259: "As Long As We Don't Disband After Shooting Steel Helmets!"

Chapter 43: 259: "As long as Steel Helmets doesn't disband, we're fine!"

Before the Asian RMR.

Inside the VG training room.

A Zhong, nicknamed "Old Driver Shifting Gears," watched his captain being interviewed with great interest.

Because Steel Helmets' impressive performance against Tyloo in the Asian RMR had led to unprecedented attention on the tournament over the past two days, the 5E platform seized the opportunity to organize a trash talk segment.

Today, they were interviewing VG's captain, advent, before the match. However, fans in the scene preferred to call him by his previous ID—259.

The 5E reporter greeted him and began the interview: "Uncle Jiu, hello. How are you feeling about facing Steel Helmets in the finals today?"

Facing this question, 259 didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked back with feigned surprise: "Wait, aren't we playing Tyloo? How did it become Steel Helmets?"

[This is hilarious]

[Tyloo is so unlucky, they've been trashed online for two days and now they're being kicked while they're down]

[@Sima Yi: Don't drag Cao Shuang into this. @Wan Ji Qi: Don't drag NIKO into this. @259: Don't drag Tyloo into this!]

[259 is also a clown, haha]

After stirring up trouble for Tyloo, 259 continued: "Facing Steel Helmets, we do feel quite a bit of pressure."

"May I ask why?" This question genuinely surprised the 5E reporter.

"After we learned that Tyloo lost to Steel Helmets, we stayed up all night preparing to face them. But you know? Steel Helmets are like a hidden sect in a fantasy novel; I couldn't even find any demos!" 259 barely managed to suppress his smile.

A Zhong, not far away, burst out laughing.

He couldn't find any material on Steel Helmets, and 259 described it so mysteriously.

259 continued: "For today's match against Steel Helmets, we mainly want to see how talented Cousin Ma Xixi is. That kid's talent is truly outrageous."

"Winning or losing doesn't matter, the main thing is that they don't disband."

"The main issue is that Steel Helmets has a disbanding function. If you play against them, not only will they win the match, but they might also expel you. So, facing Steel Helmets does put a lot of pressure on us."

The viewers watching the stream were even more amused. They had initially thought that 259, as the in-game leader, was a rather reserved person, but they hadn't expected him to be such an entertainer.

After their old rivals Tyloo were eliminated by Steel Helmets, 259 went all out in teasing Tyloo.

Adding to this, there were recent rumors about Tyloo potentially disbanding, which made the audience lose it even more.

After watching 259 finish his interview, A Zhong was still laughing uncontrollably: "How come I never realized you were so eloquent before?"

259 rolled his eyes: "I'm with you every day; even if I were eloquent, I'd have nothing to say."

A Zhong didn't get angry. He leaned over and put an arm around 259's shoulders: "It's all because of your personality."

In reality, 259's personality was quite steady. This interview was just a spontaneous moment of wanting to have some fun.

Seeing 259's confused look, A Zhong explained: "Don't you remember? We actually met Cousin Ma Xixi when we were both at Perfect World."

"I told you back then to try and connect with him."

A Zhong was now playing the hindsight card: "If you had been even a tiny bit nicer back then, maybe he would have joined VG's youth academy today, and we wouldn't be under so much pressure."

"Back then, he was just a one-trick pony. Who could have imagined he'd improve so quickly?" 259 retorted.

Unlike during the interview, they were genuinely under a lot of pressure today.

After all, Steel Helmets had crushed Tyloo.

Coupled with 'Cousin's' god-like performance, how could they not feel pressured?

If they had recruited 'Cousin' back then, there wouldn't be so many issues now.

However, 259 thought about it carefully: "But even if we had recruited him, we would still be under a lot of pressure."

"If Steel Helmets hadn't completely overwhelmed Tyloo, our win yesterday wouldn't have been so easy."

As two top domestic teams, VG and Tyloo had faced each other frequently.

Throughout the entire year, VG had been subtly suppressed by Tyloo.

However, yesterday, when they played, Tyloo was completely off their game. They seemed to want to prove themselves, but ended up achieving nothing.

If it weren't for Steel Helmets, they would likely have faced a fully charged Tyloo in the finals, and the pressure would have been just as immense.

"After this Major, do you want to contact Ma Xixi and recruit that kid?" A Zhong suggested proactively. "Kaze and I can make room."

They were considered Old Timers and had actually been thinking about stepping back into management roles.

But they hadn't seen any new talent emerge domestically.

259 shook his head: "Let's not worry about that. Let's finish today's match first."

He sighed helplessly: "Now, whether we want him or not, it depends on whether Ma Xixi is willing to be recruited."

A little while later, both teams officially entered the match.

This Asian RMR match adopted a BO5 format, meaning best of five.

However, the team from the upper bracket started with a one-map advantage.

After the Ban/Pick phase concluded, the first map was directly awarded as a win to Steel Helmets.

This meant, in essence, Steel Helmets only needed to win two of the remaining four maps.

This was also why VG was under so much pressure.

With the opponent already leading by one map, who wouldn't be flustered?

The two teams officially began their Ban/Pick.

Steel Helmets went first, directly banning Inferno, a map they weren't proficient in.

VG, on the other hand, banned Dust II, a map they wouldn't play.

With the bans completed, it was time for both teams to quickly select their maps.

Final Map Selection:

Map 1: Death Amusement Park Map 2: Inferno Map 3: Dust II Map 4: Nuke Map 5: Ancient Ruins

After the Ban/Pick phase, the VG players quickly entered the second map's match.

Yes, they went straight into Map 2.

According to the rules, Map 1 was directly awarded to Steel Helmets, putting VG behind by one map from the start, which put immense pressure on them.

During the match, 259 realized his vigilance was completely justified.

Because on Map 1, Inferno, Steel Helmets had almost crushed them.

In the end, they narrowly won the map with a score of 16:13.

However, at least they secured one map, bringing both teams back to a level playing field, which allowed VG to breathe a sigh of relief.

However, upon entering Dust II, all of VG was completely stunned.

Young, who had already performed brilliantly on Inferno, showcased even more formidable play on Dust II.

As the defending side in the first half, VG only managed to score a mere 3 rounds.

In the second half, after a mistake in the pistol round, Steel Helmets pushed them to match point in one go. VG struggled for a few rounds before the final score settled at 16:6.

This immediately put immense pressure on the VG members.

The overall score had reached 2:1.

This meant that if Steel Helmets won just one more map, the match would end with a 3:1 victory.

259 wiped away a bead of non-existent sweat from his forehead, already feeling drenched.

In the Steel Helmets' voice chat, everyone was shouting encouragement.

"Great job, brothers!" MO said, rallying them in voice chat. "We only need to win one of the next two maps, all the pressure is on VG."

"And as you saw on Mirage, they weren't playing as well as we thought. We have a chance to win!"

DD was also a "Nice guy" player, constantly encouraging them: "Exactly, don't be nervous. Let's play according to our cousin's lead, we have a chance to win!"

He didn't dare to mention anything about stickers again. Even though he was quite confident, he was still afraid of tempting fate.

The team members cheered each other on, and the halftime break quickly passed.

Steel Helmets vs. VG.

Map: Nuke

T: ZhongKing, aumaN, advent, Kaze, jamyoung

CT: Young, DD, MO, xiaosage, karsa

"The good news is, at least I won't have to spend so much mental energy on shot-calling for this map," MO said with a smile during the preparation time.

Nuke is a map that requires a high level of overall player skill.

At the very least, on defense, players need to be highly autonomous.

If communication isn't good, it's easy to have sites get taken.

MO could temporarily set aside the pressure of shot-calling and focus on being a "cleanup" commander.

The pistol round began, and MO asked Jiang Yang, "Do you want to play Dual Pistols?"

On this map, Dual Pistols are actually quite suitable for him.

Jiang Yang thought for a moment: "I can try it for a round."

MO gave Jiang Yang a pair of Dual Pistols and picked up a defuse kit for himself. "For this round, let's focus on Iron Plate. Let's gamble and see."

Jiang Yang thought for a moment, "Then I'll go directly to the Iron Plate double crossfire position and hold there."

"I'll go be the hook at Red Box then," Su Di also explained his setup.

The remaining DD and xiaosage directly took charge of A Area.

With their positioning, the outer area would have to be left open.

The countdown ended, and Jiang Yang switched to his knife and went straight to the position below the Iron Plate double crossfire, holding his Dual Pistols and waiting for an opportunity.

"Iron Plate is coming, they're planning to throw a molly!" Jiang Yang quickly called out the position. The next second, he saw a molly fly out from B Tunnel, heading directly towards Su Di's location.

Burned by the molly, Su Di, who had summoned Billson by becoming a Red Skin Duck, chose to stand and die.

"Su Di was forced out by the molly. VG's push got the first kill, but there are still two people at Iron Plate, can they hold?"

"But MO, who came up from below the Third Floor, was instantly killed by A Zhong. The 'old driver' today is in extremely hot form!"

"With this, only Cousin is left at the heavily defended Iron Plate!" Ma Xixi said in disbelief. "There's no way, MO and Su Di were instantly eliminated."

With his two teammates instantly killed, the young Jiang Yang knew he had to step up and hold the fort.

He didn't rush; his Dual Pistols gave him a lot of confidence.

He quietly waited for the enemy to reveal their position.

After getting two kills, VG eased up slightly and planned to push directly under Iron Plate.

Jiang Yang had intended to let some through, and he did let the first one pass.

However, he saw the Terrorist in second position look at him.

Jiang Yang was forced to open fire!

And to evade the enemy's line of fire, he continuously moved left and right, using cover for counter-strafing. To the enemy, he looked like he was simply running and gunning.

"Dada dada dada dada dada dada dada!"

[Young killed advant with Dual Berettas]

[Young headshotted zhongKing with Dual Berettas]

[Young headshotted Kaze with Dual Berettas]

"It looks like VG has taken Iron Plate, but in reality, Cousin has them surrounded!"

"He's outputting insane damage with his Dual Pistols, one, two, three!!"

"He's still firing, but the last two young are just spraying near each other, they're both missing the target. Cousin directly pulled out his knife!"

"Jamyoung retreated and hit the wall. A heavy knife!!" Ma Xixi shouted excitedly, "1500 is in the bag!! We can get a sniper next round!"

The director switched the camera to Jiang Yang's viewpoint. At this moment, Jiang Yang's face was beaming with a sunny smile. He was overjoyed with this quad kill and the knife kill.

Afterward, xiaosage also caught aumaN slowly peeking from the outside, and they secured the pistol round.

The score became 1:0.

The Steel Helmets side was naturally overjoyed.

259, however, let out a subtle sigh.

The enemy got SMGs in the pistol round, how could they possibly win?

Already completely crushed.