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

At four in the morning, the corridor lights in the dormitory building were still not on.

When Li Mo pushed open the door to Class 1's dormitory, the room was pitch black, with only a little cold white light from the streetlights along the playground shining through the window.

Li Mo reached out and pressed the switch by the door. The fluorescent light flickered twice and then turned on.

"get up."

Nobody moved.

"get up."

Zhao Xiaohu rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. Qian Duoduo's snoring even became louder.

Li Mo walked to Zhao Xiaohu's bedside and yanked off his blanket.

"Ugh—what time is it?!"

"4:03."

Zhao Xiaohu glanced down at the non-existent watch on his wrist, his mind still reeling. "Four...four o'clock? Squad leader, isn't assembly at six-tenths?"

"Today we're practicing housekeeping."

The other recruits on the beds were also gradually pulled out of their blankets by Lu Xiao.

Li Mo brought over his quilt and spread it on the open ground in the middle of the dormitory.

"Watch closely."

He grasped the two corners of the quilt with both hands, gave it a shake, and the fabric unfolded in the air, spreading flat on the ground. Then he squatted down and began to work with his hands—flattening, folding, pressing the seams, pinching the corners, and trimming the edges. The quilt quickly transformed under his hands, from a soft, fluffy pile of cotton into a square with sharp edges and straight lines.

Li Mo stood up and took a step back.

Zhao Xiaohu rubbed his eyes. He rubbed them again.

"Is this a quilt?"

No one answered him.

"Is this really not a green brick?"

When Li Mo's gaze swept over, Zhao Xiaohu immediately shut up.

"Your class vice-president will continue teaching. Everyone will practice until they pass the test."

Lu Xiao clapped his hands, his smile radiant.

"Come on, don't just stand there, take your blankets down and find an open space to spread them out. Hurry up, hurry up."

The new recruits spread out their blankets on the ground.

Lu Xiao squatted in the middle and demonstrated the movements in slow motion.

He spoke and demonstrated simultaneously, moving at half the speed of Li Mo, breaking down each step clearly.

"Alright, it's your turn. Each of you practice five times."

Zhao Xiaohu squatted in front of his blanket and took a deep breath. He grabbed the two corners of the blanket with both hands and shook it upwards—the blanket didn't unfold but instead crumpled into a ball. He shook it again, and the corners of the blanket slipped from his hands, leaving the whole ball of blanket stuck to his face.

Qian Duoduo's situation was even worse. When he folded the blanket for the first time, he folded it backwards; the side that should have been folded inwards was facing outwards. He squatted on the ground, tilting his head, and stared at it for a long time, but he still couldn't figure out what was wrong.

He frantically tried to adjust himself, but when he pulled the corner of the blanket outwards, he used too much force, and the entire blanket slid off the floor, causing him to fall forward.

His forehead collided with Zhao Xiaohu, who was struggling with his blanket across from him.

The two round heads bumped together with a "thud".

"Ouch!"

Why did you hit me?!

"I was dragged here by the blanket!"

The two of them squatted on the ground, rubbing their foreheads, their blankets tangled together like two green caterpillars wrestling.

Lu Xiao took a deep breath and maintained his smile. He walked over to the two people, helped them separate the blankets, and smoothed them out again.

"Again. Focus."

Bai Ye squatted in front of her blanket.

First time. He followed the steps in his mind, one by one. Flatten, straighten the four corners. Fold, one-third of the way down, press the seam with the heel of his palm. Press the crease with his knee. Fold the other side. Pinch the corners—pinch the fabric outward with your thumb and forefinger, fold it down. Trim the edges, run your fingers along the ridge. The finished edge was mostly defined, but one corner wasn't sharp enough, and one side wasn't quite as smooth.

The second time. He adjusted the pressure when pinching the corners, using a little more force when pulling the fabric. He pressed his fingers down more firmly when trimming the edges. All four corners were upright, and all six sides were flat. It was still a little short of Li Mo's standard, but it was already clearly a perfect block of tofu.

The third time. He quickened the transition between flattening and folding, eliminating all hesitation and pauses. His hands moved smoothly together, like a straightened chain. When the quilt hit the ground, all twelve ridges were formed simultaneously, the four corners were perfect ninety degrees, and the six sides were flat and smooth.

It's exactly the same as the one Li Mo demonstrated.

Lu Xiao walked over, squatted down, and looked at the blanket in front of Bai Ye.

"Have you trained before?"

"no."

"You'll get it after three tries?"

Bai Ye didn't reply.

Lu Xiao looked at him for two seconds, then said nothing more.

Xuanxiao's voice came from the side.

"Deputy squad leader, did I pass?"

Lu Xiao turned his head. Xuan Xiao was squatting in front of his blanket, with a perfectly square block of dough in front of him. Although it couldn't compare to Li Mo's standard template, it was already top-notch among the new recruits.

Lu Xiao went over and checked it over.

"Have you practiced before?"

"I was taught at home."

Bai Ye glanced at him. Xuan Xiao happened to look over as well.

Their eyes met briefly in the air before they looked away.

Lu Xiao clapped his hands. "Alright, Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao have passed. The rest of you, continue practicing."

Zhao Xiaohu was still squatting on the ground, struggling with his blanket. He had practiced it three times. The first time, what he folded looked like a flattened pumpkin. The second time, it looked like a loaf of bread that had been sat on. The third time—he himself didn't know what shape it was; it looked like a crumpled piece of waste paper.

"This blanket has a grudge against me—"

He suddenly grabbed the two corners of the blanket and forcefully pulled it upwards. The blanket flew up and spread out in the air like a green cloud. Then, the cloud drifted down in the direction where Li Mo was standing.

Li Mo was leaning against the windowsill watching the new recruits practice when, out of the corner of his eye, a patch of green grew larger.

The blanket was precisely smothered on his face.

The air in the dormitory seemed to freeze.

Zhao Xiaohu kept his hands raised high, and the color drained from his round face at a visible speed.

Lu Xiao was instructing Qian Duoduo on how to pinch the corners when he heard the noise and turned around. He saw Li Mo standing by the window with a blanket on his head, one corner of the blanket draped over his head, covering half of his face.

Qian Duoduo couldn't help but laugh when she saw this scene.

"puff--"

The moment he burst out laughing, he realized he was doomed. He desperately covered his mouth, but his shoulders were still shaking.

Li Mo removed the blanket from her face.

He folded Zhao Xiaohu's blanket neatly—not into a perfect square, just a simple, orderly rectangle—and set it aside. Then he looked down at the blanket with the large sum of money that had slipped to his feet, bent down to pick it up, and folded it neatly as well.

His gaze first fell on Zhao Xiaohu, then shifted to Qian Duoduo.

Zhao Xiaohu curled up into a ball, like a hamster caught in a flashlight. Qian Duoduo covered her mouth, her smile completely gone, replaced by an expression of impending doom.

"Zhao Xiaohu".

"Here, here!"

"Money galore."

"arrive!"

"A 500-word self-criticism. Hand it in to me after your morning run."