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

Xuanxiao squatted under the street lamp, one hand covering his nose and the other hand resting on his knee.

Lu Xiao walked out of the bathhouse entrance, stood in front of him, and looked down at him.

"You're hopeless." Lu Xiao said, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment and disdain, but more than anything, undisguised amusement.

Xuan Xiao didn't look up, his voice muffled as he spoke from behind his hand covering his nose: "It's because of the high humidity and heat. The bathhouse is full of hot steam; even a normal person would get a nosebleed if they stayed there for too long."

"Hmm," Lu Xiao squatted down next to him, took out a candy from his pocket, unwrapped it and put it in his mouth, "It's late at night, the temperature is less than 20 degrees Celsius, and there are only two hot water taps on in the bathhouse. It's so hot, it's definitely worth it."

Xuanxiao's expression froze for a moment behind his hand.

"My body is prone to heat."

"Your constitution tends to be on the hot side." Lu Xiao repeated, switching the lollipop from left to right, nodding with a standard smile on his face. "So what will you do in the summer with this constitution? Will you have to soak in cold water all the time during the hottest days of summer?"

"Deputy squad leader, why aren't you going in to help? What are you doing standing outside watching me?" Xuan Xiao tried to change the subject.

"I don't need to be there," Lu Xiao straightened up, a lollipop stick dangling from his lips. "Li Mo can wash his hair all by himself, so there's no point in me standing there. Besides, if you go in again, I'm afraid Li Mo will throw you out of the bathhouse right there."

"The squad leader has a really bad opinion of me," Xuan Xiao muttered, his tone filled with a sense of frustration, like someone who had been wronged but dared not speak out. "During combat training, he deliberately threw me down, and when he saw me in the bathhouse, I was scared out of my wits. I didn't do anything wrong."

Lu Xiao glanced at him but didn't reply, but his eyes clearly said—you didn't do anything wrong? You almost got a nosebleed in the bathhouse just now, right in front of Li Mo.

Xuan Xiao understood that look, and his confidence instantly waned. He shrank back, shifting his gaze to the training uniform swaying gently in the wind on the clothes rack.

After a moment of silence, Lu Xiao chewed the lollipop and flicked the stick into the nearby trash can.

"Xuanxiao," his tone suddenly became more serious, "I have a question for you."

Xuanxiao turned his head to look at him.

"Are you interested in Bai Ye?"

Xuan Xiao sprang straight as if he had been electrocuted. His back snapped off the lamppost, and he stood in a stiff military posture, his neck and above turning red at a visible speed—starting from the base of his neck, spreading over his jaw, over his cheeks, and finally even the tips of his ears turned deep red.

"How could that be!" His voice rose a full octave, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet clothes-drying area. "Bai Ye is just a teammate! A partner! We're partners! It's normal for partners to care about each other! It's normal for me to go check on him when he's injured! It's normal for me to go along and see if there's anything I can do to help when he can't wash his hair with his hand!"

Lu Xiao didn't say anything, but leaned against the iron frame and looked at him.

"It's normal!" Xuan Xiao emphasized again, his voice still loud, but his confidence was clearly lacking. "Squad leader, don't overthink it. I am—Bai Ye is my most important—most important rival in recruit training! Yes, rival! We're in the same squad, and our training results are closest. It's normal for me to care about him. It would be no fun if he dropped in the rankings and I was the only one running at the top."

"So you care about grades."

"Yes! We care about grades!"

"Then why are you having a nosebleed?"

Xuan Xiao's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down several times before he finally turned his head to the side, his voice barely audible: "I told you it was hot."

Lu Xiao was silent for a moment, then nodded. The nod was large and slow, as if to say, "I completely understand what you mean," but the half-smile on his face conveyed the exact opposite message.

"Okay," Lu Xiao said, "Okay, okay. Partner. Teammate. Opponent. We care about results."

He pronounced the word "partner" very clearly, as if he were chewing a particularly flavorful candy.

Xuan Xiao's expression said it all—he knew Lu Xiao hadn't believed a word of it, but he dared not explain further, because any further explanation would only make things worse.

Lu Xiao observed his expression for a while, a smile always on his face. Then that smile slowly transformed from a joke into a more complex emotion—not quite a warning, nor quite a joke, but more like a well-intentioned reminder based on experience.

"Xuanxiao, I'm telling you something serious."

Xuan Xiao noticed the change in his tone and his expression also became more composed.

"I don't care what your relationship with Bai Ye is. You young people can do whatever you want, that's your own business." Lu Xiao pulled one hand out of his pocket, raised a finger, his tone was not harsh, but every word carried the certainty of someone who had been through it all, "But I advise you to think about one thing carefully."

He paused for a moment.

"If you really have feelings for Bai Ye, Li Mo might actually kill you."

Xuanxiao shrank his neck.

"I'm not joking." Lu Xiao's smile was still on his face, but what was under that smile made his words anything but joking.

He twirled the lollipop stick between his fingers.

"Li Mo is a man who doesn't talk much, but that doesn't mean he's not watching. Bai Ye's brother, Bai Chen, was Li Mo's former captain. Three years ago, before a mission, he entrusted Bai Ye to Li Mo's care. From that day on, Bai Ye became Li Mo's bottom line. If you cross his line, what do you think he'll do to you?"

Xuanxiao remained silent.

"And Li Mo is only the first hurdle." Lu Xiao raised a second finger, his tone becoming even more serious. "There's also Bai Chen."

"Bai Ye's brother is not missing—"

"His disappearance doesn't mean he won't come back." Lu Xiao lowered his fingers and looked at him. "If Bai Chen comes back and finds out that one of the new recruits I'm training is after his brother—let me make this clear, I definitely won't help you. I'll run away first."

"I don't care about Bai Ye at all," Xuan Xiao muttered softly, his voice so low it seemed he was talking to himself, his tone carrying a stubbornness that came after his guilty conscience had been exposed. "He's just a partner. He's capable, and I admire him. That's all."

Lu Xiao looked at him and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

He didn't press further, nor did he tease him anymore. He simply smiled quietly in the dim light of the streetlamp. That smile wasn't one of belief or disbelief, but rather a kind of "okay, I know you're being stubborn, but I don't want to call you out on it" tolerance, carrying the patience unique to an adult watching a child throw a tantrum.

"Hmm," Lu Xiao mumbled in response, putting his hands back in his pockets and glancing up at the night sky above the clothesline. "Partner."