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

At Li Mo's command, the recruits split up in pairs and took their positions on the sand.

"Little cabbage, let's team up." Lu Xiao rolled up his sleeves, revealing his two long, muscular forearms. He stood opposite Bai Ye, his feet shoulder-width apart, his posture relaxed as if he were doing morning exercises in the park. "Don't worry, I'm not as fierce as Li Mo. We're just practicing, nothing more."

Bai Ye nodded and assumed a fighting stance.

"Come on, try a straight punch first." Lu Xiao clapped his hands, signaling Bai Ye to attack.

Bai Ye threw a straight punch, which Lu Xiao dodged by dodging. He slapped Bai Ye's fist with his palm and said, "Fast, but not powerful enough. Let's try again."

Bai Ye threw another punch, this time adding a rotation of his waist and hips. Lu Xiao dodged again, nodding, "That's better. Pay attention to the speed of your retraction after throwing the punch; don't leave it outside the fist."

The two practiced the basic moves back and forth for a few rounds. As Lu Xiao exchanged blows, he silently scored the moves in his mind—Bai Ye's strength was indeed insufficient. This was a limitation of his physical condition. At sixteen, his body had not yet fully developed, and his thin muscles could not provide much explosive power.

But Bai Ye's reaction was ridiculously fast.

What surprised Lu Xiao even more was Bai Ye's skill—every of his blocks was at the most energy-efficient angle, every dodge was just enough to let the attack glide by without wasting any extra energy, and every counterattack landed precisely at the center of gravity.

"Your skills—"

"My brother taught me," Bai Ye replied quickly, her tone completely calm.

Lu Xiao didn't press the matter further. It's normal for Bai Chen's younger brother to be a bit more capable.

When Bai Chen was in the team, he could outmaneuver the entire assault group in hand-to-hand combat without even breaking a sweat. It's reasonable that his younger brother inherited some of his skills.

"Alright, let's do something more interesting now." Lu Xiao took two steps back, stretched his shoulders, and his smile became a little more serious. "You attack me, use whatever moves you want, go all out. Let me see where your limits are."

Bai Ye looked at him, made sure he wasn't joking, and nodded.

Bai Ye pushed off the ground with his left foot, propelling himself forward like a compressed spring suddenly released. His right straight punch was aimed straight at Lu Xiao's face—Lu Xiao dodged it by turning his head—and then Bai Ye's body spun half a circle, his left elbow striking Lu Xiao's temple.

Lu Xiao raised his hand to block, his forearm going numb from the impact. Taking advantage of the force of Lu Xiao's block, Bai Ye's right foot had already slipped between Lu Xiao's legs, his center of gravity dropped sharply, and he was about to throw Lu Xiao over with a leg grab.

Lu Xiao managed to regain his balance just before being thrown over. His core strength was far superior to Bai Ye's; as he was lifted up, his waist and abdomen suddenly sank, like an iron ingot suddenly doubling in weight, forcefully pushing Bai Ye's throw back. Then, he grabbed Bai Ye's shoulder and pushed him back half a meter.

"Not bad, Little Cabbage," Lu Xiao straightened up, his tone genuinely surprised. "Ninety percent of the recruits couldn't withstand that combo. Your technique is really good." He shook his wrist, which was numb from Bai Ye's elbow strike, and said with a smile, "But your strength is indeed a bit lacking. If you were a little stronger, I would have been down just now."

Bai Ye adjusted her breathing and nodded.

"Let's do one more round." Lu Xiaochong beckoned to him, "This time I'll be a little more serious, so you can feel the pressure."

Bai Ye assumed a fighting stance. Lu Xiao's posture also changed—from a relaxed standing position to a slightly forward-leaning attack stance, with his feet closer together and his center of gravity slightly raised.

Lu Xiao moved. He was more than twice as fast as before—his right fist feinted, his left hand already gripping Bai Ye's shoulder, and he tripped him, causing Bai Ye to lose his balance instantly. But he didn't actually throw Bai Ye down; he just pulled him back just as Bai Ye was about to fall.

"Can you feel it? This rhythm."

Bai Ye nodded. He sensed it—Lu Xiao's rhythm was on a completely different level than before.

If Lu Xiao was just playing around with him, now he was practicing with him. The strength was controlled with precision down to the millimeter, making him feel pressured without actually hurting him.

The two exchanged blows several more times.

Just then, an accident happened.

Lu Xiao delivered a low sweeping kick to Bai Ye's shin. He reduced the force considerably, making it a purely training-style light touch, intending to test Bai Ye's reaction speed to lower body attacks. But the instant his instep touched Bai Ye's shin, Bai Ye's body reacted in a way completely outside the training syllabus—using the force of the kick, he twisted his body to the side, his right index and middle fingers coming together, thrusting straight into Lu Xiao's throat.

This was incredibly fast. Not the speed of training, but the speed of real combat. Not a friendly exchange, but a killing blow. The force of the fingertip tearing through the air was concentrated on a tiny point of impact, directly targeting the most vulnerable part of the trachea below the Adam's apple.

Lu Xiao's pupils suddenly contracted.

He leaned back suddenly, and at the same time swung his right arm in a wide arc from bottom to top, slamming the outside of his forearm hard onto Bai Ye's attack, knocking his hand off course.

Bai Ye's fingertips brushed against the side of Lu Xiao's Adam's apple, leaving a faint white mark on his skin.

The sand was silent for about a second.

Lu Xiao remained leaning back, glancing down at Bai Ye's hand still suspended in mid-air, then touching his own throat.

His Adam's apple bobbed, then his lips twitched, forming a smile that was somewhere between shock and disbelief.

"Little cabbage," his voice changed, carrying an innocent tone as if he'd been stabbed in the back by his own people, "I only said one thing to you, did you have to kill me to silence me?"

Bai Ye blinked. He looked down at his index and middle fingers, which were still together, his expression shifting naturally from dazed to confused, and then from confused to innocent.

"It was an accident."

Lu Xiao stared at his clean, spotless face and his innocent, blinking expression, feeling as if he had punched a piece of cotton.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, then opened it again. Finally, he sighed resignedly, reached out and ruffled Bai Ye's hair, messing up a tuft.

"Okay, okay, it was an accident. Just don't do it again—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

A scream came from the other side of the sand.

"Look—look up there!!"