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

The recruit assessment concluded at 3 PM. At the debriefing meeting, Company Commander Zhou read out the overall rankings: Xuan Xiao was first, Bai Ye second, and the recruit from the second squad who threw a grenade 56 meters came in third.

In Class 1 dormitory.

After about five minutes of silence, Xuan Xiao stood up from the edge of the bed and swayed as he walked to Lu Xiao's side.

"Squad leader," Xuanxiao's tone carried a forced, bored air, as if he were trying to find a topic to talk about, "how far can you throw a grenade?"

Lu Xiao closed the magazine and casually placed it on the bedside table next to him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Ninety-three meters, I guess."

The air in the dormitory seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second.

Zhao Xiaohu sprang up from the bed, his back ramrod straight, staring at Lu Xiao as if he were an eyewitness who claimed to have seen aliens: "Ninety-three meters? Sergeant, are you sure you're not kidding us? The best score in basic training today was only sixty-five—"

"Those are the recruits' scores." Lu Xiao raised an eyebrow, a standard Lu-style smile playing on his lips, and tapped the magazine in his palm as he rolled it into a tube. "Want to give it a try?"

Everyone in the class jumped out of bed at the same time.

The bombing range was much quieter in the afternoon than in the morning.

When Lu Xiao signed a form in the equipment room and returned carrying a box of training grenades, the entire squad was already lined up at the grenade throwing line.

Lu Xiao walked to the grenade throwing line and picked up a grenade from the ammunition box.

His movements were devoid of any preparatory ritual—no deep breaths, no shoulder warm-ups, no practice swings. He simply stood behind the throwing line, gripped the grenade, turned sideways, and swung his arm, the entire sequence flowing as smoothly as a piece of music played at an accelerated pace.

The grenade flew high, much higher than anyone else's throws today. It spun rapidly through the air, passing the 60-meter, 70-meter, 80-meter, and 90-meter lines, before reaching the apex of its parabola above the 94-meter line, then descending slightly to the ground. An explosion came from afar, and a burst of grayish-white smoke erupted from the rubble.

Qian Duoduo was already standing at the very front. The moment the grenade flew out of its trajectory, he began counting the distance markers on the ground. When he reached the ninety-fourth marker, his mouth opened, then the explosion rang out, his mouth closed again, and then opened again.

"Nine to ninety-four."

Just then, a figure walked over from the direction of the equipment depot on the east side of the bombing range.

Li Mo's training uniform sleeves were rolled up to mid-forearm, and he was holding a signed equipment handover form in his hand, clearly busy with something else.

"Old Li!" Lu Xiao waved to him, his smile now tinged with undisguised amusement. "You've come at the perfect time. Let's show these greenhorns what real strength is. I scored 94, you'd better score a three-digit number, otherwise you won't be able to save face for us as squad leaders and deputy squad leaders."

All the recruits turned their gazes toward Li Mo.

Li Mo glanced at Lu Xiao, then at the group of recruits craning their necks, and then folded up the equipment handover form and put it in his pocket.

He walked to the bombing line.

As he pushed off the ground and rotated his hips, the transmission of power throughout his body was like a bullet being fired—the gunpowder ignited under his feet, and the explosive energy traveled along his leg muscles, through his waist, to his shoulders, arms, and hands, finally being released at his fingertips. The sound of the grenade cutting through the air was even sharper than Lu Xiao's.

The projectile crossed the 90-meter line. It crossed the 95-meter line. It crossed the 100-meter line.

The projectile reached the apex of its parabola above the 105-meter mark, then fell slightly before landing and exploding.

The entire bombing range was silent for a full five seconds.

Li Mo turned around and patted the pebbles off his hands. Then he did something that no one expected—he didn't look at Lu Xiao, nor at the group of wide-eyed recruits; he looked directly at Bai Ye, who was standing at the back of the crowd.

Bai Ye stood on the periphery of the crowd, neither pushing forward to see the explosion nor joining the others in their gasps of alarm.

Li Mo stood motionless in the bombing zone. He faced Bai Ye, his back to the target area still smoking from the explosion, his posture casual, his expression calm, his hands hanging at his sides. A standard attention or at ease posture. But he didn't move, nor did he speak. He just stood there watching Bai Ye.

Bai Ye blinked.

He didn't understand what Li Mo was trying to do. Was there some order to convey? Or had he done something wrong? He quickly reviewed today's assessment in his mind—third in grenade throwing, second overall, no mistakes made, no violations of safety regulations. After the assessment, he hadn't left without permission, hadn't done extra training, and hadn't put any extra strain on his right arm. So why was the squad leader standing in front of him, not saying a word, not moving, just staring at him?

Then a hand was placed on his shoulder.

Lu Xiao somehow appeared behind him, bent down, and leaned close to his ear. His voice was extremely low, so low that only Bai Ye could hear it, and there was a thin layer of amusement in his tone.

"He's waiting for you to praise him."

Bai Ye glanced at Lu Xiao. That look clearly said—are you kidding me?

Lu Xiao raised an eyebrow, took half a step back, and his expression was so sincere it was almost suspicious.

Bai Ye turned back and looked at Li Mo again. Li Mo was still standing in the bombing zone, his expression still the same cold face that never changed, his hands hanging at his sides, his posture unchanged, but he certainly didn't intend to leave.

Bai Ye thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and said, "Squad leader, that was a very long throw."

Lu Xiao poked his lower back with his finger.

Bai Ye paused for a moment, then added, "One hundred and five meters, that's impressive."

Li Mo's expression remained unchanged. However, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly—so slightly that Bai Ye wouldn't have noticed it if he weren't staring at him. Then he shifted his gaze from Bai Ye and turned to walk towards the equipment storage area.

Bai Ye stood there, feeling that something had just happened that he didn't fully understand.

Xuanxiao stood beside the queue and watched the whole scene from beginning to end.

The admiration he felt while watching Li Mo throw the bomb was still on his lips—but that smile was slowly hardening.

After throwing 105 meters, Li Mo ignored everyone except Bai Ye. Bai Ye praised him, saying "Very impressive," and only then did he leave satisfied.

This process seems familiar.

His expression underwent a complex transformation in a very short time, from smugness to confusion to alertness. Finally, it settled on an indescribable look of bewilderment. Lu Xiao walked over to Xuan Xiao, observed the changes in his expression from beginning to end, and then reached out and patted Xuan Xiao on the back of the head.

Xuanxiao looked up at him.

Lu Xiao bent down, his voice low, the smile on his lips still there, but with a serious undertone: "Don't overthink it. Li Mo sees Bai Ye differently than you do. He treats Bai Ye like a younger brother."

Xuan Xiao paused for a moment, then quickly composed himself and put on a perfectly normal expression, as if nothing had happened.

"I didn't think too much about it."

Lu Xiao patted his head with a smile, not exposing him.