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

The moment the car door opened, Zhao Xiaohu was the first to rush out.

Bai Ye was the last to get off the bus. He stood on the steps by the bus door, the afternoon sun shining directly on his face. He squinted uncomfortably for a moment, then slowly walked down the steps.

Then he remembered a very real problem.

He had already checked every single pocket on his training uniform. Left pocket: empty. Right pocket: empty. Pants pocket: empty.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo stood next to him, also feeling their pockets. Their movements were surprisingly synchronized—first patting the left pocket, then the right pocket, then the back pocket, and finally letting their hands hang down. Their expressions changed smoothly from anticipation to confusion to resignation.

"My pockets are emptier than my face," Zhao Xiaohu said.

"My pockets are cleaner than Zhao Xiaohu's face," Qian Duoduo said.

"What do you mean by using my face as a unit of measurement?"

"It means it's very clean." Qian Duoduo turned her head and looked at the small window selling grilled sausages and tea eggs at the entrance of the convenience store in the rest area, just like Zhao Xiaohu.

A dozen or so glistening sausages sizzled in the sausage grill, steam rising under the warm yellow light. Their Adam's apples bobbed simultaneously, then they both looked away, as if contemplating some luxury item temporarily out of their reach.

Xuan Xiao stood next to Bai Ye, took out a wallet from his pocket, opened it, and inside were several bank cards and a black credit card neatly arranged.

The eldest son of the Xuan family was out and about, and was obviously not affected by the recruit company's rule of confiscating personal property - or rather, his card was returned to him through some channel that no one bothered to ask about after it was confiscated.

He twirled the wallet between his fingers, a smirk playing on his lips, just as he was about to say something to Bai Ye, when someone intercepted it.

Li Mo was standing in front of Bai Ye without anyone noticing.

He didn't say anything, but simply took out a card from the inside pocket of his training uniform and handed it to Bai Ye.

When Lu Xiao saw the card, he raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Bai Ye looked down at the card, then looked up at Li Mo. His eyes were full of question marks.

"You called me brother." Li Mo's tone was exactly the same as in the car, flat and brief, as if stating an objective fact that had already been recorded: "It's only natural for an older brother to spend money on his younger brother."

Bai Ye tilted his head and thought for a moment.

The logical chain ran through his mind—he called Li Mo "brother," and Li Mo accepted him as a younger brother, so Li Mo was spending his own money on him. The cause and effect were clear, the reasoning was complete, and there were no loopholes. So he reached out and took the card without any hesitation, nodded, and put the card into his training uniform pocket.

Then he turned around and faced Xuan Xiao. He didn't say anything, just blinked and stretched out his palm in front of Xuan Xiao.

Xuanxiao almost crushed his wallet.

"Here you go, all of it." He pulled his card out of his wallet and slapped it into Bai Ye's hand, as quickly as if afraid Bai Ye would change her mind. His tone carried a kind of generosity that came from being hit right in the bullseye and then giving up resistance.

Bai Ye took it and glanced at it—it was also a black card. He placed the two black cards side by side into his combat uniform pocket, his movements serious, as if he were organizing some important combat supplies.

Then Bai Ye walked towards the convenience store. His pace was not fast, but his direction was clear—the dessert counter at the entrance of the convenience store, behind the transparent glass door, displayed several rows of exquisitely packaged cakes and puddings, the lights of the refrigerated display case shining on the cream surface, reflecting a soft luster.

He stopped in front of the dessert display case, his face almost pressed against the glass, his expression still calm and focused, but his gaze lingered on each cake for a noticeably longer time than when he was looking at tactical maps.

Li Mo followed behind him, about two steps away, with her arms crossed, watching him squat in front of the dessert counter carefully selecting desserts, without saying a word.

Bai Ye first grabbed a piece of strawberry mousse. Then he saw a box of blueberry tarts next to him and picked that up too. Then he noticed a row of tiramisu that had just been restocked next to the tarts. He hesitated for a moment, then looked back at Li Mo.

"Buy whatever you want, and give me the leftovers," Li Mo said.

Bai Ye turned back and put the tiramisu into the shopping basket as well. He stood up, walked a few steps deeper into the convenience store, and stopped in front of the shelves—instant noodles, potato chips, biscuits, drinks, the selection was as complete as a small supermarket. He was obviously familiar with these things, but he didn't show any preference when choosing, just methodically putting the items enough for six people into the basket one by one.

Lu Xiao walked up to Li Mo's side without anyone noticing.

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo followed. The two had already forgotten that they were broke, and were silently watching Bai Ye with an expression that seemed to say, "Is this something I can see without spending money?" Bai Ye, the coldest recruit in the class, was currently squatting in front of the dessert counter, arguing with a discounted strawberry cake because the cake box had a "buy one get one free" label on it, and he was calculating something very seriously.

"Old Li," Lu Xiao leaned against the freezer next to Li Mo, his tone sour as if he'd just been pulled from a vat of vinegar, "You gave him your black card. Your black card. You didn't even give it to the reconnaissance battalion commander when he asked to borrow it last time, and now you're giving it to a new recruit to buy him a cake?"

"He called me brother."

"Can I call you 'brother' too? Will you buy me a small cake too?"

Li Mo turned to look at him, her expression clearly saying—Are you serious?

"Isn't my supplementary card with you?"

Lu Xiao pulled a card out of his pocket and waved it between his fingers. "This isn't about the supplementary card; it's about attitude. You buy things for Bai Ye without batting an eye, but after working with you for so many years, you've only ever bought me one thing? No, have you ever bought me anything at all? Let me think—I don't think so."

You are twenty-five years old, not five.

"Age discrimination," Lu Xiao put the card back in his pocket, crossed his arms, "I don't care, I want a small cake too. I want the strawberry one."

Li Mo looked at him for a moment.

Lu Xiao's smile remained unchanged, his eyes filled with the determination that "if you don't buy it for me, I'll keep talking until you do."

Li Mo took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of her nose, and then walked towards the dessert counter.

Thirty seconds later he returned, holding a strawberry cake box, which he shoved into Lu Xiao's hand.

Lu Xiao took the cake box, his smile dangerously bright. "I knew you were good to me."

"Shut up. Eat your cake."

Zhao Xiaohu and Qian Duoduo were stunned.

Zhao Xiaohu's gaze darted back and forth between Li Mo and Lu Xiao several times before finally settling on Bai Ye—who was at the checkout counter, his shopping basket filled with at least six different kinds of desserts, a bag of bread, several bowls of instant noodles, and a large bottle of milk. He placed two black cards side by side on the counter, hesitated for a moment, then chose Li Mo's card and handed it to the cashier.

The cashier was a young woman in her early twenties. Looking at the boy in front of her, who was dressed in a training uniform and had a cold expression like a professional killer, but had bought a basket of cakes and pastries, her expression was extremely complicated.

Bai Ye divided the items into two bags and carried them back to the outdoor seating area in the rest area.