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

After the viper's voice faded, the empty area in the center of the open space became particularly conspicuous.

All eyes shifted from the traitor to the boy at the front of the crowd.

Bai Ye stood still, feeling those gazes like a spider web falling on his back—curious, scrutinizing, waiting to see the show, and a few with a hint of schadenfreude.

He stood there for two seconds under those gazes, then stepped out from the front of the crowd.

He stopped in front of the viper, lowered his head slightly, and put his hands at his sides.

Viper looked at him, turned the dagger in his hand over, and presented it to him with the hilt facing forward.

The blade wasn't long, about twenty centimeters, and reflected a cold, white light in the afternoon sun. The handle was wrapped with black anti-slip rope, and it looked old, with obvious wear marks on the grip, as if it had been used for many years.

"You're very smart." Viper's voice wasn't loud, but carried a tone like an elder bestowing favor upon a junior. "You handled the delivery yesterday efficiently. I didn't misjudge you. Do your best today, don't let me down."

Bai Ye glanced at him, then lowered his eyes again, taking the dagger with both hands. His fingers tightened slightly when they touched the anti-slip rope wrapped around the hilt, as if pressed down by the weight of the hilt, or as if he was gripping it tightly to check the friction.

He nodded: "Thank you, brother."

Viper chuckled, took two steps back, and stood at the edge of the open space, crossing his arms in front of his chest, as if waiting for a performance worth watching.

Bai Ye turned around, gripping the dagger, and walked towards the three kneeling men. His steps were slow, each one landing firmly on solid ground, but he could feel the hilt of the dagger slowly warming in his palm with his body heat.

He walked up to the three people and stopped.

The three traitors knelt in the mud, looking up at the boy standing before them. Their expressions were all different. The first man's pupils were completely dilated, and his lips trembled as he mumbled something unintelligible; the second man had his head down, and his shoulders were shaking; the third man—the one who was the most badly injured—suddenly raised his head and roared at Bai Ye in a voice that was hoarse to the extreme.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" His voice was hoarse and shrill, as if squeezed from a torn throat, each word accompanied by blood and froth spitting from the corner of his mouth. "You've only been here a few days?! What do you know?! You're Viper's dog—how long do you think you'll live?! You'll end up like me sooner or later—sooner or later you'll be pinned to the ground—"

He cursed faster and louder, as if he was using his last bit of strength to unleash his fear into rage.

His insults became increasingly vulgar, ranging from Viper's ancestors to Bai Ye's background. His language was so obscene that several onlookers frowned. Spit and blood mixed together and dripped from the corners of his mouth, smearing his chest.

Bai Ye looked at him. His blood-stained face looked particularly ferocious in the afternoon sunlight, and the torn wound at the corner of his mouth opened and closed with his cursing, revealing his stained red teeth.

Bai Ye's brows slowly furrowed.

He didn't care about this person's insults. In his past life, he had heard ten thousand times more unpleasant things. He could disguise himself in any way for a mission, and he could also ignore anyone's words for the sake of a mission.

He originally planned to finish the job quickly—step forward, kill the man with one strike, and complete his task without flinching no matter how much the man cursed him, then retreat.

But that person kept cursing.

"You're a fucking dog—Viper's dog—you think—he can make you kill me today and have you killed tomorrow—you!"

Bai Ye's patience had run out. He no longer needed a quick victory.

He suddenly raised his hand, and the dagger plunged straight into the man's chest.

The blade pierced through the gap between his skin and ribs, sinking into his chest cavity. Blood gushed from the wound, splattering onto the back of his hand, warm and viscous, carrying a rusty taste and a deeper, sweet, metallic scent.

He pulled out the knife and stabbed it in again.

The second cut. The third cut. The fourth cut.

Each slash was faster than the last, each strike landing in the same area, turning the man's chest into a bloody mess. Blood splattered on his face, trickling down his cheekbone, a drop clinging to his eyelashes, which he blinked away.

He didn't stop.

The man could no longer make a sound; only gurgling bubbles came from his throat. His body was trembling, his limbs were twitching, and blood was gushing from the overlapping wounds on his chest, soaking his clothes and spreading a large patch of deep red in the soil.

But Bai Ye kept stabbing.

His movements had become devoid of any skill; he was simply stabbing and pulling the knife in and out repeatedly, as if he were crushing something.

Among the twenty or thirty onlookers, some turned their faces away, while others gasped. The air was thick with the increasingly strong stench of blood, mixed with the dry, sun-baked smell of dust, making one's stomach tighten.

Bai Ye was finally pulled away.

A hand reached out from behind, gripped his shoulder, the force not strong but steady and firm, pulling him back half a step, then another half step, until he was a distance away from the unrecognizable corpse.

Scorpion stood beside him, one hand still on his shoulder, his fingers tightening slightly, as if to make sure he could still stand.

Scorpion turned his head to look in the viper's direction: "This child isn't doing well. It's his first time seeing blood in public, so his reaction was a bit overreacted. I'll take him back first."

The viper leaned against a pillar at the edge of the open space, its arms crossed and a smile playing on its lips.

He glanced at the mangled corpse on the ground, then at Bai Ye, who was being shielded by the scorpion. His gaze lingered for a moment on Bai Ye's blood-stained face before he nodded in satisfaction.

"Take him away," Viper waved his hand. "Get some rest. He has work to do tomorrow."

Scorpion didn't speak again. He tightened his grip on Bai Ye's shoulder slightly, gesturing for him to follow.

Bai Ye turned around and followed him through a passage cleared by the crowd, walking towards the edge of the open space. His face was still speckled with blood, his hands were covered in blood, and dark red liquid, not yet dried, was still dripping from between the fingers that had gripped the dagger.

The crowd watched them disappear around the corner of the corridor, no one spoke. Behind them, in the open space, someone began cleaning up the mangled corpse.

Viper remained leaning against the pillar, not leaving. His gaze lingered in the direction where Bai Ye had disappeared, the smile on his lips lingering for a long while before slowly fading away.