Look closely. This man was called Xiao Shuai, and he was a professional CS:GO player.
Today, he was about to begin the second round of his Asian RMR matches.
There was still plenty of time before the match, so Xiao Shuai, already prepared, was browsing the internet as usual.
After yesterday's impressive performance, he couldn't help checking what people online thought of him.
He opened Little Break Station, intending to look through the comments on CSBOY's VOD, when he came across a clip from Big Brother with a Long Neck—in other words, Leon Kai.
Xiao Shuai rather liked Leon Kai. Back when they'd run into each other on the ladder and Xiao Shuai had crushed him, every other streamer had insisted Jiang Yang was definitely cheating.
But Leon Kai had been tactful, unwilling to accuse him unfairly.
Leon Kai might not have been the most entertaining guy in the scene, but he was certainly one of the most decent.
That said, this clip was undeniably clickbait, with an incredibly exaggerated title.
Leon Kai: "Helmet Destroyed CNCS!"
Jiang Yang couldn't help laughing when he saw it, and instinctively clicked in.
The very first scene showed Jiang Yang's top-tier 1v4 clutch on Dust II.
It was also the first time Jiang Yang had watched his clutch from God's perspective, and he realized he could actually have handled it better.
But back then, he'd been seeing things from his own perspective, so of course his plays and approach had been different.
"That really was close," Jiang Yang murmured. "Damn, if Danking's pistol had tagged me one more time, the result of map one might've been different."
If they'd lost map one, things could've gotten rough for Helmet from there. That BO3 might've been a whole different story.
After all, Tyloo might like to throw, but they had the skill to back them up.
Still, that was the beauty of CS:GO. A single round or kill could swing the outcome either way.
And as the key player who'd tipped the scales, Jiang Yang felt incredible!
The clip continued to show highlight moments from both teams. For Helmet, Jiang Yang and DD were the ones popping off, while Danking and Cy1 were consistently making plays for Tyloo.
But when Tyloo failed to hold on in the final stretch of map two and Helmet rallied together to complete the comeback, Leon Kai's eyes widened. "No way. Helmet actually beat Tyloo?"
Even after watching the whole match, he was still stunned.
Leon Kai sat there with a smile on his face, dumbfounded in his livestream for a good while before finally coming to his senses.
As a veteran CS:GO player, he'd always hoped Tyloo could reclaim the glory they'd had in 2018. He wanted to see Chinese players on the international stage.
But Tyloo had let him down time and time again.
Now they'd actually lost to Helmet. As a die-hard fan, Leon Kai was at a loss for words.
It felt like a football fan watching the national team lose to some older guys who were just playing for fun.
Leon Kai collected himself and said, "Helmet really played out of their minds today. Let's take a look at the post-match stats."
Leon Kai quickly opened HLTV's stats page and refreshed it a few times.
"All right, the stats are up. Everyone, take a look..." Before he could finish, his expression changed. "What? This cousin averaged a 2.01 rating across two maps?"
Leon Kai took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, as if he thought he'd read it wrong.
When the numbers still hadn't changed, Leon Kai craned his neck and exclaimed, "He got 73 kills by himself! DD only got 35 across both maps. Even with twice as many kills, he still couldn't catch up to this cousin!"
[???]
[Is this cousin even human? Playing like this today, did he borrow a USB drive from S1mple or what?]
[Wasn't Little Sheep supposed to play properly against Tyloo? How's he getting better and better?]
[This is ridiculous. +43 kills]
[This cousin really is an absolute carry]
[How did Tyloo get farmed like that?]
Leon Kai burst out laughing. "Tyloo really didn't have much of a chance, huh?"
He immediately began going over the stats in detail. "He racked up 40 kills on map one. He got fewer on map two, but still had 33."
"Looking at it this way, Tyloo really did deserve to lose. How are you supposed to play against Helmet when they've got an extra player?"
"Seventy-three kills. If this cousin got four kills every round and Helmet chipped in one more, they'd win 18 rounds!"
"Even if he kept getting aces, he could win 14 rounds by himself. This guy's insane."
After looking at the stats, Leon Kai had gone from questioning Tyloo to understanding them.
"Plus 43 kills. Holy shit..." Leon Kai laughed in disbelief. "This kid really did turn something on, holy shit!"
He wasn't actually accusing Jiang Yang of cheating. Jiang Yang's numbers were just so absurd that Leon Kai couldn't help reacting like that.
"Danking did well too, to be fair. He got 53 kills over two maps, but this cousin had 20 more than him. That's ten extra kills per map, a completely different level of performance!"
Tyloo's loss had left Leon Kai feeling terrible.
But the display from Helmet's young prodigy gave him a glimmer of hope.
This kid might really save CNCS!
Jiang Yang happily scrolled through clips from various CS:GO creators, all praising him. He was practically floating.
If they'd been standing in front of him, he'd definitely have offered a couple of modest replies.
Just then, he heard his cousin come rushing over, making a racket. "Yangyang, look! HLTV actually named you one of the plays of the week!"
Hearing Ma Xixi, Jiang Yang turned and leaned over for a look.
Just a few minutes earlier, HLTV had posted a weekly highlight reel.
It was simply titled young VS Tyloo.
HLTV was a professional CS:GO stats and ratings site, and its annual player rankings were also based on data from the site.
When there were matches, HLTV also posted highlights from players each week.
But usually, only players who stood out enough caught HLTV's attention.
Jiang Yang hadn't expected to be picked.
As the video played slowly, Jiang Yang saw his famous 1v4 on Dust II.
Ma Xixi watched alongside him. Even though he'd seen it several times already, he was still amazed by Jiang Yang's decisions and execution.
It really had been an incredible carry.
Jiang Yang smiled in satisfaction.
Ma Xixi praised him too. "You played really well yesterday. Keep it up today. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but if you work hard, you really could take VG down too. If you make it to the stickers, you'll have a proper foothold in the scene."
"I'll give it everything I've got! I heard the stickers pay pretty well too," Jiang Yang asked.
Ma Xixi nodded. "For me, it wouldn't be much, but for you, it'd be a lot. At the very least, if you didn't buy a car or a house, it could last you several years."
"You could let your aunt and the others look after the money for you. Then they'd know you were serious about going pro."
Hearing that, Jiang Yang nodded.
His parents had accepted his going pro mainly because of Ma Xixi.
Ma Xixi had promised his parents that if Jiang Yang failed to make a name for himself, he'd help him find a job. That was what finally gave Jiang Yang's parents peace of mind and let him give it a try.
But Jiang Yang knew his cousin really did treat him well. Still, if he could make a name for himself as a pro and earn a decent living, his parents wouldn't think he was just wasting his time. They'd know he was truly pursuing his dream.
"But we're not playing VG today," Jiang Yang explained. "VG lost yesterday too, 0–2 to NKT, so we're playing NKT today."
"NKT, that Thai team? The one XCC is on now?" Ma Xixi asked. "Aren't they pretty bad?"
"I've only watched a few rounds," Jiang Yang replied. "VG just played really timidly. On defense, they kept letting people walk into the Bomb Site and never pushed back."
"On top of that, XCC was in great form yesterday and went off. That's how NKT took both maps by small margins. Overall, they're honestly pretty bad."
Ma Xixi said, "Come to think of it, in this Asian RMR, with the local teams out, it's basically an 18 Tyloo civil war."
"Then play well today. Don't make the same mistakes VG did."
Jiang Yang rolled his eyes. "Even if we wanted to, we couldn't. I'd love to keep DD and the others in check, but they get carried away way too easily."
Ma Xixi laughed. This version of Helmet was full of reckless maniacs who were impossible to rein in.
"All right, keep practicing. I'm going to pick up your niece. What do you want for lunch? I'll treat you."
"Just get whatever. I'm not picky," Jiang Yang replied, then turned back to his ladder practice.
Before long, afternoon arrived, and the second round of the Asian RMR began.
Helmet faced NTK, led by XCC.
Ma Xixi might not have rated NTK highly, but Jiang Yang still took every round seriously.
As it turned out, XCC's explosive performance had accounted for everything NTK had shown on the first day.
Meanwhile, after taking down Tyloo, everyone on Helmet seemed to have leveled up. They were all playing with more confidence.
Their overall performance had clearly improved, and everyone was hungry for the win.
Under those circumstances, Jiang Yang was only allowed to go looking for kills in ECO rounds. During Full Buy Rounds, he could only occasionally pick up kills with the Big Sniper.
Most of the time, he didn't even need to step up before the match was over.
In the end, the BO3 finished 2–0.
The maps ended 16–5 and 16–7, with Helmet winning both by a wide margin.
DD even put up an average rating of 1.46.
Jiang Yang, however, only had a 1.21 rating. The viewers who'd come looking for him after his great performance the day before saw the stat and started teasing him, saying he'd fallen off.
Jiang Yang didn't care much about stats. All that mattered was winning.
Meanwhile, in the lower bracket, Tyloo and VG made a huge mistake in their vetoes, and VG narrowly won 2–1.
VG then faced NKT. That match further proved NKT weren't very strong, as VG swept them 2–0, winning both maps by a wide margin just like Helmet had.
If he could just beat VG next, Jiang Yang would be able to lead these old-timers on Helmet in shouting on livestream, "We're going to the Stockholm Major!"
Just imagining the scene filled Jiang Yang with energy.
I won't spend too much time on matches at this level. It'll be more fun to focus on top-tier events later on.
Before you continue