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

Bai Ye had a dream.

In the dream, it was a story from a past life. He was falling from a great height, as if he had fallen into a bottomless well. Images flashed by on the well wall, frame by frame, like old film reels on fast-forward, each frame carrying the pungent smell of blood and gun oil.

He saw himself as a child.

He was about seven or eight years old when he was dragged out of a dimly lit room and pushed along a long corridor. Iron doors lined both sides of the corridor, and through the cracks in the doors came the screams of children about his age being pressed onto tables and injected with drugs.

He was pushed into a room where the instructor stood before him, holding a whip with a split end stained with dried blood.

"Stand up. No crying. Every time you cry, you'll have to practice for an extra hour."

He huddled in the corner, his body covered in bruises, his fingernails embedded with dust scraped from the ground. He bit his lip, suppressing all sound.

Then the scene changed. He had grown up a bit, looking about fifteen or sixteen years old, standing on the shooting range, the gun in his hand emitting blue smoke, and a bullet piercing the center of the target in the distance.

The instructor, standing behind him, nodded: "You passed. From today onwards, you are 007."

No one asked him if he was willing. He didn't ask himself either. He stood there, holding the still-hot gun, feeling like a knife with a sharpened blade, not knowing what it was meant to be used for, only knowing that it could not be put away.

The scene shifted again. He saw that face. 008. The person who had fought alongside him for three years, the person who had bandaged his wounds when he was injured, the person who had handed him a compressed biscuit during a break in a mission and said with a smile, "You were really awesome today."

The face slowly distorted in the image, the curve of the lips changing from gentle to something he had never noticed before—mocking, calculating, as if all the good that had ever existed was a carefully woven net.

He heard those words. In the rainy night, in the alley, when the gun was pressed against his forehead.

"You're just too outstanding."

Then came the gunshots.

The sensation of the bullet piercing his skull was so real—cold, sharp, and chilling, as if it had pierced him from the inside out.

He felt his consciousness being pulled out of his body by something, being ripped away, like an ill-fitting garment being forcibly torn off his body.

Bai Ye sank into the darkness. He could no longer feel his hands and feet, nor the pain in his abdomen. He felt like a leaf sinking to the bottom of the water, carried by the current to some place where he couldn't see the direction.

He thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just sink like this.

This body originally belonged to someone else—he occupied someone else's body, used someone else's name, enjoyed his brother's favor, and benefited from the kindness of Po Kong and others.

Those things never belonged to him. He was just a lost soul in the wrong shell, an imposter who shouldn't exist and stole someone else's life.

If he dies, perhaps the real Bai Ye can return. Perhaps the younger brother Bai Chen sees after his return is the one he truly wants to see.

He was about to give up. He felt himself being swallowed up by darkness, starting from his toes and spreading up his calves, stripping away all the warmth, bonds, and ties that were not his.

Just then, he saw a figure.

The figure ran towards him from the depths of darkness, with a reckless, impulsive, and utterly disregard-the-consequences drive.

He ran very fast, as if afraid that if he was even a second too late, Bai Ye would sink to an even deeper place. Then he pounced on her, opened his arms, and hugged Bai Ye tightly in his embrace.

"White Night!" His voice exploded in the darkness, a deafening, unreasonable, and utterly domineering roar, "I'm here! I'm not afraid anymore! I'm here! I'm here!"

His body heat radiated from his chest, making Bai Ye's eyes sting.

Then he sensed more figures emerging from the darkness, surrounding him one by one.

Li Mo stood to his left, one hand on his shoulder, his palm dry and warm. Lu Xiao stood to his right, smiling as he patted the back of his head. Wen Yan squatted down in front of him, examining his wound, her fingers steady as if holding a scalpel. Xie Huai'an stood a few steps away, holding a communication log in his hand, a pencil tucked behind his ear. Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo pushed and shoved their way in from behind, one shouting, "Little cabbage, you've lost weight!" and the other shouting, "Go back and have Lao Zhou stew some ribs for you!"

They're all here. Everyone's here.

"Don't be afraid." Xuanxiao's voice was close to his ear, low and firm, with an unreasonable certainty, "I'm here, no one can take you away."

Bai Ye's nose tingled, and he felt something warm slide down his cheek, but before it hit the ground, it was caught by Xuan Xiao's palm.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Xuanxiao lowered his head and touched his forehead with his lips very lightly, as if afraid of breaking him.

"Go to sleep. When you wake up, we'll all be here. Nobody will leave."

Bai Ye closed her eyes.

When he woke up again, he found himself in the water.

To be precise, he was submerged in water. The water was up to his chest, carrying a pungent smell of rust and mildew, and the surface was less than a hand's width from his chin.

His wrists were shackled to the walls on either side. The chains were neither too long nor too short, just enough to allow him to stand up straight, but not enough to lift his face completely out of the water.

His back was submerged in water, the wounds torn open by the whipping soaked in sewage, sending waves of dull, stinging pain through him. But compared to the intense pain during the day, the current pain was mostly masked by the water pressure and low temperature.

He glanced down at the water; it was murky, with a dull, grayish-green hue, and he couldn't see the bottom. The icy sewage enveloped his legs, causing his body heat to slowly evaporate.

He tried moving his wrist, and the chain rattled a few times, showing no signs of loosening.

Oh, so he hasn't escaped yet. He's still in Viper's hands. That dream was just a dream.

The door to the water dungeon was pushed open. Light streamed in from the doorway, making him squint.

Viper stood in the doorway, backlit, his expression obscured. He descended the steps, stopped at the edge of the water dungeon, and looked down at White Night, who was submerged in the water.

His gaze lingered on the water for a moment before shifting to Bai Ye's face. His tone was as if he were greeting a guest who had been sleeping for a long time, carrying a gentle warmth that sent chills down one's spine.

"How are you, child? Did you sleep well?"