You Know What I'm Made Of. If You've Got the Guts, Come Challenge Me (Double Hammer Skeleton Sea)

When Jiang Yang got the final kill, even he froze for a second. Then, as everyone on Helmet's voice chat started celebrating wildly,

he took off his headset, ran over to Ma Xixi, and shook him excitedly by the shoulders. "Cousin, I made it to the Major!!"

It was a great celebration, one that made Ma Xixi's head spin.

"You played so well, Yangyang!!" Ma Xixi took off his headset too, grabbed Jiang Yang, and bounced around with him, shouting purely to let his feelings out.

The two of them looked as if they'd reverted to their primal ancestors, making all kinds of ridiculous moves in front of the camera.

But the joy they felt in that moment was completely genuine.

Jiang Yang had been playing CS:GO for quite a while now, and he understood all too well how prestigious the Major was.

An event on the level of a Major was the highest-tier tournament officially sponsored by Valve!

Among all CS:GO professional events, none carried more prestige.

That's right, none!

It was directly sponsored and hosted by CS:GO's official publisher, and it also had the largest prize pool.

That was why winning the Major was the highest honor in CS:GO—without exception!

It was every player's ultimate dream, just like how League of Legends players next door would always chase after an S Tournament title.

But winning the Major was no easy feat. Teams had to qualify from all over the world, fighting their way from regional tournaments to the international stage and defeating every powerful opponent they faced before they could claim the title.

Even players as strong as NIKO and S1mple had missed out on the Major title time and again.

Yet they continued to pursue it.

That was how prestigious the event was.

Valve also made team stickers for squads that qualified for the Major, sold them, and shared the proceeds with the teams.

Every Major was a huge celebration for CS:GO players.

On top of that, CS:GO had gone online for the past two years, so the Major hadn't been held at all. Now that the Stockholm Major was back, it had drawn the attention of every CS:GO player.

Jiang Yang and his teammates had secured Asia's only ticket to the Major. From here on, they'd be able to appear before audiences around the world.

Just thinking about it made his blood boil.

"No one believed we could make it to the Major! But we did it!!" Jiang Yang excitedly shared the news with his cousin, as if he were finally letting it all out.

To Jiang Yang, Ma Xixi had become more like a parent. So whenever he had something weighing on his mind, Ma Xixi was the one he talked to.

Ma Xixi was just as thrilled. "That's my boy! You've made me proud! You were incredible today! Once the stream's over, I'm taking you out for a huge meal!"

"Don't forget your teammates. Go share the news with them," Ma Xixi reminded him in time.

After watching Jiang Yang return to his seat, Ma Xixi hurried back to his own. There he was greeted by a screen full of gifts and a torrent of comments on the right.

[I thought they were going to overtime. Cousin's one-versus-two there was insane!!]

[Holy crap, those old timers really are going to Stockholm.]

[AE must be losing it right now. Who wouldn't feel awkward being left out of the Major?]

[Well, you picked them, idol. Now not only Tyloo's disbanding, but VG's disbanding too.]

[Today, Yang Dingtian really lived up to his name!!]

[Cousin, are you trying to destroy CNCS? Cousin, are you trying to destroy CNCS?]

[Cousin: If there's no torch, then I'll be the only light in CNCS!]

[MO: You know what I'm about to say]

Ma Xixi ignored the flood of gifts in the livestream and went straight into Helmet's voice chat.

"Great job, guys! We're officially the true heirs of CNCS now!"

Hearing Xixi's praise, xiaosage answered honestly, "It was mostly Cousin. I got completely stumped in the second half of Nuke. By the last round, I really thought we were going to overtime."

"That one-versus-two was crucial!"

"DD was crucial too. He took one down and wounded another from below. That was huge. Otherwise, I wouldn't have won that two-versus-four."

Jiang Yang didn't take all the credit for himself.

The sudden turnaround had resolved their desperate situation in an instant and clinched the match for them. It had lit everyone up. MO asked, "Were you just thinking you'd spray them all down?"

"Yeah. When I saw you take them all out, I jumped right out of my seat."

Curiosity got the better of them, and one after another, everyone in Helmet's voice chat asked questions.

Jiang Yang answered honestly. "I was actually planning to fire three shots, then fall back and stall for time. That last play had a lot to do with luck, haha."

At that, Ma Xixi realized his cousin still wasn't very good at expressing himself, so he hurriedly said,

"Luck definitely played a part, but it was also a matter of choice. They tried to run you down with two players, and their positioning made them vulnerable to a one-versus-two."

"Yangyang, you don't have to be so modest. Sure, there was some luck involved, but in a situation like that, it was just Fortune of the Strong!"

In esports, luck usually didn't mean much.

But if the people who disliked you heard you say that, they might attribute all your achievements to luck.

So Ma Xixi quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

MO chimed in carelessly, "Exactly! How could that be luck? Who gets lucky enough to run Tyloo and VG into the ground?"

He was just speaking without thinking. He had no intention of putting down Tyloo or VG. In fact, he'd brought them up because he considered them the strongest teams in the country.

MO had once again revised his opinion of Jiang Yang.

At first, he'd heard CSBOY's viewers say that Ma Xixi had a cousin who was a real character.

Then he'd heard that the cousin was handsome and talented at CS:GO.

After that, he'd found out that Cousin had climbed to the top ranks in the country in an incredibly short time.

MO had thought he might be able to give him a shot at going pro in China and see if he could make something of it.

Then he'd figured that after running into a few domestic pro teams, he'd probably learn his place.

After that, he'd figured that facing Tyloo would bring him back down to earth.

But Jiang Yang's outstanding performance kept making MO see him in a new light.

After all, Helmet had been thrown together purely for fun.

The old timers had plenty of experience, but they barely practiced. Their tactics, map pool, and aim were all a bit lacking.

Su Di was even so bad he seemed like an android.

Yet Jiang Yang had carried the team on his back all the way to the Major Qualifier. It was ridiculous.

Back in 2018, when they were with Tyloo, their best result had only been making it out of the Major Qualifier.

Now they were already close to making the Major itself.

Ma Xixi said happily, "I'll send each of you two Treasure Maps later. Coach is covering your plane tickets!"

"Boss Ma, you're the best!"

"Guess we can't send Xixi Palace a gift now. What a shame."

Hearing that, Ma Xixi immediately panicked. "What? I'm sending you Treasure Maps, and you still want to give your coach a gift?"

MO reassured him over voice chat. "Don't worry. It's tradition, okay? Didn't we just give AE the boot the other day?"

The show was an instant hit, and the livestream audience was in stitches.

Just then, Mingri Qing said from the side, "The post-match stats for Nuke are out. Cousin was carrying as usual. If you get a chance, you should carry me up the ladder."

Hearing that, Ma Xixi teased her. "You should focus on last-hitting your minions."

As an assistant, Mingri Qing usually played games. Whenever Ma Xixi looked for her during a stream, she was often busy last-hitting minions.

After hearing that, Ma Xixi refreshed HLTV twice, and the post-match stats popped up.

ID: young

Kills/Assists/Deaths: 40/6/22

Average damage: 125.9

Survival rate: 89.7%

rating: 2.13

[VG: "We're playing a streamer team... what the hell, how did I get farmed?"]

[Why does it look so easy for Cousin to pad his stats?]

[Every time I watch Cousin play, I feel like I could do that too. Then I hop into ranked and get my head caved in.]

[Cousin: You know what I'm made of. If you've got the guts, come challenge me (Double Hammer + Skeleton Sea)]

[That really was a Double Hammer Skeleton Sea play. Absolutely insane.]

[Cousin still looks like a stock robot to me.]

[Not gonna lie, it really does. A teenage prodigy with just a few hundred hours, making a bunch of pros look completely lost, haha.]

[We'll actually get to see MO and DD back on the big stage. I can't believe it.]

"Tsk!" Ma Xixi smiled proudly. "Yangyang, how come you farmed VG too?"

Jiang Yang shrugged. "I just got the kills I was supposed to get."

He didn't tell the truth. If he hadn't racked up kills like that, they really would have lost.

His stats were indeed outrageous, often absurdly high.

But that had a lot to do with how Helmet played.

After they realized Jiang Yang was good at anti-ECO rounds, MO had often sent him out to farm during ECO rounds, while everyone else held their angles from behind.

That way, even if Jiang Yang didn't get any useful kills, they wouldn't be in too much trouble afterward. But most of the time, he did manage to pick up kills.

On top of that, he was Helmet's main AWPer now, so he usually died less.

Fewer deaths meant a higher KD ratio and better stats, which naturally pushed his rating up.

Of course, the biggest reason was that he really was a killing machine on this team.

After all, he spent every day locked in the Simulation Space, trading blows with those top-tier Wardens. His skill was improving at an absurd rate.

Then there was the fact that the two domestic teams liked to throw. That gave Jiang Yang plenty of chances to turn things around, and after a comeback, there were more ECO rounds for him to farm kills in.

That was why he'd put up such outrageous stats several times in a row.

Su Di chuckled. "I just got carried this whole match."

Everyone looked at his stats. His kills were an astonishing 3–21, and his average damage was just 25.9.

If they'd lost that match, the viewers would definitely have torn Su Di apart.

But now it had become one of Jiang Yang's proudest achievements.

If Jiang Yang could carry a player with only 25.9 damage, what couldn't he do?

At the same time, Jiang Yang received friend requests from the VG players.

He accepted them one by one.

The CNCS scene wasn't very big, and the two teams had played each other once before, so they were already acquainted.

As soon as he accepted the requests, messages popped up.

Advent: "You completely wrecked me in that match. Nice work, kid. Good luck in Stockholm. Show those European guys what your AWP can do."

259 said sincerely.

He was disappointed to lose to Jiang Yang, and blamed himself for his team's shortcomings.

But he was also happy. CNCS finally had some fresh blood.

And this new prodigy was better than anyone they'd seen before. He really made them feel like the future was bright.

Jiang Yang typed back, "Thanks, I will!"

They'd just played a match, but they weren't close, so Jiang Yang hadn't planned to chat much.

Then he saw another message from advent.

Advent: "After this Major, want to come try out for VG?"

There's more later. He's not going to join a domestic team at this point in the story, so don't worry...