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

The morning light of winter in the Gobi Desert peeked through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a few pale golden lines on the ground.

Li Mo opened his eyes and felt that he had slept very soundly, and most of the aches and pains in his body had disappeared.

He sat up and stretched his shoulders, then habitually glanced at Bai Ye's bed first. The morning light was shining on the sheets on the lower bunk.

His little cabbage was fast asleep, wrapped in a blanket, her black, tousled hair spread across the pillow, her breathing even and deep. But the blanket was bulging in the way it usually did—it was a size bigger than usual. Li Mo frowned, stood up, walked to Bai Ye's bedside, and bent down to take a closer look.

Bai Ye lay on her side, her forehead resting against Xuan Xiao's chest, her fingers clutching the front of Xuan Xiao's T-shirt. Xuan Xiao had one arm under Bai Ye's neck, the other around Bai Ye's waist, and his chin resting on the top of Bai Ye's head. The two were wrapped in the same blanket, their sleeping posture as intimate as two cats huddling together for warmth.

Li Mo stared at the scene before him, his expression changing several times in just a few seconds: the bewilderment of just waking up, the gloom after recognizing Xuan Xiao's face, and the ashen face after seeing Xuan Xiao's hand around Bai Ye's waist.

He took a deep breath and yanked the blanket off.

The moment the cold air rushed in, Xuan Xiao was jolted awake.

He sat up so quickly that he almost bumped into Li Mo's chin, and then he saw the expression on Li Mo's face as he stood by the bed.

What's worse, he also felt a part of his body asserting its presence in a rather unseemly way.

Morning erection.

He rolled off the bed and knelt down, his movements so swift they resembled a tactical evasive maneuver. He lowered his head, placing his hands neatly on his knees, his ears a deep, almost blood-red hue, and curled up into a ball, his posture even more subservient than the cadet Shen Zhuo had pinned to the ground in the special forces yesterday.

"Team leader—I can explain—it's not what you think—really not—I had a nightmare last night—I didn't mean to—I didn't do anything—"

Bai Ye was awakened by the commotion.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, still a little groggy from just waking up. He looked at Xuan Xiao, who was kneeling on the ground with red ears, then at Li Mo, who was standing by the bed with a livid face, and then at the blankets thrown on the ground. He couldn't understand why these two people were kneeling and had such dark faces so early in the morning.

"What's wrong?" His voice was still hoarse from just waking up, his hair was messy, and his expression was genuinely confused.

Lu Xiao leaned down from the top bunk. He had been woken up by the noise of Xuan Xiao rolling off the bed and had wanted to curse, "Who's tearing down the house so early in the morning?" But when he looked down at the scene, he instantly sobered up.

Li Mo stood by Bai Ye's bedside with a livid face, Xuan Xiao knelt on the ground with his ears red, and Bai Ye sat on the bed with a blank expression.

Using his experienced intuition, he pieced together what had happened in three seconds, then jumped off the bed without even putting on his shoes, grabbed Li Mo's uninjured left arm, and hung on it, desperately dragging him backward.

"Old Li! Calm down! Calm down! Look at Bai Ye—look at Bai Ye, he's perfectly fine! He's dressed perfectly! He just gave half of his bed to Xiao Zai! It's that simple! Your brother gave half of his bed to his teammate who was having nightmares! That's camaraderie! That's friendship! That shows that our Group A is united, friendly, and helps each other! You were sedated last night and slept like a log, and Xiao Zai was helping to take care of your brother, and you still want to stab him?"

Lu Xiao's words came out incredibly fast, as if they were on double speed. He held onto Li Mo's arm tightly, his bare feet grimacing from the cold cement floor, but his grip on her arm didn't loosen at all.

He turned and shouted to the side, "Xie Ran! Shen Zhuo! Stop watching! Help!"

Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo had already woken up. When they heard Lu Xiao call for help, they exchanged a glance, then rolled over in bed and continued watching.

Help? This is a million times more exciting than any fight on the training field.

Li Mo stared at Xuan Xiao kneeling on the ground, his fists clenching and unclenching, the veins on the back of his hands bulging. If Lu Xiao hadn't been hanging on his arm, he probably would have already reached for the dagger at his waist.

Bai Ye finally regained full consciousness.

"He had a nightmare last night and couldn't sleep. I invited him upstairs to sleep with me."

Li Mo paused. He turned to look at Bai Ye—Bai Ye was sitting on the bed, her hair disheveled, her expression calm, her tone indifferent, her eyes so clear that she seemed completely unaware of how many meanings the words "sleeping together" could evoke in other people's minds.

Li Mo took a deep breath and then said nothing.

He broke free from Lu Xiao's arms, looked away from Xuan Xiao and Bai Ye, and strode towards the dormitory door.

Bai Ye blinked, looked at the still trembling door, and then turned to look at the other people in the dormitory.

"What's wrong with the captain?"

Lu Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He patted Bai Ye on the shoulder, his tone returning to its usual teasing, but the smile on his lips carried a weariness of surviving a close call: "It's alright, it's alright, your captain's going through menopause. Men go through menopause too, it peaks around age thirty, symptoms include but are not limited to irritability, mood swings, and slamming doors early in the morning. It has nothing to do with you, you did the right thing, teammates should help each other, do it again next time—no, next time you better not let him see it." He paused, then added, "Actually, there won't be a next time. If you let Xuan Xiao into your bed again, your captain might just blow up this whole dorm building."

Xie Ran jumped off the bed, walked to Xuan Xiao who was still kneeling on the ground, squatted down and patted him on the shoulder.

His expression was like that of someone bidding farewell to a warrior about to be executed: "Xiao Zai, the fact that you're still alive and have finished breakfast makes you the most resilient person in the history of Pokong. Back then, someone touched Brother Chen's sniper rifle and was punished by him by running all night. You touched his brother—and even slept with him all night—and you're still alive? It's a miracle."

"I didn't touch!" Xuanxiao got up from the ground. "I just—I just had a nightmare—wanted someone to sleep with—I didn't think about anything—okay, maybe I did think about something—but I didn't do anything!" The more he explained, the more confused he became. In the end, he simply gave up, squatted down, buried his face in his hands, and let out a muffled wail.

Shen Zhuo rolled off the bed.

As he passed Xuanxiao, he glanced down at him and said, "Xiao, you'd better run ahead of everyone else this morning. If you fall behind, I'm afraid the captain will kick you into the shooting range."