38. Dragon Raises Its Head

Dragon Raises Its Head

Thanks to Jiang Yang turning around the second-half pistol round, Helmet had officially tied the score.

But now they needed to focus on holding onto this round. They couldn't let Tyloo turn it around, or their momentum might fall apart.

After thinking it over, MO explained their plan for the round. "DD and my cousin, take A1. The three of us will control Mid. Let's go for a simple, synchronized hit."

Helmet was a team that could get overloaded by overly complicated tactics.

MO would just make things simpler.

He would throw the utility himself to avoid another "Aladdin" smoke grenade.

Then they would push into A Area together and trade kills.

Once MO had calmed down, he laid out a highly targeted strategy.

Tyloo had decided to force-buy, but there wasn't much they could do against Helmet.

As Arch and A1 hit in sync, Jiang Yang, holding an AK-47, was first to take down the CT behind Long Box and claim the opening kill.

Danking, meanwhile, landed three shots with his AWP from CT Base, but none were headshots, and no one followed up. He got nothing!

Instead, Su Di ran right up to him with a Hair Dryer and killed him.

With all three CTs at A site dead, the two CTs at B site could only save their guns.

The score had reached 9:8. For the first time, Helmet had taken the lead over Tyloo!

Seeing the score change, Jiang Yang clenched his fist.

To be honest, Helmet's players weren't quite up to par in terms of overall skill. After all, they were a group of former pros, and even in scrims, they usually played against streamers.

Their playstyle was closer to ranked matchmaking, and sometimes they took unnecessary fights.

But today, Tyloo really was giving them opportunities.

Their playstyle was just as much like ranked matchmaking.

Tyloo's players all wanted to solve problems with their aim, which gave Jiang Yang room to make plays.

After losing that force-buy round, Tyloo was forced into an eco round. SLOWLY at B site put on a show, scoring three kills with a Desert Eagle, but DD and Jiang Yang came through in the end, narrowly winning a 2v4.

The match moved into a full buy round.

Tyloo could tell something was off and called two timeouts in a row to discuss their tactics.

Just to annoy them, MO called another timeout for the other side after theirs ended, leaving Tyloo completely at a loss.

After the first timeout, Helmet chose to hit A, but this time Baicai seized the opportunity and hid at Sandwich early on.

He caught them at just the right moment, and when he made his move, he wiped out Helmet.

Tyloo finally claimed their first point of the second half.

Still, thanks to their strong start, Helmet's economy was in decent shape.

MO thought for a moment. "Let's try hitting B this round. Cousin, with your spawn, grab a Big Sniper and try taking a shot at A1."

"We'll throw a smoke to cross Mid. Then, on the second timing, we'll speed up into B Area with a full set of grenades!"

When the countdown ended, Jiang Yang took the sniper rifle Su Di had dropped for him. It had a cute animal skin.

Jiang Yang blurted out, "This skin is pretty ugly!"

Hearing that, DD mumbled, "Su Di, did you hear that? He's already hinting to us old guys. We'd better change our AWP skins after the stream!"

Xiaosage chimed in, "Cousin, just say which skin you like. We'll buy it for you, no problem."

"Say what you want about us, but our skins are top-tier."

"MO, put up those 600,000-yuan claws of yours! Have you got no sense?"

The whole group of older teammates was giving him a hard time, and Jiang Yang couldn't help laughing. "Quit it, quit it!"

The viewers watching the stream never would have guessed that Helmet's atmosphere was like five friends sharing a computer at an internet café.

When the countdown ended, Jiang Yang carried the Big Sniper straight to A1.

He had a good spawn, and before getting a glimpse of the enemy, he scoped in and held the angle toward Under Jump Platform to gather information.

After holding the angle for about two seconds, he spotted something off beneath the dark smoke of the Incendiary Grenade and fired without hesitation.

"—Bang!"

[young killed summer with an AWP]

"What a shot!!" The old guys on the team couldn't help marveling again when they saw the kill feed in the upper-right corner.

Cousin could really shoot!

At this level of competition, it was rare to see him mess up his movement or miss a shot.

He could really get kills!

"I'll draw their attention over here, then," Jiang Yang said.

Since he was supposed to be baiting them at A site, he had to sell it convincingly and make the other side think they were truly hitting A.

He threw a Flashbang at the A1 wall, pretending he was about to peek for a fight.

Feeling the pressure at A site, the enemy threw an A1 smoke to block his vision.

He had done his part to apply pressure. Over at B site, his teammates made their move.

Jiang Yang ran toward B Area from A1.

Then he heard DD speaking in his familiar, heavily accented Mandarin over voice chat:

"One at Sofa, severely wounded..."

"White Car, White Car... down!!"

"The one at Sofa is dead too!"

"One at Market, down!"

When the entry fragger was feeling it, even his callouts sounded like he was showing off.

But he wasn't showing off this time. He was really that good!

Jiang Yang called out over voice chat, "DD, what's gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?" DD asked, taken aback.

"Check the time on your computer. Is it 2018? This is totally 2018 DD!" Jiang Yang praised him.

DD was delighted to hear that. "Little bro knows what to say~ I like it!"

2018 had always been a source of pride that the old Tyloo players kept close to their hearts.

Jiang Yang's words had hit DD right where it felt good.

After that round, DD's form was completely back. For the next few rounds, he truly lived up to the title of "Asia's Number One Entry Fragger."

With their entry fragger on a rampage, all Jiang Yang had to do was casually take a few shots with the Big Sniper and pick up a kill or two now and then.

Tyloo did manage to score, but the match was clearly taking a toll on them.

Before they knew it, the score had reached 14:11.

Tyloo had now used its final timeout.

The score gap left the viewers in 6657's stream utterly shocked.

[Just two more points!!]

[Are they actually going to take Map 1? No way, no way!]

[They can't even beat a streamer team. Just disband already!!]

[Take down Tyloo, then VG!! The Helmet old guys are taking off!!]

[Holy crap, Cousin really is carrying Helmet!]

[Cousin: So you guys are Tyloo, huh!]

[The double-brother duo is fierce, right?]

Wan Ji Qi couldn't help saying, "Guys, seriously, they might actually take Tyloo out here!"

"This is a crucial round. Tyloo has no more timeouts, and their economy isn't great. If they lose this full buy round, their momentum will completely collapse!"

"The score difference between the two teams isn't huge, but Tyloo doesn't have many chances left!"

"It all depends on how they play this round."

Under the circumstances, Helmet actually stopped rushing. MO planned to spread out across the map and take control of different areas first, in case Tyloo tried an early push.

Then they would choose a site, throw their utility, and send DD in to entry.

"Danking has a good spawn. He plans to steal a kill from Mid this round, but as soon as he jumps to Arch, he gets hit by two grenades and is left with just one HP."

"But Helmet isn't rushing. They're still playing it slow, waiting for you to push."

"Tyloo only sets up a three-way cross in Mid on the second timing. That positioning is meant to stop the Terrorists from coming out of Mid late."

"And on the second timing, Helmet really does plan to put pressure on Mid. But Tyloo's Sewer players get the counter-clear in first, and Su Di gets completely blinded and taken out!"

With Su Di dead, the synchronized push from Terrorist Entrance was out of the question too.

MO hurriedly stopped himself from trying to trade the kill, and a plan gradually took shape in his mind.

"Su, toss a Flashbang into Sewer and apply a little pressure to draw them out. We're getting ready to hit A."

"Cousin, come out at A1. In a bit, throw us two Flashbangs out of A2 Floor to get me and DD out. We'll see if we can take out the guys around CT Base first."

Based on the way the enemy had counter-cleared Mid, combined with the earlier information, there had to be someone at CT Base.

Tyloo's defense was weighted toward Mid. If they could take out the enemy at CT Base and secure that area, they might still have a chance to win the round.

As for how xiaosage played out the second timing, he could roam alone and improvise.

Xiaosage played aggressively too. He was worried that staying alone in Sewer wouldn't help the main push.

After gaining control of Sewer, he kept pressuring VIP and Arch, and even caught a CT inside VIP who was careless with his positioning.

"Xiaosage gets a kill, but Little Ghost hears him from B Short and comes over to take him out!"

"Helmet tries to fly into A site from the front, but Baicai is standing in the Ninja spot at Bomb Site and mows down DD and MO!"

"It's all on you now, Cousin!"

Jiang Yang hadn't expected the enemy to be standing in such a tricky spot as Ninja.

That meant his Flashbangs had gone behind Baicai and done nothing. The enemy's Flashbangs had also come out in time and broken up their momentum.

Standing at the A1 Jump Platform, Jiang Yang felt the pressure mounting.

The score was 14:11. The gap between the two sides wasn't all that big.

If the other side took this round easily, Tyloo's economy would recover.

Looking at it that way, the longer the match dragged on, the more uncertain things felt.

Sometimes late-game matchups came down to a single burst of momentum. Once it was gone, winning it back was incredibly difficult.

In that instant, all kinds of thoughts raced through Jiang Yang's mind.

He pursed his lips. Without noticing, he had leaned closer to the screen, and the fingertips gripping his mouse had turned slightly white from the strain.

His teammates' heavy breathing filled voice chat. They felt awful about how the round had gone, and all of them had a bad feeling about what was coming.

They wanted Jiang Yang to save his gun. After all, this was an incredibly difficult 1v4, and they couldn't see any way he could make a play.

But they were afraid of disrupting his clutch, so they could only watch in silence.

The instant his vision returned, Jiang Yang stood up and spotted Baicai moving from Ninja toward Short Box. He quickly scoped in with the Big Sniper and took him out with one shot.

As he killed the CT at Bomb Site, he heard two sets of footsteps, one coming from Jump Platform and the other from Under Jump Platform.

Tyloo probably thought they had the numbers advantage and hadn't bothered to hide their footsteps.

There were only 30 seconds left, and the Bomb was still at A2 Floor. There wasn't time for Jiang Yang to carefully outplay them.

At a moment like this, he had to rely on raw, instinctive mechanics.

Standing on the A1 Jump Platform, Jiang Yang suddenly heard someone use utility in the direction of Jump Platform.

He immediately realized this was a chance!

Jiang Yang instantly leaped over with the Big Sniper.

"Cousin jumps over to force a trade at Jump Platform. He really catches them off guard and takes one out with the Big Sniper, but then he gets completely blinded by a Flashbang! He falls back to Sandwich!"

"Danking is on Jump Platform and tries to trade the kill, but this angle is tough to hit with a sniper!"

"Does Cousin still have room to make a play?" Wan Ji Qi sounded hopeful.

Jiang Yang's movements had been so fluid, like a star player pulling off a highlight reel. Wan Ji Qi couldn't help hoping for more.

And now that it was a 1v2 and Danking had missed his shot, anything could happen!

As soon as his vision returned beneath Sandwich, Jiang Yang immediately looked for an angle to take out Danking, but Danking kept juking him.

Jiang Yang was just about to raise his sniper rifle when he suddenly saw someone rush out from VIP and open fire on him.

His focus was razor-sharp. He reacted almost instinctively, flicking his aim over and firing.

"—Bang!"

[young headshot SLOWLY with an AWP]

"Under Jump Platform! Under Jump Platform! Half health!" SLOWLY shouted urgently over Tyloo's voice chat.

He had been truly startled. Jiang Yang had been facing toward Jump Platform, and SLOWLY had only just begun shooting and fired two bullets.

Jiang Yang turned and instantly killed him with a single shot.

How could he be that fast?!

And with his death, SLOWLY couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

"SLOWLY goes down too! The 1v4 has become a 1v1. The two snipers are still dueling. Knowing Cousin is low, Danking has switched to his pistol to make the play."

The instant Jiang Yang killed SLOWLY, he clearly got a little nervous, and his teammates' suppressed, excited shouts came through voice chat.

But they all knew they couldn't distract Jiang Yang, and forced themselves to stay quiet.

Jiang Yang could feel his heart racing. He knew there was no time to retrieve the Bomb and plant it. He had to kill Danking too.

So, beneath Jump Platform, he used a Spinning Jump, trying to bait out Danking's aim.

He thought Danking might be holding the angle beneath Jump Platform, waiting for him to peek. He had heard a scope sound earlier.

But when Jiang Yang spun around, he didn't see Danking. Just as he wondered if Danking had backed off toward Arch, he heard the sound of a USP firing overhead.

Jiang Yang snapped his mouse upward.

"—Bang!"

[young headshot Danking with a no-scope AWP]

"Danking pulls out his USP and tries to tap him. Cousin makes the wrong call, but Danking misses his shot too! He keeps chasing and tapping, one shot, two shots—but there's no third!"

"Cousin pulls off a Dragon-Raising-Its-Head! He takes Danking down!!" Wan Ji Qi felt his scalp tingle. "Whoa!!! This young is just too good at getting kills!"

"If you give him a Big Sniper, he really can create a world for you!"

"This is a high-adrenaline, action-packed clutch. Tyloo's four players just couldn't handle him. Danking was only one shot away from taking him down, but victory always goes to the brave!"

When Jiang Yang looked up and landed a blind shot that took Danking out, he pulled both hands away from the keyboard and let out a loud roar.

"Today, I'm turning this around on you!!"

"So what if you're Tyloo? Tyloo's exactly who I'm here to beat!!"

His shout was like a bolt of thunder out of a clear sky, setting the entire Helmet voice chat ablaze.

Ma Xixi, streaming nearby, thought Jiang Yang was being a bit too cocky. But he had to admit, his cousin had every right to be arrogant today!

Because even he was completely stunned!!

That 1v4 was a world-class highlight, absolutely insane!!

He had a feeling that today, his cousin might really manage to crush Tyloo!

Almost 9K today. Please give me a monthly ticket to help me smash Old Ancestor Chen Dong. Mwah~