S Is Only the Beginning

The score at the top of the big screen had reached 15:12.

The match wasn't over yet.

They'd reached match point, but if they could string together three rounds, they could still take the game into overtime.

But Crystal Brother knew in his heart that Jiang Yang's 1v4 ace had been downright unfair.

They'd been clawing their way back on sheer willpower, and Jiang Yang's highlight play had completely snuffed out their last bit of fight.

In the final round, Jiang Yang had only needed one kill to wrap up the game with ease.

Looking at the final score of 16:12, Crystal Brother let out a long sigh. "I've been carrying so damn hard. That little Jiang on the other team is just a freak!"

"Ma Xixi's cousin has insane aim. Honestly, he feels even harder to deal with than Ma Xixi!"

The viewers in Crystal Brother's livestream all said that had been a blast to watch.

Crystal Brother was usually so cocky, and they loved seeing him get humbled.

[I love when the streamer says, "I'm getting 80 kills this game."]

[Just a little warm-up.]

[If Gangzi is human, I'll eat my words. He was smurfing and still got turned upside down by the fish. Hilarious.]

[That felt great, hahahaha.]

Seeing that sarcastic comment from a viewer, Crystal Brother got a little heated. But he quickly composed himself and said,

"But seriously, that little Jiang on the other team played really well. Especially in the second-to-last round—that was kind of insane!"

"In that 4v1 clutch, I first called for a Double Slide, but my teammate got insta-killed by him. I was so fast, and I still couldn't get the Follow-up Shot."

"Then I caught him at Long Box with a timing play, but he turned around and took me out. Damn, how is that even possible? He's ridiculous!"

Remembering that moment, Crystal Brother felt awful all over again.

Jiang Yang had been exposed when he swung out, but the instant Crystal Brother fired, Jiang Yang turned and killed him first.

How were you supposed to play against that?

It felt almost as bad as taking a headshot with an M4 while trading shots with an AK.

Crystal Brother exited the client and took a look at the post-match stats on Perfect World Platform. Then he shouted, "Damn, are these stats even humanly possible?"

In CSBOY's livestream.

"We got it, guys!!"

The moment the match ended, Jiang Yang raised both pincers high and cheered.

"That was a really tough game." He shared his thoughts with the "Helmets" in his livestream. "Crystal Brother really knows what he's doing."

As soon as the match ended, he exchanged a few compliments with his teammates, then typed "quit" and left the game.

The moment he exited, the post-match stats from Perfect World Platform appeared.

Crystal Brother had been the best player on the opposing team. He'd had 29 kills, 7 assists, and 19 deaths, with an average damage of 130.4 and a post-match rating of 1.51.

Jiang Yang had been the best player in the whole match. He'd had 45 kills, 3 assists, and 17 deaths, with a terrifying average damage of 161.2 and an absurd rating of 2.61.

The moment the stats appeared, the chat in CSBOY's livestream exploded.

[What was that rating?]

[Come on, man, you really are smurfing in S rank!]

[He's straight-up carrying the whole team. His second-place teammate only got 1.02, and everyone else is in the red.]

[The bottom three teammates combined didn't get as many kills as Xiao Jiang.]

[45 kills is ridiculous, but 45 kills in 28 rounds is even more ridiculous.]

[His rating for one game is higher than mine for two games combined!]

[Xiao Jiang, have you really become some kind of enlightened prodigy?]

A lot of viewers felt crushed watching how quickly Jiang Yang was improving at CS.

[I don't get it. How did he suddenly level up like this?]

[What about Xixi? How did you teach him? How did you actually manage to teach your cousin?]

[Xixi definitely didn't teach him. Xixi can barely play himself.]

[Is his cousin really going to make it to S? He hasn't even played 300 hours yet!]

Jiang Yang was beaming. He'd been in top form that game and had burned himself out completely.

But his teammates weren't quite as hopeless as the chat made them out to be. Jiang Yang had played aggressively in the first half, so he'd racked up a lot of kills.

In the second half, the other team had simply started playing better. Then his teammates' aim had gone cold, making it hard to get kills. That was why the last few rounds had been so difficult.

And thanks to his absurd performance, Jiang Yang had gained a whopping 49 points.

His rating had officially reached 2,369.

He was only 31 points away from S rank!

Jiang Yang was already in excellent form and couldn't wait to queue up for another game. But then he noticed the chat spamming that Crystal Brother had added him.

Jiang Yang raised an eyebrow, found Crystal Brother in his friend requests, and accepted.

As soon as he accepted, Crystal Brother sent him a message.

Bot, please be gentle: Cousin, you're way too good. You completely shut me down. Want to duo?

After getting carried to a loss by Jiang Yang, Crystal Brother was seriously unhappy.

So he'd decided that if he couldn't beat him, he'd get him on his side and take off!

Crystal Brother thought he was a genius!

Jiang Yang typed back, "Sure, but I'm grinding points right now. Is it okay if we only play Ancient?"

Crystal Brother replied right away. "No problem. Ancient's my specialty."

Once they'd settled it, Jiang Yang invited Crystal Brother to the party, and the two started duo-queuing.

But after forming their duo, their climb wasn't quite so simple.

They won their first game together, but it was almost too easy. The three random teammates they got were all good, and the round was often over before Jiang Yang even saw an enemy. As a result, they didn't gain many points.

Jiang Yang didn't mind. Another win later would make up for it.

But then the promotion curse seemed to strike.

Their next game had gone pretty well, and they should have won, but the three teammates started arguing over a timing issue. They nearly filled both Jiang Yang's and Crystal Brother's livestream chats with their arguing.

In the end, the three of them started fighting and gave up, throwing away a game they could've won.

Jiang Yang and Crystal Brother won another game after that, but unfortunately, they fell just a few points short of promotion.

They had no choice but to play another.

This time, though, matchmaking gave them trouble. Jiang Yang and Crystal Brother had both put up great numbers, so the matchmaking system stuck them with a few lousy teammates.

Those teammates were technically in S rank, but their skills clearly didn't match. They couldn't hold their own in a straight-up fight. Jiang Yang really wanted to win, though, and Crystal Brother kept doing his best too. Somehow, they managed to push the match into overtime.

The two sides kept battling through overtime, and the score reached 33:32.

Match point appeared on the screen again. Jiang Yang took a deep breath and rallied the team. "Come on, come on! Let's take this point and finish them off!"

"Everyone, be ready to stop a rush. Don't let them speed things up on us."

Before overtime, Jiang Yang had downed a whole cup of Sleeping Black Tea. Overtime matches like this took way too much energy.

The others were also starting to lose steam, and both teams were making increasingly bad plays.

So Jiang Yang took the initiative to rally his teammates and give them a boost.

He also gave himself a pep talk. After all, if they won this game, he'd officially make it into S rank!

When the countdown ended, he carried the Big Sniper toward VIP, while Crystal Brother went to A Area.

Holding the Big Sniper on the mid-to-long sightline, he saw the enemy throw a VIP Smoke.

But the other team seemed a little out of it too. Not only had they botched the smoke, they'd charged out without even throwing a flash. Jiang Yang easily picked him off with the Big Sniper.

As he worked the bolt, he used the Cover to Body Swing and check the area. He spotted another enemy in Mid, Dry Peeking to get a Follow-up Shot.

Once the Big Sniper's cooldown ended, Jiang Yang peeked again. He shot through the enemy's bullets and took him out with a single shot.

After securing those two kills, Jiang Yang shouted excitedly, "Hold steady, guys! It's 5v3!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Crystal Brother yelled from A Area, "They're exploding onto A!!"

Jiang Yang threw a molotov toward Sewer, then immediately rotated to defend A Area.

As soon as he started rotating, he threw a Smoke Grenade toward A2 Floor to help relieve the pressure there.

Then he saw Crystal Brother's kills appear in the top-right corner. With a simple A2 Floor retake flash, he'd managed to take out two enemies.

But before they could celebrate, someone urgently shouted over voice chat, "They're out of A2 Floor!"

Crystal Brother got killed, and the teammate at CT Base whiffed and was killed in return. They still had the numbers advantage, but the situation was starting to feel like it might go to overtime again.

But the instant the teammate at CT Base died, Jiang Yang emerged from the Connector Smoke. He aimed at the terrorist jumping down from A2 Floor and fired.

"—Bang!"

The AWP bullet hit the enemy square in the chest. The screen froze, and the score stopped at 34:32.

The system's background announcer rang in their ears: "CTs win!"

"Good game, good game."

"Insane, insane."

After complimenting each other over voice chat, they all exited the game.

Jiang Yang leaned back in his gaming chair, feeling a little worn out, then exited the client.

The instant he left the client, he saw a huge S beneath his avatar in the matchmaking lobby.

Then the Perfect World Platform client began playing a promotion animation.

"Embark on the road to the S-rank summit. Who will become the next demon king?"

There were a few more ranks above S, but there wasn't much difference between them. It was mostly a matter of how many points you had.

"S rank isn't just a new rank—it's a new world. The climb has only just begun. We believe you won't stop here."

That was true. S rank couldn't possibly be his endpoint. For him, S was only a new beginning.

Although plenty of viewers had doubted him when Jiang Yang said he'd climb to S, he'd truly done it now. The chat was filled with congratulations.

The CS community, from top to bottom, encouraged players to keep getting stronger.

The skill of deliberate practice had given many players the dream of becoming professionals.

But as they continued climbing and getting crushed on the ladder, quite a few of them had eventually stopped progressing.

Still, Jiang Yang's success had moved a lot of people.

After all, they'd watched Jiang Yang grow step by step.

At the same time, Jiang Yang saw a familiar line of text appear on the screen.

[Temporary Quest: Reach Perfect World S rank within 24 hours. Reward: Random professional player signature skill]

[Randomizing...]

[Congratulations, Old Timer, you have obtained MachineWJQ's formulaic commentary skills.]

[Congratulations, Old Timer, you have obtained 6,657 Comeback Points]

Jiang Yang: Huh?