After officially getting his own ID, Jiang Yang changed his 5E ID as well.
The Steel Helmet fans in CSBOY's livestream were pretty disappointed by that. Now they couldn't take the opportunity to trash Ma Xixi whenever Jiang Yang had a highlight play.
During his first few days with Steel Helmet, Jiang Yang's life began to settle into a steady routine.
He got up and ate breakfast every morning, then warmed up to get his aim back in shape.
After that, he'd grind the top ranks on 5E, picking on weaker players as he gradually got himself into form.
After lunch, he usually watched a few POVs. If he'd played poorly the day before, he'd review his own match footage and make a few adjustments.
Once the Steel Helmet old-timers came online, they'd play practice matches if any were scheduled.
Lately, though, they'd mostly been fighting for qualification in the open qualifiers.
The teams in the open qualifiers varied wildly in skill. Most were made up of college students with far too much free time.
As a result, Jiang Yang's stats had been dropping steadily in matches at this level. As a sniper, he simply couldn't get to the kills first.
Eventually, he figured it out: when there was no pressure, he should play rifle, too.
He'd also been deliberately practicing short three-round bursts while grinding the ladder, and lately he'd been seeing some good results.
That helped cover up his weakness with rifles for the time being.
With the whole team pulling together, Steel Helmet easily secured a spot in the closed qualifier.
The Asian RMR was a little different: Tyloo and VG had been invited directly.
Steel Helmet and seven other teams would have to compete for the two remaining spots.
Making the closed qualifier had already met the old-timers' goal.
But they'd once been professional players, and their competitive spirit ran deep. Since they hadn't been eliminated, they all wanted to go further and fight their way into the RMR.
Today was the first match of the closed qualifier, and the Steel Helmet players were a little nervous.
After all, their opponents were none other than the established domestic pro team Newhappy.
The old-timers were all playing at their best.
Ma Xixi noticed that his usually composed cousin was nervous after all. He was still on the ladder, running around like a maniac with an MP9.
Maybe he thought it would help calm him down.
When Jiang Yang finished the final round, Ma Xixi went over to reassure him. "It's fine. Just treat it like a normal practice match. Don't be nervous."
Jiang Yang turned around, looking a little puzzled. "I'm not nervous. I'm just playing on the ladder to warm up. What's there to be nervous about?"
Seeing that his cousin was still insisting otherwise, Ma Xixi said nothing. He was worried that trying to comfort him would only make him more nervous.
But Jiang Yang really wasn't nervous. He was leisurely grinding his skill proficiency.
When he came back to himself, he looked at the skill that had just leveled up.
[ECO Special Tactics (Advanced)]
[Progress: (12/10000)]
[Effect: If they have pistols, it's an ECO! After hearing the enemy's pistols, greatly increases damage output!]
At first glance, Jiang Yang didn't see any change.
Then he noticed the difference.
Damn, after hearing the enemy's pistols, I can greatly increase my damage output.
Doesn't that mean the enemy's pistol rounds count as ECO rounds, too?
Fragments of ECO rounds began to flash through Jiang Yang's mind. The skill upgrade gave him plenty to think about.
Increasing this skill's proficiency wouldn't suddenly make Jiang Yang good with pistols.
But it did give him an idea.
He might be bad with the USP, but what if he treated the enemy's pistol rounds as ECO rounds and used his skill on them?
Could he use Dual Berettas instead of an MP9?
The Dual Berettas had plenty of firepower, after all. And compared with the USP's firing rhythm, all he had to do was pull the trigger fast enough to deal the damage.
The more Jiang Yang thought about it, the more excited he got.
It seemed like it really could work!
The moment the idea occurred to him, he glanced at the clock in the lower-right corner of his screen, wishing the match would start already.
Jiang Yang was itching to fight!
Inside Newhappy's practice room.
The players were getting ready for the match, too.
A young man practicing flick shots on an aim map turned and asked, "Who are we playing today?"
The matchups had only been announced that morning, so the young man, whose ID was JEE, didn't know who they'd be facing.
Newhappy's coach answered, "We're playing Steel Helmet in the first round. They're that streamer team Ma Xixi's running."
"Then we're pretty lucky. This first round should be an easy win, right?" JEE grinned.
He liked browsing the internet, so he knew about that streamer team, Steel Helmet. They had some former Tyloo players, but their form had fallen off badly. They were basically just a bunch of scrubs trading kills.
As far as JEE was concerned, Newhappy would cruise through the first round of the closed qualifier.
Newhappy's coach cautioned him, "Don't get careless. Ma Xixi's cousin is pretty good. The kid's got explosive talent."
As the coach of a domestic pro team, he'd naturally taken notice of Jiang Yang, a gifted player who was also drawing plenty of attention.
He'd watched a few of Jiang Yang's demos lately and found that the kid really was impressive.
His pistol and rifle multikills weren't quite there yet, but he was genuinely good with the AWP: steady and fast, like kennyS at his peak.
Once this RMR was over, he planned to get in touch with Ma Xixi and invite the kid to try out.
JEE wasn't particularly concerned. He'd lost to Jiang Yang on the ladder before, sure.
But he still believed that the ladder and professional play were two completely different games.
Playing well on the ladder didn't mean you'd perform well in a pro match.
When match time arrived, the two teams entered the server and began the veto process.
In this closed qualifier, every match except the final was a BO1. This one was no exception.
After two rounds of bans, Dust II was chosen.
After the heated knife fight in Mid, DD proved far better than his brother, finally shedding the nickname "Maoming's whetstone" and winning the knife round.
Steel Helmet chose to start on the CT side. As the countdown appeared overhead, the team immediately started shouting over voice chat:
"Here we go! Let's go, boys!"
"Little Brother, don't get nervous either. Just play like you do in practice!"
The pistol round began, and MO started calling the setup. "For the pistol round, let's lean toward B Area."
"I'll get a Defuse Kit and a Flashbang for the retake. Play safe at A site."
As soon as MO finished, Jiang Yang spoke up. "Captain, can you get me Dual Berettas?"
"How do you want to play it?" MO asked. Jiang Yang speaking up and communicating was a good thing in his eyes.
Jiang Yang had been a little too "well-behaved" before, making it hard for MO to read what he was thinking.
"Since we're gambling on B, boost me onto that box at B site. If they really hit B, I'll take out the Bomb Planter."
MO thought it over. "That works. I'll boost you up. The rest of you, don't die too fast at A. If you see anyone, fall back."
The 20-second freeze time passed quickly. With the Dual Berettas MO had given him, Jiang Yang headed straight for B Area.
As soon as he got there, MO boosted him onto the box at the Bomb Site.
It was a surprisingly obscure position, an awkward spot that players often overlooked.
Once he was in place, he soon heard Su Di call from B Short, "They're using utility at B site. They're coming!"
At once, MO fired into B2 floor, hoping to draw the attackers' attention.
As an in-game leader, he naturally tended to think in terms of the whole team's formation, and would instinctively play around the team.
Su Di at B Short immediately fired at the window.
But his aim wasn't good enough. He put half a magazine into the first terrorist to jump out, only to get headshot and left at one health.
"They jumped down! I'm falling back to B Short!" Su Di shouted.
DD and xiaosage called out urgently over voice chat, too. "Hold B site! Buy some time. We're almost there!"
"Su Di at B Short got dinked, and MO out in the Outer Area got tagged in the head, too. Newhappy's young guns are pretty accurate!"
Two of the three players at B had been reduced to one health. Ma Xixi sounded a little anxious.
"Both players trying to draw them in got headshot. Now we'll see how many my cousin can get with those Dual Berettas!"
"If he can take out two, they still have a chance to turn the round around. That's a really obscure position!" Ma Xixi sounded hopeful.
Jiang Yang stood on the box at the B Bomb Site, quietly gathering information around him.
The first kill came soon after: Su Di was finally traded out.
At the same time, Jiang Yang spotted two terrorists at B Short, right by the Bomb Site. Their backs were completely turned to him, and one of them was carrying the bomb!
Without hesitation, Jiang Yang seized the opportunity and opened fire!
He aimed the Dual Berettas at their heads and let loose.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
[young killed Daniel with a headshot using Dual Berettas]
[young killed Navygo with Dual Berettas]
"On the box at the Bomb Site!"
The moment the first player was killed, Newhappy immediately called out Jiang Yang's position over voice chat.
The two terrorists on and below the B2 floor balcony quickly turned to look.
"Two completely exposed backs, and Jiang Yang starts picking them off—one, two!"
"They've spotted his position. Can he keep going?"
Jiang Yang took bullets from behind. He suffered some damage, but he'd also identified where the enemy was. He turned and opened fire in an instant.
He realized the Dual Berettas were a blast to use. He didn't need to counter-strafe precisely; at close range in a pistol round, he could run and gun with impressive accuracy.
He kept shifting side to side on the box, spraying bullets from both pistols.
"The terrorist below White Car tries to trade, but Jiang Yang melts him instantly! The one on B2 floor is still trying to fight him, but those Dual Berettas have more ammo than you'd think!"
"He's spinning around with those Dual Berettas!" Ma Xixi yelled, barely able to contain his excitement. "His aim snaps like lightning, and every one of them melts under his pistols!"
"Only the last terrorist, the Bomb Planter, is left, but Steel Helmet's players have already arrived!"
As xiaosage covered the terrorist crossing from B2 floor, the pistol-round footage froze.
With four kills using the Dual Berettas, Jiang Yang had helped Steel Helmet win the pistol round!
PS: In the last chapter, a lot of people said the ID I picked was terrible, so I took your advice and changed it to young. Just wanted to explain.
I'm feeling a bit off today. I'm going to pass out.
Before you continue