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

The next morning, Bai Ye encountered Scorpion in the courtyard.

Bai Ye was squatting in the corner of the yard, washing his face next to the tap. Cold water flowed from the rusty tap, carrying a faint metallic smell. He scooped up two handfuls and splashed them on his face, the icy water sending a shiver down his spine.

He heard footsteps coming from the direction of the corridor, slightly slower than usual, with an extra beat between each step.

Bai Ye looked up and stopped what he was doing.

Scorpion walked out from the other end of the corridor. He was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt with a slightly wrinkled collar, as if he hadn't changed his clothes before going to sleep last night.

His complexion wasn't good—it was a shade paler than usual, with a faint bluish tinge under his eyes, and his lips were more taut than usual.

Bai Ye wiped the water off his face, stood up, and shook the water droplets off his hands. He didn't speak immediately, but watched as Scorpion walked to a short distance away from him, leaned against the wall, and lowered his shoulders by half an inch when his back touched it.

"You don't look well," Bai Ye said, his voice so low that only the two of them could hear him.

The scorpion glanced at him sideways: "You won't die."

Bai Ye stared at his face for two seconds.

The morning light shone from the side, illuminating the pale blue under Scorpion's eyes clearly, and also revealing a small, barely noticeable bruise next to his jawline. The bruise was very light in color, like a mark left after being pressed by some blunt object.

Bai Ye's gaze lingered on the bruise for a moment before shifting away.

"Did Viper give you trouble?" he asked, his voice a little lower than before.

"It's none of your business." Scorpion straightened up from the wall and stretched his left shoulder. "I have plans for today. Everyone gathers this afternoon; Viper is going to deal with the traitor. You'll be standing in the front row."

Bai Ye frowned slightly: "What does dealing with traitors have to do with me?"

"You're new here; you've only been with Viper for half a month. Viper thinks highly of you. Yesterday, when we were receiving the goods, he told me to my face, 'This kid is capable,' so there's a high chance he'll ask you to do the work. He wants to see if you hesitate, if you'll go soft, and if you'll show weakness in front of everyone."

Bai Ye remained silent for a moment.

"You mean he'll send me to kill the traitor?"

Scorpion's gaze remained fixed on the crooked tree, as if he wasn't actually looking at the tree, but simply trying to find a place to focus his attention: "High probability."

"Can't I refrain from killing anyone?"

Scorpion turned his head to look at Bai Ye, remained silent for a few seconds, and then spoke: "You can choose not to accept. But you need to think it through. Viper has given you an opportunity to skip the rookie phase. If you accept, you can enter his inner circle and access what you want. If you don't accept, he'll think you're not ruthless enough, not reliable enough—you'll stay in the rookie position for a long time. It will be difficult for you to move up later. Think it through yourself."

Bai Ye looked down, watching his worn-out shoe toes lightly scrape against the cement floor. Then he looked up at Scorpion: "Do you think I should accept?"

"Do you think you need to get close to Viper's inner circle to get what you want?"

"need."

"Then I'll accept it."

"……knew."

Scorpion said nothing more. He turned and walked deeper into the corridor, his steps as steady and heavy as when he came. Bai Ye neither called out to him nor followed. He simply stood in the morning light, watching the tall figure gradually disappear into the shadows at the end of the corridor.

In the afternoon, everyone was gathered in the open space in the center of the stronghold. It was an open area surrounded by walls on three sides, with compacted soil mixed with gravel and scattered grass roots.

People gathered in the courtyard in twos and threes. Some leaned against the wall smoking, some stood with their hands in their pockets, and some squatted in the corner chatting quietly. Twenty or thirty people formed an irregular semicircle in the open space, leaving a blank area in the middle.

All eyes were on the three kneeling people in the center of the field.

All three men had their hands tied behind their backs, their knees sinking into the mud. Their faces were unrecognizable—their eye sockets were swollen shut, their mouths were split open in several places, blood scabs covered half their faces, and pale yellow tissue fluid was oozing from some areas.

One of the people was missing half of his ear, and the edges of the incision were covered with purplish-black scabs, indicating that it had been cut off recently.

The other person's left hand hung at an abnormal angle, as if the joint had been forcibly dislocated from the shoulder, with the entire arm limply draped at his side.

The third person was the least injured, but also the most frightening—his eyes were still open, but his pupils were dilated, and his lips were moving silently, as if repeating something repeatedly, or as if chanting a spell for help.

No one standing around said a word.

When Viper walked out from the other end of the corridor, everyone's eyes shifted from the traitor and focused on him.

He walked up to the three kneeling men, stopped, looked down at them with an expression as if he were looking at three pieces of meat on a chopping board, with a slow and patient demeanor.

"These three," Viper began, his voice not loud, but everyone heard him clearly, "have been with me for three years. They ate my food, used my things, and slept under my roof. Last month, they sold information about one of my shipping routes to their rivals. The rivals used that information to steal three shipments of my goods; you know how much you lost. The goods are secondary. The important thing is that they taught me one thing—the dog I've raised for three years can turn around and bite me."

No one spoke. Someone stubbed out their cigarette, grinding the butt against the sole of their boot. Someone else shifted their gaze from the traitor to the mud at their feet.

Viper slowly strolled up behind the three traitors, placed a hand on one of their shoulders, leaned down and whispered something in their ear. The man's body began to tremble violently, his bound hands clenching the ropes behind his back, his knuckles white as paper.

The viper straightened up and patted the man's shoulder, as if patting a disobedient pet.

Then he turned around and faced the people gathered in the center of the open space, his gaze sliding from one face to another.

"So the rules remain the same today. Whoever has performed well recently will have the opportunity to do this for me. Old rule—newcomers who clean house get promoted directly. From today onwards, they'll be in the inner circle and won't have to stay in those shabby rooms anymore."

His gaze wandered through the crowd, as if selecting a suitable tool, and then stopped.

Viper's smile widened slightly as he pointed towards the front of the crowd. His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried an undeniable weight.

"Lin Mo, come here."