"Nice!!!"
"Let's go, boys! You're freaking awesome!!"
"Holy shit, we actually won!!"
"Little Sheep, great game! Light up a cigarette and calm down—holy shit, we won!"
The moment the match ended, the voice chat filled with the excited shouts of the old timers.
Jiang Yang was just as thrilled, joining in and yelling for a good while.
He'd played with Helmet plenty of times before, but this was Jiang Yang's first official professional match.
He'd played in qualifiers before, but most of those teams were made up of college students and had no real fighting power.
Today's opponents were the real deal: a professional team registered on HLTV!
And with a single loss meaning elimination, the pressure on them had been immense.
Now Jiang Yang felt as if he were surrounded by pure joy.
Then he heard Ma Xixi join the voice chat, enthusiastically praising them. "You guys are awesome! You did it!!"
"Little Sheep really is too strong. He was an absolute god today," Xiaosage praised. "Every time things got desperate, he stepped up."
Hearing that, DD mumbled, "What do you mean... Little Sheep was playing well even when we had the advantage. We just got carried to a win today, okay?"
It wasn't unusual for someone to carry a team to victory, but hearing the team's big brothers praise him like this still made Jiang Yang happy.
"You all played really well, too." Jiang Yang wasn't shy about speaking up. Helmet's players had genuinely done nothing wrong that match.
Their firepower and communication had both been solid.
Helmet's biggest problem was that they played too much ranked matchmaking. Everyone got a little reckless, and their discipline wasn't quite there.
But perhaps because the [Dungeon BOSS] had put Jiang Yang through the wringer, he didn't demand much from his teammates.
After all, the four teammates in the [Dungeon BOSS] were barely any better than bots. Today, Helmet had managed to withstand the pressure on their own for most of the match, and they'd even gained the upper hand many times. That was just incredible.
Jiang Yang had never seen such a beautiful start.
He wanted to cheer, to celebrate.
MO was overjoyed, too. Although he'd retired and become a commentator, former pros like him still yearned to compete.
They'd originally formed Helmet just to play in tournaments open to streamers, but before long, streamer tournaments weren't enough for them anymore.
Naturally, they wanted to compete at a higher level. But they were all old timers. They had plenty of experience and a solid foundation, yet whenever they faced active professional players, they always seemed to fall just a little short.
Even MO hadn't expected Jiang Yang's addition to make such a big difference.
Helmet had always been missing an outstanding AWPer. Before, MO, the in-game leader, had to shoulder the AWP himself, and they wouldn't even buy one unless it was necessary.
Jiang Yang's arrival had made Helmet much more capable in a fight, and their firepower had improved enormously!
The whole team seemed to have climbed a tier.
His Big Sniper's reliable kills, his impact in clutch rounds, and his ability to deal with ECO rounds had taken so much pressure off them.
That had greatly eased the pressure on MO as the in-game leader and freed up DD, the former best entry fragger in Asia.
And there was something else that truly amazed MO: Jiang Yang was a rookie, but at times he seemed even more professional than the rest of them.
His style was aggressive but controlled, and he rarely made the kind of plays that gave them headaches.
Take today's opponents, Newhappy. They were a professional team, yet sometimes they'd take unnecessary aim duels. Even as their opponents, MO found it frustrating to watch.
They were both sixteen-year-old prodigies, but Jiang Yang didn't have any of the flaws that plagued the players on Newhappy.
He was practically the perfect rookie!
MO raised his estimate of Jiang Yang's talent by another level.
After today's match, the kid could update his résumé.
Jiang Yang: 16-year-old prodigy AWPer.
Experience: Led Helmet to defeat Newhappy.
With that in mind, MO called out:
"Everyone played great today. Let's give the boys some credit—you were all so calm!"
"And a shout-out to my cousin. He was a god on Mirage today! Keep it up!"
Ma Xixi chimed in, "My Yang really did play well. From the spectator's view, he was the calmest one there. The rest of you were way too reckless."
Ma Xixi's tone was playful, so nobody took it to heart. Soon, everyone was chattering excitedly again.
But just then, they heard Su, the bionic younger brother, cry out in surprise.
"This cousin really is a C! I'm tearing up just looking at these stats."
Only then did everyone in the voice chat notice the post-match stats.
Ma Xixi's eyes widened at a glance.
"Huh!?"
ID: young
Kills/Assists/Deaths: 32/4/7
Non-giveaway rate: 92%
Average damage: 162.1
Rating: 2.21
[Holy crap, these stats scared the hell out of me]
[Huh? How much?]
[Is a new Mirage king about to appear?]
[I was wondering if CNCS's pro teams had gotten this bad. Turns out my cousin was farming them]
[Wait, over a 4.0 K/D!]
[He even did 162 average damage]
[The whole world's CS skill level drops tenfold, but I stay the same]
Ma Xixi turned to look at Jiang Yang. "You put up these numbers?"
Jiang Yang shrugged. "Who else?"
Ma Xixi said in disbelief, "That can't be right. Our family genes shouldn't be that strong. How come you're so good?"
MO chimed in, "His average damage and rating are both higher than your height."
Ma Xixi's expression darkened. Some things just didn't need to be said!
But after taking a closer look at the stats, he fired back, "You're one to talk! In the first half, while we were on defense, my cousin got more kills by himself than you four combined. What the hell were you doing?"
Helmet's players were surprised, too.
During the match, Jiang Yang had felt like their anchor.
But they hadn't paid attention to exactly how many kills he'd gotten.
Only now did they realize he'd been racking up kills like crazy.
Sure, quite a few of those kills had come from playing like a lone commando, but being able to pull that off—and do it well—was a skill in itself!
Jiang Yang replied, "This is one of my best maps. I might not play nearly as well on the others."
He was most familiar with this map. His pre-aims, angles, and decisions about where to position with the AWP were all better here.
He was less familiar with the other maps by comparison.
"You're being modest. You really did play great," Xiaosage praised. "Keep it up tomorrow. Have your brother buy you some late-night food later. I'm heading off to get some rest."
Hearing that, Helmet's other players began to feel tired, too. One by one, they left the voice chat, satisfied with the result.
Thanks to Helmet's big win and Jiang Yang's outstanding performance, gifts kept pouring into the CSBOY livestream.
Fortunately, Jiang Yang wasn't an assistant anymore, so he didn't have to sit there thanking people for their gifts.
Instead, he downloaded the recording of the match and started a quick review.
Though, rather than reviewing it, he mostly enjoyed watching himself put up such an incredible score.
A 2.21 rating!
With the current rating system, even a 1.3 was considered a carry.
A 2.21 rating was enough to match two players' stats combined.
Jiang Yang was feeling pretty damn proud of himself.
Even so, he realized that he could have played better in some rounds they'd already won.
That realization put a slight damper on his growing ego.
He began to review the match in earnest.
When a player truly loved CS and was striving to get stronger, the pursuit of perfection was bound to follow him throughout his career.
After finishing the review, Jiang Yang noticed that the [Hex. Advanced Morphing Device] he'd used earlier had less than two hours left.
He felt both eager and uneasy.
What would the [Dungeon BOSS] turn into?
There'll be another chapter later. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!
Before you continue