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

The recruits' dormitory before lights out was as lively as a pre-New Year's market.

Zhao Xiaohu copied his daytime assessment results and pasted them on his bedside, saying he would pray to them every day to absorb some divine energy. Qian Duoduo, unusually, didn't contradict him. Instead, she helped hold down the corners of the paper, and after pasting it up, she took two steps back, examined it for a while, and nodded solemnly.

Zhao Xiaohu became more and more excited as he spoke, starting with Bai Ye's perfect 400-meter lap and then moving on to his one-handed pull-ups, and then to his previous ten-shot-per-hole shooting technique. His voice grew louder and louder, and he got closer and closer to Bai Ye. He gestured with his fingers in the air, vividly describing the expression on Instructor Zheng's face when he closed the scoreboard, almost spitting saliva onto Bai Ye's training uniform.

Xuan Xiao suddenly stood up.

"Alright, alright, alright—" He pushed Zhao Xiaohu back two steps, then stood in front of Bai Ye's bed, forming a wall to separate Bai Ye from the onlookers. "Bai Ye isn't fully recovered yet, why are you all so close? The air isn't circulating. You know wounded soldiers need fresh air to recover? The medic said so."

Zhao Xiaohu was stunned for a second after being pushed away, then his gaze swept back and forth between Xuan Xiao and Bai Ye. When Xuan Xiao said this, he was almost touching Bai Ye. It was true that he was blocking Bai Ye, but he himself was closer to Bai Ye than anyone else.

Zhao Xiaohu's lips slowly curled up into an extremely irritating arc.

"Brother Xiao," Zhao Xiaohu tilted his head, deliberately drawing out his voice slowly and obsequiously, "you said we were too close—you yourself were practically glued to Brother Ye, how dare you say that about us?"

Xuan Xiao stared at Zhao Xiaohu without blinking, the curve of his lips frozen, a half-smile that sent chills down one's spine even more than when he wasn't smiling.

Zhao Xiaohu's smile froze on his face for less than two seconds before crumbling. He took half a step back, then another half step, until his back bumped into Qian Duoduo's shoulder before stopping.

"Brother Xiao, I was just kidding—"

Xuan Xiao didn't speak, but continued to stare at him.

"Really, I'm just kidding, absolutely kidding. Your relationship with Brother Ye is just normal camaraderie, we all understand, we all understand."

Xuanxiao remained silent.

Zhao Xiaohu looked to Qian Duoduo for help, and Qian Duoduo immediately looked up at the ceiling, using body language to express a firm stance of "taking responsibility for one's own mistakes".

Zhao Xiaohu then looked at Bai Ye, who was rubbing his wrist with his head down, showing no intention of participating in this farce.

Just as Zhao Xiaohu was about to give up, a hand reached out from the side and grabbed Xuan Xiao by the back of his collar.

Lu Xiao pulled Xuan Xiao back slowly, but with steady force. He chuckled as he pulled, his tone like he was coaxing a cat with its fur standing on end: "Alright, alright, take a break."

After being pulled away, Xuanxiao wanted to say something, but his mouth was half open before the words got stuck in his throat.

He saw Li Mo's gaze. Li Mo was already standing at the dormitory door without him noticing.

The laughter in the dormitory seemed to have been muted; everyone fell silent at the same time, even their breathing became soft.

Li Mo walked in through the door. He walked through the wall of people that automatically parted and stopped in front of Bai Ye's bed.

Bai Ye looked up at him.

Li Mo took something out from behind him—a rectangular cardboard box, white with the logo of a local bakery printed on it.

He handed the box to Bai Ye.

Bai Ye didn't answer immediately. He looked at the box, then looked up at Li Mo, his expression changing from calm to a hint of doubt.

"Open it," Li Mo said.

Bai Ye took the box and opened the lid.

Inside was a blueberry cake. It was a rectangular slice with two layers of cake sandwiched between a layer of deep purple blueberry jam, topped with a thin layer of buttercream and garnished with a few whole blueberries.

Bai Ye stared at the cake for several seconds, his expression unchanged, but he stopped moving—his hand, which had been lifting the lid, hovered in mid-air, neither reaching for a fork nor putting the box down. It was as if he had encountered information that his existing cognitive system could not process, and he was stuck at the first step of understanding.

"I gave it to you on the way," Li Mo said.

Lu Xiao leaned against the bed frame next to him, and his lips twitched when he heard those four words.

The town where we were stationed was eight kilometers away from the camp. The bakery was at the far east end of the town, which was completely out of the way from where I was going to run errands this afternoon.

Bai Ye remained motionless. He looked down at the cake, his eyelashes drooping, obscuring his expression.

In his previous life, he had never eaten cake.

It's not that I don't like it, it's that I don't have the opportunity.

Their supply list only included compressed biscuits, energy bars, and vacuum-packed ready-to-eat foods. Occasionally, there would be a few pieces of chocolate, but those were strategic supplies used to quickly replenish energy when carrying out missions in extremely cold regions, not snacks.

"Eat." Li Mo's voice came from above.

Bai Ye picked up the spoon and scooped out a mouthful.

After Bai Ye swallowed, his expression changed. His eyelashes lifted slightly, his pupils dilated slightly, and the corners of his mouth softened into a barely perceptible curve.

Li Mo's lips curled up slightly.

Just like when she was a child, she still loves sweets. Li Mo thought.

Everyone in the dormitory held their breath as they watched Bai Ye eat cake, as if they were observing some rare animal feeding.

They had known Bai Ye for so long, from his perfect one-handed gun grip to his eighteen one-handed pull-ups, and they had never seen such emotional fluctuations on his face. It wasn't calm, it wasn't composed, it wasn't expressionless—it was a pure, undefended affection.

Xuan Xiao stared wide-eyed.

He stood next to Lu Xiao, still in the position of being pulled apart, his eyes fixed on Bai Ye.

A tiny bit of cream smeared on Bai Ye's lips, which he didn't notice. He took another bite, his cheeks puffing out slightly. He chewed twice, then took another bite, his pace noticeably faster than the previous two.

Xuanxiao stared at the dab of cream on his lips, at the slight puffing of his cheeks as he chewed the cake, at the focused and serious expression on his face as he dipped his spoon into the cake. All the sounds in his mind—Lu Xiao's teasing, Zhao Xiaohu's smirk, Li Mo's death stare—were erased, leaving only one image.

He didn't even have time to react when Lu Xiao's hand slapped him from behind the head.

Xuan Xiao staggered forward half a step, then suddenly came to his senses and turned to glare at Lu Xiao.

Lu Xiao withdrew his hand, his smile bright but serious. "Alright, everyone get some rest. We have other exams to take tomorrow."

He spoke in the same tone as usual, but Xuanxiao read a word in his smiling eyes that he didn't say aloud—if you keep staring, Li Mo's gaze will shift from Bai Ye to you.

Xuan Xiao coughed lightly, forcefully pulling his gaze away from Bai Ye's face, and turned to walk towards his bed.

Li Mo took away the empty box that Bai Ye had finished eating.

"Brush your teeth before going to sleep."

Bai Ye, with a spoon in her mouth, mumbled an "Mmm."