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

The helicopter took off from the special forces base's helipad, the roar of its rotors filling the cabin. Outside the porthole, the bloodstains on the open ground behind the mountain had been mostly covered by newly fallen snowflakes, leaving only a small, blurry patch of dark color in the distance.

Shen Zhuo sealed the body in a body bag and stuffed it into the back corner of the cabin. He then sat down next to it, removed his mask, and had an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Li Mo sat near the cabin door. The abrasions on his back had already been treated in the medical room, and the smell of iodine could be smelled through the bandages.

Lu Xiao sat next to him, the ligature marks on his neck covered with a layer of transparent ointment, gleaming slightly in the light streaming through the porthole. He was unusually quiet, neither teasing Shen Zhuo about his old habit of smoking without lighting it, nor commenting on whether the execution just now was ruthless enough. He simply leaned back in his seat, his gaze occasionally sweeping over Li Mo's profile before shifting away again.

Bai Ye sat by the window in the cabin. He turned his head to look out the window—a gray-blue sky, snow-capped mountains in the distance, and snowflakes swirling in the sunlight, whipped up by the propeller's airflow.

Xuanxiao sat next to him, having been on high alert since boarding the plane.

He knew Bai Ye too well—he was usually quiet, but at least he would respond; he would accept yogurt offered to him, nod or shake his head when asked a question, and occasionally reply with a "boring." But now, Bai Ye didn't even accept the thermos cup he offered, only shaking his head slightly, his gaze fixed on some vague point outside the porthole.

Xuan Xiao's hand, holding the thermos, hovered in mid-air, and the corner of his mouth twitched down slightly. He put the thermos back, screwed the lid on, and placed it next to Bai Ye. Then he took out his trump card from his backpack—blueberry yogurt.

He tore open the straw packaging, inserted it into the bottle opening, and handed the yogurt to Bai Ye. The bottle was still slightly warm from his body heat.

"Have a sip, it's the last bottle, we won't be able to get any before we go back. Smell it, the blueberry flavor is really authentic—Old Zhou's blueberry yogurt has artificial flavoring, this is made from real fermented fruit pulp, look at the color—"

Bai Ye didn't even look at him. He shrank his face further into his scarf, leaving only his closed eyes and a row of drooping eyelashes visible.

Xuanxiao placed the yogurt next to Baiye, lining it up with the thermos, and then bent down to rummage through his backpack for blueberry candies, chocolate bars, compressed biscuits, and a individually packaged bag of jelly—he took out all his stock and laid them out on Baiye's lap, looking like a street vendor trying to sell his most treasured possessions to his only customer.

"Look, there are still three blueberry candies left, all from your favorite brand. The chocolate bar was given out this morning, but I couldn't bear to eat it. The jelly is orange-flavored—although you said orange isn't as good as blueberry, it's better than nothing. Do you want one? Two is fine too, or you can have them all—"

There was no response. Bai Ye's eyelashes didn't even tremble.

Xuan Xiao packed up the stall, stuffing the items back into his backpack one by one, much slower than when he was taking things out earlier. He zipped up his backpack and placed it at his feet, then stood up and squatted down in front of Bai Ye.

Xuanxiao squatted down at Baiye's feet, his hands on his knees, looking up at Baiye's face.

He squatted for a while, pursed his lips, and suddenly fell forward, lying face down on Bai Ye's lap, burying his face in Bai Ye's knees, his arms wrapped around Bai Ye's calves, as if he were holding onto something extremely important and afraid it would be taken away.

He lay there with complete self-righteousness, utterly unaware that he was being unreasonable.

Bai Ye finally reacted. He looked down at the large weight that had suddenly appeared on his leg—Xuan Xiao's gray hair was rubbing messily against his knee, the back of his head was facing his face, the tips of his ears were sticking out from his hair, and his earlobes were slightly red.

He lay on Bai Ye's lap, his muffled voice coming from beneath Bai Ye's knees: "I don't care, I won't get up if you ignore me."

Bai Ye reached out to push his head, but it wouldn't budge after the first push. She pushed it again, but it still wouldn't budge.

Xuanxiao hugged him tighter, his arms encircling his calves, his chin resting on his kneecap, and added in a muffled voice, "Push me away, I'll just lie back down. Anyway, I have plenty of strength, and you can't kick me—last time you kicked me in the chest on the training field because I was being cheeky, but I wasn't being cheeky today, I've been especially good today, so you can't kick me."

"You call this being well-behaved?" Bai Ye's voice rarely carried a hint of vivid speechlessness.

"I usually hold you in my arms, but today I only laid my legs on your knees, which is a huge restraint. You see, I didn't even put my hands on your waist—although I really wanted to—but I controlled myself. Isn't that good? Do you want to check my pulse? My heart rate is 60 right now, very steady, which means I'm very calm and restrained."

Bai Ye closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

He recalled the first time he met Xuan Xiao in basic training. The man was as flamboyant as a peacock spreading its tail feathers, walking with a swagger and speaking with a sharp tongue, defiant of everyone. Now, the person clinging to his lap, acting like a brat and burying his face in his knees, was a completely different person from that peacock.

How did he manage to spoil this person like this?

He raised his hand and tapped Xuan Xiao on the back of the head with a light tap: "Get out of the way."

"Are you still angry?" Xuan Xiao didn't look up, his voice still muffled, but his tone was unusually serious. He wasn't being cheeky to make Bai Ye laugh; he genuinely cared about the answer.

Bai Ye remained silent for a while.

"Don't be angry anymore. Okay?"

Xuan Xiao finally raised his head, resting his chin on Bai Ye's knee, and looked up to carefully examine Bai Ye's expression, as if to confirm the truth of his words.

He stared at him for a while, then the corners of his mouth slowly turned up. Bai Ye met his smile and felt that his earlier "I'm not angry anymore" had been taken too quickly. But the words were already out, and there was no going back.

Xuan Xiao was satisfied. But he didn't let go of his hand after he was satisfied.

He buried his face back in Bai Ye's knees, changing to a more comfortable position—from lying on Bai Ye's lap to resting his head on Bai Ye's lap.

Bai Ye waited for a while, but realized that the man showed no intention of getting up. He looked down at him, his tone carrying a hint of helpless warning: "Let go."

"You said you're not angry anymore. If you're not angry anymore, it means we can communicate normally. Normal communication includes me not letting go. That's the logic."

"That's outrageous."

"Being a rogue is also a kind of logic." Xuan Xiao closed his eyes, the smile on his lips impossible to suppress.

Bai Ye remained silent for a few seconds, then closed his eyes as well.

Xuanxiao rested his head on Baiye's lap, listening to the even breathing above him, and silently gave himself a thumbs up in his heart.

Blueberry yogurt didn't work, brown sugar ginger tea didn't work, snack stalls didn't work, but lying on my legs did.

The next time Bai Ye gets angry, he'll skip the first three steps. He solemnly memorized this conclusion, closed his eyes, and began to rest along with Bai Ye, but he didn't let go.