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

Bai Ye's expression did not change immediately.

His face still held that perfectly timed look of bewilderment, as if he'd been stunned by the sudden accusation. His lips parted slightly, and he paused for a couple of seconds before speaking, his tone carrying the disarray of someone wrongly accused: "Brother, I... how could I possibly be an undercover agent? I've been here for almost three months, and I know exactly how you've treated me, how could I possibly..."

Viper didn't speak, but leaned back on the sofa, quietly watching his performance. The temperature in his eyes remained unchanged, without anger or the sharpness of suspicion, only a calm that came after confirmation, as if he had seen through everything and was just waiting for the other to finish his act.

Bai Ye said a few more words—he was sold by human traffickers when he came in, he had no family, he only had his elder brother as his support, and he could not possibly betray him. He spoke with sincerity, his voice trembling just right, and every pause was perfectly timed.

Viper waited until he finished acting before speaking, his tone still calm and unhurried: "Bai Ye."

The room fell silent.

Bai Ye's expression remained unchanged, but his breathing paused for a moment.

Bai Ye straightened up.

He no longer maintained that slightly hunched, submissive posture. His back straightened, his chin lifted slightly, and his gaze changed from looking down to looking straight ahead.

His expression shifted from bewilderment and helplessness to a cold calm, like an even harder mask being revealed after one mask has been removed. His voice also changed, returning to the tone he was used to in the Skybreaker Base—neither high nor low, calm and indifferent.

"Who told you that?"

Viper's smile deepened slightly as he observed this change in him.

He didn't answer immediately, as if wanting to savor the shift in demeanor from obedient to indifferent for a while longer, before slowly saying, "I don't know. I received a letter this morning, unsigned, unprinted, the words were printed. It was left at my door, weighed down with a stone."

He leaned back on the sofa, his hands folded on his knees, and looked Bai Ye up and down with interest: "Isn't it interesting? You've been following me for three months, serving tea and water, running errands and collecting goods, killing for me, eating and working with my men, and then suddenly a letter pops up saying you're an undercover agent. I didn't want to believe it at first, but after thinking about it, you've really gotten in too quickly."

"What's too fast?"

"You learn things too fast. It usually takes at least six months for an outsider to get into the inner circle, but you got in in three months. Your judgment of the quality of goods is more accurate than the old men who have been with me for five or six years. You memorize routes faster than Scorpion did back then. When you were learning accounts from Old Cat, he could recite the entire page of numbers without you even looking at it. At first, I thought you were smart, but later I thought you were abnormally smart."

Viper's tone remained unchanged, as if he were reviewing a case that had already been concluded: "In addition, I investigated the background you mentioned earlier—you said you were from Wa State and were sold by human traffickers, and I had my people investigate that line. There was indeed a human trafficker's list with the name Lin Mo on it, and the age matched. But my people investigated Lin Mo's family and found that his house had collapsed three years ago and no one lived there. If you were that Lin Mo, you couldn't possibly not know about your family's situation."

Bai Ye remained silent.

Viper tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping from the top of his head to his toes before slowly returning to his own: "So I'm even more certain that the letter is true. You're not Lin Mo, you're Bai Ye."

Bai Ye stood there, silent for a moment. His expression was calm, but his mind was racing—who had delivered this letter?

Who wrote that letter?

He looked up at the viper: "So, what do you plan to do with me?"

Viper chuckled. There was no warmth in that smile, like a knife honed for too long flashing in the light. He didn't answer Bai Ye's question, but instead gestured with his chin towards the shadows on the side of the room.

"Grab him."

Bai Ye moved faster than the two of them.

He pulled a dagger from his boot, the blade arcing through the twilight. He braced himself with his left hand to shift his weight, causing the fist of the first person to charge at him to graze past his head. At the same time, he flipped his wrist and plunged the dagger into the man's side.

The man groaned, clutching his wound and staggering back two steps. Blood gushed from between his fingers, but he gritted his teeth and did not fall.

The second person had already pounced on Bai Ye, holding an iron pipe in his hand and smashing it down on his head.

Bai Ye dodged to the side, the iron pipe slamming into the wall behind him, sending brick fragments flying. He pressed close to the man's body during the brief moment the man pulled back, his dagger slicing horizontally and plunging into the man's ribs before twisting his wrist and pulling it out. Blood splattered onto his sleeve, soaking the dark fabric into a wet, dark patch.

A third person charged at him from the side, but Bai Ye didn't dodge. He met the man's charge with a low, sliding step, and with a precise upward thrust of his dagger, pierced the gap below the man's collarbone, the tip penetrating his chest. As the man fell, his hand was still clutching Bai Ye's clothes, which Bai Ye yanked away forcefully.

The room reeked of blood, mingled with the faint warm light from the chandelier, making one's throat tighten. Three bodies lay across the dark brown floor, blood spreading and staining the carpet even deeper.

Then gunshots rang out.

The bullet flew from the shadows on the side of the room and struck Bai Ye precisely in the abdomen.

The impact caused Bai Ye to stagger backward half a step, his back hitting the wall behind him, sliding half an inch before regaining his balance.

He glanced down at his abdomen—blood was gushing from the bullet hole, spreading a dark patch on his clothes. An unnatural burning sensation emanated from the wound's edges, spreading outwards as if something was flowing with the blood, leaving a cool, numb feeling in its wake.

These weren't ordinary bullets. The bullets were coated with something. Anesthetic? Toxin? Something specifically designed to incapacitate prey?

His vision began to waver. A blurry, grayish-white area appeared at the edge of his field of vision, slowly shrinking towards the center, as if someone were closing a door from the outside.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and the dagger he was holding slipped from his palm, landing on the carpet with a dull thud. His body slid down the wall, his knees hitting the ground first, then his hands, then his forehead.

Before his consciousness completely faded, the last thing he saw was Viper standing up from the sofa, walking up to him, looking down at him with an enigmatic smile on its face.

Then Bai Ye's vision went black, and she completely lost consciousness.