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

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo, holding their small yellow basins, seemed to have been put on pause.

The two looked down at their empty soup, and their stomachs began to churn.

"Just kidding." Lu Xiao straightened up, clapped his hands, and spoke in a relaxed tone as if he had just told a lame joke.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo both breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Xiaohu felt that his heart had almost stopped just now, and he exhaled so forcefully that he even burped.

Qian Duoduo patted her chest, her voice still trembling: "Class monitor, you scared me to death—I knew it! How could you possibly use that kind of basin to serve us noodles—hahaha—this joke isn't funny at all—"

"But these two basins are indeed the ones you used to clean the latrines in your recruit training."

The entire dormitory was silent for a full three seconds.

Zhao Xiaohu's hand holding the basin froze in mid-air, and the smile on his face solidified before he could even take it off.

"vomit--"

Zhao Xiaohu threw down his chopsticks, covered his mouth, and rushed to the toilet. Qian Duoduo followed closely behind, running so fast that she knocked over a chair, the chair legs scraping against the cement floor with a sharp, piercing sound.

Lu Xiao stood at the dormitory entrance, his hands in his pockets, listening to the sounds of vomiting coming from the toilet. The corners of his mouth curled up to an almost criminal degree.

He turned around, looked at Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao leaning against the corridor wall, and shrugged: "How was it? Fun, right?"

Bai Ye leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his expression as cold as a stone in the Gobi Desert. He looked at Lu Xiao's bright smile, remained silent for a moment, and then uttered two words: "Boring."

Xuanxiao's reaction was much more direct than his.

He stared, mouth agape, at the two unfortunate souls still vomiting in the toilet, then at Lu Xiao's innocent "I didn't do anything" expression, and squeezed out a heartfelt exclamation from deep within his throat: "Holy crap... Vice Captain, you're too ruthless... cooking noodles for them with a latrine? What were you thinking? Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"My conscience is pounding." Lu Xiao smiled and walked between the two, casually patting Bai Ye on the shoulder. "Let's go back to the dorm. They'll clean up after they throw up here."

Bai Ye dodged his hand to the side, and Xuan Xiao immediately followed, glancing back at the direction of the toilet while silently lighting a candle for Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo.

Back in the Group A dormitory, the warmth of the heating system hit us.

Lu Xiao walked to his bedside, then suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Bai Ye: "By the way, Little Cabbage, are you hungry? I'll cook you a bowl of instant noodles too? I still have a packet of pickled cabbage flavored ones."

Bai Ye's brow furrowed very slightly. He looked at Lu Xiao's face, his gaze lingering on the curve of Lu Xiao's smile for less than a second before looking away. That expression translated to—Do you think I'd eat anything you give me?

Xuanxiao strode in front of Baiye, shielding him behind him with one hand, his expression wary as if he were facing a ruthless cook who had just put laxatives in his teammate's food.

"No, no, no—Vice Captain, stay away from him. He's still growing."

Lu Xiao's lips twitched violently twice.

"No, what do you two mean? Huh? What kind of image do you have of me, Lu Xiao? Would I cook noodles for our little cabbage with that kind of stuff? Am I crazy or are you crazy?" Lu Xiao's voice rose half an octave, his hurt tone carrying a genuine sense of grievance.

He pointed a finger at Xuan Xiao's nose, then at Bai Ye, and said with a pained expression, "Listen to me, you two—even if I, Lu Xiao, am no human being, I would never cook noodles for Bai Ye with filthy food. He's not Zhao Xiaohu, nor is he Qian Duoduo. Who is he? He's Bai Ye. He's our Group A's little cabbage. He's the captain's precious darling. If I dared to cook noodles for him with a latrine, the captain would chop me up and feed me to the patrol dogs. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Bai Ye peeked out from behind Xuan Xiao and blinked. His expression remained calm and inscrutable, but his eyes—the ones fixed intently on Lu Xiao—clearly said: Really? You really can't?

Xuanxiao did not let his guard down.

He remained firmly in his protective stance towards Bai Ye, his chin slightly raised, scrutinizing Lu Xiao with the look of someone examining a criminal, his tone laced with undisguised suspicion: "Deputy Captain, it's not that I doubt your character—okay, I do doubt your character. You just cooked noodles for Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo today using a latrine tub, and now you're saying you wouldn't cook dirty things for Bai Ye? Do you think we should believe you?"

"I do discriminate!" Lu Xiao declared confidently, as if it were some kind of proud virtue. "Who in the entire Breaking Void doesn't know that I, Lu Xiao, am biased? Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo are just ordinary recruits; giving them a hard time helps them grow. Bai Ye? Bai Ye is my younger brother. Have you ever seen me lay a hand on Bai Ye? Not even once!"

Bai Ye thought for a moment. From recruit training to now, Lu Xiao had never tricked him. Every time, it was Xuan Xiao who got tricked, or Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo who were unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. But looking at the smug look on Lu Xiao's face that said, "See, I wasn't wrong," he decided to refrain from commenting for the time being.

Shen Zhu leaned down from the upper bunk and let out a strange, meaningful laugh.

Xie Ran slammed his fist on the bed and burst into laughter, so loud it could have attracted the patrol dogs: "Old Lu, you've finally met your match! The mighty Smiling Tiger of Breaking Through the Void, being stared at like a thief by a sixteen-year-old kid and a protective golden retriever—your life is over!"

Lu Xiao took a deep breath, and then he smiled.

That signature Lu-style smile returned to his face, its curve even brighter than usual, so bright that Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo simultaneously realized they might have said something they shouldn't have. They had gotten too carried away, forgetting the consequences of offending the vice-captain in this dormitory.

"Since you two have so much energy, go run ten more laps before lights out. It'll help you digest." He stood up and walked to their bedside, patted Xie Ran's face, and then patted Shen Zhuo's shoulder, his tone as gentle as if he were coaxing a child to sleep, "You're not allowed to come back until you finish."

Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo's smiles froze on their faces at the same time.

Ten laps.

It was several degrees below zero.

There is still ice on the track.

The two brothers, both in the same boat, got out of bed, put on their training uniform jackets, and went outside.

As Xie Ran passed by the door, he turned back and glared at Lu Xiao, then lowered his voice and said to Shen Zhuo, just loud enough for the whole dormitory to hear: "He's a hypocrite. He treats Xiao Baicai like a father, but treats us like stepmothers."

"I heard you," Lu Xiao replied from inside the dormitory. "Add two more laps."

The two immediately shut up and disappeared at the end of the corridor. A moment later, howls came from the direction of the training ground, and the keywords "Lu Xiao" and "double standard" could be vaguely discerned, carried intermittently by the night wind of the Gobi Desert.