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

On the day of the arrival of the new leader, the playground was already bustling with activity before dawn.

Six buses lined up on the east side of the playground, their military green paint glistening with morning dew, gleaming dimly in the rising sun. The roar of engines rose and fell, the smell of burning diesel fuel mingling with the crisp morning air, carried across the playground by the wind.

The entire recruit company lined up on the parade ground, all wearing faded training uniforms, carrying standard-issue backpacks, and wearing name tags on their chests.

Company Commander Zhou stood at the front of the line, holding the assignment list in his hand. His voice, calling out names, echoed across the entire parade ground through the loudspeaker. The recruits whose names were called stepped forward, walked to their assigned buses, stuffed their backpacks into the overhead compartments, and boarded. The whole process was like an assembly line—swift, quiet, and devoid of any unnecessary formality.

"Zhao Pengfei, third mechanized infantry unit."

"Qian Wei, Second Artillery Company."

"Sun Hao, First Reconnaissance Company."

Names were called out one by one, and the number of people in the queue decreased. Zhao Xiaohu stood in the queue, initially standing upright, but as the number of people around him dwindled, his feet began to fidget restlessly.

"Zhao Xiaohu, stop shaking your leg," Qian Duoduo squeezed out from between his lips.

"I wasn't shaking," Zhao Xiaohu replied through a slit in his mouth.

"You've practically stomped a hole in the ground."

Zhao Xiaohu forced himself to stop, but he started shaking again after less than ten seconds.

All the bus doors were still open. The officers who came to pick up the recruits leaned against the doors, smoking and chatting. Occasionally, someone would glance up at the dwindling ranks of new recruits on the parade ground, as if inspecting a shipment nearing completion. The reconnaissance company's bus was the first to fill up. As soon as the doors closed, the engines roared out of the camp gate. Next came the mechanized infantry company, the artillery company, and the logistics company—buses drove away one after another, leaving fewer and fewer vehicles on the parade ground, and fewer and fewer people in the ranks.

Halfway through roll call, the recruits from Class One began to be called out one by one. The new recruit from Class Three, who had thrown 56 meters, was selected by the reconnaissance company. Before getting on the vehicle, he glanced back in the direction of Class One. Chong Xuanxiao and Bai Ye nodded to each other as a greeting.

Zhao Xiaohu muttered to himself in the ranks, "The reconnaissance company really has a good eye for people." Qian Duoduo replied, "Do you think they'll pick you?" Zhao Xiaohu fell silent.

When Company Commander Zhou turned to the last page of the list, there were only about ten people left on the parade ground. The static from the loudspeaker sounded particularly jarring on the empty parade ground. Company Commander Zhou turned another page and read out the last few names.

Then he closed the folder.

"The recruits have been assigned to their units."

Zhao Xiaohu's expression collapsed in that instant.

"Brother Ye, are we—"

He was interrupted by the sound of an engine before he could finish speaking.

Before the taillights of the last bus had disappeared outside the camp gate, another vehicle drove out from deep within the camp.

That was the seventh bus.

The military green paint on the bus was newer than the others, and the windshield was spotless. The electronic screen above the front of the bus did not display any company number, only a line of white text: "On Standby." The bus circled the flagpole in the center of the parade ground, its tires rolling over the tracks left by the previous six vehicles on the sandy ground, and came to a steady stop in front of the four men.

Lu Xiao leaned halfway out of the car door. He stood in the aisle at the front of the carriage, one hand on the back of the seat, the other waving to the four people on the playground. His movements were light and casual, as if he were greeting a group of passengers who had missed their train while waiting on the platform.

"Let's go, newbies."

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo were stunned.

"Huh?" Zhao Xiaohu finally made a sound, a single syllable, drawn out, with a blankness like the brain restarting after overload.

Lu Xiao raised an eyebrow, his expression strangely natural: "What? Not going down to the company?"

Zhao Xiaohu's mouth gaped open even wider. He looked at Lu Xiao, then at Qian Duoduo, then at Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao, and finally back at Lu Xiao.

"We—we'll go with you?" Zhao Xiaohu's voice changed tone.

Lu Xiao nodded, his smile carrying a hint of disdain mixed with a barely perceptible gentleness: "Yes, you two are on the list too. What, don't you want to go? You can still say so now, the car won't wait."

Qian Duoduo finally snapped out of it. He grabbed the strap of Zhao Xiaohu's backpack, who was still in a daze, causing Zhao Xiaohu to stumble back a step. Then, he grabbed his own backpack with his other hand and strode towards the bus. His movements were swift and his steps were firm, as if he had grasped something he couldn't let go of in the army.

"Go away, go away, go away!" Zhao Xiaohu was dragged several steps before he realized what was happening. He shook off Qian Duoduo's hand, grabbed his backpack, and ran towards the bus. He almost tripped on the steps when he reached the bus door, staggered half a step, then steadied himself, shouting, "Wait a minute, wait for me, don't close the door."

Lu Xiao stepped aside from the car door and smiled at Zhao Xiaohu's back, saying, "Take it easy, don't break your leg before we even leave. We don't take in wounded soldiers over there—although we've already taken in one." As he said the last half of the sentence, his gaze drifted to Bai Ye, and the corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

Li Mo stood up from the back of the carriage. He had been sitting by the window and had placed his backpack on the luggage rack without anyone noticing. He walked to the door and watched as the four people handed him their backpacks one by one. He took each backpack and stacked them neatly in the luggage compartment. Then he looked up, his gaze sweeping over the four people's faces in turn.

"I'm asking you one last time," he said in a low voice, but his voice was clearly audible on the empty parade ground, "If you come with us, it will be a hundred times tougher than basic training. It's not too late to quit now."

Zhao Xiaohu paused, his hands holding the backpack still. He looked up at Li Mo, then turned to look at the training ground behind him—three months of training, the sweat, the scraped skin, the broken bones of his comrades, the brothers who almost jumped off buildings, the sound of bullets whizzing past on the shooting range, and the near-death experience of being blown up by himself on the grenade throwing range.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, his expression shifting from fear to a rare seriousness: "Squad leader, I don't want to be packed up and sent back."

Qian Duoduo stood next to him, her expression equally serious, and said, "Me too."

Li Mo glanced at them for a few seconds, then stepped back into the carriage, making room for them by the door.

Lu Xiao leaned back in his seat and tilted his head towards the carriage. "Get in, let's go. We still have a long way to go."

The four people boarded the train one by one, carrying their backpacks. Bai Ye was the last to walk. As he stepped onto the stairs, Lu Xiao reached out and gently patted the back of his head, a very light touch, just like when he used to rub his head. Bai Ye glanced back at him, but Lu Xiao had already withdrawn his hand and was whistling nonchalantly as he walked towards his seat.

The doors closed, the pneumatic doors emitting a steady exhaust sound. The engine restarted, its deep roar echoing across the empty parade ground. The bus slowly turned around and drove out of the camp gate.

The playground grew smaller and smaller outside the car window, and the canopy of the banyan tree swayed gently in the morning breeze, like a silent farewell.