I Believe You

Oh?

So you didn't have to achieve results in a major tournament to earn Dream Points?

While the game was still loading, Qin Feng couldn't help glancing at the lottery feature on the pale blue screen.

The points lottery interface was very simple. It had only two options: [Single Wish] and [Ten Wishes (20% OFF)].

A single draw cost 100 Dream Points, while ten draws cost 800.

Qin Feng looked at the pitiful 100 points on the panel and decided to give up on a single draw.

Having played gacha games where the best rewards only came with a guaranteed pity, he didn't think he'd get lucky on his first try with the system.

"We'll start on the Counter-Terrorist side this game. Let's go with the usual three A, two B setup."

"Aether, while you were away, Peppzor and I usually held B together."

"Want to come hold B with me?"

The bald KRIMZ glanced at Qin Feng, who was sitting beside him.

"Sure." Qin Feng nodded. "Poizon's the main AWPer holding A, so B is perfect for me if I'm playing second AWP."

As he spoke, Qin Feng saw a pair of Dual Berettas appear at his feet.

"Those are for me?" Qin Feng asked in surprise.

mezii nodded, then spent the remaining $500 to buy a CZ-75 for ALEX, who was holding A from the second floor.

"Aether, I've run into you in FPL before."

"I believe you."

Meanwhile, in the ITB team's Skype call.

smooya kept tapping TAB every now and then, looking puzzled. "Does anyone know who this Aether is?"

Cypher, who was better informed, said, "I think he's a newcomer from China. I heard he got a 1v5 in the Chinese Major Qualifier."

After a pause, Cypher added, "But don't worry. You know what the CS scene is like in China."

"We're basically an internet café team without even a training facility, but even China's best team, Tyloo, might not be able to beat us."

After saying that, Cypher seemed to think of something that amused him and couldn't help laughing.

"If he's filling in for Peppzor, he's probably holding B with KRIMZ," dobbo interjected. "We're not as good as Fnc, so we might as well look for a way through that newcomer called Aether."

In just a few words, ITB settled on their Pistol Round strategy:

They would speed up and hit B on the second beat.

The five of them held at T Spawn for a while. When no grenades came flying down Banana Alley, smooya pulled out a decoy and headed deeper into Banana Alley.

"Guys, check out this trick I just learned in FPL."

"Bank a decoy off the white wall."

"Clink." The decoy flew from his hand.

Qin Feng, Dual Berettas in hand behind the white wall on Banana Alley, naturally heard the grenade being thrown.

He immediately decided to wide-swing.

But the first person he saw wasn't smooya, who was close to the corner tossing the decoy. It was dobbo, standing in front of the tree.

With one perfectly placed shot, he took dobbo down.

[Fnatic.Aether killed ITB.dobbo with a headshot using Dual Berettas]

"Fuck, we just ran into a monster," dobbo swore. "This newcomer's pretty aggressive."

smooya had just thrown a Flashbang. Seeing that the kill had been made with Dual Berettas, he didn't dare push in to trade. He simply echoed dobbo's words. "Yeah. Most people who buy Dual Berettas hug the white wall. He actually caught the timing on the decoy throw."

"Are we still hitting B?" the team's in-game leader asked uncertainly.

"We have no info on A, and it'll be a pain to rotate back now. Let's hit B," smooya decided at once. "We've still got a smoke and a flash. Flash over the white wall, then smoke off CT Base."

By then, Qin Feng had already fallen back from the white wall to the sandbags.

As soon as he heard the Flashbang go off, he swung out from behind the sandbags.

After all, hiding there left him at a massive disadvantage: the closer the enemy, the smaller the angle he could see.

Besides, at close range, Dual Berettas had no disadvantage against Glocks at all.

[Fnatic.Aether killed ITB.smooya with a headshot using Dual Berettas]

[Fnatic.Aether killed ITB.Adam9130 with a headshot using Dual Berettas]

[Fnatic.Aether killed ITB.Cypher with a headshot using Dual Berettas]

[ITB.Thomas killed Fnatic.Aether with a headshot using a Glock-18]

"OMG, Aether, you're way too good!" Samuelsson, watching from behind, excitedly patted Qin Feng on the shoulder.

He'd thought Qin Feng's positioning was too aggressive.

But now, all he could think was that he'd struck gold.

It was a 4v1 clutch, with the bomb dropped on Banana Alley and the CT flanking from A already in position.

Just as expected, Thomas, who had traded Qin Feng, didn't even get the chance to plant the bomb. KRIMZ, hiding behind the three boxes, took him down with a single USP headshot.

The score was 1–0.

Cypher, who'd been so confident at the start, suddenly went quiet.

"This Aether guy's pretty damn accurate."

"No wonder Fnatic kicked Peppzor for him before the Major Qualifier."

Thomas tried to reassure his teammates. "It's fine. It was just a Pistol Round."

"Maybe he's only good with pistols."

"Let's go Full Eco this round and hit B again in the third."

Meanwhile, Fnatic's voice chat was full of praise.

"Great job, Aether."

"Nice."

"Beautiful. I can't believe you got four."

mezii felt that buying Qin Feng the Dual Berettas had been worth every penny.

In esports, being bad was a sin.

If you played well enough, you earned other people's respect.

The second round began.

Qin Feng didn't buy an M4 or an MP9. Instead, he spent $1,000 on full armor and kept only a USP.

"They didn't plant the bomb, so they probably won't buy this round. I'll go full armor with a USP and buy an AWP next round." Seeing KRIMZ beside him holding an M4, Qin Feng quickly gave him a heads-up.

"Yeah, the two of us can hold the site." KRIMZ nodded again. "They probably won't have many grenades this round. You can double-peek with me from the dead spot. Even if I die, you can pick up my M4."

After the Pistol Round, KRIMZ had begun to trust the young man from the East.

Knowing the opponents probably wouldn't force a gunfight, Fnatic played the round with ease.

poizon and mezii, both equipped with MP9s, pushed up mid together and put on a blockbuster worthy of a 9.9 rating on Douban—

Against an ECO: I'm a Special Forces Soldier.

Facing five unarmored players with Glocks, poizon and mezii pulled off a double ace.

And during the third round's buy time, Qin Feng finally got his AWP.

As for A Site, poizon and mezii were still holding two PM9s.

"Should we go for an unconventional setup?" ALEX asked casually, looking over the team's guns.

KRIMZ had an M4 and Qin Feng had an AWP at B, but A Site had only one M4 and two MP9s.

Since ITB had gone Full Eco the previous round, they would probably buy five AKs now.

Holding A Site from the usual back positions would put them at a big disadvantage.

"Sure, I can go B and let Aether take A," poizon offered, holding an MP9.

"Okay, Aether, go to A." ALEX paused, then added, "Are you holding it normally?"

"No need to hold it normally." Qin Feng shook his head. "Throw a molly at T Spawn and help me hold the angle. I'll take the sniper rifle to catch them on the side lane."

"Sure." ALEX was more than willing to trust Qin Feng.