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

The sun had risen completely behind the mountains to the east, and the morning light illuminated the entire training ground, making the pebbles on the track shimmer with a fine reflection.

The entire Group A lined up at the starting line of the track. Li Mo stood in front of them, turning a page on his training record board in the morning breeze.

"Thirty kilometers. No load. Allotted time: one hundred and fifty minutes."

The queue was silent for a second.

"No—platoon—" Xuan Xiao swallowed the word "platoon leader" back, correcting his form of address, but the disbelief in his tone remained undiminished. "Captain, are you serious? Our first day of formal training, and we're already doing 30 kilometers? The most we do in recruit training is 20 kilometers—"

"The recruit training camp is for new recruits." Li Mo looked up at him, the temperature of that glance probably about the same as the frosty grass by the track. "This is Group A. If you can't even run 30 kilometers, you'll be feeding the pigs at the supply depot. The pigs run faster than you."

Xie Ran, standing in the queue, chuckled when he heard this, but Li Mo glanced at him and he forced himself to suppress it, though his shoulders were still shaking.

Shen Zhuo stood next to him, her expression a little more restrained than Xie Ran's, but the smile on her lips was still undeniable—thirty kilometers was indeed just a warm-up for the veteran members of Group A.

Lu Xiao was already stretching his ankles, his leg-pressing posture was as perfect as a physical education class representative, and he was humming an off-key whistle.

Xie Huai'an still buttoned up his cuffs neatly before squatting down to tighten his shoelaces.

Bai Ye frowned slightly. However, he simply took a deep breath and said nothing.

"start."

Li Mo pressed the timer, and the entire Group A started running simultaneously. Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo, as always, rushed to the front, like two wild horses that had just been released after being caged overnight, their steps light and quick, not at all like they were running 30 kilometers. Lu Xiao was in third place, his pace not fast but his rhythm extremely steady, and he even had the leisure to turn his head and chat with Xie Huai'an. Xie Huai'an didn't pay much attention to him, maintaining his own breathing rhythm.

Bai Ye and Xuan Xiao ran side by side in the back half of the group. For the first five kilometers, both of them were very relaxed.

Xuanxiao still had time to turn his head and examine Baiye's running posture. He found that Baiye's stride frequency was faster than when he was in the recruit training camp, and his breathing rhythm was also more refined - each step of exhalation and inhalation was on a fixed beat.

Bai Ye was glanced at by Xuan Xiao several times. He turned his head to look back at him, expressing his question with a look that seemed to say, "What are you looking at?" Xuan Xiao looked away and quickened his pace to run ahead of him.

Ten kilometers. Still in good shape. They've already circled the training track several times, and the floodlights along the track automatically went out after the sun had fully risen. Lu Xiao and Xie Huai'an maintained their usual relaxed demeanor, as if they could chat while running, while Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo were already nearly half a lap ahead.

Fifteen kilometers. Bai Ye began to feel his calf muscles tightening. He adjusted his stride, reducing his originally large stride distance by half an inch and compensating with a higher stride frequency.

Twenty kilometers. The gap began to appear. Xie Ran and Shen Zhuo were still in the lead, while Lu Xiao continued running alongside Xie Huai'an with a smile. Xuan Xiao's breathing became heavier, but his pace remained steady. Bai Ye's forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat; his pace had dropped, becoming somewhat unsteady from its initial stability.

After twenty kilometers, every step Bai Ye took became heavy. His breathing changed from rhythmic to uneven panting, and sweat seeped from his temples and slid down to his jaw.

Twenty-five kilometers. Xuan Xiao turned to look at Bai Ye, slowed down by half a step, opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Bai Ye noticed that he had slowed down, squeezed out two words between his teeth, and continued running.

Twenty-seven kilometers. Bai Ye's calf muscles had begun to spasm. His face changed from healthy white to pale from blood loss, and the color in his lips was gradually fading, but he maintained his usual indifference, gritting his teeth and remaining silent.

Twenty-eight kilometers. Bai Ye's right leg suddenly lost its support the moment it landed. The sound of his knee hitting the track was dull, and the gravel left several marks on his knee. He braced himself on the ground with his hands, panting heavily, sweat dripping from his chin onto the gravel, splashing up fine dust.

He frowned.

He tried to get up and finish the run. He used his arms to push his upper body up, and his left leg was already on the ground, but the muscles in his right leg were still spasming and wouldn't obey his brain's commands.

Xuan Xiao had already run five or six meters. He heard the sound of his knees hitting the ground, stopped and looked back. Bai Ye was kneeling on the ground, frowning and struggling with his right leg, looking like he was trying to stand up.

Xuan Xiao ran back. He stood in front of Bai Ye, blocking the increasingly glaring morning sunlight, and looked down at Bai Ye kneeling on the ground.

"Is that all?" Xuan Xiao's voice carried a deliberate hint of disdain, his lips turned down, and his brows furrowed. But he squatted down in front of Bai Ye, his back to him. "Come on up."

Bai Ye paused for a moment. He looked at the slightly hunched back in front of him: "I can run by myself."

"You think you can run on your own? Your legs are like noodles, you still want to run? Do you think one broken leg wasn't enough and you want to fall again?" Xuan Xiao turned around and glared at him, his voice not loud but his tone was like he'd swallowed gunpowder. "Get on. Don't waste my time. There are still two kilometers left. I don't care if I run with weights, just hurry up."

"I really can—"

"Bai Ye, can't you fucking listen to me just this once?" Xuan Xiao's voice suddenly rose a bit, then fell back down, squeezing out the last few words through gritted teeth, "Just this once. Get up here. Don't make me say it a third time."

Bai Ye looked at Xuan Xiao's back and opened his mouth.

He thought for a long time and realized he couldn't swear. So he shut up. He obediently climbed onto Xuanxiao's back and wrapped his arms around his neck.

Xuanxiao stood up, bounced him on his back to a more stable position, and then continued running.

Bai Ye was not heavy—his sixteen-year-old body had not fully grown up, and he had lost a few pounds in the past two months of recuperating, so he was light on his back. However, Xuan Xiao was still very careful, as if afraid of bumping the boy on his back.

"If you move again, I'll throw you off the track. Seriously. I'm really strong, you know that."

Bai Ye's face was pressed against Xuan Xiao's shoulder. He could smell the scent of laundry detergent mixed with sweat on Xuan Xiao's training uniform, and he could feel Xuan Xiao's shoulder blades rolling under his skin with the rhythm of running.

He actually still had the energy to argue with Xuan Xiao, but he chose to remain silent. It wasn't because he had nothing to say, but because he realized something.

The harsher the words this person says, the more steady the hand supporting him on the back becomes, like a barking, fierce dog that bares its teeth at you while turning its belly up to warm your hands.

He wanted to say something to retort, but he didn't know how to curse, and he couldn't think of the right words.

Before reaching the finish line, he finally gave up thinking, rested his chin on Xuanxiao's shoulder, and his tense legs finally dared to relax.