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

After the bus had been traveling smoothly on the national highway for two hours, the scenery outside the window had changed from hills to a continuous mountain range.

The carriage remained quiet.

Bai Ye is still asleep.

He looks completely different when he's asleep compared to when he's awake—when he's awake, he exudes a cold aura that says "don't come near me," but when he's asleep, the corners of his mouth droop slightly, and his eyelashes lie quietly on his eyelids, making him look younger than his actual age.

Qian Duoduo woke up from his nap, rubbed his eyes, glanced at the position of the sun outside the window, and estimated the time. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out to pat Bai Ye's shoulder to wake him up—after all, he had slept for more than two hours straight, and if he slept any longer, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Before his hand could even touch Bai Ye, it was intercepted by Li Mo.

"Don't call him." Li Mo's voice was very low.

Qian Duoduo withdrew her hand, looking somewhat bewildered. "Class monitor, he's been sleeping for over two hours—"

"He's still young and growing."

The air in the carriage was silent for a full three seconds.

Zhao Xiaohu's eyebrows furrowed into an extremely complicated shape. He looked at Li Mo, then at Bai Ye, who was fast asleep leaning on Xuan Xiao's shoulder, and his lips moved. In a cautious tone, he said, "Squad leader, Bai Ye—he's eighteen or nineteen years old, what kind of body is he still growing?"

Qian Duoduo nodded in agreement.

"Eighteen or nineteen?" Lu Xiao's tone was clearly confused. "Who told you Bai Ye was eighteen or nineteen?"

Zhao Xiaohu blinked. "He joined the recruit training program with us. Aren't recruits supposed to start at eighteen?"

"Bai Ye is sixteen this year." Lu Xiao placed the magazine on his lap, as if announcing common knowledge that everyone should know but surprisingly no one did. "His enlistment procedures were specially approved. You ate, lived, and trained with him for three months, didn't you notice he's younger than you?"

silence.

Zhao Xiaohu suddenly turned his head to look at Xuan Xiao.

"Beast." His voice was low, but each word was enunciated with extreme clarity.

Xuan Xiao's lips twitched.

"You could even lay a hand on a minor," Zhao Xiaohu added, his tone shifting from shock to heartbroken condemnation.

"I didn't do anything!" Xuan Xiao's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth. Because Bai Ye was still leaning on his shoulder, he didn't dare to speak loudly, and could only suppress each word into a breathy voice, which trembled slightly from extreme restraint. "Stop talking nonsense. I am—I've seen his file, I know he's a minor—but with the level of training he usually does, eighteen one-handed pull-ups, a perfect 400-meter lap, do you think any sixteen-year-old can do that? I've long forgotten!"

"Forgot?" Qian Duoduo peeked out from Lu Xiao's other side, pushed up glasses that weren't even on her nose, and made no attempt to hide the gloating in her tone. "Didn't you say he was your most important partner? You don't even remember your partner's age?"

Xuan Xiao's face was tense, and the tips of his ears were rapidly heating up in the dim light of the carriage, but his expression control was much better than before—his lips were pursed, his brows were lowered, and he forced himself to say in a fierce yet restrained tone: "On the training ground, only strength matters, not age."

"Save those words for the military court," Zhao Xiaohu muttered to Lu Xiao across from him, only to be lightly tapped on the back of the head with a magazine.

Just when Xuan Xiao was about to give up, Bai Ye made a move.

He nuzzled against Xuanxiao's shoulder, his nose brushing against the fabric of his training uniform, and then slowly opened his eyes.

Those eyes were still veiled by a thin mist of sleepiness, their pupils unfocused, staring blankly at some non-existent point in front of them.

He remained leaning on Xuan Xiao's shoulder for about ten seconds, stunned.

He looked at Xuanxiao's shoulder, then at his own posture, then at Xuanxiao's face, as if his newly activated brain was trying to process the complex logical question of "why I am leaning on him".

Xuan Xiao looked down at him, his lips already curling up reflexively, but his tone was still as disdainful as ever: "Awake? You've been sleeping on my head for two hours, and my clothes are covered in your drool."

Bai Ye slowly sat up straight. His reaction time was much slower than usual, clearly indicating that he hadn't fully recovered from his deep sleep.

Several seconds passed before he spoke, his voice hoarse from just waking up, lower than usual, soft and without any aggression: "...I didn't drool."

The car fell silent for half a second. That voice was completely different from Bai Ye's usual cold tone; it was like an ice cube coated with a layer of freshly made marshmallow—still cold, but soft enough to stretch into strands.

Across from him, Zhao Xiaohu suddenly buried his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling violently. Qian Duoduo covered her mouth with one hand and tried to grab Lu Xiao's sleeve with the other, but after a couple of tries, she grabbed her own knee instead.

Just then, Li Mo's hand moved again. He took something out of the storage bag on the side of the seat and handed it to Bai Ye—a carton of strawberry milk.

Bai Ye blinked, looked at the strawberry milk, and then at Li Mo. His brain was clearly still rebooting. After taking it, he didn't rush to drink it, but held it with both hands, looking down at the straw, as if confirming the authenticity of the product.

"Drink," Li Mo said.

Bai Ye lowered his head, put the straw in his mouth, and sipped slowly. The sweetness of the strawberry milk melted on his tongue, and his warm mouth contracted slightly from the cool liquid. He took another sip, his cheeks puffing out slightly, then slowly deflated as he swallowed, only to puff out again. He drank almost half a carton in one go.

Zhao Xiaohu clutched his chest and slumped back in his seat. He had completely given up on managing his expression, looking dizzy as if struck by some force. He whispered in Lu Xiao's direction, "I can't take it anymore," and then covered his face with both hands.

Qian Duoduo was in no better condition than him. His upper body was slumped over his knees, his forehead pressed against the back of the seat in front of him, his shoulders twitching, and he kept muttering, "Who can stand this?" "This is really unbearable." "He's only sixteen years old."

Xuanxiao sat next to Baiye, tilting his head and looking at Baiye.

Halfway through her drink, Bai Ye probably sensed his gaze. With the straw still in her mouth, she turned her head, her cheeks puffed out, and looked at him with her eyes asking, "What are you looking at?"

Xuanxiao shifted his gaze to the window, his expression calm, and said nothing.

Just then, a muffled gurgling sound rang out in the carriage.

Everyone looked toward the source of the sound. Zhao Xiaohu covered his stomach with both hands, a rare look of genuine embarrassment on his face.

"Um," he coughed lightly, glancing past Lu Xiao and then timidly at Li Mo, "Squad leader, shall we stop and get something to eat? We've been driving for over two hours, you must be tired?"

Li Mo glanced at him. That look contained no extra emotion, simply stating a fact: he wasn't a driver, he didn't need a rest.

Zhao Xiaohu was met with a cold shoulder, but he didn't give up. His gaze shifted mid-air and landed on Bai Ye.

Bai Ye had just finished the last sip of strawberry milk, put the empty carton down, and a small ring of milk stains still clung to the corner of his mouth, which he quickly licked off with the tip of his tongue.

Zhao Xiaohu clasped his hands together, made an extremely exaggerated pleading expression in Bai Ye's direction, his eyes wide and round, his lips moving silently, sending out a distress signal with the most devout mouth shape.

"Brother Ye—"