That's the back.

"The same goes for the face."

"no the same."

Lu Xiao opened his mouth, but found that he could not refute the statement logically.

Li Mo finally turned his gaze away from the opposite window and looked at Lu Xiao.

"That brat surnamed Xuan, if he has any improper thoughts about Xiaobai—"

He paused for a moment.

"I'll cripple him."

The voice wasn't loud, and the tone was flat, as casual as saying, "We'll have steamed buns for breakfast tomorrow." But Lu Xiao sensed the weight behind those words. It wasn't a threat; it was a statement. It was the heaviest weight of the ten thousand pounds of responsibility that had been pressing down on Li Mo's shoulders since Bai Chen's disappearance.

Lu Xiao reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I'm watching. If that kid dares to cross the line, you don't even need to lift a finger, I'll break his legs first."

He spoke casually, but when his gaze fell on the window of the dormitory across the street, he was genuinely worried for that kid named Xuanxiao.

The lights in Class 1's dormitory were turned off.

Lu Xiao withdrew his gaze, put his arm around Li Mo's shoulder, and walked towards the stairwell.

"Let's go, let's go back to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."

Li Mo shoved the kettle in his hand into Lu Xiao's arms. Lu Xiao looked down and saw five clear fingerprints imprinted on the stainless steel kettle.

His lips twitched, and he didn't dare to say anything more.