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

"You know my brother."

Li Mo nodded. The movement of his shoulder blade aggravated the wound, and a little more blood seeped out. Bai Ye pressed gauze against it.

"He's my captain." When Li Mo said those four words, there was a deep weight in his voice, as if he were saying a name that had been buried in his heart for a long time. "I've been with him since I enlisted. He carried me back from the battlefield the first mission he took me on, the first time I went into live ammunition, and the first time I was wounded."

Bai Ye didn't speak. He tossed the blood-stained gauze into the tray and picked up a new one.

Do you know where he is?

Li Mo shook his head.

"Nobody knows," he said. "He only left one thing behind when he left."

Bai Ye waited. His fingers gripped the tweezers tightly.

"He said that if I don't come back, he'd keep an eye on Baiye for me."

Bai Ye lowered his head and remained silent.

Li Mo's lips moved slightly.

He wasn't good at speaking, especially not at saying anything in a situation like this. On the training field, he could shout out a hundred different commands; on the battlefield, he could convey the most complex tactical intentions in the shortest sentences. But faced with Bai Ye's lowered head, he searched his entire vocabulary but couldn't find a suitable word.

After about ten seconds of silence, he forced out a sentence.

"He will come back."

Bai Ye didn't answer. He picked up the suture needle, pressed his left hand against the skin at the edge of the wound, inserted the needle tip, passed it through, pulled the thread, and tied a knot. The first knot was tied a little too tightly, and Li Mo's shoulder twitched almost imperceptibly.

Bai Ye loosened the tension of the knot, and each subsequent stitch was more secure than the previous one. The stitches were evenly spaced, and the knotting technique was clean and skillful, with each knot pressing over the end of the previous stitch, ensuring the edges of the wound were perfectly aligned.

Five stitches. After Bai Ye finished sewing the last stitch, she cut the thread, covered the suture area with a sterile dressing, and secured it with medical tape.

He placed the equipment on the tray, took off his gloves, and turned to wash his hands at the sink. The faucet was turned on full blast, and the water splashed loudly against the stainless steel surface of the sink.

Li Mo stood up from the treatment bed, moved his shoulders, and confirmed that the sutures had not affected the range of motion of his joints.

The door to the infirmary was suddenly pushed open.

"white night!"

Xuan Xiao rushed in so fast he almost bumped into the door frame. He was still wearing the same training uniform he wore at the shooting range, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a button on his collar that had popped off sometime during the shooting range.

His gaze swept around the infirmary, locking onto Bai Ye's back. He rushed over in three strides, grabbed Bai Ye's shoulder, and turned him around.

"Are you alright?! How are your injuries? Is your face okay? Has the medic seen you?" He spoke as fast as a barrage of bullets, one hand pinching Bai Ye's chin and turning his face around to examine him, while the other hand pressed all over Bai Ye's shoulders and arms, as if checking for any broken bones.

Bai Ye was so dizzy from being spun around that she slapped his hand away.

"I'm fine."

"Your face—"

"I got grazed by a bullet, it's nothing." Bai Ye took a step back to create some distance. "If you pinch my chin again, I'll—"

"What are you?" Xuanxiao stared at him.

Bai Ye didn't respond to that.

Just then, Lu Xiao appeared at the door of the infirmary, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe with his usual smile on his lips.

"I'm telling you, Xuanxiao—"

He pointed to the left with his finger.

Why don't you look to the left?

Xuan Xiao turned his head. To the left. Li Mo stood by the examination bed, wearing a hospital gown, his right shoulder wrapped in white gauze, the old, crisscrossing scars on his front still exposed, his face as gloomy as the sky ten minutes before a storm.

Xuanxiao's smile froze on his face. The switch from arrogance to embarrassment took only 0.3 seconds.

"Squad leader—" He cleared his throat, took a half-step back, and bumped into Bai Ye standing behind him. He leaned closer to Bai Ye as if he had found cover. "What a coincidence. You're here too. Are you alright?"

Li Mo looked at him. Her gaze moved down from Xuan Xiao's face to the hand that was still resting on Bai Ye's arm.

Do you think I'm alright?

"Cough cough, it's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright." Xuan Xiao withdrew his hand.

Lu Xiao walked in from the door and clapped his hands.

"Alright, all the checks are done, and the bandages have been applied." His gaze swept around the infirmary. "Nothing serious. Training is over early today, everyone go back to your dorms and rest. No loitering in the hallways, and no discussing today's events. Understand?"

"Understood," Xuanxiao and Baiye replied simultaneously.

Li Mo didn't say anything, but simply buttoned up his hospital gown one button at a time, picked up the ripped training uniform from beside the examination bed, folded it neatly, and tucked it under his arm. He paused when he reached the door, and glanced back at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye was washing off the remaining iodine from her fingers without turning around.

Li Mo withdrew his gaze and walked out of the infirmary.

Lu Xiao followed behind Li Mo, glancing back at Xuan Xiao before leaving.

"Don't cause trouble in the street."

Xuan Xiao raised his hands to show his innocence, and only lowered them after Lu Xiao's footsteps disappeared at the end of the corridor.

He turned to look at Bai Ye. Bai Ye turned off the tap, shook the water off his hands, and grabbed a tissue from the wall to wipe them.

"Are you really alright?" Xuanxiao asked.

Bai Ye crumpled the tissue into a ball and threw it into the trash can before walking towards the door. She didn't stop as she passed Xuan Xiao.

"fine."

"real?"

I told you I'm fine.

"You say it's nothing, so it's nothing? What if you have internal injuries? What if you got a concussion? What if—"

Bai Ye stopped and turned around. Xuan Xiao braked too late and almost hit Bai Ye.

The two stood very close to each other, facing each other.

"I have no internal injuries, no concussion, I wasn't shot, I just got a scratch on my face," Bai Ye said, enunciating each word clearly. "Ask me one more question: this week's socks—"

"I'll wash them," Xuan Xiao immediately replied, then paused for a moment, "Wait, I was supposed to wash them this week."

Bai Ye looked at him, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. The smile lasted for less than a second, but Xuan Xiao saw it clearly.

Bai Ye turned and continued walking.

Xuan Xiao couldn't suppress the smile on his face. He put his hands in his pockets, quickened his pace to catch up, and walked side by side with Bai Ye, less than a fist's distance between them.

At the end of the corridor, the setting sun slanted in through the window, casting long, long shadows of two people. The two figures were projected side by side on the concrete floor of the corridor, one tall and one short, their shoulders almost touching, yet just a hair's breadth away.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, overlapping and indistinguishable from one another.