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

The next morning, the wind in the Gobi Desert stopped. Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, drawing pale golden lines on the ground.

Last night's commotion felt like a dream—after Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo vomited, Wen Yan gave them each a stomach medicine and sent them to sleep; Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo returned after running twelve laps and collapsed on the bed, cursing Lu Xiao until midnight; Xuan Xiao stayed by Bai Ye's bedside to make sure he didn't sneak out to train again, and finally fell asleep leaning against the edge of the bed, only to be woken up by Xie Huai'an, who woke up early, with a pencil.

On the training field, most of the snow had melted, leaving only a few grayish-white patches in the shady areas. The gravel on the track gleamed dryly in the sunlight, and the sunshade of the shooting range swayed slightly in the wind.

Li Mo stood at the edge of the training field, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold. The elastic wristband on his right arm had been replaced with a lightweight bandage. Lu Xiao stood beside him, holding a newly printed mission briefing.

"The special forces hired our Void Breakers as instructors." Lu Xiao turned a page of the briefing and let out a meaningful sigh. "Interesting. The regular army hiring mercenaries to train their soldiers—if word gets out, where will they put their faces?"

"They don't care about saving face." Li Mo's voice remained calm and deep. "What they care about is the training effect. The last batch of veterans who retired from their side had worked with Pokong before and know our level. This time, they formed a new special operations team and need to quickly achieve combat readiness. The regular training cycle is too long, so they came directly to us."

"The price is good." Lu Xiao's gaze lingered on the last line of numbers in the briefing. "Includes meals and accommodation, transportation, and a one-month duration. Are you in?"

"Do you want to go?" Li Mo asked.

"Go, of course I'll go, why not?" Lu Xiao closed the briefing, tucked it under his arm, and spoke with a lighthearted eagerness. "I don't have any big missions lately, so I'm just killing time. Besides, going to the regular army's territory to give orders—just thinking about it is fun."

"I'll go too."

The sound came from behind them. It was neither too loud nor too soft, but as clear as a pebble thrown into still water.

Li Mo and Lu Xiao turned around and drew their swords almost simultaneously. Li Mo drew his dagger from his waist with a backhand motion, while Lu Xiao's military knife slid from his sleeve into his palm. Their movements were so fast that it was as if they were being pulled by the same thread.

Bai Ye stood less than three steps behind them. He was wearing a training uniform, zipped up to his chin, with his hands hanging at his sides, his expression calm, showing no sign of the panic one would expect from having two knives pointed at him.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Captain! What are you doing?!" Xuan Xiao rushed over from the side, pulling Bai Ye behind him and spreading his arms to block him. "It's Bai Ye! Not an assassin! Look carefully before you draw your swords!"

Li Mo recognized the person in front of him, and his brow twitched. He sheathed the dagger back in his waistband, raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture that conveyed a sense of helplessness, as if to say, "How come I didn't notice this kid getting close again?"

Lu Xiao also sheathed his military knife, but he glanced at Bai Ye again—twice now. Last time, Bai Ye also disappeared from the dormitory without a sound, and no one noticed. This time, he actually managed to walk within three steps of the two veteran mercenaries without being detected.

"I want to go too." Bai Ye walked out from behind Xuan Xiao, his expression still calm and indifferent, as if being pointed at with two knives was just a trivial incident.

Lu Xiao glanced at him, then at Li Mo, and sighed.

He pulled the mission briefing from under his arm, bent down to look Bai Ye in the eye, and switched to the patient tone of an older brother coaxing a child: "Little Bai, it's not that I don't want you to go. Look—you're a new recruit now, you've only been in Pokong for less than a week, and there's still a lot you haven't learned. You didn't pass Pokong's formal assessment either, so theoretically you're not even a formal member. Going to be an instructor in the special forces means teaching others, so you have to hone your own skills first, right?"

Bai Ye looked at him, remained silent for about two seconds, and then asked, "What if it passes?"

Lu Xiao was taken aback. Looking at Bai Ye's serious expression, the corners of his mouth curled up even more.

This kid is taking it seriously. Interesting.

"If you pass, you can go. It's the rule of Breaking the Void—formal team members who pass the assessment participate in missions voluntarily. If you really have the ability to pass the assessment, no one has any reason to stop you."

"What's the exam?"

Lu Xiao stood up, tucked the mission briefing back under his arm, crossed his arms, and began to seriously consider the problem.

The assessment criteria should be tailored to the individual circumstances of each team member; Bai Ye's case is rather unique. His mind raced, then he tapped his fingers in the air a few times, as if making a list.

"I saw your performance in recruit training—top-notch physical fitness, top-notch military skills, top-notch firearms fundamentals. Ten shots fired from the same hole simultaneously is a monstrous achievement in any unit. You also have basic knowledge of tactical terrain and communications encryption." He paused, holding up two fingers. "But there are two areas you didn't really practice in recruit training. First, sniping. You haven't formally trained with a sniper rifle—reporting parameters for Huai'an at the rainforest factory is one thing, firing it yourself is another. A qualified mercenary should at least possess basic long-range precision shooting ability. Second, hand-to-hand combat. Your hand-to-hand combat training record in recruit training is not high, and you don't have any record of sparring with professional hand-to-hand combat instructors. Your performance in the alley attack last time showed you had some basic skills, but we don't know the specific level."

Bai Ye nodded, his expression unchanged: "Okay. We'll test on these two."

Li Mo stood to the side, his gaze lingering on Bai Ye for a long while. He remained silent for a few seconds before speaking, his voice steady and brief: "Set a time."

Lu Xiao tilted his head and thought for a moment: "This afternoon. The combat test will be first—combat takes up energy, so finishing it first will save some energy for target practice. The sniping will be after the combat test, which will be a good time to see if your aim is still steady after you've used up your energy. The venue will be the indoor combat room and sniping range next to the training ground. As for the opponent in the combat test—" He deliberately dragged out the last syllable, and the corners of his mouth turned up even more, "...me."

Xuan Xiao gasped.

Although Lu Xiao usually seems carefree and nonchalant, his fighting skills are second only to Li Mo in Group A. His fighting style is notoriously tricky, adept at using agility and unexpected angles to attack. Xie Ran loses nine out of ten times against him, and Shen Zhuo has never won a single time. To send a sixteen-year-old recruit with no systematic fighting training to fight Lu Xiao—this isn't an assessment, it's public execution.