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

In the instant he fell, Xuanxiao's mind was in a state of chaos, and he only had time to do one thing—he loosened his right hand from Baiye's wrist and quickly placed it under the back of Baiye's head.

The two fell in a very unfortunate way. Xuan Xiao was on top, Bai Ye was on the bottom, their bodies pressed together, so close that they could count each other's eyelashes. And even more fatal was that their lips touched.

Xuanxiao's brain completely shut down at that moment.

About two seconds later—or about two hundred years for Xuanxiao—the two finally separated. To be precise, it was Baiye who reached out and pushed Xuanxiao's chest to separate them.

Just then, a furious voice exploded from the corner of the equipment room.

"What are you doing?!"

The moment Li Mo's voice exploded, Xuan Xiao felt his heart stop beating.

He sprang off Bai Ye as fast as if he had been locked onto by a sniper rifle. His heel tripped on a tree root, and he almost fell again, taking three or four steps back before regaining his footing.

"Class monitor—no—this is—tree root—" His language system completely collapsed, and what came out of his mouth were fragmented single words and gibberish.

Li Mo wasn't listening at all. He strode over, bent down, grabbed Bai Ye's arm, and pulled him up from the ground. Before Bai Ye could even stand up straight, Li Mo dragged him behind him.

Li Mo stepped aside to block him, using his body to completely separate Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao.

Then he turned his head and stared at Xuan Xiao.

He took a step forward, and Xuan Xiao took a step back.

"Are you a beast?" Li Mo's tone wasn't loud, but every word was like a blade sharpened between teeth, cold and sharp. "Bai Ye is only sixteen. How could you—"

He paused for a moment, as if trying to control himself from saying it.

"Come out—" He pointed towards the playground, his voice suddenly rising a half-tone, almost shouting, "Explain yourself!"

Xuan Xiao opened his mouth. His mind raced, but all the explanations he could think of seemed utterly inadequate before they could be uttered.

He wanted to say, "It was a tree root that tripped him," but that sounded like a typical excuse a primary school student uses when they can't hand in their homework. He wanted to say, "I just wanted to cushion the back of his head," but halfway through that, his lips ended up on his own, and he didn't even understand how. He wanted to say, "It really was an accident," but what kind of accident could lead to two people's lips touching?

Xuanxiao felt like he was in a situation he couldn't clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

"I—" Xuan Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed, "Class monitor, it's really not what you think."

Li Mo's expression showed no sign of softening. He stood in front of Bai Ye, his posture like that of a alpha wolf protecting its cubs, every nerve in his body on high alert.

Bai Ye stood behind Li Mo, his brows slightly furrowed, but his face showed more confusion than anything else.

"What are you arguing about?" he asked, his tone sincere and confused.

No one answered him.

Lu Xiao smiled and walked around from behind Li Mo, patting Bai Ye's shoulder with a light touch, as if he were stroking a cat's head.

"Little Bai, let's go." He gently pushed Bai Ye towards the playground. "They're crazy, we're not playing with them."

Bai Ye was pushed a couple of steps, then glanced back at Li Mo and Xuan Xiao. Li Mo had his back to him, his shoulders as hard as stone. Xuan Xiao stood in the corner, his face flushed red, his mouth agape, like a fish that had been pulled ashore.

Before he could say anything more, Lu Xiao had already put his arm around his shoulder, turned the corner of the equipment room, and led him out of that troublesome place.

"What happened to them?" Bai Ye couldn't help but ask after walking with Lu Xiao for a while.

"I told you, they're crazy." Lu Xiao took a piece of hard candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and stuffed it into Bai Ye's hand. "Eat this candy. Ignore them. The adult world is complicated; you're too young to understand everything."

Bai Ye looked down at the candy in his hand, then looked up at Lu Xiao's enigmatic smile. He popped the candy into his mouth and stopped asking.

Behind the equipment room, Li Mo and Xuan Xiao were still in the same spot.

After Lu Xiao took Bai Ye away, Li Mo stood still. He didn't speak or move forward, just coldly watching Xuan Xiao.

Xuan Xiao stood in the shadows, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down at least five times. He wanted to explain, but each time he opened his mouth, Li Mo would take a half-step closer. Unconsciously, his back was already pressed against the outer wall of the equipment room, with nowhere left to retreat.

He had lived for eighteen years, the eldest son of the Xuan family, a student recommended to military academy, and excelled in all assessments. He had never known what it meant to be cowardly. But at this moment, looking at Li Mo's stone-carved face, the chill that ran down his spine was even stronger than during his first live-fire exercise.

His knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees.

"Squad leader, let me explain—" He spoke so fast it could keep up with the target-scoring speed in basic training, his voice filled with the despair of someone about to be executed, "It really was a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding within a misunderstanding. I just pulled him aside to ask him something, and then he got upset and grabbed my hand, pressing it against his abs—"

When he said this, Li Mo's brow twitched suddenly.

"—No, no, no! I'll say it again! He wouldn't admit he was thin, so I said something sarcastic to provoke him, and he grabbed my hand and made me touch his abs—but no, no—damn it, I tripped over a tree root! Look at the ground! That tree root is still there! I was trying to grab him to stop him from falling, but I fell first. When I fell, I was afraid he'd hit the back of his head on the ground, so I used my hand to cushion it—and then it was an accident! A real accident!"

He took a deep breath and gave his final summary.

"Bai Ye and I have a pure friendship. A friendship that couldn't be purer. Purer than distilled water. Purer than double-distilled water from a laboratory."

Li Mo fell silent.

Then he reached his hand behind his waist.

Li Mo always carried a dagger with him, the handle wrapped with black anti-slip rope, and the blade cut through a blood groove.

Xuanxiao knelt on the ground and moved backward, his voice already distorted.

"Squad leader—squad leader, let's talk this out—I'm from the Xuan family, it won't be easy to explain to the higher-ups if you stab me—I'm not saying this, what I mean is—it really was an accident—Bai Ye and I are completely innocent—you can't kill me to cover it up—"

Li Mo's fingers remained on the hilt of the knife, not drawn. His Adam's apple bobbed, as if he were swallowing something back. He looked down at Xuan Xiao, who was kneeling on the ground, rambling incoherently, at Xuan Xiao's face, which was filled with "I didn't, but I can't explain it," and fell silent again.

Li Mo removed his hand from the hilt of the knife.

"Go back to your dorm."