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

After an unknown amount of time, Bai Ye suddenly opened his eyes.

He was breathing heavily, as if he had just been pulled from a long drowning. His chest heaved violently, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest cavity, as if it would burst out from between his ribs.

He looked down at himself.

He was still on the ground, soaking wet, covered in sewage, bloodstains, and dried mud. His left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, the elbow swollen and purple, completely numb. His right leg was bent, the swelling at the knee even larger than yesterday, gleaming with a bluish-purple sheen. The tips of all ten fingers were covered with dried scabs, the nail beds exposed, throbbing painfully in the cold wind.

He didn't know how long he had been lying there, or who had pulled him out of the water. All he knew was that he was alive. He hadn't died.

The door to the water dungeon was pushed open.

When Viper walked in, he was wearing a clean white shirt with the cuffs neatly buttoned up, as if he had just escaped from a pointless meeting.

When he saw Bai Ye with her eyes open, he paused slightly, his eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly, as if he had seen something unexpected.

"You're still alive?" Viper crouched down in front of him, his gaze lingering for two seconds on Bai Ye's pale, almost translucent face. His tone carried an undisguised surprise. "Two days have passed. You have gunshot wounds and whip marks all over your body, I plucked all your fingernails, my men broke one of your arms, and you also broke one of your legs. You were also submerged in water for who knows how long. I thought you were long gone. I didn't expect you to be so lucky."

Bai Ye did not answer.

"But it's best if you're alive." Viper stood up, circled him halfway, and his gaze swept from his pale, soaked toes to his severed arm hanging by his side. "If you die, I won't have anything to play with. If you're alive, I can prepare some good stuff for you."

As he spoke, he slowly pulled something out of the pocket on the front of his shirt.

The object was small, reflecting a thin, cold light under the fluorescent light—it was a syringe. The transparent syringe contained a small tube of pale yellow liquid, which gleamed with a chilling, almost viscous sheen under the light.

Bai Ye's pupils suddenly contracted.

His body reflexively lurched back half an inch, his back slamming against the cold wall. The tug on his severed arm sent a sharp pain through him, instantly beading on his forehead with cold sweat. But his gaze remained fixed on the syringe.

He recognized the liquid.

He would never forget what 037 looked like after being injected with three doses—the man who rolled, trembled, and begged for death on the ground in the morning light, his eyes reddened by addiction, the incoherent sobs that flowed from his mouth, and his last words, "I don't want my son to know."

All those images flooded back in that instant.

Viper saw his reaction. He smiled with satisfaction, the curve of his lips deeper than ever before, as if to say, "You finally gave me some response."

"Finally, there's a reaction." Viper crouched down, syringe in hand, the needle gleaming coldly under the fluorescent light. "I've been wondering if you're even afraid of anything. You're not afraid of bullets, whips, having your fingernails pulled out, or even broken bones. I thought you were made of iron. Now it seems you do have weaknesses. You've seen what this thing looks like when it flares up, haven't you?"

"Don't worry, this isn't some cheap knock-off." Viper patted the syringe, mixing the liquid inside, his tone as if introducing a carefully chosen gift. "The purity is several times higher than what you can buy on the market. Your narcotics officer friend of yours needed three injections to become completely addicted. This injection of yours is even purer than those three combined. After it goes in, you'll feel an unprecedented pleasure—a pleasure that will make you forget all pain, making you feel like you're on a cloud. Then, you won't be able to live without it. You'll beg me for a second injection, a third injection. At that point, you won't be some high-flying elite anymore; you'll just be my obedient dog."

Bai Ye's body was trembling. It wasn't from the cold, but from an uncontrollable spasm that surged up from the depths of her bones.

He tried to back away, but there was a wall behind him, and his severed arm and leg made his body completely unresponsive. He opened his mouth, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible: "...No..."

Viper chuckled and shook his head. He pressed the needle tip against the skin on Bai Ye's neck; the cool metallic touch felt like an extremely thin ice pick piercing his skin. Then he pressed the piston.

Bai Ye's body suddenly arched.

The moment the injection entered his vein, he felt as if he were ignited from within by a surge of molten lava—starting from the side of his neck, spreading along his collarbone to his chest, and then rushing from his chest to his extremities.

He first felt a burning, satisfying feeling welling up from the depths of his chest, as if someone had lit a fire inside him, burning away all his remaining pain and exhaustion.

His breathing became uncontrollably rapid, his pupils dilated, the muscles in his limbs relaxed, and the pain seemed to be drawn away from his body by an invisible hand, leaving behind an emptiness that he wanted to drown in.

He leaned against the wall, his face showing a moment of calm amidst the scorching heat.

But that feeling shattered quickly.

A violent wave of nausea surged up from my stomach, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on a fire.

His body began to spasm violently, every joint creaking and cracking. The old wounds in his abdomen, the whip marks on his back, the broken bone in his left arm, and the crease in his right leg were all activated at the same time. All the pain combined and surged towards him, as if it would burst him from the inside.

He curled up on the ground, clutching his head tightly with both hands, his ten fingernails, which had no nails, digging into his hair, and beads of blood seeped from between his fingers, trickling down his pale forehead.

He let out a very low sob, as if it had been forcibly pulled out from the depths of his throat.

The viper stood before him, looking down at him as he rolled on the ground, a leisurely smile playing on its lips.

"Enjoy it," he said. "This is just the first shot. I'll come back tomorrow. You'll be begging me then."

He turned around and walked towards the door.

The iron gate closed behind him, and the footsteps faded into the distance along the corridor. Only Bai Ye remained in the water dungeon, curled up on the ground, trembling uncontrollably, his throat emitting broken, crushed gasps.