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

At nine o'clock in the evening, the dormitory of Group A was filled with the steam from a hot shower and the light smell of laundry detergent.

Xuan Xiao came out of the bathroom, a towel draped around his neck, his hair still dripping wet. He roughly rubbed his hair with the towel while habitually glancing at the lower bunk to the right of the door.

"Brother Huai'an," Xuan Xiao pulled the towel off his neck, turned his head to look at Xie Huai'an, "Where's Bai Ye?"

Xie Huai'an looked up from his textbook, his gaze sweeping across the dormitory room, the vertical line between his brows deepening. He put down his pencil, his tone carrying a clear hint of unease: "He's not with you?"

"No. He wasn't here when I came out after taking a shower." Xuanxiao casually draped the towel over the edge of the bed and reached under the pillow to pull out his training uniform jacket.

"Where can we go at this hour?" Xie Huai'an closed his textbook and was about to stand up when Lu Xiao leaned down from the upper bunk, resting his chin on the edge of the bed, a knowing smile on his lips.

"The training ground. No need to look for it. They didn't get to run the 30 kilometers this afternoon, so they're probably doing extra training now." Lu Xiao paused, then added, "The Bai family is all like this. Back then, Brother Chen broke his leg and still hopped on one leg to finish the 10 kilometers, and his brother just wrestled with his knee and started struggling with his leg. Birds of a feather flock together."

Xuan Xiao had already put on his coat and opened the dormitory door. The night wind blowing in from the corridor carried the dry coolness unique to the Gobi Desert.

He took two steps out, then came back and glanced at Li Mo. Li Mo remained seated at the long table, flipping through the mission briefing, without even looking up.

"Captain, aren't you going to stop him?"

"You can stop him?" Li Mo turned a page, his tone as calm as if answering a question that had been proven countless times. "I tried to stop his brother for six years, and I couldn't stop him even once. I'm just thanking my God that he doesn't contact his brother."

Xuanxiao closed the door.

The training ground at night is a completely different world from the daytime.

Bai Ye was running laps on the track. He wasn't fast, but his rhythm was extremely steady, with each step perfectly timed.

He has already run ten kilometers.

After the afternoon training session ended, he was still bothered by the moment when his knees hit the ground.

Xuan Xiao jogged over from the direction of the dormitory building, slowing down as he reached the edge of the training field, and watched from a distance for a few seconds. Bai Ye didn't notice him, or rather, he had no intention of paying attention to him at all, and was moving forward at a steady pace on the track with a focused, almost obsessive rhythm.

"Training here so late?" Xuanxiao ran onto the track and followed Baiye with light steps. "You ran 28 kilometers this afternoon and then secretly came out to train again tonight. Do you really not want your legs anymore? If you kneel on the ground again tomorrow, I won't have the strength to carry you a second time, seriously."

Bai Ye ignored him and kept running.

"Oh right, I just saw Old Zhou from the supply station moving things into the cold storage. It looks like they're going to give us extra food tomorrow. What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you tomorrow morning—no, wait, you'll eat it all by the time I get it. I'll save you an extra portion—no, wait, Brother Huai'an gives you special meals every day, you can't even finish all the biscuits, you probably don't care if I save some for you."

Bai Ye finally stopped. He turned around, panting slightly, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, glistening faintly under the dim streetlights.

"Can you shut up?"

Xuanxiao took a blueberry candy out of his pocket.

Bai Ye stared silently at the transparent candy wrapper, which shimmered with a pale purple luster under the streetlight. He reached out and took it, unwrapped it, and popped the candy into his mouth. The sweet and sour taste of blueberries melted on his tongue, and his brows relaxed slightly.

Bai Ye took a few more steps with the candy in her mouth, suppressing the panting from running. Then she turned her head to look at Xuan Xiao and suddenly felt that since she was already here, training alone or with someone else would be the same.

"Bibi."

Xuanxiao didn't react immediately, "Compare what?"

"Aren't you overflowing with energy?" Bai Ye switched the candy in his mouth to the other side, his tone returning to his usual calm and indifferent tone. "Let's have a speed contest. Five hundred meters, whoever finishes first wins."

Xuan Xiao's lips curled up. He had been worried about not finding an opportunity to get back at Bai Ye—he had spent half the afternoon doing extra training, running back and forth, and being watched by Li Mo made him have to be careful even when he was breathing. Now that Bai Ye had taken the initiative to propose a match, it was practically an opportunity delivered to his doorstep.

He stretched his ankles, pushed the sleeves of his training uniform up to his forearms, and stood next to Bai Ye, looking as relaxed as if he had already won.

The loser has to wash the winner's socks for a week.

"Okay." Bai Ye squatted down and retied his shoelaces, tightening each knot to the same tightness. Xuan Xiao watched him tie his shoelaces and thought to himself that this person even tied his shoelaces like he was aiming a gun.

The two stood side by side on the starting line of the track. The streetlights cast their shadows as two parallel lines on the gravel, and the night wind of the Gobi Desert blew in from the side, carrying a dry coolness.

Bai Ye swallowed the candy in his mouth, stretched his ankles, and slightly arched his back. Xuan Xiao also put away his smile and assumed the standard ready stance. At this moment, on this track, there were only the two of them.

"Three, two, one—"

Bai Ye was like an elastic rope stretched to its limit, suddenly released. The moment he rushed out, pebbles flew up from under his shoes, and his body leaned forward at an extremely fierce angle. Xuan Xiao was not slow to start, but his reaction was a fraction of a second slower, and Bai Ye had already darted forward at least two steps.

Two hundred meters. Bai Ye's explosive power over short distances completely overwhelmed Xuan Xiao's expectations. He kept his center of gravity extremely low, using the power of his entire leg with every step he took, and his arms swung with a small amplitude but at an extremely fast frequency.

Xuan Xiao gritted his teeth and chased after him, the wind whistling past his ears. He ran more desperately than ever before, but with every step he took, Bai Ye was one step faster than him.

Four hundred meters. Bai Ye's lead had widened to ten meters. In the 500-meter sprint, a ten-meter gap is a despairing number for opponents, because the remaining distance is insufficient for any tactical comeback.

Xuanxiao gritted his teeth, grinding his back teeth until they made a grinding sound, refusing to admit defeat.

Four hundred and sixty meters. Bai Ye crossed the finish line, slowed down, turned around, panting heavily, and wiped the sweat from his chin with his thumb.

Xuan Xiao rushed over nearly three seconds later, bent over with his hands on his knees, panting for a long time. He looked up at him, breathing heavily.

Bai Ye stood under the streetlight, his breathing had mostly returned to normal, and his expression was calm. It was as if he had just run 500 meters as a warm-up. He looked at Xuan Xiao without saying a word, but his eyes clearly said—being bad at long-distance running doesn't mean you're bad at sprinting.

Xuan Xiao straightened up, looked at Bai Ye's calm face, wiped the sweat from his face, and caught his breath.

He had previously thought Bai Ye's stamina was a weakness after seeing him lose the 30km race. Now he knew—sprinting was Bai Ye's forte, and his explosive power was simply unbelievable.

He made up his mind that he would never compete with Bai Ye again in any projects that Bai Ye had proposed unless absolutely necessary.