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

Bai Ye squatted in front of Fu Qiu, relaxed and calm, as if observing a beetle that had been overturned by the roadside. The floodlights from the training field shone from behind him, casting distinct light and shadow on his face.

Fuzhu looked at him through the gaps in his swollen eyelids.

He grinned, revealing blood-stained teeth, his voice hoarse and defiant: "What's wrong, little beauty? Feeling sorry for your brother?"

Bai Ye remained silent.

"Seeing your brother beaten up like this, aren't you heartbroken?" Fu Qiu tilted his head, coughing and laughing. "Those people were protecting you like you were some kind of treasure. Did you have to serve them all to earn that? Come on, tell your brother, did you serve Li Mo first or Lu Xiao first? Or—did those two little ones give in first?"

Bai Ye's eyelashes drooped slightly.

"I'll donate my eyes if I don't need them anymore."

Fu Qiu's smile froze for a moment. He opened his mouth—"What did you say—"

Halfway through his sentence, Bai Ye raised his hand. So fast that no one saw how he drew the dagger from the side of his boot. So fast that Fu Qiu was still opening his mouth, preparing to say the next word.

A flash of white light. The tip of the dagger precisely pierced the inside of the duck's eye socket, cutting down along the curve of its nasal bone and gouging outwards.

Intense pain exploded within the duck's body, and a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air above the training field, startling several crows in the trees beside the track.

He jerked backward, his head hitting the gravel, but Bai Ye's left hand had already gripped his chin, holding him firmly in place. Blood spurted out, splashing onto the cuff of Bai Ye's training uniform, the dark red liquid trickling down his pale wrist.

The boy, who was squatting on the ground, pushed the tip of the knife in a little further, then flipped his wrist and pried it out.

An eyeball with its optic nerve fell intact onto the gravel, rolled twice, and became covered in dust. Then Bai Ye released his hand from Fu Qiu's chin, wiped the dagger clean on both sides of Fu Qiu's training uniform on his shoulder, and put it back in his boot.

The entire training ground was silent for a full five seconds.

Lu Xiao stared, mouth agape, as Bai Ye stood up and took a step back, dodging the bloodstains spreading on the ground with the ease of avoiding a puddle of dirty water. He uttered a sound like he was sleepwalking: "Holy crap... Old Li, Little White Cabbage is even more ruthless than you..."

The duck's screams echoed throughout the training ground. He covered his right eye socket with both hands, blood gushing out from between his fingers, flowing down his forearm and into the sleeve of his training uniform, soaking the entire sleeve into a deep black.

He writhed in pain on the gravel, his knees bent to his chest, yet the excruciating pain in his eye sockets forced him to straighten his legs. He rolled around on the gravel like a fish thrown ashore, uttering inhuman howls.

"You bitch—you bastard—!" He covered his eyes, his voice no longer the flippant tone from before, but a scream, torn apart by pain, squeezed from the depths of his throat. "Who do you think you are! You're just—just a rag doll! You wait—I'll kill you sooner or later! I'll—fuck your mother—I'll kill you sooner or later!!"

Bai Ye looked down at Fu Qiu, who was rolling on the ground, without any expression.

"Pfft."

All eyes turned to the source of the sound. Lu Xiao stood next to Xie Huai'an, one hand covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. He tried to suppress his laughter, but failed.

"Sorry—sorry, I didn't mean to laugh—" Lu Xiao waved his hand, his smile and serious expression battling back and forth several times, but in the end, the smile won out. "Fujiu, you only joined Pokong a couple of years ago, right? There are a lot of things you probably don't know."

He took a step forward, squatted down in front of Fu Qiu, and spoke sincerely, as if giving directions to a lost child, "Bai Ye's surname is Bai. He has an older brother named Bai Chen."

The duck's pitiful cries came to an abrupt halt.

The name Bai Chen felt like a bucket of cold water being poured over his head, sending a chill down his spine even more than the pain in his eyes. He had joined the base late and had never met Bai Chen in person—but he had heard of him.

The former captain of Pokong, codenamed "Yama," single-handedly took down a foreign armed base six years ago, with the mission report stating "no survivors." Legends about Bai Chen circulated in the base's canteen, firing range, and dormitory corridors, each version more chilling than the last. But no one had ever told him that Bai Chen had a younger brother. And no one had ever told him that his brother was now squatting before him, holding a dagger stained with his eyeball.

"His own brother," Lu Xiao added, a smirk playing on his lips, his tone as if sharing a funny tidbit with an old friend. "You went and provoked Bai Chen's own brother, and you expect nothing to happen?"

The duck opened its mouth but couldn't utter a single word.

Hurried footsteps sounded at the edge of the training field. Two medical personnel carried a stretcher and jogged over, followed by the base duty officer who rushed over from the administration building after hearing the commotion.

When the medical staff saw the eyeball on the ground and the bloodstains all over the ground, they gasped and quickly knelt down to give the duckling emergency first aid before lifting him onto a stretcher.

Bai Ye stood under the streetlight, rubbing the clean spot on the front of his boot with his thumb to make sure there was no blood left.

"It's filthy." Xuanxiao's voice rang out from the side.

He frowned, looking at Bai Ye's blood-stained right hand, his tone disdainful: "You're digging, so why did you get your own hand all covered in blood? What's so great about that bastard's blood? Don't you know how strong the medical team's disinfectant smell is? What if you get an infection from some bacteria? It's just an eye, is it really worth you doing it yourself?"

Bai Ye looked at him expressionlessly, trying to explain, "I—"

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean'? Give me your hand." Xuan Xiao grabbed Bai Ye's wrist roughly, but gently. He took out a wet wipe from his pocket, pulled one out, and bent down to wipe Bai Ye's hand.

His fingers, holding a damp wipe, would tap and lightly dab, patiently moving between Bai Ye's fingers, but his expression remained one of extreme displeasure, and he kept complaining, "Next time, let me do this. Why are you using your hands? Your hands are for holding guns, not for digging up trash. If something happens to you, what about my—what about our Team A's tactical coordination?"

Bai Ye let him wipe her. His indifferent face showed no extra expression, but he did not pull his wrist away.

In the darkness where the floodlights met the night, the scene was so quiet it seemed out of place with the stench of blood around them. Xuan Xiao crumpled up the used wet wipe and stuffed it into his pocket, then pulled out a second one and continued wiping.