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

After the bus drove out of the camp gate, the scenery outside the window changed from the familiar parade ground and barracks to rolling hills and occasional passing villages.

The interior layout of this bus is different from that of a regular passenger bus.

The two rows of seats in the middle of the carriage are arranged facing each other—three people in one row with their backs to the driver's cab, and three people in the other row facing the driver's cab, with their knees touching, and only a narrow aisle between them.

This layout is not uncommon in military buses and is usually used for tactical briefings or group discussions. However, for new recruits who have just boarded the bus, the biggest problem is that every position is exposed to everyone's view, and there is no quiet corner to hide in.

Bai Ye stepped onto the last step, glanced at the carriage, and walked towards the row of carriages with their backs to the driver's cab.

He had his eye on a window seat. Just as he took his backpack off his shoulder and was about to move to the window seat, a hand reached out from behind and firmly pressed down on his shoulder.

Li Mo's pressure wasn't great, but the placement was extremely precise—his thumb was on top of the shoulder blade, his four fingers rested on the end of the collarbone, and he pressed down, pinning Bai Ye to the middle seat.

"Sit here," Li Mo said.

Bai Ye looked up at him, her expression puzzled. "I want to sit by the window."

"Middle-ground safety."

Bai Ye frowned. Safety? In a bus traveling on a national highway, what's the difference between sitting by the window and in the middle?

He opened his mouth to refute, but Li Mo had already sat down in the seat to his left, leaning back against the chair, his hands crossed on his knees, his posture as clear as a stake driven into the water—he wouldn't move from this position.

Bai Ye glanced at Li Mo, who was seated to her left, and gave up on the idea of ​​moving closer to the window. Fine, she'd sit in the middle then.

Xuan Xiao was the third to board. He stood in the aisle of the carriage, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Li Mo and Bai Ye, who were already seated—Bai Ye was sitting in the middle, Li Mo was sitting to Bai Ye's left, and the seat to Bai Ye's right was still empty.

Xuan Xiao's lips curled up slightly, a subtle "just what I wanted" expression that vanished quickly, but it was definitely there. He strode over, shoved his backpack onto the luggage rack, and plopped down in the seat to Bai Ye's right.

Li Mo opened his eyes.

The two men's gazes met above Bai Ye's head. Li Mo's gaze was cold and deep, while Xuan Xiao met that gaze with a slight lift of his chin.

"Aren't there other seats available?" Li Mo's voice was flat.

"I just want to sit here." Xuanxiao's tone was equally neither humble nor arrogant.

The silence lasted for two seconds.

"Are you really going to squeeze in?"

"Class monitor, you insist on sitting next to him too."

Bai Ye was sandwiched between two people, one on each side, with almost no gap between their shoulders. Li Mo's shoulder was on his left, and Xuan Xiao's shoulder was on his right, making him feel like he was trapped in a narrow alley between two walls. He turned his head to look at his left, then at his right, somewhat speechless.

"These two are so childish," he thought to himself. But he said nothing.

Lu Xiao stood in the aisle and glanced at the seating arrangement—all three seats in Bai Ye's row were full, so he could only sit in the row opposite him. He sat down in the seat opposite Bai Ye, crossed his legs, and relaxed as if he were sunbathing on a park bench.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo followed Lu Xiao into the car, and the two of them stood in the aisle dumbfounded.

Zhao Xiaohu swallowed hard and lowered his voice to ask Qian Duoduo, "Would you like to sit on the left or the right?"

Is there a difference?

"The left side is closer to the vice-class monitor."

"Then I'll sit on the right."

The recruit training camp outside the window gradually disappeared behind the hills, replaced by increasingly unfamiliar highway scenery.

Bai Ye started to feel sleepy.

The two people beside him—Li Mo, whose temperature was rather cold, and Xuan Xiao, whose temperature was rather warm—made the seat feel like a cocoon with just the right temperature. His eyelids began to droop, his head slowly slumped down, and then gradually and irresistibly tilted to the right.

Bai Ye rested her head on Xuan Xiao's shoulder.

Xuan Xiao's body froze completely in that instant. His shoulders became like wooden boards, his back was taut and straight, his hands were on his knees, and his ten fingers were frozen in mid-air, not knowing where to put them.

He looked down at Bai Ye's head resting on his shoulder—Bai Ye's breathing was steady and long, and the wisps of hair on his forehead swayed gently with the bumps of the bus, brushing against Xuan Xiao's neck. He slept peacefully, without opening his mouth or frowning, just with his eyes closed, his breathing as even as a child's.

Xuanxiao stared at him for about five seconds.

"You can fall asleep like this?" he muttered under his breath, his tone deliberately disdainful, but his actions were the complete opposite—he very slowly adjusted his posture, pressing his right shoulder down half an inch so that Bai Ye's head could rest more comfortably.

After Bai Ye fell asleep, the carriage remained quiet for about twenty minutes. Then Zhao Xiaohu couldn't hold back any longer and started whispering with Qian Duoduo—talking about where they would be going next, what Li Mo and Lu Xiao's identities were, and how much longer the bus would take. Their voices were very low, but they were still remarkably clear in the quiet carriage.

Xuan Xiao frowned. He glanced down at Bai Ye, who was still leaning on his shoulder—Bai Ye hadn't been woken up, but his brows furrowed slightly, as if he sensed the noise even in his sleep. Xuan Xiao opened his mouth, about to tell the two opposite him to shut up, but Li Mo had already moved first.

Li Mo opened his eyes, took something out of his training uniform pocket, and handed it to Bai Ye. It was a pair of headphones—black in-ear noise-canceling headphones with a small volume control on the in-line remote. They were exquisitely made and didn't seem like standard equipment issued by the military; they looked more like something he had bought privately.

He carefully inserted the earphone into Bai Ye's left ear, gently pressing his fingertip against Bai Ye's earlobe to ensure a proper fit. Then, he leaned over Bai Ye and inserted the other earphone into Bai Ye's right ear. After doing so, he withdrew his hand and pressed the play button on his phone.

Soothing white noise flowed from the headphones, filtering out all the noise in the carriage and turning it into a distant background. Bai Ye's furrowed brows relaxed, her breathing became more even, and her whole body relaxed, leaning more firmly against Xuan Xiao's shoulder.

Bai Ye was fast asleep, leaning on Xuan Xiao's shoulder. His breathing was muffled by the white noise in his headphones, with only the steady rise and fall of his chest occasionally reaching Xuan Xiao's shoulder through the fabric of his clothes.

Xuan Xiao remained motionless in that position. His right shoulder was already slightly sore, but he neither changed his posture nor pushed Bai Ye away.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo sat opposite each other and observed for a full twenty minutes.

From Xuan Xiao's whispered remark, "How can you fall asleep like this?" to the moment he lowered his shoulder by half an inch, to his stubborn curse, "Sleeping like a pig," while raising his hand to block the sunlight leaking in through the curtains for Bai Ye—Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo noted down every detail.

The two exchanged a meaningful glance, and then looked at Xuan Xiao.

Zhao Xiaohu blinked, leaned forward slightly, and spoke in a barely audible voice, mouthing the words half a beat slower than they were actually spoken: "Brother Xiao... do you... like Brother Ye?"