Remember, in CS:GO, C comes before S!

Chapter 3: Remember, in CS:GO, C Comes Before S!

The name "Sleeping Black Tea" was truly thought-provoking.

Even though the system had given it to him, Jiang Yang instinctively remained wary.

It would be no fun if he got "bent over."

After thinking it over, he said to the viewers in the stream, "I'm going to pour some water. Let's finish watching S1mple's highlights."

Though he was eager to explore the system, he couldn't just leave the stream hanging. Otherwise, Ma Xixi would definitely jump up and knock him on the head.

After resuming S1mple's highlight video on Little Break Station, Jiang Yang focused his consciousness on the system that had just appeared.

Then a system panel appeared before his eyes.

[Old Timer: Jiang Yang]

[Age: 30]

[Team: None]

[Status: Retired]

[Overall Level: Unknown]

[Comeback Points: 259]

[This system is the Old Timer Counterattack System. It helps old timers make a comeback, perform their Last Dance, and reach the professional peak!]

Sure enough, this system had arrived way too early.

He was only sixteen. How was he an old timer?

Then he noticed the "Personal Items" section below. With a thought, he opened it and saw an item shaped like a tea bag.

[Sleeping Black Tea (Consumable): Add the tea bag and stir evenly to gain the "Energized" BUFF for two hours. Once the Energized BUFF disappears, more sleep will be needed to recover.]

[PS: A thirty-year-old old timer no longer possesses the boundless energy of youth. Sleeping Black Tea will be your best companion on the road back to professional play!]

Jiang Yang thought it over and once again confirmed that the system had come too early.

After all, this reward clearly looked like something meant for older players.

He was only sixteen. Before coming to Ma Xixi's place for a summer job, he had spent two consecutive nights awake at an internet café.

He had more energy every day than he knew what to do with.

This thing definitely had its uses. Though he had not watched much CS:GO before, he had followed plenty of League of Legends matches.

There had been a famous BO10 in the LPL, and he remembered it clearly.

By the later stages of that match, the players on both sides had started losing their minds.

If they had something to wake them up then, perhaps the result might have been different.

Though that BO10 had mostly been caused by problems with the event organizers, what if something like that happened in a CS:GO professional match?

Besides, in CS:GO, when both teams were evenly matched, a single overtime could sometimes last one or two hours. Those real marathon games sometimes required that much energy.

So this Sleeping Black Tea was an unexpected bonus.

After looking up Sleeping Black Tea, he turned to the [Comeback Points] on the system panel. There were exactly 259 Comeback Points.

[Comeback Points: Can be used to purchase items, skills, techniques, and more from the System Mall, assisting old timers in returning to the professional peak.]

[Comeback Points can be obtained from mission rewards, daily training, daily training settlement, and other methods.]

After reviewing everything, Jiang Yang fell into deep thought.

He began sorting through it all.

His original life should have changed because of this summer job. Later, somehow, he had embarked on the path of becoming a professional CS player, and it seemed he had done rather well.

Though he had retired after having his fighting spirit shattered by a "prodigy from the same era," that proved he had eventually reached the top tier.

Originally, this system was supposed to arrive when Jiang Yang was thirty and help him return to the competitive scene.

But this time, the plan had changed. The system had come early.

And judging by the information the system had provided, he could not simply shout at it, "Deep Blue, show me your limits."

The system functioned more like an auxiliary tool.

Whether he could change the outcome of having his fighting spirit shattered by that prodigy from his era would ultimately depend on Jiang Yang himself.

With that thought, Jiang Yang's mind gradually became clear.

Just as he finished sorting it out, the system panel surfaced again, and those lines of small text reappeared.

[After retiring and farming money for two years, you farmed money from every popular game on the market, yet left the CS you once loved abandoned in a corner. You finally resolved to perform your Last Dance, but no longer knew what level you were at.]

[Mission: Complete placement matches on any platform and learn your current CS level.]

[Reward: A signature technique from a random player]

Looking at the system's description, Jiang Yang found it hard to process.

What exactly had thirty-year-old Jiang Yang been doing?!

He had actually managed to farm money from all the popular games on the market. Was he really that powerful?

He had never expected his future self to be so talented at streaming too.

All he could say was, as expected of himself!

At that moment, Jiang Yang was a little impressed with his future self.

But after thinking carefully, he only felt that such a person was impressive.

If he had a choice, he would not want to become that kind of person.

There was nothing wrong with making money through streaming, but deep down, a person still needed goals. They needed something they wanted to do.

Take his cousin Ma Xixi, for example. He also made money through streaming.

But Ma Xixi still loved CS in his heart. Even though he had once had many opportunities to switch to other, more popular games and become a commentator, Ma Xixi had stayed, becoming one of the best CS commentators in the country.

As netizens put it, CNCS might not have the best players, but they had the best commentators.

He did not want his future self to become someone who only streamed to farm money. Looking at the mission reward in the system, he understood.

The path to redemption lay within it.

And he genuinely wanted to know who in the future could shatter his fighting spirit so thoroughly.

After all, Jiang Yang considered himself quite an optimistic person. Whoever could break him like that was certainly no ordinary opponent.

But first, he had to finish these placement matches.

Back when he was at school, he had only played casual CS.

Now that he knew he had talent in CS, he wanted to see what level he could reach if he seriously tried to climb the ranks.

Ma Xixi was still squatting in the bathroom, so Jiang Yang did not have much time to act.

But before returning to the computer, he had a thought.

Sleeping Black Tea appeared in his hand.

There was no longer any trace of Sleeping Black Tea in the system's personal inventory, which meant it really was just a simple consumable.

He examined the Sleeping Black Tea in his hand. It looked completely ordinary, no different from tea bags bought online.

He did not dwell on it. He found a cup, then looked up whether black tea could be cold-brewed.

Holding the prepared black tea, he returned to the stream and took a sip.

Tasty. It had flavor!

Back at the computer, he found that barely any time had passed. S1mple's highlight video had only advanced by two minutes.

After pausing the video, he checked the desktop and found only the 5E Play Platform, so he downloaded Perfect Play Platform from Baidu.

Because CS:GO's official servers were too terrible, players usually went to third-party hosted servers instead.

There were three well-known platforms in China: 5E Play Platform, Perfect Play Platform, and B5 Play Platform.

Each of the three had its own advantages and disadvantages. Jiang Yang liked playing on Perfect mainly because he had played there with his classmates before and was more used to it.

Ma Xixi did not have it installed, so he simply downloaded it.

As a major streamer, Ma Xixi's home internet was extremely fast, and Jiang Yang watched the download bar finish at lightning speed.

Once the installation was complete, Jiang Yang logged into his account. After a series of tedious verifications, he was finally able to play.

No classmates were online in the friends list at the Top Right Corner. Jiang Yang opened ranked matchmaking and selected only the three maps Dust II, Inferno, and Dust II.

Because of their simple layouts, these three maps were known as the most famous "Old Three" in CNCS.

[Why aren't you queueing every map?]

Jiang Yang caught the comment from the corner of his eye and answered honestly, "Because I haven't played that much. I only played these maps with my classmates before. I know the callouts on these maps, and I can throw some basic utility, so I won't drag my teammates down."

"And I'm more familiar with these maps, so I might place a little higher."

Jiang Yang's straightforward answer left quite a few viewers with a favorable impression of him.

Many people had entered this stream to watch the CSBOY duo—Ma Xixi and MO, the former Tyloo captain.

Ma Xixi and MO were the kind of streamers who said whatever was on their minds, and they came across as very sincere.

The longtime viewers naturally liked people like that.

Jiang Yang clicked Start Matchmaking. While waiting, he answered questions from the stream.

"What am I studying in college? Civil Engineering."

"Is Ma Xixi one and a half meters tall?" After reading that comment, Jiang Yang instantly got worked up. "What are you talking about? Cousin, the people in your stream are slandering you!!"

As he spoke, he even adopted a tearful tone. "You can't say that about my cousin. He's clearly one-six!"

After saying that, Jiang Yang himself was the first to burst out laughing.

The viewers could not hold it in either, and the entire chat instantly filled with laughter.

[What a freaking veteran actor]

[????]

[Now Xixi being one-six is confirmed. His cousin said it himself.]

[I'm dying, this cousin is hilarious.]

[This cousin seems really relaxed. He isn't scared of streaming at all.]

Then he saw a comment appear in the chat.

CSBOY: Yangyang, keep roasting me and I'll dock your pay!

Jiang Yang immediately shut up, but two seconds later, he could not resist saying, "Cousin, I was speaking up for you. They were all saying you're one-five."

But before he could keep arguing with the viewers, he saw that the match had been found.

[9/10]

Jiang Yang selected "Accept," and the match officially began.

The map was Dust II, the one China was best at.

While the map loaded, Jiang Yang took the initiative to tell the viewers, "Seriously, even though my cousin isn't as tall as I am, I'm better than him too!"

The viewers were nearly dying of laughter at Ma Xixi's cousin. So all the good things belonged to him, huh?

Seeing that the viewers did not understand, Jiang Yang declared with complete confidence, "Don't look at the fact that my previous rank was Perfect C+, but remember this: in CS:GO, C comes before S!"

"My cousin is just an S. I'm the C that comes before him!"

The viewers found it hard to process. They had no idea where this Kid got so many twisted arguments.

In Jiang Yang, they seemed to see themselves when they had first started playing the game. Back then, they had also thought they were uniquely gifted, polishing their memories of the past and thinking they were amazing.

But CS:GO was ultimately a hardcore FPS game, and its entry barrier was rather high.

Now, they were instead waiting for Jiang Yang to get slapped in the face.

Some of them even wondered whether Ma Xixi's cousin was actually very skilled, which was why he acted so cocky.

Then, once he entered the game, they saw Jiang Yang struggling to figure out how to move and immediately knew he was definitely a local.

Pure C+!

After entering the game, Jiang Yang stopped paying attention to the chat and focused on the match.

They started this round on the defensive side.

It had been too long since he had played this game. He felt as though he had just learned how to use a mouse and keyboard; nothing was under his control.

For the pistol round, he carried a USP to CT Base. Before long, he saw the enemy dry peeking from A1. He went berserk at A1, but spread the damage around and failed to kill even one.

But the enemy's aim was not much better either. He stood outside the cover at CT Base and fired for ages, while the enemy only landed glancing hits.

He managed to stall until Jiang Yang's teammates had all rotated back, and they won the chaotic brawl at A site.

But just when they thought the next few rounds would go smoothly, CT began making all kinds of aiming mistakes and got turned around by the enemy in an instant.

The viewers were having a blast. The entertainment value of a match at this level was truly maxed out.

After getting turned around, Jiang Yang did not randomly buy weapons. Instead, he saved hard for a Big Sniper.

After watching S1mple's highlights, he had wanted to try the Big Sniper all along.

Getting kills with a Big Sniper was seriously cool.

They remembered Ma Xixi getting torn apart by a Desert Eagle while using a Sniper Rifle and eagerly awaited his cousin inheriting his cousin's will.

But they had not expected that while Ma Xixi's cousin might not be good at techniques and such, this young man's dynamic vision and reactions were genuinely excellent!

Jiang Yang entered VIP with the Big Sniper and held the Mid Terrorist Entrance.

The enemy's VIP Smoke once again turned into a sewer smoke, giving Jiang Yang a chance to perform.

Seeing a Terrorist peek out from Terrorist Entrance, the Big Sniper fired with calm indifference.

Bang!

[Miss, get out of the way used AWP to headshot Never Miss a Day of Doing Good]

He ducked back behind cover to cycle the bolt, then peeked out again.

Another Terrorist had appeared between Terrorist Entrance and Sandbag, and Jiang Yang flicked the Big Sniper straight at him.

Bang!

[Miss, get out of the way used AWP to kill Never Miss Two Days of Doing Good]

Jiang Yang was feeling it now. He peeked out again and fired another shot.

That shot missed, but he kept peeking and fired again. This time, he finally hit.

The enemy Terrorists finally traded him out as well, ending his criminal life.

But it did not matter. His Sniper Rifle had traded one for three in Mid, and the voice chat instantly filled with his teammates' exclamations.

"Holy shit, that AWP is good!"

"That was sick, bro!!"

"I'll pick your AWP back up for you."

Jiang Yang had wanted to be modest, but hearing his teammates' heartfelt praise still made him incredibly happy. It even made him like Counter-Strike even more.

He turned to glance at the chat on his Secondary Screen and asked, "Do you guys even understand CS:GO?"

[I don't understand.]

[Making such a fuss over a C+?]

[And you're telling me he's a newbie?]

[That flick was a little ridiculous.]

[The other side gave him opportunities too.]

[This is straight-up smurfing!]

Some viewers were astonished, while others focused on the IDs.

[Cousin's ID is way too bizarre.]

[Holy shit, Nong!]

[Did none of you notice those two guys' IDs on the other team? I'm dying.]

[As expected, CS is full of gays!!]

Seeing the discussion about the IDs, Jiang Yang finally noticed what was unusual about the opposing IDs and couldn't hold back his laughter either.

Those IDs really made him wonder whether the other side were dual-specialized players of GO and Pai.

He picked up three kills with the Big Sniper in Mid, and his teammates took the round without much danger.

One teammate even retrieved the Big Sniper for him and tossed it straight to Jiang Yang at the start of the next round.

Jiang Yang did not refuse. After all, the Big Sniper could kill people, and he genuinely found it pretty fun.

To be honest, though, his Counter-Strafing was not very good. As a result, whenever he used rifles, he often got the crosshair on target only for an entire spray to outline the enemy.

CS:GO had a unique mechanic: his movement speed had to drop below a certain point before he could shoot exactly where he aimed.

Counter-Strafing meant pressing the opposite movement key while moving to forcibly reduce his movement speed.

Using a Big Sniper was comparatively easier, because defensive snipers spent most of their time firing from a stationary position.

Jiang Yang's reaction speed and dynamic vision were both excellent. At this rank, one Big Sniper was practically a turret.

Over the following rounds, Jiang Yang's Big Sniper went to work, and the first half ended 9–6.

However, once they switched to the attacking side, his Big Sniper became much harder to use.

That was how CS:GO worked. A defensive sniper only needed to hold an angle, while an attacking sniper had far more to consider.

After the side switch, Ma Xixi came up behind him and slowly watched him play, occasionally offering advice and commentary.

Although attacking was difficult, thanks to their first-half advantage, they still narrowly won the second half and took the match 16–12.

After the match, Jiang Yang was named MVP. He put up an outstanding 28 kills, 3 assists, and 11 deaths, with an average damage per round as high as 132.1. It was a bona fide big brother performance.

"Little C+? Easy, right?" Jiang Yang said.

Ma Xixi praised him with a laugh. "Not bad. Just like me when I was young—we were both prodigies."

"It was all right. It was just one placement match." Jiang Yang could not act that ridiculous in front of his Cousin. "Your turn. I'll sit beside you and read the chat for you."

Although he had just carried a match and still wanted more, eager to finish his placement games, Ma Xixi still had work to do.

The instant Jiang Yang stepped away, the viewers in the stream were unhappy.

[Can you let Cousin play?]

[Xixi, move aside. We want to watch Cousin cruise through Perfect World C+.]

[Support Cousin's righteous usurpation!]

[Cousin, take Ma Xixi down!]

[Ma Xixi I'll Top Kill You!]

"Fucking hell, kisik!" Ma Xixi cursed out of habit, then said with a smile, "Yangyang, you stole my whole stream away in less than half an hour, huh?"

He stared blankly at the Perfect World Platform on the desktop, but did not say anything.

He was personally a contracted streamer for 5E and had to play a certain number of matches on the 5E platform every month.

But Jiang Yang did not know about that.

Ma Xixi looked again at Jiang Yang standing behind him and called out, "If you've got nothing to do, go look in the room next door. There's a computer I bought for your Cousin-in-law before, but it hasn't been used for so long that it's gathering dust."

"Set it up and use it. When you have time, learn about the professional CS:GO teams. We'll need it later when organizing materials."

Organizing materials was secondary. The main thing was that Jiang Yang was getting bored out of his mind, and since there was a computer available, he might as well let him play beside him.

What else could he do? The kid was family.

Spoil him, of course.

Jiang Yang was instantly overjoyed and immediately shouted, "Thanks, bro!"

Ma Xixi watched Jiang Yang happily run into the next room to look for the computer and shook his head with a smile.

The sight reminded him of his younger days. Back then, he had been exactly the same—he got energized the moment he heard he could play games.

That was what young people were like.

Jiang Yang dug out his Cousin-in-law's computer from the room next door, then set it up in Ma Xixi's streaming room.

Among all the rooms in Ma Xixi's home, this one had the best soundproofing, so it would not disturb anyone else resting.

After nearly half an hour, Jiang Yang finally got the computer assembled.

Despite sitting unused for a long time, the machine had no major problems and could run CS:GO very smoothly.

As for peripherals, Ma Xixi had plenty at home. Jiang Yang casually found several different models in the storage room and even carefully picked one set out.

At first, however, he held himself back and did not immediately launch the game.

He was mainly worried that his Cousin would scold him.

It was not until Ma Xixi told him there was nothing going on and sent him off to play that he let out a cheer and excitedly returned to the computer.

Remembering the excellent results he had achieved on Ma Xixi's computer earlier, Jiang Yang rubbed his hands together and started queueing for ranked matches again.

However, while he performed brilliantly in the first ranked match, the games that followed were not nearly as easy.

He was not good at Counter-Strafing, so he mostly forced himself to stop by crouching the moment he saw an enemy. But that method only worked sometimes.

Later, he tried buying a Sniper Rifle instead, which improved things somewhat. But in the second placement match, he clearly ran into players who did not belong at this rank. An opposing player named Kasumigaoka Utaha kept charging in wildly with an AK47. Occasionally, Jiang Yang could punish her with the Big Sniper, but most of the time, that anime girl killed everyone.

In the match after that, he ran into a group of teammates with absolutely no fighting spirit.

It was not that they truly lacked combat ability.

They simply did not want to win.

For example, after winning the pistol round, they still used a USP and Kevlar in the second round.

Under those circumstances, even though Jiang Yang kept getting kills, it did not help.

The next two matches were fairly normal, though.

In the fourth game, Jiang Yang even matched with someone better than himself. That guy carried him to victory. Most of the time, Jiang Yang had not even spotted anyone before his teammate had already killed most of the enemy team.

In the final placement match, both sides were evenly matched, and Jiang Yang had a great time. His Big Sniper went absolutely crazy, and in the end, they won the game by the narrow score of 16–14.

After five placement matches—three wins and two losses—Jiang Yang rubbed his hands expectantly, wanting to see his final placement.

Then he saw a giant C+ displayed behind his ID on the results screen.

The score beneath it was 1598.

The moment he saw that score, Jiang Yang fell silent.

Was Perfect World doing this on purpose just to disgust him? Two more points and he would have placed directly into B, yet they had to max him out at C+.

Still, placement was secondary. He could slowly climb afterward.

What he was more curious about was what reward the Old Timer Counterattack System would give him after his placement.

As he thought about it, several lines of small text appeared before his eyes once more.

[Retired for two years, you made money from every popular game on the market, yet abandoned the CS you once loved in a corner. You finally resolved to perform your Last Dance, but no longer knew what level you were at.]

[Mission: Complete placement matches on any platform and determine your current CS level.]

[Reward: A random player's signature technique.]

[Drawing reward...]

[Congratulations, Old Timer. You have obtained 'Hunter's ECO Special Tactics'!]