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After playing another Ladder match in a duo with Fat Brother, Su Zhe looked at the friend request on Perfect World Platform and felt a little confused.

"Is this for real? That pro player we just ran into added me."

Fat Brother leaned over. "Could it be a scammer trying to steal your inventory? Let me take a look!"

Then Fat Brother took control of Su Zhe's mouse, wanting to check whether the account had a pro player verification badge.

He kept talking as he did. "From now on, if someone adds you and sends you a link asking you to support their team, or claims to be a girl who wants to duo with you, be careful. One wrong move and your inventory will be gone."

Su Zhe laughed. "I know. But all I've got in my inventory is a Redline AK in Minimal Wear. Scammers wouldn't be interested."

"You still have to be careful..." Fat Brother's expression suddenly turned excited. "Holy crap! It really is k0nfig! Accept it and see what he wants!"

After they accepted each other's friend requests, k0nfig sent a message in English. The two of them stared at it, dumbfounded.

Fat Brother was the first to react. "Find a translation page! Let's see what he said!"

After translating k0nfig's message, Su Zhe learned that he was praising how well Su Zhe had played and asking how old he was.

When Su Zhe replied that he was only eighteen, K0nfig became noticeably more enthusiastic. The speed of his replies made that clear.

After chatting for a while, k0nfig learned that Su Zhe had been playing CSGO for less than half a year and had logged fewer than a thousand hours. He couldn't help but exclaim, "What a rough diamond! He's got quick reactions and learns fast, too!"

When he'd watched Su Zhe's Demo earlier, he'd clearly noticed some problems with his positioning on the CT side, as well as his lack of experience making split-second decisions.

After all, k0nfig had been a pro since 2015, and most of the teams he'd played for had been top-tier ones, like North, Astralis, and Team Liquid.

He'd played over 1,700 maps in official matches alone.

His understanding of the game and his experience put him among the very best in the entire CSGO pro scene.

So after watching just one match Demo, he'd already formed a general picture of Su Zhe's skill level.

Still, Su Zhe's current level was already impressive, considering how few hours he'd played.

At the very least, in K0nfig's eyes, this young Chinese player had already grasped the essence of an entry fragger.

Then K0nfig asked, "Have you ever thought about going pro?"

Fat Brother stared at the message, stunned. That was pretty suggestive! He looked incredulous. "Wait, is he trying to get you into NIP's youth team? No way, right?"

It was like a guy asking a girl if she wanted a boyfriend. The intention couldn't have been more obvious!

Su Zhe quickly replied, "Of course!"

K0nfig: Then have you thought about going pro in Europe?

Su Zhe: No.

K0nfig: .

Fat Brother: ?

"Huh? Come on, man! Didn't you say you wanted to go pro?" Fat Brother was completely shocked!

Su Zhe was a little confused by Fat Brother's reaction. "Yeah, but if I go pro, I'm doing it here at home."

Fat Brother slapped his thigh. "You fool! You've got such a great opportunity, and you tell him you're not interested! You play by yourself. I'm going out for some air!"

How was that any different from winning a few hundred thousand in the lottery, saying you didn't want to claim the prize, then tearing up the ticket?

Strictly speaking, the odds were even lower than winning the lottery.

At the very least, he'd never heard of a Chinese player joining one of those European youth teams.

After saying that, Fat Brother turned and walked out of the dormitory. The echo of "You fool... You fool..." drifted down the corridor.

"Of course I'd play pro here. Where else would I go? CNCS may be bad, but I'm the man who's going to save it!" Su Zhe muttered, feeling quite confident.

As he saw it, plenty of other esports scenes in China had won championships. Everyone said CNCS was bad, but just how bad could it be?

With someone like me, a Chosen One, joining in, we're bound to restore its glory!

At the thought, Su Zhe felt himself getting fired up. He immediately queued for a match.

K0nfig was a little surprised by the answer. He'd thought that if Su Zhe was interested and willing to learn English, he might be able to bring him into his team's youth squad to get some experience.

But everyone had their own ambitions, and he didn't press the issue. He'd only asked on a whim, and if Su Zhe wasn't interested, he wouldn't force him.

After closing Perfect World Platform, K0nfig turned to es3tag beside him. "Have you noticed there are more and more talented young players these days?"

Es3tag pursed his lips. "But the competition's getting fiercer, too. A few years ago, we were still comparing whose aim was better. Now, even the pre-match prep alone is making my hair fall out by the handful."

"But what do all these talented young players have to do with us? The people at the club who are specifically responsible for this are useless. We haven't found a decent prospect for the youth team in ages."

Europe's CSGO esports pipeline was already quite mature. If you could reach a high rank on Faceit and put up good stats, someone from a club would reach out to you.

But NIP's youth team just couldn't find any talent. Players who were genuinely gifted would rather go to popular youth teams like Mouz and fight tooth and nail to make it than join NIP.

As a result, only the players who'd been passed over were willing to join their youth team.

K0nfig sighed. "Sigh... Whatever. It's not like the two of us will be playing pro for many more years anyway..."

Xiao Yujun was a blogger on Douyin who made content about CSGO.

With CAC about to begin, overseas pro players inevitably played a few Ladder matches on Perfect World Platform after arriving, giving him a chance to capitalize on the traffic.

He didn't look for matches where a pro player completely dominated the Ladder. Instead, he specifically searched for games where Chinese players managed to go toe-to-toe with pros.

He couldn't help it. People loved stories about talented young players rising to the top, especially when those players were from their own country.

When people made videos in the "CSGO Hide and Seek" series before, didn't they always add, "Look at this Chinese player..." too?

The star of the video wasn't actually Chinese, but people still enjoyed watching, and the traffic was great.

Xiao Yujun was also taking advantage of this mindset to get views, but there was so little footage to work with!

After the overseas pros got over their initial unfamiliarity, they gradually started dominating the Ladder through their understanding of the game.

So, after making five videos in a row, he'd run out of material.

He checked the match histories of the various pro players and said irritably, "Come on, give me something! I'm planning to land a sponsorship for the next video and make some money!"

"Huh!? Two NIP pros just lost a match!"

Xiao Yujun clicked on the match excitedly. After looking at the stats, his eyes practically glowed.

"Gold! Golden Legend! This is premium material!"

P.S. Just to be clear, I'm not going to write a CNCS redemption arc.