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

Nine o'clock in the evening, in Class 1 dormitory.

The screams coming from the washroom were incessant, like a pig slaughterhouse opening for business.

When Bai Ye came out of the washroom, his hair was still dripping wet. He took a towel and dried his hair slowly and deliberately.

Xuan Xiao was the last to come out of the washroom. He had taken a cold shower.

It wasn't out of bravery, but because the hot water almost knocked the basin in the washroom over his elbow, he immediately turned off the hot water and rinsed it with cold water. As it turned out, the cold water wasn't much better; the water jets felt like needle pricks on the broken skin.

Just then, the dormitory door was pushed open.

Li Mo walked in.

The air in the dormitory instantly became quiet.

Li Mo was carrying a small cloth bag.

He walked to the table in the middle of the dormitory, opened the cloth bag, and took things out from inside.

Iodine solution. Cotton swabs. Gauze. Band-aids. And a tube of white ointment, without a label.

After setting everything out, he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the table.

"come over."

The new recruits looked at each other in bewilderment. Zhao Xiaohu frantically gestured with his eyes for Qian Duoduo to go first, and Qian Duoduo returned the gesture with his eyes. The two engaged in a silent tug-of-war with their eyebrows and the corners of their eyes.

Li Mo didn't urge him. He just sat there and waited.

Zhao Xiaohu steeled himself and went first. He sat down on the bed opposite Li Mo and carefully stretched out his arm. Blood was still seeping from the cut on his elbow, the edges of which were slightly white, from being soaked in hot water.

Li Mo picked up a cotton swab and dipped it in iodine.

The moment the cotton swab touched the wound, Zhao Xiaohu's shoulder jerked, and he clenched his teeth. The iodine seeped into the broken skin, and the stinging pain felt like a series of fine needles piercing his arm all the way to the back of his head.

But Li Mo's hands were steady. The cotton swab was applied from the center of the wound outwards with even pressure and at a moderate speed, making sure every corner was covered without missing any spots or repeatedly applying the same area to cause secondary irritation.

Zhao Xiaohu's brows furrowed and then slowly relaxed in less than ten seconds.

After applying the medicine and putting on the bandage, Li Mo patted him on the shoulder. Zhao Xiaohu stood up and looked down at the neatly square bandage on his elbow.

The new recruits walked past one after another.

Then it was Xuanxiao's turn.

Xuanxiao sat down opposite Li Mo and stretched out his arms.

His wound was indeed more severe than others, especially the one on the left side, which was chafed too deeply; it would definitely hurt a lot when the iodine was applied. He took a deep breath and prepared himself.

Li Mo picked up a cotton swab and dipped it in iodine.

The moment the cotton swab was applied to the wound, Xuan Xiao jolted as if he had been electrocuted.

It's not that he's being delicate.

This time, Li Mo didn't hold back his grip.

The cotton swab pressed against the wound with more than twice the pressure I applied when I was applying medicine to everyone else. The iodine was forcefully pressed into the broken skin, and the stinging pain felt like a red-hot wire piercing directly into the elbow, exploding from the center of the wound and shooting upwards along the nerves of the entire arm.

Xuanxiao almost burst into tears.

Li Mo continued applying the ointment with a blank expression. The cotton swab moved across the wound at half the speed it had before, applying it with extra care and pressure to every inch.

Xuanxiao could clearly feel the fibers on the cotton swab brushing against the tender flesh of the broken skin. The stinging, pricking, and painful sensation made his toes curl up in his shoe.

Is this some kind of medicine application or bone-scraping surgery?!

After an unknown amount of time, Li Mo threw the cotton swab into the trash can and tore off a band-aid, sticking it on his wound. The way he applied the band-aid was very gentle, a stark contrast to the force he used when applying the iodine earlier.

"Next."

Xuan Xiao's legs were weak when he stood up. He staggered back to Bai Ye's bedside, plopped down, buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders trembled slightly.

Zhao Xiaohu looked at him sympathetically, and Qian Duoduo silently handed him a tissue.

Then everyone's eyes turned to Bai Ye at the same time.

Bai Ye got up from the bed and sat down opposite Li Mo. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing his elbows.

Everyone in the dormitory was on tenterhooks.

Bai Ye's skin is so delicate; she gets sunburned easily, and her elbow is already chafed like this. If the class monitor were to apply the medicine using the same method he used on Xuan Xiao, she'd probably faint from the pain. Zhao Xiaohu was already silently mourning for Bai Ye, while Qian Duoduo's Adam's apple bobbed nervously.

Bai Ye stretched out his arm, his expression the same as usual.

Li Mo picked up the cotton swab.

Everyone held their breath.

The cotton swab went down.

Light as a feather.

The iodine solution dissolved on the wound surface. Li Mo controlled the pressure of the cotton swab, ensuring it made just the right amount of contact with the wound, without applying even a fraction of pressure. The cotton swab moved slowly along the edge of the wound, starting from the least painful edge and gradually moving inwards. Each touch was incredibly gentle.

Bai Ye didn't even frown.

Li Mo kept his head down, focused as if he were defusing a time bomb. His left hand gently supported Bai Ye's wrist, keeping Bai Ye's arm at the most comfortable angle. His right hand held a cotton swab, his little finger slightly raised. His movements were extremely gentle, completely unlike his hands that had been holding guns for years.

After applying the iodine, he put down the cotton swab and picked up the unlabeled white ointment. He squeezed a little onto his fingertip, using the warmth of his fingertip to melt the ointment, and then gently applied it to Bai Ye's wound. The ointment was cool and had a faint herbal scent. He circled his fingertips around Bai Ye's elbow, spreading the ointment evenly, his movements so slow they were almost like caressing.

Then he tore open the band-aid, aligned it with the wound, and applied it. He pressed his fingers against the edge of the band-aid to make sure it was firmly attached, and then gently pulled down Bai Ye's sleeve to cover the band-aid.

"alright."

The entire dormitory was so quiet that you could hear the chirping of insects outside the window.

Zhao Xiaohu's mouth formed a perfect "O". Qian Duoduo's glasses had slipped down to the tip of his nose and he forgot to adjust them. The other recruits looked as if they had seen the sun rise in the west.

They watched as Li Mo applied the medicine to Xuan Xiao in a manner almost akin to execution, and then applied it to Bai Ye with an almost delicate touch. The same person, the same hands, the same iodine solution, the same dormitory.

Double standards.

Naked.

Without any concealment.

Double standards.

Xuan Xiao sat on Bai Ye's bed, clutching the tissue Qian Duoduo had handed him. He looked at the battered bandage on his own arm, then at the carefully applied bandage on Bai Ye's arm. His lips twitched, and he crumpled the tissue into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket.

Li Mo stood up and carefully put the iodine, cotton swabs, gauze, and bandages back into the cloth bag, one by one. Her movements were as neat as when she took them out.

"Change the dressing tomorrow morning. Don't get the wound wet when you shower."

The door closed.

There was a three-second silence in the dormitory.

Then Zhao Xiaohu lowered his voice and spoke.

"Brother Xiao, do you have a grudge against the class monitor?"

Xuanxiao threw the wad of tissues in his hand at him.