ECO Itch Struck Again

When he woke up, he was looking at the same familiar ceiling.

The tourists' cheerful chatter and complaints were gone. The room was quiet.

"Awake?" A big head poked around the doorway. Ma Xixi was brushing his teeth, his mouth full of foam as he mumbled, "Then get up and eat."

He was back at his cousin's place, only this time he wasn't there as a summer temp worker. He was there as a member of the Helmet team.

Once Ma Xixi realized Jiang Yang genuinely wanted to go pro and wasn't just caught up in the moment, he wrestled with it for a while before deciding to support him.

He even went to Jiang Yang's home himself to explain the ins and outs of the professional scene to Jiang Yang's parents.

Among their younger relatives, Ma Xixi was capable and methodical, so his opinion carried a lot of weight.

It took some effort, but in the end, Jiang Yang's parents agreed.

After all, they weren't in a position to plan out Jiang Yang's future for him. Now that he might be able to make his own way, they could only let him go and give it a shot.

Besides, Ma Xixi had explained that Jiang Yang was still young. Even if he didn't make a name for himself in the pro scene over the next couple of years, he could still go back to school.

After convincing Jiang Yang's parents, he accompanied Jiang Yang back to school to take care of his leave of absence.

The brothers had been run ragged these past few days.

Once everything was settled, Ma Xixi guessed that if Jiang Yang stayed at home, he'd be subjected to all kinds of nagging, so he offered to bring him back to stay.

His cousin really was good to him.

Jiang Yang didn't know how to thank him just yet. All he could do was try his best to perform well in the matches ahead and not let his cousin down.

There was just one thing he couldn't figure out. He'd already joined Helmet, but the system still hadn't completed the quest to join a team.

Did he have to join a fully professional team for it to count?

Jiang Yang couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up.

Ma Xixi wiped his face with one hand and reminded him, "There's a practice match this afternoon, and you'll be playing. Don't get nervous. Just play at your usual level."

Though his own skill wasn't great these days, his understanding of the game was solid.

After MO had assessed his cousin, Ma Xixi had watched quite a few of Jiang Yang's demos and realized that his cousin really was being spoon-fed by the god of Counter-Strike.

His skill on the ladder was visibly improving.

And it wasn't just his in-game ability. His cousin's understanding of the game outside the server had also left Ma Xixi amazed.

He'd never seen a player with fewer than a hundred hours actively watch demos to learn from their opponents.

Looking back, his cousin was studying the game with his brain, and he had natural talent on top of that. It was only natural that he was improving so quickly.

Ma Xixi had once dreamed of going pro too. But back then, they were among the first generation of esports players, still feeling their way forward. There were no salaries or sponsors, and if they didn't switch careers, they'd starve.

He'd been forced to give up that path.

Some of it was because he didn't have enough talent, but in the end, it was still a lingering regret.

Now, though, he was watching a cousin he was close to set out on that same path.

Ma Xixi really hoped that one day he'd see his cousin on a top-level stage. He wanted to become a commentator for the "family support squad."

"So what position am I playing today?" Jiang Yang asked around a mouthful of toothpaste.

In domestic ladder matches, players often chose their positions based on where they spawned.

But in actual professional-level matches, players were usually assigned fixed roles.

The positions were generally main B, support B, main A, support A, and an AWPer, who usually handled mid defense.

Among those five positions, one player was usually the star, also known as the carry.

That player had a great deal of freedom to take fights and could roam around the map as they pleased.

"No idea. We'll see what MO assigns you later. I don't really interfere with that kind of thing," Ma Xixi replied.

Then he got a skeptical look from his cousin. "Wait, don't the people in your stream say you have the most say as coach? How do you not know?"

Ma Xixi teased, "I do have the most say. What takeout we get tonight, where we go drinking—I say the word, and nobody dares argue."

"Yeah, I guess that is a lot of say." Jiang Yang fell silent.

Something about that sounded wrong, but also kind of right.

He'd just have to ask Captain MO later. Come to think of it, he didn't even know who was on the current Helmet roster.

After washing up, he quickly polished off the Lanzhou noodles his cousin had ordered.

Jiang Yang slurped down the whole bowl and still felt like he could eat more.

But he knew if he ate any more, he'd probably get sleepy later.

When he was done, Jiang Yang returned to his computer and started warming up.

Compared to when he'd first started playing, he was now much more practiced at aim training. He was on a completely different level.

He could easily snap his crosshair onto a bot's head, and he did it much faster than before.

After finishing his aim warm-up, he joined a rifle Deathmatch and started practicing with the USP.

Pistols had always been his weak point, but there wasn't any easy fix. For now, all he could do was keep practicing.

Playing USP in a rifle Deathmatch was just a way to put himself under a little more pressure.

After getting a hundred kills with the USP, he switched to the AK and began practicing his spray control in Deathmatch.

He'd learned this method from "Elige's Aim Training Tutorial." His high sensitivity had always made it hard for him to control his sprays.

But at this stage, he was comfortable using a sniper rifle with his absurdly high sensitivity, so he wasn't about to change it. Instead, he'd slowly work on improving his rifle control.

He spent a long time practicing, then went into the ladder and played several matches.

For him, aim trainers and Deathmatch were mostly about getting into the right form.

Ladder matches were the best place for comprehensive practice because they were full of unexpected situations and felt just like real matches.

Before he knew it, it was six in the evening.

Ma Xixi started his stream, and Jiang Yang joined the TS Voice channel.

The other members of Helmet soon filed in one by one.

Jiang Yang gradually got to know them.

He went straight to the point. "MO, what position am I playing in today's practice match?"

MO answered without hesitation. "Stick to what you know. Take the AWP and hold the pressure."

He'd discussed it privately with the other members of Helmet.

They'd finally found a rough diamond like Jiang Yang, and they wanted him to shine onstage. Naturally, they hoped he'd put up good numbers in matches.

They were all former pros. Though they still had some regrets about their careers, they knew their skills had declined. Staying in the pro scene would just be clinging to the past.

Worried Jiang Yang might feel pressured, MO added, "Just play like you do on the ladder. This'll give me a chance to see where you're at, too. Afterward, I'll help you work on anything that needs improvement."

It was a test, in a way.

They'd seen plenty of talented youngsters dominate on the ladder, only to become completely ordinary as soon as they faced professional-level opponents.

If Jiang Yang could play to his level, they'd be happy to give up their spots and help him succeed.

But if he didn't have what it took, then even if they wanted to push him forward, they couldn't.

Jiang Yang drew a breath. Now he was feeling the pressure.

MO wasn't just telling him to play AWPer. He wanted him to take the star role.

A voice with a broad local accent and a slight stutter came over the channel. "D-don't let Liu Ke scare you. Just play normally. I watched your demos, and you're still better than Liu Ke with the AWP."

"Thanks, DD," Jiang Yang said over voice chat.

DD sounded a little annoyed. "I shouldn't have picked this ID. Now the kid gets to take advantage of me."

The whole Helmet team burst out laughing.

With Jiang Yang as the team's AWPer and star, Helmet's lineup was set.

In-game leader: MO. AWPer: Jiang Yang. Riflemen: DD, xiaosage, and karsa (Su Di).

Among them, MO, DD, and karsa (Su Di) had all been with Tyloo.

MO and DD had played for 18 Tyloo, while Su Di had once coached Tyloo.

Xiaosage had bounced around a few smaller domestic teams, but he'd never achieved much during his pro career. As he got older, he'd had no choice but to retire and become a streamer.

Most domestic players knew one another, the sort who became friends after playing against each other.

There was no need to worry about internal politics on this team.

They had the "Number One Palace" to keep things in line.

Perhaps because Jiang Yang was so young, they were all very friendly toward him. His nerves eased, and he began getting ready.

"Too Regular, ready? Come on in."

When QUQU entered the server, he spotted an unfamiliar ID on the other side.

'Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You.' Then he saw the utterly ridiculous profile picture.

"That's Boss Ma's talented young cousin, right? Is he making his debut today?"

18YM answered from beside him, "He's really good. I ran into him on the ladder before. The kid's reaction time is ridiculously fast. He's seriously talented."

QUQU wasn't particularly concerned. He'd seen videos of Jiang Yang getting roasted before, but plenty of talented youngsters were like that: they'd destroy random players on the ladder.

Then they'd get into a match against players with real skill and suddenly forget how to play.

"Doesn't matter. We'll crush him today and show him what Too Regular can do!"

"Okay, okay, let's start banning maps."

Both sides went through a quick map veto, and the maps for the match were set as:

Dust II, Dust II, and Ancient Ruins.

The veto was over, and the match began.

Helmet vs. Too Regular

T: QUQU, savage, 18ym, tb, Franke19

CT: MO, 'Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You', DD, xiaosage, karsa

MO reminded them, "Usually, a practice match goes the full thirty rounds, but we're not that formal. You know how it is—we're streamers, so we need a little entertainment value. It's more fun to watch when there's a winner."

Once they entered the first map, MO did as he'd said and gave Jiang Yang the star role.

They were CTs in the pistol round, and Jiang Yang took his USP to scout the mid sandbags, playing it safe.

Jiang Yang noticed that even though this was only a semi-pro team, the game felt different.

The other side wasn't as loose as players on the ladder. They played as a much tighter unit.

A moment later, the other side threw an Xbox smoke, while B also saw a feint.

They'd used their utility, so an attack was clearly coming. Jiang Yang judged that they were going for A and asked over voice chat, "MO, can I rotate to A?"

"Go ahead. It's quiet here. Be careful around A."

He immediately started rotating quietly from CT Base. Soon, he heard a huge amount of footsteps overhead. "They're rushing A Short! Xiaosage, watch out!"

As he spoke, Jiang Yang started running to help.

Xiaosage was holding the A Short angle from the slope. After hearing Jiang Yang's callout, he got ready to engage.

As the players rushed up A Short, he started going to town with his USP.

Within five seconds, three kills from xiaosage flashed across the kill feed, while Jiang Yang picked up one from under the site.

Meanwhile, DD caught the player who came out of A Main later in the round.

The round ended in a flash!

"Nice shots, Little Lock!"

"Your pistol's looking good today!"

"Pistol rounds are your specialty, all right!"

The group let out a series of wicked chuckles.

Xiaosage, who went by "Little Lock," rolled his eyes. "You old bastards, give it a rest. There's a kid here."

"But your cousin played that well. That timing was perfect. Not one of them was watching me," Xiaosage praised.

He'd been accurate on the slope, but without Jiang Yang pulling the other team's attention away, it would've been much harder for him.

Jiang Yang had only gotten one kill, but it had been crucial.

They took the pistol round with ease, bringing the score to 1:0.

Looking at the score and the fact that the other team hadn't planted, Jiang Yang's ECO itch struck again.

He asked MO, "Captain, can I take an MP9 and go out there to warm up my aim?"

MO instinctively wanted to say no, but then he remembered how Jiang Yang liked to play as a lone wolf on the ladder.

He could do that on the ladder, but it might not work in a pro match.

Still, some lessons couldn't be taught by explaining them. After thinking it over, he said, "Give it a try. You don't have to ask me about everything. You're playing the star role, so if you have an idea, go for it."

A grin immediately spread across Jiang Yang's face.

As the countdown ended, he bought an MP9 and headed straight for the B1 floor.

Helmet switched players every few days during that period, so I went with a lineup that seemed reasonable enough.

There'll be another chapter later.