Without Teammates or Gun Positions, It's Watashi

"Turn the air conditioning down a little. It's kind of hot!"

The Newhappy coach beside him glanced up. It was already set to 16 degrees, with the power on max and the fan blasting. It couldn't possibly get any colder.

He also knew JEE wasn't lying. The sweat on his head was proof enough.

JEE took several deep breaths, but he was finding it hard to calm himself down.

He opened the scoreboard and took a look. That guy on the other team, the one his age, had already put up a 24/4/6 record in the first fifteen rounds.

JEE was starting to sweat buckets.

Come on, man. You were pretty bad in the qualifiers a few days ago.

How come you go nuclear as soon as you play us?!

Twenty-four kills, four assists, and six deaths. Those were absurd stats—even over an entire match, that would be a carry performance.

But these were just his stats for the first half.

Did it really have to be that ridiculous?

Before long, the two teams entered the second-half pistol round. This time, the teammate at B was the first to get instantly taken out by young, and JEE finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When they won the pistol round, JEE couldn't help shouting excitedly in the practice room, "Nice!!!"

"Don't give them a chance. Let's make up those points!!"

"As long as we can hold off their star player, the rest of Steel Helmet should be easy to deal with!"

It was no wonder he was making such a fuss. The ID young on the other team had them completely rattled!

And this was a BO1 match, too. If they really lost, they'd be out!

Losing to a top-tier team like Tyloo or VG would be one thing.

But losing to Steel Helmet, a team of streamers? That would be humiliating.

"Too bad, too bad."

"I should've just jumped down that time."

In Steel Helmet's voice chat, everyone was trying to console their teammates.

Their coordination still had a lot of flaws. As soon as they came under pressure, they started to fall apart, making mistake after mistake.

Now that their opponents had taken the second-half pistol round, it looked as if the momentum was about to swing back to Newhappy. They were all feeling the pressure.

Fortunately, they'd managed to plant the bomb, so their economy was still in decent shape.

"Let's force buy and try running a play," MO suggested. "We'll come out of Sewer and Mid together on the second beat, then take VIP and Arch."

It was a variation on a strategy from Old Team A. The key was coordinating their map control, which suited a bunch of experienced old hands like them.

They were just trying to find an opening this round. If they could turn things around, all the better.

When the countdown ended, Jiang Yang followed the plan he'd come up with earlier. He bought a Kevlar vest and a Desert Eagle, along with a Smoke Grenade, and saved a little money for a Big Sniper in the next full buy round.

Once he reached Terrorist Entrance, he started shoulder-peeking against the wall to watch out for an aggressive push.

Meanwhile, DD and Su Di steadily advanced through Sewer to the area below VIP.

Seeing this, MO gave the order. They double-peeked from Terrorist Entrance and Mid at the same time, clearing out Mid.

But the moment they moved together, they heard gunshots from inside Arch.

The CTs' aim wasn't great, though. They sprayed a whole magazine without getting a kill.

Instead, DD tagged one of them in the head with a Tec-9.

"Arch is severely wounded!" DD said, charging straight in.

Su Di, who was always saying he was "calm as a cow," followed right behind without hesitation to land the follow-up shot.

Seeing what was happening, Jiang Yang moved onto the B Short passage to cover the direction of VIP.

But soon, gunfire erupted inside Arch, and Jiang Yang got a bad feeling.

"There's another one hiding close inside Arch."

"The guy in Arch is at half health," Su Di said.

Hearing that, Jiang Yang immediately called out, "Cover VIP for me."

Then he pushed forward from B Short, pre-aiming Arch as he went.

His opponent happened to be moving, so he wasn't on Jiang Yang's pre-aim. But Jiang Yang instantly crouched and pulled the trigger on his Desert Eagle.

"Bang!"

[young+karsa killed Daniel with a Desert Eagle]

"Great shot!" MO exclaimed, then reminded him, "I smoked off Arch. You can try to grab that gun."

As soon as he finished speaking, more good news came in.

At L, xiaosage killed a CT who had peeked out of B Short to test the waters.

"Great shot!! It's three against three! They've still got one who's badly wounded!" DD called out in voice chat.

Newhappy's young players just couldn't keep their nerve. They were always trying to come out and pad their kill count, and unlike Jiang Yang, they weren't any good at it.

Now their mistake had given Steel Helmet a chance to make a play.

Jiang Yang immediately threw a Smoke Grenade into VIP, preparing to head over to B Short and pick up the gun.

But after being drilled by the [Dungeon BOSS], Jiang Yang had developed excellent discipline.

Without discipline, those sessions in the dungeon would've been pure torture.

Your opponents were the best teachers.

So he didn't turn around right away. Instead, he waited for the smoke to fully bloom.

JEE, who was inside VIP, heard the smoke go off and immediately peeked out, hoping to catch them during the timing window.

As he swung out, he saw someone at B Short holding a Desert Eagle and already aiming at him.

"Bang!"

[young killed JEE with a Desert Eagle headshot]

Back in the practice room, JEE pulled such a pained expression after taking that shot. He couldn't understand why Jiang Yang was still holding the angle at a time like this.

With him dead, the CTs were now down in numbers.

Could we really let them come back...? JEE couldn't help feeling uneasy.

In the CSBOY livestream, Ma Xixi was even more excited. "Cousin's taken another one with the Desert Eagle. They've got the numbers advantage now. All they need to do is stay patient and regroup for another push—then MO can show off his top-tier calling!"

"But can MO pull it off?"

"MO's done it! He's gotten the three of them together, and now they're heading back to push out of A2 Floor and trade kills. Newhappy has made a huge Aladdin-style decision here—they're still splitting up!"

"A low-health CT at CT Base gets instantly picked off when MO swings out. They take the Bomb Site with ease. They might turn this round around!!"

Oh no, without teammates or gun positions, it's watashi...

The CT at B Area saw what was happening and froze in place.

The C4 exploded at A site, bringing the score to 11:6.

The viewers in the CSBOY livestream were getting fired up, too.

[Looks like they've held on again in the second half.]

[Could Steel Helmet really have turned it around against Newhappy?]

[Don't jinx it, don't jinx it. Let's stay skeptical. Steel Helmet is a total dumpster fire!]

After Steel Helmet turned the second round of the second half around, Newhappy's economy completely collapsed.

With their economy in shambles, Newhappy had no choice but to force buy. Their money was so low that, even though they took out two of Steel Helmet's rifles, it didn't make much difference.

There was no need to say much about the next eco round. DD got to farm kills to his heart's content.

When they reached the next full buy round, Newhappy finally had a chance to fight back. But once the attacking side had AKs, Jiang Yang wasn't the only one putting in work.

DD and xiaosage were racking up kills, too.

Before anyone knew it, the score had reached 15:9.

Steel Helmet needed just one more round to qualify for the next stage!

Newhappy's morale was on the verge of collapsing. Just then, Jiang Yang heard DD call out, "Captain, call a timeout. I'm going to have a smoke and cool off."

"Call two. I need to use the bathroom."

"You know what, I've had a cigarette between my fingers for two minutes, but I got so busy I forgot about it."

Jiang Yang: "..."

Noticing Jiang Yang's silence, DD laughed. "We might as well get under their skin, too. They called so many timeouts in the first half. They like timeouts so much? Fine, let's have one."

MO chimed in. "It's fine. We can take a break, too. It's been a while since we played a match this intense. The guys could use a little rest."

Their move completely threw the other team off.

Steel Helmet had match point, and Newhappy was already feeling the pressure. Now Steel Helmet had suddenly called a timeout. They thought Steel Helmet was working out some top-level strategy, so they were all on edge.

After the timeout, Jiang Yang thought for a moment and bought an AK. "Guys, I'm going to show off some crazy A1 pre-aiming."

MO considered it. "Then I'll throw a fast smoke at VIP. Su Di, go put some pressure on Mid. We'll push out of A together!"

Su Di replied, "Got it. I'll make them feel like there's an army coming through Mid."

Jiang Yang answered, "Switch to manual!"

The whole team burst into laughter.

When the countdown ended, Jiang Yang, in the lead, went straight to A1.

He intended to push out right away and look for an opening, so he didn't slow down.

But the moment he peeked out, he realized the other team hadn't thrown an incendiary at A1. He also saw a Smoke Grenade flying toward A2 Floor.

Judging by its trajectory, it had clearly been thrown from Long Box!

Target acquired +25.

He immediately shouted into voice chat, "Don't flash behind me. I've caught them at an incredible timing window!"

The next second, he saw an Incendiary Grenade fly from Behind Long Box toward him, but it burst in midair.

Jiang Yang's eyes widened, and his breathing quickened with excitement.

Because that gave him an even bolder idea.

If the same person had thrown the smoke at A2 Floor and the incendiary at A1, then the other player at A had to be out of utility.

Otherwise, A was being held by just one player!

CS:GO had never been a game based solely on aim. Information and mind games were important, too.

"They're probably playing solo A. That guy's at Long Box. DD, cover me. I'm going straight to pre-Arch!"

Jiang Yang figured that if they could take out two players right away, they'd have pretty much secured the round.

MO understood what Jiang Yang was thinking and said, "We'll use our utility from the back the moment you make your move. But we can only give you ten more seconds, or their positions will all be compromised."

Jiang Yang nodded without saying a word. With DD covering him, he crept forward a little at a time in a crouch, carefully pre-aiming as he went.

Watching from the observer's view, Ma Xixi felt goosebumps rising all over.

He was unbelievably bold!

But in CS:GO, sometimes the bold got the spoils while the timid went hungry!

"Cousin's still showing off those pre-aiming skills. The guy at VIP just missed his timing window. It was right on time and absolutely crucial. Our timing king never misses."

"Was that part of your calculations, too, cousin?"

"The CT behind Long Box finally peeks out to gather information, but DD was already ready for him and instantly takes him out!"

As soon as the CT at Long Box died, the defenders learned that someone had entered A1, and their entire formation began to shift.

But when the CT at Arch turned around to help defend, he saw a T already standing at Long Box.

"Bang!"

[young killed Navygo with an AK47 headshot]

"I'm already at Long Box!" Navygo called out in disbelief.

His teammate had just reported that someone had entered A1. How had the other guy already made it to Long Box? Was the enemy the Fourth Hokage or something?

Jiang Yang didn't stop moving. His teammates' utility was already flying in, and he quickly moved to CT Base. Before the other team could get into position, he peeked out again with his aim ready.

A CT stood below the VIP entrance, carefully holding an angle as he rotated back to defend.

But he'd still underestimated how quickly Jiang Yang could get to CT Base.

"Bang!"

[young killed JEE with an AK47 headshot]

The instant he got the kill, Jiang Yang shouted excitedly, "Guys, get over here and plant! I've pre-aimed so much I can't take it anymore!"

The three consecutive kills had Steel Helmet's players fired up, and they rushed over to plant at A.

With match point on the line, every one of them was especially careful to remind the others. Their discipline was at its peak.

The two remaining Newhappy players tried to retake the site.

But they had no teammates, no numbers, no Defuse Kit, and no utility.

They had nothing left!

In the end, Su Di quietly crept up from Mid to Arch and shot both of them in the back.

The score on Dust II ended at 16:9.

Steel Helmet, a team of streamers, had successfully defeated the professional team Newhappy.

Jiang Yang had officially earned his first victory in a professional match!