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

The indescribable thing flew at a slow speed, but its trajectory was extremely strange. It somersaulted in mid-air, carrying a strong ammonia smell, and crashed straight towards Bai Ye.

A hand reached out from the side, grabbed Bai Ye's waist, and pulled him backward.

Bai Ye felt a sudden tightening around his waist as his back slammed against a warm wall. The back of his head bumped against someone's collarbone, and the other person's other hand immediately gripped his shoulder, pulling him tightly into an embrace.

The lump grazed Xuan Xiao's sleeve and flew past, landing on the ground with a thud, splattering a small patch of brown dirt.

Bai Ye looked up. Xuan Xiao's chin was right above his head, his jawline taut like a fully drawn bowstring, his lips pressed into a straight line.

The veins on Xuanxiao's temples bulged and throbbed.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo stood there, their postures remarkably identical—bent over, still clutching half of what they hadn't thrown, their expressions shifting from "fighting is so much fun" to "are we going to die?"

Zhao Xiaohu loosened his grip, and the half-piece fell to the ground with a soft, muffled thud.

"Brother Xiao... Brother Xiao..." Qian Duoduo's lips trembled twice as she tried to explain, only to find that she had no reasonable explanation at all.

Xuan Xiao released Bai Ye from his arms and took a step forward.

"You two seem to be having a lot of fun," Xuanxiao said in a low voice. "Where are you going to throw it?"

"We didn't mean to—" Zhao Xiaohu spoke so fast it sounded like he was reciting a set of rules, but those rules clearly didn't cover how to apologize when caught red-handed. So he could only repeat the same sentence over and over again, "It really wasn't intentional, it really wasn't intentional—"

Qian Duoduo nodded frantically beside her, her voice so high it sounded like she was on vibrate mode.

Xuan Xiao didn't even look at them as he nodded. He stared at Zhao Xiaohu's filthy hands, then glanced at the mess on the ground that had almost fallen on Bai Ye, and a vein throbbed on his forehead. He clenched his fist, about to take his second step forward.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder.

Xuan Xiao turned around. Bai Ye stood behind him, one hand still holding Li Mo's basin, the other on Xuan Xiao's shoulder. He didn't speak, but simply shook his head slightly, then withdrew his hand, bent down, and placed the basin on the ground.

Xuanxiao's fist didn't loosen, but he stopped.

Li Mo has arrived.

Zhao Xiaohu looked up and met Li Mo's gaze. His knees instinctively began to buckle.

"Class...class monitor..."

Li Mo didn't speak.

Then he raised his leg and kicked Qian Duoduo in the butt.

The kick was terrifyingly precise—it hurt enough, but wouldn't injure anyone; it was powerful enough, but wouldn't break any bones. Qian Duoduo flew forward half a step, her toes hitting the edge of the septic tank, before she crashed into the pit in a clumsy parabola. A huge splash of brown liquid erupted, splattering Zhao Xiaohu's face all over.

Before Zhao Xiaohu could even scream, Li Mo's second kick arrived. With the same force and the same angle, Zhao Xiaohu, completely caught off guard, followed in Qian Duoduo's footsteps and plunged headfirst into the septic tank, splashing water even more loudly than Qian Duoduo.

The two men stood in a waist-deep cesspool, brown liquid dripping from their bodies, unidentified objects hanging from their hair, their expressions somewhere between shock and a feeling of being worse than dead.

"Is it cool?" Li Mo stood by the pool, looking down at them.

No one dared to answer.

The entire septic tank area was as quiet as a tomb.

Li Mo stopped looking at Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo. He turned around and walked towards Xuan Xiao and Bai Ye.

Xuanxiao was still standing in front of Baiye, maintaining that half-blocking posture.

Li Mo walked up to him, glanced at the hand that had been gripping Bai Ye's waist, and frowned slightly. Then he reached out and grabbed Xuan Xiao's shoulder, pushing him half a meter to the side.

Xuan Xiao was stunned for a moment after being pushed, then his lips twitched, "Class monitor, you—"

Li Mo completely ignored him.

He knelt down in front of Bai Ye and began to examine Bai Ye from the shoulders.

A small stain, about the size of a fingernail, was smeared on the right side of Bai Ye's trouser leg. It was probably a speck of mud that had been splashed up.

Li Mo took a clean handkerchief out of his pocket, squatted down, and wiped the mud off.

Bai Ye looked down at Li Mo squatting at his feet and sighed.

"Class monitor, I'm not a porcelain doll."

"Shut up." Li Mo didn't even look up. He wiped his trouser leg clean before standing up. He put away the handkerchief, looked Bai Ye over again, and only relaxed his expression slightly after confirming that there were no stains on his body. However, it was only a relaxation from "wanting to kill" to "not killing for the time being."

Bai Ye opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But his past life experience told him that arguing with someone who had just taken a bullet for him was unlikely to win.

Li Mo turned around and walked back to the septic tank.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo had climbed out of the cesspool and were slumped on the cement ground beside it, their bodies covered in dirt. Qian Duoduo was wringing out the hem of his clothes, brown water dripping onto the ground. He stopped wringing and stared blankly at the ground, as if he were re-examining his life choices.

Li Mo stopped in front of them.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo looked up at the same time, their shoulders instinctively hunching up like two quails soaked by the rain.

"Is it fun?" Li Mo's voice was flat, but every word carried a chill.

"No...it's not fun..." Zhao Xiaohu's voice was trembling with tears.

"It's not fun." Qian Duoduo repeated, shaking his head like a rattle drum.

Li Mo looked at them and remained silent for three seconds.

"A two-thousand-word self-criticism. To be submitted before going to bed tonight."

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo nodded frantically, their rhythm so synchronized it was as if they had rehearsed it.

"One word missing, rewrite it. Sloppy handwriting, rewrite it. A perfunctory job, rewrite it." Every time Li Mo said "rewrite," the two men shrank back. "Do you understand?"

"Understood!" the two said in unison, their voices echoing throughout the septic tank.

Li Mo didn't look at them again. When he turned around, his expression had returned to the usual cold-faced class monitor's standard demeanor: "Keep working. Finish cleaning before lunch."

Then he walked up to Bai Ye, making a silent declaration that "you're not doing this job anymore."

Bai Ye looked at Li Mo, her mouth open as if to argue.

Li Mo glanced at him.

Bai Ye closed his mouth.

Li Mo grabbed Bai Ye's wrist and pulled him away as well. He led Bai Ye around the septic tank, past the stunned ranks of other recruits, and headed towards the dormitory building.

Bai Ye was pulled along for about ten meters when she looked back. Lu Xiao was squatting by the septic tank, taking over from Li Mo and directing the remaining recruits to do their work. He waved to Bai Ye, his eyes crinkling with a smile.

"Class monitor, my basin is still here—" Qian Duoduo's weak voice came from behind.

Li Mo didn't turn his head.

"Use your hands to dig it out."