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

Bai Ye did not answer.

Viper stood at the edge of the water dungeon, looking down at him as if admiring an old object that hadn't completely faded. He tilted his head, and two henchmen emerged from the shadows and pulled Bai Ye out of the water.

Bai Ye was dragged ashore, sewage flowing down his body and spreading a large, dark stain on the concrete. He lay on the ground, panting for a while, his chest heaving violently, each breath carrying the damp, rusty smell of metal.

The viper crouched down in front of him, reached out and brushed aside the wet hair stuck to his forehead, revealing his pale, almost translucent face.

"Today we're going to get a little tougher. You survived the whipping yesterday, so you're tough enough. But there's always a limit to how much pain a person can feel, and different parts of the body have different pain tolerance levels. You've already gotten used to the skin and flesh bruises on your back, so let's try something else."

He stretched out his hand to the side, and an attendant placed a tin toolbox beside him.

Viper opened the box and took out a pair of slender pliers—pointed-nose pliers with a cold, metallic sheen and a row of extremely fine serrations on the inside of the jaws, which gleamed dimly under the fluorescent light.

"Ten fingers." Viper waved the pincers in front of Bai Ye, his tone as calm as if he were introducing a procedure. "Start with the thumb. One by one, slowly pull them out. We'll stop whenever you change your mind."

Bai Ye lay on the ground, his gaze fixed on the pair of pliers, not looking away.

The viper pulled his left hand off the ground and pressed it onto a low stool.

The pincers bit his thumb nail.

Bai Ye's body tensed up in that instant. His other hand gripped the pebbles on the ground tightly, his knuckles turning white, and a layer of cold sweat instantly seeped from his forehead.

He could feel the fine teeth on the inside of the pliers biting into the gap between his nail and nail bed, like a row of tiny needles piercing in at the same time.

The viper moved very slowly, as if deliberately allowing him to clearly feel every second of the entire process of its pincers peeling the claws from the flesh.

"If you can't take it anymore, you can speak up anytime," Viper said. "Just say 'I agree,' and I'll stop."

Bai Ye didn't answer. He just clenched his back teeth even tighter, until his gums started to bleed, but he didn't say a word.

The viper chuckled and suddenly tightened its grip on its wrist. The pincers clamped onto the fingernail and yanked it outwards. The sound of the fingernail being torn from the nail bed was faint yet clear, like the sound of cloth being ripped, or like something stickier that made one's teeth ache.

Bai Ye's body suddenly arched up as if he had been electrocuted. He slammed his hand on the ground and then clenched it tightly. His nail bed, exposed after his fingernails were torn off, was bright red and wet, with beads of blood seeping from the exposed flesh.

The viper tossed the bloody fingernail into the iron dish beside it, making a crisp clinking sound.

"The second one."

The pincers clamped onto his index fingernail. This time, the viper moved even slower than before.

His fingers slowly increased the pressure, prying the base of the nail from the nail bed little by little. Each time the pincers bit in a little deeper, Bai Ye's body would twitch violently.

Bai Ye's consciousness was shattering piece by piece, but he stubbornly pieced each fragment back together with his willpower.

He told himself not to make a sound, not to pass out, not to give the viper any reaction it wanted. He bit his lower lip hard, causing the old wound on his lip to reopen, and blood flowed down his chin and dripped onto the ground.

The third. The fourth. The fifth. More and more fingernails filled the iron tray, their dried blood stains gleaming a dull, fleshy sheen under the fluorescent light.

Bai Ye's left hand had all five fingernails pulled out, exposing the nail beds, and blood kept seeping out, accumulating in a small dark red patch on the ground under the stool.

The viper then picked up his right hand.

"Like I said, you can speak up anytime." The viper's hand was steady, its pincers precisely biting the nail of his right thumb. "Just say 'I agree,' and it's over. You won't have to suffer anymore. Just nod, and I'll have someone bandage you, apply medicine, change you into clean clothes, and take you to your room to rest. Why bother? You're only sixteen; you have plenty of time. The people behind you won't know, and they won't blame you."

The viper's hand tightened its grip again. The sixth fingernail. The seventh. The eighth. With each fingernail pulled out, Bai Ye's body would arch violently and then fall back down, like a fish being repeatedly pulled out of the water and then pushed back in.

The ninth one. The tenth one.

The viper loosened its pincers and tossed it back into the toolbox with a crisp metallic clang. He stood up and looked down at White Night, curled up on the floor.

The viper stood there for a while, the smile on his lips gradually fading. He turned and took two steps, then stopped as if he suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, you've been here for three months. Who's the person you're closest to? Old Scorpion—Scorpion. He's been your mentor ever since you came in. He taught you everything—all the tasks, all the routes, all the rules. You two have been together for three months; you must have a good relationship, right?"

Bai Ye's body stiffened. He struggled to lift his head, trying to speak, but only a few broken breaths escaped his throat.

Viper walked to the door, placed his hand on the doorframe, and turned to his attendants in the corridor, saying, "Call Scorpion over."

Footsteps echoed in the corridor and then faded away.

Not long after, another set of footsteps came from outside—steady and powerful, each step in the same rhythm, the kind of footsteps Bai Ye had heard every day for the past three months.

The door was pushed open. Scorpion walked in and stood there, the light streaming in from outside casting a long shadow on the ground.

Viper leaned against the doorframe and gestured with his chin toward Bai Ye, who was curled up on the ground: "Old Scorpion, you've been taking care of this kid for three months, and he's actually an undercover agent. Isn't that ridiculous? You taught him so much, and in the end, you were teaching someone else."

Bai Ye struggled to lift his head, trying to see the expression on Scorpion's face. His vision was blurred by blood loss and pain, but he still tried to focus, looking at the backlit figure at the doorway.

Scorpion stood there, silent. His gaze shifted from Viper's face to the wounded boy on the ground, blood still seeping from his fingertips.

Then Bai Ye saw his eyes clearly.

That face held only a clear, undisguised look of disgust, as if looking at a piece of trash that shouldn't be there.