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

The outdoor seating area for the rest area is located under a sunshade in front of the convenience store, and several white plastic round tables are slightly warm from the afternoon sun.

Bai Ye sat in the corner, with a freshly opened strawberry mousse and half a box of blueberry tarts in front of her.

Just then, a deep roar came from the direction of the parking lot.

As Bai Ye turned his head, a huge black shadow rushed out of the gravel ground of the parking lot and pounced towards the outdoor seating area at an extremely fast speed.

Its sprint direction was directly towards the White Night.

Li Mo and Lu Xiao moved at the same time.

Their chairs were pushed backward, and the two men stood on either side of Bai Ye, moving faster than a dog.

Li Mo stood slightly forward, lowered his center of gravity, turned his body slightly to the side, held his left hand in front of him, and pulled his right arm slightly back—the standard posture for dealing with an attacking dog with bare hands.

Lu Xiao stood half a step to his side, his hands already raised, fingers slightly bent.

The two of them completely shielded Bai Ye behind them, leaving no openings from any angle.

Then Bai Ye played a tune.

The sound wasn't loud—it sounded like a short whistle, but not quite. The sound pierced through the dry midday air and landed precisely in the Doberman's erect ears.

The Doberman's limbs seemed to have been paused. Its front paws slid half a meter across the gravel, leaving four white marks on the stones with its claws, before the dog stopped less than three meters from Li Mo, staring at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye peeked halfway out from between Li Mo and Lu Xiao.

He looked down at the dog, then at the half-full bag of sausages left on the table. He took the last sausage off the skewer, tossed it up, and the half-sausage rolled in an arc to a spot not far from the Doberman.

"Go play somewhere else."

The Doberman sniffed the sausage, then swallowed it whole. Then it didn't leave.

Its ears went from standing upright to sticking back, its tail went from stiff to slowly swaying from side to side, its big head stretched forward, and its wet nose nuzzled against Bai Ye's calves. Its tail wagged faster and faster, and it made a low growling sound in its throat, rubbing against Bai Ye's training pants, its big head nudging his knees, its ears rubbing against his wrists, and its nose nudging his waist.

Bai Ye frowned. He looked down at the dog that was rubbing against him all over, his expression changing from calm to a hint of barely perceptible annoyance.

He tried to take a half step back, and the Doberman immediately followed, circling around his legs.

He stepped back to the table, and the Doberman rested its head on his knees.

Bai Ye raised her head and looked at Li Mo. She was pleading for help.

Lu Xiao had already burst out laughing.

"It wants you to touch it," Lu Xiao said.

Bai Ye hesitated for a moment. He looked down at the Doberman Pinscher—its head was tilted back, its tongue lolling to one side, and its tail was kicking up dust. He carefully reached out and gently patted the Doberman Pinscher on the head.

Then the Doberman pounced on it.

The 70-centimeter-tall muscular dog crashed into Bai Ye's arms like a cannonball, its front paws resting on his chest, its big head rubbing frantically against his neck, its tail whipping around in a blur, and it whimpering softly, showing absolutely no fierceness that a guard dog should have.

Bai Ye was tackled and leaned against the table, his hands frozen in mid-air, unsure of what to do. He looked down at the dog, who was burying its face in his chest and acting all cute, his expression somewhere between "I don't understand" and "That's enough."

He took a deep breath and, just as the dog stopped panting, quickly patted its head twice with his fingers.

A series of hurried footsteps approached from afar. A middle-aged man came running breathlessly from the direction of the parking lot, carrying half a broken metal chain in his hand. When he saw the Doberman rubbing against Bai Ye, the panic on his face turned into disbelief.

"It's okay—it doesn't bite! It's just too excited to see people—a cat jumped out of the car and startled it, and the chain broke—I'm so sorry!" The dog owner said repeatedly as he squatted down and refastened the chain on the collar. The Doberman was pulled off Bai Ye very unwillingly, its four legs kicking in protest on the gravel, and its neck twisting as if trying to rub against Bai Ye again.

The dog only started walking when its owner tugged on the leash, looking back every few steps.

Bai Ye stood up from the table and looked down at his training uniform, which had been rubbed and messed up by the dog. The collar was crooked, the sleeves were wrinkled, and there was a large crease on the hem. Dog hair was stuck to the fabric. He raised his hand to tidy up his hair, which had been ruffled by the dog, and the corner of his mouth unconsciously twitched.

Then a hand reached out from the side and pinched Bai Ye's cheek.

Xuan Xiao had somehow gotten close to Bai Ye. He pinched Bai Ye's soft cheek and pulled it outwards, then rubbed it, his actions filled with undisguised smugness, and the corners of his mouth were turned up high.

Then Bai Ye's body reacted without any thought—his left hand quickly grabbed Xuan Xiao's wrist, his body rotated half a circle, his center of gravity lowered, and he used his waist and hips to generate power.

Xuanxiao's body was pulled off the ground in a beautiful arc, flipped halfway in the air, and his back slammed solidly into the gravel.

Over-the-shoulder throw.

Zhao Xiaohu had noodles hanging from the corner of his mouth, Qian Duoduo's instant noodle plastic fork was dangling in mid-air, and Lu Xiao was leaning against the table next to him with his mouth open in a small circle.

Xuanxiao lay on the ground, face up, limbs outstretched, staring at the awning above him. His face showed no anger, only a deep, inexplicable resentment: "You didn't say anything when that dog rubbed against you, you let it pounce on you, you let it lick you—and you threw me down just because I rubbed your face?!"

"Dogs don't bother," Bai Ye said, looking down at him expressionlessly.

"I didn't bother you! I just rubbed it once! Just once!" Xuan Xiao propped himself up from the ground, one hand covering his lower back, the other pointing in the direction the Doberman had disappeared in the parking lot. His tone was filled with grievance, as if Bai Ye had personally ripped a layer off his skin. "Where am I ranked? You make a list—I'll accept that the class monitor is first, and I'll accept that the vice-monitor is second—where is that dog? Is it ranked ahead of me too?"

Bai Ye got annoyed by his words.

He looked down at Xuan Xiao sitting on the ground, his lips pressed into a thin line, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke.

"……elder brother."

Xuanxiao choked.

His mouth was open, a syllable stuck in his throat, neither coming out nor going in. His expression switched seamlessly from aggrieved to stunned to blank. All complaints, all resentment, all the theories of "Why did you throw me?" were completely silenced by those two words.

He shut his mouth, stood up from the ground, brushed the pebbles and dust off his pants, and sat back down in his seat.

Lu Xiao leaned against the table and watched the whole scene from beginning to end.

As Lu Xiao sat back down, he patted Xuan Xiao on the back of the head with a smile. The pat wasn't hard, but it was full of brotherly affection. "You'll get used to it. You'll understand after falling down a lot—what's the point of fighting for first place? You'll never get to be number one anyway."

Xuan Xiao did not answer. He simply lowered his head and picked up his chopsticks again, the tips of his ears glowing suspiciously in the midday sunlight.