Jiang Yang

August 5, 2021, Thursday.

Today was an auspicious day for weddings, ceremonies, setting beds, haircuts, and "Send me 50..."

Even at five in the afternoon, the Magic City in the height of summer was enough to make anyone reluctant to go outside.

"Really giving me the Big Sniper? A gun from a teammate—you gotta have confidence~"

"Anyone who comes down Banana Path today is dead!"

"Ooh~ a Desert Eagle!"

His cousin Ma Xixi's confident voice came from beside him. Ma Xixi was playing a game called CS:GO, and everything he'd said was about the game.

Then, the very next second, Jiang Yang watched Ma Xixi fall silent.

Ma Xixi leaned back in his gaming chair, seemingly unable to understand how his Big Sniper had been taken down by a Desert Eagle.

Sitting in the VIP commentary seat, Jiang Yang couldn't help muttering beside him.

"Ooh~ a Big Sniper!"

"Why'd you go quiet? Got nothing to say?"

"Your teammate finally saved up enough for a sniper, and you didn't kill a single person. Are you even human?"

In CS:GO, a Big Sniper cost 4,750 dollars, while a Desert Eagle cost only 700.

In other words, the enemy had used a 700-dollar weapon to headshot him while he was fully geared.

It'd be like a fully equipped mid laner in the League getting solo-killed by an opponent with just two items. Naturally, it was hard not to lose it.

Jiang Yang hadn't spoken very loudly, but Ma Xixi had heard every word.

A little flustered, Ma Xixi said, "Keep yapping over there and I'll dock your pay."

At the mention of a pay cut, Jiang Yang immediately shut up.

After all, Ma Xixi wasn't just his cousin—he was also his boss.

Ma Xixi wasn't all that angry. He was easygoing by nature, and he and Jiang Yang were too close for him to stay mad.

Soon, Jiang Yang had another question.

If his cousin was this bad at the game, how had he become one of the best CS:GO commentators in the country?

But thinking about work made him sigh again.

He'd finished his college entrance exams two months ago and was now about to start his first year of college.

He'd planned to find a factory job for the summer, but he was too young, and most factories wouldn't hire him.

The few that would offered pay that was downright inhuman.

When Ma Xixi heard about it, he'd offered Jiang Yang a job himself. Ma Xixi's previous assistant had gone on vacation for the summer, so he'd brought Jiang Yang in as a temporary worker to help organize materials and read out chat messages.

He'd said Jiang Yang would be his assistant, but it was really more like his cousin had invited him over to hang out.

Today was his first official day on the job, and all Ma Xixi had asked him to do was liven things up a little.

The work was easy, leaving him plenty of time to think about what came next.

His grades in high school had been uneven, and he'd only managed to get into a second-tier university.

What made it worse was that no one in his family had ever gone to college before. He'd heard Civil Engineering had good job prospects, so he'd applied for it.

It was only over the summer that he'd gradually begun to understand what Civil Engineering actually involved. Now, he felt like his future was bleak.

Jiang Yang was already thinking about pursuing graduate studies later and switching majors.

In high school, all he'd had to think about was studying. But after the entrance exams, there were living expenses, college life, and what kind of job he'd do in the future.

A sudden, invisible pressure had settled over him.

Because he'd started elementary school early, he was only sixteen.

He'd never had any particularly grand dreams, and he didn't have anything he was especially good at. As a result, he had no idea which path to take in life.

He could only take things one step at a time.

Just then, Ma Xixi spotted Jiang Yang looking bored and took the initiative to explain, "If I die, you can read out some chat messages and thank people for their gifts. That's part of your summer job, too."

Jiang Yang nodded, then looked over at the screen on Ma Xixi's desk that displayed the chat. He began thanking people one by one:

"Thanks to Goblin Coffee Huya Number One..."

"Thanks to Little Poem Cat for the Huya Number One..."

"Thanks to Xu Beifang for the fan badge..."

"Thanks to Ma Xixi..." Jiang Yang stopped.

Ma Xixi, who hadn't respawned yet, asked in confusion, "Why'd you stop? Don't just pick and choose which messages to read."

With Ma Xixi's approval, Jiang Yang immediately continued:

"Thanks to Ma Xixi's one-meter-sixty-tall fan for the fan badge."

"Thanks to Shorty with Idiot Carrying Clips for the fan badge."

Ma Xixi's face instantly twisted into a constipated expression, while the entire livestream erupted with laughter.

"Alright, go play by yourself for a while."

"I think I've made a terrible decision."

Even so, Ma Xixi was genuinely surprised.

He was one of the most popular CS:GO streamers on Huya and one of the best commentators in CNCS.

There were always plenty of viewers when he commentated on matches.

But matches were usually played late at night, so things were pretty dull the rest of the time.

His little cousin might be a bit too familiar with him, but this kind of thing had made the viewers in his stream laugh their heads off.

You had to have a bit of a routine if you were going to stream.

Before long, even Ma Xixi couldn't help laughing.

His little cousin had stopped reading the chat out of consideration for him, but then he'd gone and invited the teasing himself. There was no one else like him.

Jiang Yang was happy to sit nearby and watch.

Whatever college life had in store, at least his summer was going to be a lot of fun.

Ma Xixi soon respawned and started the next round, while Jiang Yang watched with interest.

Jiang Yang played the game, too.

As it happened, Ma Xixi had been the one to introduce it to him at an internet café.

When Jiang Yang was in his second year of high school, CS:GO had exploded in popularity in China. He'd gotten into it along with his classmates, charging around every day with submachine guns like the P90 and roaming the C+ ranks.

Even just watching Ma Xixi play now was pretty entertaining.

Ma Xixi's moves hardly seemed human, and whenever he messed up, he always came up with some flimsy excuse.

"Bumped my mouse into the keyboard." "My connection lagged." "My crosshair's acting up today." "Didn't warm up before the match, so my aim's off." And so on.

But when he pulled off something truly ridiculous, even Ma Xixi couldn't keep a straight face, and he'd laugh along with the viewers.

Watching his cousin play, Jiang Yang started laughing, too.

From Ma Xixi, he felt the purest joy the game had to offer.

He decided that when he got off work each day, he'd try getting back into CS himself.

Suddenly, several lines of text appeared before his eyes.

[At thirty, your professional career is lackluster. A prodigy of your generation shatters your confidence, and you spend your days making money from livestreaming. While visiting your cousin, you watch him play and experience the purest joy CS has to offer. You decide to return to CS:GO and begin your Last Dance!]

[Reopen CS:GO, reward: Old Deng Gift Pack.]