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

Zheng Dayong blew his whistle, signaling the new recruits to disperse. The recruits on the parade ground scattered like the receding tide, walking in twos and threes towards the dormitories and canteen, the noise gradually fading away.

Bai Ye stood still, using the tip of her tongue to push the melted candy, now reduced to a small piece, into her left cheek. The candy rolled between her teeth, its sweetness fading considerably, leaving only a hint of milky aroma.

Xuanxiao stood next to him, his hands in his pockets, and gestured with his chin toward a row of poplar trees in the corner of the playground.

"They said so over there."

The three veterans exchanged a glance.

The five of them walked to the poplar tree in the corner of the playground. The shade of the tree cut the afternoon sunlight into fragments, falling on their shoulders, some bright and some dark. The leaves rustled in the wind, keeping the noise outside at bay.

Xuan Xiao leaned against a tree trunk, his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't waste any more time and spoke directly.

"Why did you all look so grim when you mentioned Squad Leader Li and Deputy Squad Leader Lu?"

The expressions of the three veterans froze for a moment simultaneously. Zheng Dayong was twisting the cap off a water bottle, his fingers hovering in mid-air, the cap half-twisted but neither open nor closed. He Rui shifted his gaze to the distance, pretending to look at the low wall across the parade ground. Sun Lei's Adam's apple bobbed.

The wind blew by, and the leaves of the poplar trees rustled again.

Sun Lei sighed.

"Those two."

His voice was much lower than before, carrying a complex tone unique to someone who had been through it all.

"Those two are crazy."

Xuan Xiao didn't move his arms, which were crossed over his chest, but his brows furrowed slightly.

"How so?"

Sun Lei leaned against the tree trunk, feeling as if half his strength had been drained away. He looked up at the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves and organized his thoughts.

"Your squad leader, Li, doesn't seem to talk much, right? He always has a cold face, is very businesslike, and doesn't waste time talking to people except during training."

He paused for a moment.

"That's because you haven't seen what he looks like when he's on a mission."

Zheng Dayong screwed the kettle lid on, making a soft, crisp sound as the plastic clicked shut. He then took over the conversation, his voice even lower than Sun Lei's.

"We did a joint mission with him once, two years ago. The target was a smuggling ring on the border, with about seven or eight core members and twenty or thirty runners."

He paused.

"The intelligence went wrong. One of our own people was bribed by the other side."

He Rui leaned against another tree, looking down at the ants on the ground, his voice muffled.

"We almost got surrounded that time. The three of us were trapped in an abandoned factory, surrounded by more than a dozen people, and we were almost out of ammunition. Li Mo led his men and tore a hole in the outside to rush in. His dagger sliced ​​from the first man's throat to the second man's collarbone, with only a breath in between."

Sun Lei took over the conversation, speaking slowly, as if recalling a scene he was reluctant to remember.

"That undercover agent was later caught. He was pinned to the concrete floor of the warehouse, and Li Mo squatted down, holding that dagger in his hand."

He raised his hand and gestured to his wrist and ankle.

"Hand tendons, hamstrings. Pick them off."

Move your fingers to the throat.

"Vocal cords. Removed."

Then he slowly closed his fingers, making a crushing motion.

"Then he spent almost an hour, bit by bit, crushing every bone he could. People outside the warehouse could only hear the sounds coming from inside, but couldn't see what was happening. The undercover agent couldn't scream because his vocal cords had been cut."

The leaves of the poplar tree rustled for a moment, as if startled by the wind stirred up by these words.

Xuan Xiao leaned against the tree trunk, his arms still wrapped around it, but his fingers had tightened at some point, his knuckles pressing against his arm, turning white. There was no obvious change in his expression, except that the slight curve of his lips was gone.

Sun Lei remained silent for a while.

"Later I went to clean up the scene. On the floor of that warehouse—"

He didn't finish speaking. He shook his head.

He Rui raised his head from the ground; the ants had already crawled away. He looked at Xuan Xiao, his lips moving slightly.

"Lu Xiao is similar. Except he's smiling."

"We witnessed him single-handedly clearing out a stronghold. We later went to clean up that stronghold; all nine men were killed with a single shot, none of them requiring a second. The ballistics report showed that every shot hit a vital spot—the temple, the center of the forehead, the heart—with no deviation exceeding two centimeters."

He pursed his lips.

"When we found him, he was sitting on the steps at the entrance of the stronghold, cleaning his gun. He was covered in blood—his hair, face, clothes, and hands—he looked like he'd been pulled out of a vat of blood. When he saw us, he looked up and smiled. That smile, combined with all that blood, is something I'll never forget. Even though he was smiling, it was more terrifying than anything else. One of the brothers next to me immediately went weak in the knees and squatted down to vomit."

The wind stopped.

The poplar leaves quieted down, and the air under their shade suddenly became very still. The sounds of the new recruits playing and laughing on the parade ground drifted over from afar, as if through a thick layer of glass, blurry and indistinct.

Sun Lei opened his mouth, as if to say something more. But his mouth closed halfway. A chill rose from his tailbone, climbing up his spine, past his lumbar vertebrae, past his thoracic vertebrae, and turning into a layer of fine goosebumps at the back of his neck.

It was a very strange feeling. It wasn't cold; the September afternoon sun was still high in the sky, the concrete ground was scorching hot, and the shade under the trees was warm. But he just felt a chill. It started from his back, as if an icy finger was pressing along his spine, vertebra by vertebra.

He saw Zheng Dayong's shoulder twitch.

He Rui's neck stiffened.

All three of them simultaneously sensed that someone was behind them.

All three people tensed up at the same time.

Bai Ye leaned against the outermost tree trunk, with only a tiny bit of candy left in his mouth. He moved the candy from his left to his right, shifting the small bump on his cheek to a different position.

After hearing the description of Li Mo and Lu Xiao, his expression barely changed. Severing tendons, cutting vocal cords, crushing bones, and laughingly clearing out an outpost—he had witnessed far more bloody scenes in his previous life.

"Feeling a chill down your spine?"

He spoke, his tone similar to asking "What are we having for dinner today?" in the cafeteria.

Sun Lei suddenly turned his head.

"What are you doing—"

Halfway through his sentence, he saw Bai Ye raise his hand and point in the direction above their heads. The long, slender index finger was extended casually, the tip pointing upwards, directly above and slightly above their heads.

The three veterans slowly raised their heads, following the direction of the finger.

The blood froze.