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

The training ground was bathed in sunlight in the afternoon, turning it white.

Bai Ye stood in the line, his back ramrod straight, his hat brim pulled down perfectly. Xuan Xiao stood beside him and yawned.

Just then, two figures appeared at the entrance to the training ground.

Lu Xiao walked to the front of the line, took the cloth bag from Li Mo's hand, and shook it.

"This afternoon, let's add something special."

As he spoke, he pulled something out of his cloth bag.

cartridge case.

Lu Xiao weighed the spent cartridge in his palm, his gaze landing precisely on Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao.

"You two, step forward."

Bai Ye stepped forward, with Xuan Xiao following behind him. The two stood at the front of the line, facing Lu Xiao's increasingly radiant smile.

"Prepare to fire from a prone position."

Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao lay down, the butts of their rifles against their shoulders, their left hands supporting the handguards, in a standard posture.

Lu Xiao squatted down and placed a spent cartridge on Bai Ye's gun barrel.

Then he walked over to Xuanxiao and placed a spent cartridge on the barrel of his gun as well.

"The rules are simple." Lu Xiao stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "If a spent cartridge falls out, the timer resets. If no cartridge falls out for ten consecutive minutes, you take a break."

Xuanxiao's Adam's apple bobbed.

"start."

The training ground fell silent. The other recruits were also ordered to lie prone and take up their rifles, but their barrels were empty of spent cartridges, so the pressure was on a completely different level.

First minute.

The spent cartridge case remained perfectly still on Bai Ye's gun barrel. His breathing was even and shallow, his chest rising and falling to a minimum, and the buttstock was firmly embedded in his shoulder. The spent cartridge case stood upright at the front of the barrel, as if welded to it, unmoved even by the wind.

Xuanxiao was in relatively good condition. The spent cartridge wobbled slightly on the barrel of his gun, but then stabilized.

Third minute.

Bai Ye's spent cartridge case remained untouched. A thin layer of sweat began to bead on his forehead, trickling down his brow. He blinked, but the rest of his body remained unchanged. The spent cartridge case seemed to have grown onto the barrel.

The fifth minute.

Sweat streamed down Xuanxiao's forehead, slid down his nose, and gathered into a bead on his chin. He dared not blink, afraid that the slightest movement would strain his facial muscles and affect the stability of his shoulder and arm. The spent cartridge trembled slightly on the barrel of his gun, like a person standing on a tightrope, about to fall at any moment.

Seventh minute.

Zhao Xiaohu lay sprawled on the ground, his elbows aching from the effort, but he was completely oblivious to his own pain. His eyes were fixed on the teetering cartridge case on the barrel of Xuanxiao's gun, his mouth slightly agape, his breath held in his throat.

Qian Duoduo was in the same position beside him. The two chubby boys were like two cats crouching at the entrance of a hole waiting for mice, staring motionless in the same direction.

Xuanxiao's world shrank to the bullet casing on the gun barrel.

His arms were trembling. His deltoids felt like they were being roasted, his trapezius muscles were sore and stiff, and the knuckles of his left hand were stiff from holding the same grip for so long.

The cartridge case began to shake with his tremors.

Eighth minute.

The cartridge case tilted. First, it veered to the left, and Xuanxiao held his breath and desperately tried to steady it, managing to bring the case back to a nearly upright position. Then it began to tilt to the right, this time at a greater angle, with one side of the bottom already detached from the barrel surface.

Xuanxiao's arms trembled even more violently.

Ding.

The spent cartridge slid off the barrel, hit the ground, bounced twice, and rolled to the side.

Lu Xiao squatted down, picked up the spent cartridge, and put it back on Xuan Xiao's gun barrel.

"Dropped once. Reset timer."

Xuan Xiao clenched his jaw. He took a deep breath and steadied his trembling arms.

Ninth minute.

It fell again.

"Reset the timer."

Seven and a half minutes.

Ding.

"Reset the timer."

Xuanxiao's arm was no longer under his control. No matter how hard he clenched his teeth, tightened his core, or adjusted his breathing, the bullet casing just wouldn't stay still on his gun barrel.

He started to get irritated.

When the timer was reset for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Xuan Xiao's elbow suddenly sank down, and the spent cartridge slid off the barrel of his gun, hitting the ground with a crisp sound.

"Hold--"

He swallowed the rest of his swear word. Because he felt a gaze upon him.

Li Mo stood at the edge of the training field, her hands behind her back, watching him.

Xuan Xiao swallowed back all the profanities that were about to come out.

"restart."

His voice was forced out through clenched teeth as he raised his arm again, the butt of the rifle against his shoulder. The spent cartridge was placed back on the barrel.

The white night beside them had already lasted well over ten minutes.

Lu Xiao glanced down at the stopwatch, then at the seemingly glued-on cartridge case on Bai Ye's gun barrel, and blew a short whistle.

"White Night, rest."

Bai Ye put down his gun and stood up. His arm was also sore, his deltoid muscle had a throbbing pain from overuse, but it wasn't enough to make him tremble. He moved his wrists, brushed the sand off his elbows, and retreated to the edge of the training field.

He didn't go far; he just stood there.

Xuanxiao was still lying on the ground.

He wants to give up.

This wasn't some kind of test; it was just something Lu Xiao added on a whim. He could have easily put his hands down and said, "I can't do it anymore," and Lu Xiao would at most laugh and tease him a bit, but wouldn't have done anything to him.

He was preparing to let go.

Yu Guangli and Bai Ye stood at the edge of the training field.

Bai Ye was looking at him.

Xuanxiao's fingers tightened again.

His jaw was clenched so tightly that the veins on his temples were bulging, and his entire arm, from shoulder to wrist, seemed to be protesting against him.

Seven minutes in. The cartridge case shook, but didn't fall out.

Eight minutes. My arm was shaking like a leaf, and the cartridge case was shaking too, but it still didn't fall out.

The ninth minute. Xuan Xiao's breathing became heavy and rapid. The rise and fall of his chest caused his shoulders to move, the vibration of his shoulders to his arms, the tremor of his arms to the barrel, and the vibration of the barrel to the cartridge case. The cartridge case bounced once on the barrel.

Zhao Xiaohu covered his mouth.

The spent cartridge case fell back and stood upright.

Zhao Xiaohu released his grip and let out a long breath.

ten minutes.

Lu Xiao's stopwatch beeped.

"Xuanxiao, take a rest."

Xuan Xiao's arm slammed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He lay flat on the ground, his face pressed against the scorching earth, panting heavily.

He lay there for a while before finally rolling over onto his back, his chest heaving violently. His arms were still trembling, from his shoulders down to his fingertips, completely out of control.

Zhao Xiaohu was the first to clap. Qian Duoduo followed suit, then there was a sparse clapping, and finally the whole class applauded.

Xuan Xiao lay on the ground, listening to the thunderous applause around him, and a slight twitch appeared on his lips. Then he turned his head and looked towards the edge of the training field.

Bai Ye was still standing there.

Xuanxiao lay on the ground and suddenly felt that his arm was not so sore anymore.

Lu Xiao put the stopwatch back in his pocket and squatted down next to Xuan Xiao.

"Not bad, they didn't give up."

Xuanxiao replied listlessly, "It almost fell apart."

"You almost didn't put it down. Okay, that's more like a man."