Addicted to ECO

Waking up, he was greeted by the familiar ceiling again.

The sounds of tourists, whether happy or complaining, were gone, and the room was quiet.

"Awake?" A big head peeked in from the doorway. Ma Xixi was brushing his teeth, his mouth full of foam, and mumbled, "If you're awake, get up and eat."

He was back at his cousin's house again, but this time not as a summer intern, but as a member of the Steel Helmets team.

Knowing that Jiang Yang truly wanted to go pro and wasn't just acting on impulse, Ma Xixi expressed his support after some deliberation.

He even took the initiative to go to Jiang Yang's house and explain the ins and outs of the professional scene to Jiang Yang's parents.

Among their generation of nephews and nieces, Ma Xixi was capable enough and methodical in his actions, giving him significant influence.

Although there were some hurdles, Jiang Yang's parents eventually agreed.

After all, they didn't have much ability to plan Jiang Yang's future, and now that he had the potential to forge his own path, they could only let him go for it.

Moreover, Ma Xixi had also told them that Jiang Yang was still young, and if he didn't make a name for himself in the professional scene within these two years, he could still go back to continue his studies.

After convincing Jiang Yang's parents, he accompanied Jiang Yang back to school to handle the leave of absence procedures.

The two brothers were exhausted these past few days.

Once all that was done, he guessed that if Jiang Yang stayed at home, he would surely be nagged by everyone, so he took the initiative to bring Jiang Yang home to live with him.

He could only say that his cousin treated him really well.

Jiang Yang didn't know how to thank him for the moment, so he could only try his best to perform better in the upcoming matches and not bring shame to his cousin.

There was just one thing that puzzled him: he had already joined Steel Helmets, but the task in the system about joining a team had not been settled yet.

Could it be that he had to join a professional team?

Jiang Yang was a bit confused, so he got out of bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up.

Ma Xixi casually wiped his face and then reminded him, "This afternoon, you'll be playing in a practice match. Don't be nervous then, just play to your usual standard."

Although his own skill level wasn't great right now, his game understanding was still quite good.

After MO evaluated his cousin, he went to watch a lot of Jiang Yang's replays and found that his cousin was truly being spoon-fed by the CS god.

The level he displayed in the ladder was visibly improving.

And it wasn't just in the game; his cousin's maturity in his in-game concepts was also something that amazed him.

It was the first time he had seen a player with less than 100 hours of playtime actively watching replays and learning from opponents.

Thinking back, his cousin was clearly studying the game with his brain, and coupled with his innate talent, his rapid improvement was inevitable.

Ma Xixi once had professional dreams too, but back then they were the pioneers of esports, still exploring. There was no salary, no sponsorship, and if they didn't transition, they would starve.

He was forced to abandon that path.

Although part of it was due to a lack of talent, it was ultimately a regret.

But now, seeing his very close cousin about to embark on that path.

Ma Xixi was truly looking forward to seeing his cousin on the top stage one day, and he wanted to become a commentator for the 'family fan club'.

"Then what position will I play today?" Jiang Yang asked indistinctly.

Domestic ladder matches often favored choosing positions based on spawn points.

But in actual professional-level confrontations, there were basically fixed roles.

They were generally divided into main B, support B, main A, support A, and a sniper, who was usually responsible for defending the middle.

Among these 5 positions, there was usually a star player, also known as the "big brother" position.

The player in this position had very high freedom of fire and could move freely around the map.

"I don't know, we'll wait for MO to arrange it later. I don't really interfere with these things," Ma Xixi replied.

Then he received his cousin's questioning: "No, don't the viewers in the live stream say that you, the coach, have the most say? You don't know about this?"

Ma Xixi teased, "My say is indeed very big. What takeaway we order tonight, where we go for drinks, I say one and they dare not say two."

"It seems to be quite significant." This statement immediately silenced Jiang Yang.

It seemed like there was something wrong, and yet nothing was wrong.

He could only wait and ask the MO captain later. Speaking of which, he didn't even know the current members of Steel Helmets yet.

After washing up, he quickly finished the Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles his cousin had ordered.

He slurped down the bowl of noodles, and Jiang Yang even felt a little unsatisfied.

However, he also understood that if he ate any more, he would probably feel sleepy later.

After eating, Jiang Yang returned to his computer and began warming up.

Since he first started playing the game, his aim training was now much more proficient than before; they were not on the same level.

He could easily pull his crosshair to the bot's head, and his speed was much faster than before.

After completing his positioning warm-up, he entered a long-gun deathmatch and began to slowly practice the USP.

His pistol aim had always been his weak point, but there was no good solution for it; for now, he could only practice slowly.

Playing USP in Deathmatch was just to put some pressure on him.

After getting 100 kills with USP in Deathmatch, he switched to AK and started practicing spray control in Deathmatch.

He learned this method from "Elige's Aim Training Tutorial." Due to the high sensitivity, his spray control had never been very good.

But at this stage, he was very comfortable playing AWP with this incredibly high sensitivity, so he didn't change it easily. Instead, he slowly improved his rifle spray control.

He spent a long time practicing, and then played several matches in the competitive ladder.

For him, the training ground or Deathmatch were more about finding his form.

Competitive matchmaking was the best venue for his comprehensive training because there were too many unexpected situations; it was pure practical combat.

Time unknowingly passed, and it was already six in the evening.

Ma Xixi officially started streaming, and Jiang Yang entered the TS voice chat.

Soon, the other members of Steel Helmets also joined one after another.

Jiang Yang gradually became familiar with each of them.

Jiang Yang directly asked, "Captain MO, what position will I play in today's scrim?"

Upon hearing Jiang Yang's question, MO said without hesitation, "Stick to your old profession. Pick up the sniper rifle and hold the pressure."

He had privately discussed this with the other members of Steel Helmets.

Having finally discovered such a gem, they fully intended to let Jiang Yang shine on stage, naturally hoping he would achieve excellent stats in matches.

They were all former professional players. Although they still had some regrets about their careers, they recognized their declining skill and knew that lingering in the professional scene was just stubbornness.

Fearing that Jiang Yang might feel psychological pressure, MO added, "Just play like you do in competitive matches. I'll also get a feel for your capabilities, and I'll make adjustments later if you're not playing well in certain areas."

This was also a test.

They had encountered many prodigies who dominated in competitive matches but instantly became mediocre when facing professional-level competition.

If Jiang Yang could perform well, they would naturally be willing to make way for him and help him succeed.

But if Jiang Yang lacked the ability, even they couldn't help him advance.

Jiang Yang took a deep breath. The pressure was immense.

MO's words didn't just mean he should be a sniper; it was essentially asking him to play a star role.

A slightly stuttering voice with a broad accent said in the voice chat, "Don't listen to Liu Ke trying to scare you. Just play casually. I watched your demo, and you're better than Liu Ke's sniping anyway."

"Thanks, DD," Jiang Yang said in the voice chat.

DD seemed a bit displeased. "I shouldn't have chosen this ID back then. Now a kid is taking advantage of it."

Hearing this, the members of Steel Helmets burst into laughter.

With Jiang Yang becoming the team's sniper and main fragger, Steel Helmets' lineup was complete.

MO as the IGL, Jiang Yang as the sniper, and DD, xiaosage, and karsa (Su Di) as the riflemen.

Among them, MO, DD, and Karsa (Su Di) were all from Tyloo.

However, MO and DD were players from Tyloo, while Su Di had previously served as Tyloo's coach.

Xiaosage had played for some smaller teams in China but never achieved significant results during his professional career. He retired due to age and became a streamer.

However, most domestic players knew each other; they were the kind who became acquainted through competition.

In this team, there was no need to worry about internal conflicts.

After all, "Number One Palace" was there to keep things in check.

Perhaps because Jiang Yang was younger, they were all very friendly towards him, which eased his nervousness and allowed him to prepare.

"Is Too Regular ready? Then come over and join the room."

QUQU entered the server room and saw an unfamiliar ID.

'Ma Xixi, I'll kill you,' and then he saw the rather amusing avatar.

"Isn't this Ma's cousin, the prodigy? Is he officially playing today?"

18YM replied from the side, "He's very good. I encountered him in competitive matches before. This kid's reaction speed is really fast; he's truly impressive."

QUQU didn't care. He had seen videos of Jiang Yang before, but many prodigies were like that – they could dominate casual players in competitive matches but suddenly couldn't play when facing skilled opponents.

"It's fine. We'll take him down today and show him how good we, Too Regular, are!"

"Alright, alright, let's start the Ban/Pick."

After a simple Ban/Pick phase, the two sides finally confirmed the maps for this confrontation:

Mirage, Dust II, and Ancient.

The Ban/Pick officially ended, and the match officially began.

Steel Helmets vs. Too Regular

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

CT: MO, 'Ma Xixi, I'll kill you!', DD, xiaosage, karsa

MO reminded from the side, "A typical practice match needs to go for 30 rounds. But we're not exactly formal, you know, we're all streamers. We need a bit of showmanship. Having a winner and loser makes it more exciting."

Formally entering the first map's match, MO indeed had Jiang Yang play the star player position as he'd said earlier.

On the pistol round, they were defending. Jiang Yang, holding a USP, went to scout the middle sand area, playing very steadily.

Jiang Yang also realized that even a semi-pro team felt different when playing.

The opponents' coordination wasn't as scattered as in the ranked matches; they played more cohesively.

A moment later, the opponents directly threw an Xbox smoke, but simultaneously feinted an attack on B site.

The opponents had deployed their utility, clearly preparing to attack. Jiang Yang judged that they were going to hit A and asked over voice comms, "MO, can I rotate to A?"

"Go ahead. There's no pressure here. Be careful on A site."

He immediately started rotating back from spawn, moving silently. Soon, he heard a massive amount of footsteps coming from directly above. "A short is speeding up, xiaosage, watch out!!"

As Jiang Yang spoke, he also immediately picked up his pace to help.

Xiaosage on the ramp was holding A short, preparing to peek. Upon hearing Jiang Yang's callout, he began to get ready to engage.

When A short pushed up, his USP also started making rapid plays.

Within 5 seconds, three kills from xiaosage were rapidly displayed in the top right corner. Jiang Yang also secured a kill downstairs.

At the same time, DD held his ground at A main, catching those who pushed out of the A site door.

This round ended at lightning speed!

"So accurate! Little Lock!"

"Your pistol play today is really good~"

"As expected, when it comes to pistols, it's still you!"

A group of people let out wicked laughter.

Xiaosage, who had the nickname 'Little Lock,' rolled his eyes upon hearing this. "You old geezers can stop now. There are kids here."

"But cousin played well. That bait was really good this round; no one was watching me." Xiaosage praised.

Although his play on the ramp was accurate, if Jiang Yang hadn't drawn the opponents' attention, it would have been very difficult for him.

Even though Jiang Yang only got one kill, it was incredibly crucial.

They easily took the pistol round, bringing the score to 1-0.

Looking at the score, combined with the opponents not planting the bomb.

Jiang Yang's ECO addiction kicked in again.

He asked MO, "Captain, can I use an MP9 to get a feel for it?"

MO instinctively wanted to refuse, but for some reason, he remembered Jiang Yang's tendency to play like a special forces operative in ranked matches.

He could play like that in ranked, but it might not work in a professional match.

However, you can't teach people by just telling them. After some thought, he said, "Go try it out. You don't need to ask me for everything. You're playing the star player position; if you have an idea, you can act on it first."

Hearing this, a smile instantly appeared on Jiang Yang's face.

The countdown ended. He bought an MP9 and headed straight for B1.

During this period, the players for Steel Helmets changed every few days, so I eventually settled on a relatively reasonable lineup.

There will be another chapter later.