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

Monday, combat training.

Xuanxiao stood in the queue, his right eyelid twitching since he woke up in the morning.

He tried to convince himself with reason: Li Mo was a squad leader, a professional soldier; he wouldn't use his position to settle personal scores on the training field. Surely not.

"Today's training content is the basics of combat - straight punch, hook punch, front kick, side kick, leg takedown, waist takedown." Lu Xiao stood in front of the line, holding a training syllabus in his hand, and read it out in a standard manner.

He closed the outline, a smile as always on his face. "What's most important in combat training? It's not strength, it's not speed, it's courage. Daring to fight and throw, not being afraid of pain or losing. So today—"

He paused for a moment, his gaze slowly sweeping across the queue.

"Let's start with a sparring demonstration. Let me show you what real combat is all about."

Xuanxiao's right eyelid twitched violently.

Li Mo walked from the side of the queue to the center of the sand.

"Xuanxiao, step forward."

Xuan Xiao took a deep breath and walked out of the queue.

"Xuanxiao comes from a military family, so his fighting foundation must be more solid than that of ordinary recruits." Li Mo's voice wasn't loud, but every word landed clearly on the sand. "Today's demonstration will be done by him and me. Let everyone see what the standard movements look like."

This sounds perfectly reasonable and flawless.

Xuanxiao, however, discerned a murderous undertone in those words—perfect, let's see if your skin is thick enough.

Xuan Xiao stood in the center of the sand, three meters away from Li Mo.

"Demonstrating the first move—defense and counter-attack against the waist throw." Li Mo pushed up his sleeves, revealing his well-defined forearms. "You hug me."

Xuan Xiao hesitated for about 0.3 seconds. Then he lowered his center of gravity, took half a step forward with his right foot, and stretched out his arms to hug Li Mo's waist.

Before he could even exert any force, Li Mo's right hand had already gripped the back of his neck, his left hand had wrapped around his upper arm, and one of his legs had slipped between his legs to pin his supporting leg. Then, Li Mo twisted his waist and hips, turning half a circle to the side, using the force of Xuan Xiao's forward momentum to flip him over.

Xuan Xiao felt the world turn upside down, and his back was hit by a huge impact as he slammed into the sand.

The air in his lungs was forced out of his chest by the impact, and a muffled, crushed sound came from his throat. He lay on his back on the sand, looking at the blue sky and white clouds above, his ears ringing.

Before he could recover, Li Mo's voice rang out above him.

"Get up. Next move—leg throw."

Xuanxiao got up from the ground.

"I'll hug your leg." After Li Mo finished speaking, without waiting for Xuan Xiao to prepare, he stepped forward and bent down to grab Xuan Xiao's leg. He used his left hand to hold Xuan Xiao's knee and his right hand to grab his ankle, and lifted it up.

Xuan Xiao was like a bag of cement that had been thrown out; he swung halfway through the air before crashing heavily onto the sand.

"Brothers, I think I've figured it out." Qian Duoduo leaned close to Zhao Xiaohu's ear and whispered, "The squad leader isn't here for combat training today. He's here to mess with Brother Xiao."

Zhao Xiaohu didn't dare to speak, but he nodded very forcefully.

"Get up. Last exercise—free sparring. Show me your best."

Xuan Xiao got up from the ground. There wasn't a clean spot on his body; his training uniform was bulging with sand, and his hair was full of sand grains.

He could tell that Li Mo had no intention of letting him go. He spread his feet apart, his fists protecting his chin, and leaned his weight slightly forward. Then he charged at Li Mo.

Feint with a right straight punch, then twist your waist and deliver a solid left hook.

Li Mo dodged the straight punch by tilting his head, raised his hand to block the hook punch, and took a half step back. That half step gave Xuan Xiao an opportunity. He immediately followed up with a straight kick to Li Mo's abdomen. Li Mo blocked it with his arm, but this time Xuan Xiao's force was enough, and Li Mo took a step back.

A few scattered gasps rang out from the sidelines. Qian Duoduo's mouth gaped open, and Zhao Xiaohu clenched his fists.

But that's where it ends.

As Li Mo took a step back, his right hand gripped Xuan Xiao's ankle, and his left hand followed up by locking his knee, executing a standard leg-catching and slamming throw.

Xuanxiao's body spun a full circle in the air, and when he landed, his back slammed onto the sand with a dull thud.

Immediately afterward, Li Mo pressed his body forward, his knee against Xuan Xiao's chest, one hand on his collarbone, and the fist of his other hand already fully charged in mid-air, hovering less than five centimeters above the tip of Xuan Xiao's nose.

The sandy land fell silent.

Xuan Xiao lay on his back, panting heavily. His vision began to darken at the edges, and he was having extreme difficulty breathing as Li Mo's knee pressed against his chest.

The two of them stood frozen for about three seconds. Then Li Mo withdrew his fist, moved his knee away from Xuan Xiao's chest, and stood up. He brushed the sand off his knees and turned to face the recruit training camp.

"This is the standard procedure. Did you see it clearly?"

"We saw it clearly!" The recruits' reply carried a hint of awe, as if they had survived a close call.

Lu Xiao stood up, patted off non-existent dirt from his backside, and walked towards the center of the sand.

His smile was as bright as ever. He walked over to Xuan Xiao in a few steps, bent down and helped him up from the ground.

"Alright, alright, the demonstration is over. Thank you for your hard work, class monitor. Let's give you a round of applause." As Lu Xiao spoke, he put his arm around Xuan Xiao's shoulder and helped him walk to the edge of the field.

Xuanxiao was practically dragged and pulled off the sand.

Lu Xiao placed him on a bench by the field, looked down at his miserable state, covered in sand and dust, shook his head, and chuckled: "You're really tough. There aren't many people who survive being slammed and thrown around like that."

"He didn't really intend to kill me." Xuan Xiao leaned against the wall, panting with his eyes closed. His voice was hoarse, as if he had just run ten kilometers. "If he had really intended to kill me, my kick wouldn't have even touched his sleeve."

"It's good that you know." Lu Xiao patted his shoulder and turned to walk back to the sand.

Zhao Xiaohu had crept over unnoticed. He squatted down next to Xuan Xiao, handed him a water bottle, and his round face was filled with curiosity and sympathy.

He watched as Xuan Xiao tilted his head back and gulped down half a pot of water before catching his breath. He leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Brother Xiao, did you offend the class monitor?"

Xuanxiao put down his water bottle, braced his hands on his knees, and stared silently at the sand-covered shoelaces of his training shoes for a long time. Then he buried his face in his hands and let out a muffled howl from between his fingers.

"There's a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding!"

Just as Zhao Xiaohu was about to press for more information, Li Mo's voice came from the center of the sandy area.

"Attention everyone—divide into pairs and begin training."