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

Bai Ye was pulled back to consciousness by the pain in her abdomen.

The pain wasn't the usual wound pain; it was a burning and tearing sensation that spread from deep within the bullet hole.

He felt as if a piece of red-hot iron had been shoved into his abdomen, each heartbeat pushing that iron deeper into his flesh. His body was fixed to the wall, his wrists locked in iron handcuffs and suspended above his head, the edges of the handcuffs digging into his flesh, leaving a ring of dark red marks.

But he didn't utter a single word.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was still blurry, and the fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickered into two or three overlapping orbs in his field of vision. He blinked several times before he could focus, and then he saw the viper.

Viper sat in a folding chair opposite him, holding a cup of tea. Steam rose from the cup, forming a thin white mist in front of him.

Viper saw that Bai Ye had woken up, but didn't rush to speak.

He took another sip of tea, swallowed slowly, placed the teacup on the stool beside him, and then tilted his head slightly toward the shadows to the side.

"Take off his makeup," he said. "I want to see what a child soldier who breaks through the air really looks like."

Two people in white coats emerged from the shadows. One carried a basin of warm water, while the other carried a small toolbox containing cotton balls, makeup remover, and several delicate brushes.

Bai Ye was trapped against the wall and couldn't move. The gunshot wound in his abdomen was being pulled, and every breath he took caused more pain to spread from the wound outwards.

When the first damp cotton pad was pressed against his face, the icy touch made his skin tense reflexively, but it quickly relaxed again, because he knew he had no room to resist.

The makeup remover slowly spread along the contours of his cheekbones, and the dark foundation that Wen Yan had personally applied to his face began to dissolve and peel off. The areas wiped by the cotton ball revealed the skin underneath—a nearly translucent, cool white that shimmered with a porcelain-like luster under the fluorescent light.

The person in the white coat moved very professionally, unhurriedly, as if handling a task requiring meticulous operation. The makeup remover was changed twice, and the cotton balls were replaced several times.

Bai Ye's skin tone faded from the warm yellow common in Southeast Asia to a cold white that made the viper's gaze freeze slightly.

The viper stood up from the chair.

He walked up to Bai Ye, close enough to see the curve of her eyelashes—long and thick, casting a small fan-shaped shadow under her eyelids under the fluorescent light. His gaze traveled down Bai Ye's forehead, past her brow bone, eye sockets, bridge of her nose, lips, and jawline, before settling on Bai Ye's face, now completely exposed after all pretense had been removed.

He remained silent for several seconds. Then he let out a very low groan, as if it were rolling out from deep in his throat—it was hard to tell whether it was a sigh of praise or surprise.

"What a pity." Viper tilted his head, his gaze lingering on Bai Ye's face. His tone carried a hint of regret or pity, like a collector who had found a fine piece but was just one thing short of meeting his standards, yet couldn't bear to throw it away. "It's a pity you're a man."

He extended a finger, the tip of which gently glided across Bai Ye's jawline, the movement light, as if caressing a fragile object: "If you were a woman, I'd have to try it out. This face, paired with your ruthlessness, is quite something."

Bai Ye's expression was not good. His wound was still bleeding, and he was being forced to remove his makeup and be judged. Every word he uttered seemed to be ground out of the mouth of a viper, carrying a sticky malice that made one's stomach tighten.

He turned his head to avoid the viper's fingers, but the movement aggravated the wound on his abdomen, causing another layer of cold sweat to instantly break out on his forehead.

Viper withdrew his hand, took two steps back, and sat back down in the folding chair. He shifted to a more comfortable position, resting his hands on his knees, and his tone changed from the slightly regretful and frivolous one before to a more serious and formal one.

"Bai Ye, I admire you. You're young, but you're bold, quick-witted, and efficient. So I'd like to make a deal with you."

Bai Ye leaned against the wall, the pain in his abdomen making his breathing shallow and rapid. He lowered his head, his gaze fixed on his still-bleeding wound, neither looking at Viper nor answering.

Viper didn't stop because of his silence: "You'll work for me. My people have checked, the treatment you're getting at Breaking Void isn't bad, but I can give you much more. Money, power, freedom—whatever you want, I'll give you. You stay here, you don't need to go back to that Breaking Void base. I'll guarantee you a life of comfort and security, and no one can touch you."

Bai Ye finally raised his head. His face was pale, and his lips were a pale color from blood loss, but his voice was soft, and each word was enunciated clearly: "Desire. Beautiful."

The viper's expression remained unchanged, as if it had expected this answer.

He shrugged, tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest. "Alright. We have plenty of time. Your wound is still bleeding; you won't last much longer if you don't treat it. Let me know when you change your mind."

He stood up, brushed off non-existent dust from his trousers, and turned to walk towards the door. He paused at the doorway, turned his head slightly, and the fluorescent light outlined a sharp contour of his face. His tone returned to its usual unhurried composure.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. The stuff on the bullet in your abdomen is a compound anesthetic specifically designed to incapacitate prey. After the effects wear off, the wound will hurt several times more than a regular gunshot wound, and it will heal much more slowly. Bear with it, don't rush to die, I want to talk to you slowly."

After saying that, Viper pushed open the door and walked out. The iron door closed behind him, the latch clicking into the door frame. The sound of his footsteps gradually faded away along the corridor and was soon swallowed up by the silence of the basement.

Bai Ye was handcuffed to the wall, blood still seeping from the wound in his abdomen. The pain of the handcuffs digging into his wrists and the tearing sensation from the gunshot wound alternated and overlapped within his body.

He was trapped in this basement, with only the fluorescent light above his head buzzing like a metronome that never stops.

He didn't call for help. He didn't cry out in pain. He didn't beg for mercy. He simply rested the back of his head against the cold wall and closed his eyes.