Top-Tier Materials!

Su Zhe queued up with Fat Brother for another ranked match on Perfect World Platform, then stared at the friend request with some confusion.

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

Fat Brother leaned over: "Not some scammer trying to steal your inventory, right? Let me check!"

He grabbed Su Zhe's mouse to see if there was a pro player verification badge.

He kept rambling: "If anyone adds you later and sends a link saying 'support my team' or claims to be a girl wanting to duo, watch out—one slip and your inventory's gone."

Su Zhe laughed: "I know, but my inventory only has a lightly-worn Redline AK. Scammers wouldn't bother."

"Still gotta be careful..." Fat Brother's face suddenly lit up: "Holy shit! It's really k0nfig himself! Accept and see what's up!"

After they added each other, k0nfig sent a message in English, leaving both of them dumbfounded.

Fat Brother snapped to first: "Find a translator! See what he's saying!"

Once Su Zhe translated k0nfig's words, he learned the pro was praising his recent performance and asking his age.

After replying that he was only 18, k0nfig's tone warmed up noticeably—you could tell from the response speed.

After some back-and-forth, learning Su Zhe had only been playing CSGO for less than six months with under a thousand hours, k0nfig couldn't help but praise: "What a rough diamond! Fast reactions and strong learning ability!"

Watching Su Zhe's demo, he could clearly see some flawed positioning on the defense side and poor decision-making under pressure.

After all, k0nfig had been playing pro since 2015, mostly with top-tier teams like North, Team Liquid, and Astralis.

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

In terms of game understanding and experience, he was among the top tier in the entire CSGO pro scene.

So just one match demo gave him a solid read on Su Zhe's skill level.

Still, for such little playtime, Su Zhe reaching his current level already impressed k0nfig plenty.

At the very least, in his eyes, this young Chinese player had grasped the essence of being an entry fragger.

Then k0nfig asked another question: "Have you thought about going pro?"

Fat Brother stared at the message, stunned. This was way too forward! He shook his head in disbelief: "No way, is he trying to get you into Nip's youth training? That can't be right?"

It was like a guy asking a girl if she wanted a boyfriend—the intent was way too obvious!

Su Zhe replied quickly: "Definitely!"

K0nfig: "Any thoughts on going pro in Europe?"

Su Zhe: "No."

K0nfig: "."

Fat Brother: "?"

"Huh? Bro, didn't you say you wanted to go pro?" Fat Brother was shocked!

Su Zhe looked confused at his reaction: "Yeah, but if I go pro, it'll be in China."

Fat Brother slapped his thigh: "You're clueless! Such a great chance and you say you're not interested! Play on your own, I'm stepping out for air!"

This was like winning hundreds of thousands in the lottery, then saying you didn't want to claim it and tearing up the ticket.

Strictly speaking, this was even rarer than winning the lottery.

At least he'd never heard of a Chinese player joining a European youth training team.

Fat Brother turned and walked out of the dorm, with faint echoes of "Clueless~ clueless~" drifting back from the hallway.

"No brainer. Where else would I go pro but China? Sure, CNCS is weak, but I'm the man who's going to save it!" Su Zhe muttered, full of confidence.

In his mind, other Chinese esports scenes had plenty of championship examples. Everyone said CNCS was terrible, but how bad could it really be?

With me, the "Chosen One," joining in, we'd definitely forge glory!

Thinking this, Su Zhe felt himself heating up and immediately queued for another match.

K0nfig was a bit surprised by the answer. He'd thought if the kid was serious and willing to learn English, he might pull him into his team's youth training for some polishing.

But to each their own—he didn't press. It was just a casual offer anyway. Since there was no interest, he wouldn't force it.

K0nfig closed Perfect World Platform and said to es3tag beside him: "You notice? Talented young players are popping up more and more."

Es3tag shrugged: "But it's getting more competitive too. A few years ago, we were just comparing who had better aim. Now, even pre-match prep makes my hair fall out in clumps."

"Still, what does it matter how many talented kids show up? The club's scouts are useless too—the youth training hasn't had good prospects in ages."

Europe's CSGO esports industry chain was mature. If you climbed high on Faceit with solid stats, clubs would reach out.

But Nip's youth training always struggled to find talent. Truly gifted players preferred grinding at hot teams like Mouz rather than joining Nip.

In the end, only the leftovers came to their youth training.

K0nfig sighed: "Ah, forget it! We probably don't have many years left as pros anyway..."

Xiao Yujun was a CSGO-focused content creator on Douyin.

With CAC about to start, foreign pros landing in China inevitably played a few ranked matches on Perfect World Platform—and he was riding that traffic wave.

He wouldn't look for matches where pro players dominated the ranked ladder; instead, he specifically sought out games where domestic players could hold their own against pros and fight them to a near draw.

There was no helping it—people loved stories of genius youths rising up, especially when it was one of their own countrymen.

Back when someone was making those "CSGO Hide and Seek" series videos, didn't they always tack on "Look at this Huaxia player..." every single time?

Even though the protagonist wasn't actually from Huaxia, viewers still got a kick out of it, and the traffic was always high.

Xiao Yujun had also latched onto this mentality among his countrymen to rake in views, but such material was far too scarce!

After the initial period of adjustment, the foreign pro players gradually began to dominate the ranked ladder using their own game understanding.

So after churning out five consecutive videos, his material library was completely drained.

He scrolled through each pro player's ranked records, muttering irritably, "Step it up! I was planning to squeeze in an ad spot for the next video to make some cash!"

"Oh!? Two pro players from NIP lost a match!"

Xiao Yujun excitedly opened the match, glanced at the stats, and his eyes practically lit up with gold.

"Gold! A Golden Legend! This is prime material!"

PS: Let me state upfront—I'm not writing a CNCS opening.