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

The snow in the Gobi Desert is not thick, just a thin layer covering the training ground. The surface, scraped by the wind, forms a hard crust that crunches underfoot.

Bai Ye lay prone in the snow in front of the target position, sniper rifle resting in front of him, butt against his shoulder, right eye pressed against the scope. The target paper 800 meters away swayed slightly in the crosshairs, the crosshairs pointing directly at the bullseye.

Lu Xiao stood to his side and slightly behind, arms crossed, a blade of grass between his teeth, occasionally commenting, "Keep breathing," "Lower your right shoulder a little."

Bai Ye did not respond, but his every movement was silently carrying out Lu Xiao's instructions—adjusting his breathing rate, tightening his core, and placing his finger on the trigger.

Bai Ye pulled the trigger on the first shot, and the bullet struck the target—a perfect 10. The second shot was also a perfect 10. Halfway through the third shot, his finger suddenly twitched uncontrollably, and the trigger failed to pull.

He frowned, lowered the gun, and shook his right hand. His fingers were stiff in the cold air, and his knuckles had an unnatural white tinge. He moved his wrist again and gripped the buttstock once more. The fourth shot went wide. Nine rings.

Bai Ye's brows furrowed even deeper.

In his past life, he once lay motionless for six hours in the snow at minus thirty degrees Celsius, finally eliminating his target with a single bullet. At that time, his fingers did not tremble, his core did not collapse, and even when he suffered hypothermia to the point that his lips turned purple, he was still able to steadily deliver the last bullet into the target's brow.

But this body wasn't the 007 of his past life. This body was sixteen years old, with a thin frame and just enough muscle mass for basic training. The sub-zero temperatures affected him far more than he had anticipated.

He flicked his hand again, looked up at Lu Xiao, and said, "One more time."

"Your hands are shaking like this and you're still playing?" Lu Xiao took the grass stem out of his mouth, tilted his head and looked him over. "Your fingers are practically frozen solid. Take a break and warm your hands up before you start playing."

Bai Ye didn't move, lying back down on the gun, his right eye pressed against the scope. His finger was on the trigger again, his fingertip against the cold metal, the chill creeping from his fingertip into his palm.

Then a figure rushed in from the side.

Xuanxiao ran from the observation area on the side of the target position. He ran so fast that his boots slipped twice on the snow.

He rushed up to Bai Ye, squatted down without saying a word, and ripped off his training uniform jacket.

Bai Ye was so wrapped up by him that he leaned back slightly, and the sniper rifle slipped from his hand, hitting the snow with a dull thud.

"What are you doing?" Bai Ye frowned and tried to break free of the coat, but Xuan Xiao was stronger than him. One hand pressed on his shoulder, while the other hand had already tucked the hem of the coat into the thermal layer on his back.

"Your hands are shaking!" Xuan Xiao's voice was low, but the anxiety in his tone was not hidden at all. "It's seven or eight degrees below zero and you're lying in the snow wearing so little. Do you think you're made of iron? It's only been a few days since you had a fever. If you get a fever again, Dr. Wen will definitely scold our whole team."

Bai Ye's lips moved, about to speak, when a hand reached out from the side, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up from the snow.

Bai Ye was pulled and staggered half a step. Xuan Xiao's training uniform jacket slipped off his shoulder and fell to the snow.

Li Mo stood in front of him, one hand still gripping his arm, the other hand already having taken off his coat, shaken it open, and precisely draped it over Bai Ye's shoulders.

Xuan Xiao's lips twitched. He looked down at his coat lying on the snow, then looked up at the one Li Mo had draped over Bai Ye.

He opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but before he could utter a word, a gentle and familiar voice drifted over from the side.

"Shut up if you don't want to die."

Xuan Xiao suddenly turned his head. Wen Yan appeared at the edge of the shooting range at some point. He was wearing a thick military overcoat and holding a thermos cup with steam rising from the rim.

Xuan Xiao swallowed back all the profanities that were on the tip of his tongue and obediently shut his mouth, but a trace of resentment was still clearly hanging on the corner of his mouth—his expression was clearly cursing silently.

Bai Ye frowned as he looked at Li Mo. He raised his hand to pull off Li Mo's coat and return it, his movements clearly reluctant, and his tone was colder than usual.

"I can manage on my own. I don't need any special care. I'm sixteen, not six. I can take responsibility for my own body."

Li Mo stared at him for a few seconds, then spoke in a low voice, each word heavy as iron: "You're sixteen, the age when you're still growing. Before your brother left, he told me to take good care of you. I promised him, and I have to keep my word. I can't let anything happen to you under my nose."

"That was something you promised him, not something I promised. I don't need you to fulfill any promises on his behalf. I can make my own decisions."

"You made the decision? Your hands were shaking like that and you just lay there without moving. Is this what you call making decisions? Who will be responsible if you get frostbite? How are you going to explain this to your brother when he gets back?"

"He hasn't come back! He's been missing for six years, and you're telling me to wait for him to come back? You want me to wait for him to come back and then tell him I got frostbite on my fingers? The question is, when is he coming back?"

Bai Ye's chest heaved slightly. He looked at Li Mo's face, at Li Mo's pupils that had slightly contracted because of his words, and suddenly realized what he had said.

He shut his mouth.

Li Mo didn't answer. He stood there staring at Bai Ye for a few seconds, his jawline tightening and relaxing repeatedly. Then he turned around, walking faster than usual, and headed out of the training field without looking back.

Seeing that Li Mo had left, Xuan Xiao rushed to Bai Ye's side in three quick steps.

He reached out to pull Bai Ye's sleeve, but before his fingers even touched Bai Ye's cuff, Bai Ye slapped his hand away.

Bai Ye didn't look at him, frowned, and turned to walk towards the other side of the training ground.

Xuanxiao stood still and did not follow.

He raised the hand that had been slapped away, glanced down at the light red mark on the back of his hand, then looked up at Bai Ye's receding figure. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.

Lu Xiao had somehow walked up behind him.

"Let him be alone for a while." Lu Xiao's voice was unusually soft. "Only he can process what happened between him and his brother. There's no point in you chasing after him; he doesn't want to talk to anyone right now. As for Lao Li, I'll go talk to him."

Xuan Xiao glanced at him sideways. Lu Xiao patted his shoulder, then turned and walked in the direction Li Mo had left, waving his hand before quickly disappearing into the snowy shadows at the edge of the training ground.