259: "Once, a top young talent stood before me, and I didn't cherish him..."
Young: "Thanks for thinking so highly of me, Nine, but for now I still plan to focus all my efforts on preparing for the Major."
Seeing the super rookie's reply, 259 felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart.
He'd planned to strike first and make a move before Tyloo did.
To be honest, today's defeat had left him feeling pretty dejected.
After all, a professional team had lost to a streamer team. The mood in the CS:GO community was bound to get ridiculous, and the online attacks would be relentless.
But at the same time, the appearance of Jiang Yang, a top-tier talent, had awakened 259's "talent scout" instincts. He really wanted to bring Jiang Yang into the team.
Now that he'd been rejected, 259 felt absolutely miserable.
The old driver who hadn't managed to shift gears and make it up Mount Akina saw 259's pained expression and found it hilarious.
He teased his friend with a sarcastic grin: "Once, a top young talent stood right in front of me, and I didn't cherish him. Only after losing him did I regret it!"
"For a shot-caller, nothing could be more painful!"
"If heaven gave you the chance to go back to that Dust II match, would you talk to him a little more?"
After thinking for a long while, 259 gave an answer that surprised A Zhong: "Actually, I still wouldn't."
A Zhong looked at him in confusion.
259 had also pulled himself out of his eagerness to recruit talent and had calmed down by now.
He explained, "Actually, my cousin isn't suited to our style of play. We're not the kind of ship that can carry him."
As VG's captain, 259 had always wanted to revive CNCS, and he'd worked hard to learn the European style of play.
That style didn't demand much from players in terms of individual skill.
It prioritized the team as a whole, with players fitting together like pieces of a puzzle to form a team.
"My cousin's individual ability is far better than we imagined. He's naturally suited to becoming a star player. He needs to take up resources, and even more than we think."
As one of the best shot-callers in China—and even Asia—259 had felt Jiang Yang's formidable pressure just from watching the footage and facing him in matches.
Just give him a Big Sniper and have the others support him, and he really could do a lot.
Of course 259 wanted a player who could take resources and deliver results like that.
But if he actually brought Jiang Yang over, he might end up disrupting VG's system instead.
It might look as if all they had to do was slot Jiang Yang into the system, but nothing in CS:GO was ever that simple.
There were five people playing, and the way their personalities and understanding of the game meshed would affect the team.
Jiang Yang's strength was exceptional and stood out so much that it would inevitably lead the team toward a four-protect-one setup.
That was the last thing 259 wanted to see.
What he wanted more was to raise the team's floor.
After hearing 259's explanation, A Zhong raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you're still thinking straight. You never planned to bring him in, so why the long face?"
"Thinking straight is one thing!" 259 said helplessly. "But his talent really is incredible!"
For a shot-caller, it was like a swordsman coming across a fine blade. It was impossible not to want it!
Magic City, at Ma Xixi's home.
"Why did Cousin reject them so directly?" Jiang Yang asked Ma Xixi.
After receiving 259's invitation, he'd asked Ma Xixi for his opinion right away.
But after thinking it over, Ma Xixi hadn't told Jiang Yang to accept on the spot. Instead, he'd politely declined VG's invitation.
"Think about it," Ma Xixi explained to his cousin. "Right now, if you want to, joining Tyloo or VG would be easy."
"You're good enough, and you've already beaten them. VG invited you today. I'm sure Tyloo will come asking tomorrow. When they do, I'll give them the same answer and turn them down for now."
"Neither Tyloo nor VG?" Jiang Yang looked at his cousin, puzzled. "Then do I just stay with Helmet?"
Ma Xixi rolled his eyes in exasperation. His cousin was pretty clever in-game, but right now his eyes held a clear, innocent kind of stupidity.
"You led Helmet to crush the two teams in China. There's no real need to join either of them for now."
Ma Xixi continued, "As much as it pains me to say it, the Chinese CS scene is a little disconnected from the international scene. If you want to improve, you'll have to look abroad."
"You're still young. If you do well at this Major, I'd like you to try playing for an international team and see where your ceiling is."
He no longer underestimated his cousin's talent.
The performance at the Asian RMR spoke for itself.
He'd been carrying in every single match. That showed he wasn't just on the level of the Asian scene; his ceiling was higher than that.
Ma Xixi wanted him to try reaching further. What if he could make it to the level of a top-20 player?
If that happened, Jiang Yang would go down in CS:GO history.
And after putting up a result like that early on, even if he went abroad and found that his ceiling wasn't all that high, he could still return to China and play CS at home.
Jiang Yang was still young, after all. Ma Xixi didn't want him wasting his youth in China so soon.
"Once this Major is over, even if your results aren't that good, I can still try contacting Mouz. Their academy is pretty good," Ma Xixi said. "You can learn a lot of real professional skills there."
"It's up to you whether you're willing to do it."
As a veteran in the industry, Ma Xixi naturally wanted to help his cousin plan the best path forward.
But that depended on whether Jiang Yang was willing.
Hearing his cousin ask, Jiang Yang found himself a little torn.
"Wouldn't I have to live abroad all the time?"
After all, who'd want to move abroad if they didn't have to?
And if he was serious about joining an international team, it wouldn't mean spending a few days traveling overseas. It'd be for years.
Hearing Jiang Yang's answer, Ma Xixi laughed. "I tried to warn you back then. This industry isn't easy to get into."
"Besides, even if you joined Tyloo or VG, you'd still have to go to Serbia for training camps for several months each year. It'd be pretty much the same."
Going pro in CS:GO wasn't easy. So when Jiang Yang had first wanted to enter the scene, Ma Xixi had really tried hard to talk him out of it.
The pay wasn't high, competition was intense, and you had to travel all over the world.
Rather than making a name for himself on the professional stage, Ma Xixi thought he'd be better off staying in Magic City with him and becoming a small-time streamer.
Ma Xixi went on to carefully explain the difficulties facing the two Chinese teams.
Jiang Yang also thought seriously about it. After all, this would affect the next several years of his life.
"It's fine. Take your time. There's still plenty of time," Ma Xixi said. He hadn't expected Jiang Yang to give him an answer right away.
But Jiang Yang answered quickly: "I've made up my mind. If I get the chance, I'll go to Europe. Those are just minor difficulties!"
Compared to the problems he might encounter abroad, he liked the idea of becoming a streamer who just milked his audience even less.
"But I don't necessarily have to join Mouz's academy. I believe in my performance. I'm sure lots of teams will want me!"
Jiang Yang spoke with complete confidence.
Ma Xixi smiled when he saw it. "That's the kind of confidence you need."
"Come on, let's go pick up your niece. We'll celebrate our hero today. Our family has a real professional player now."
"Weren't you a professional player before, Bro? You played as a sniper, didn't you?"
"Me? I played as an AWPer who took risky peeks!"
Laughing, they headed out to find something good to eat.
Meanwhile, the news that Helmet had qualified for the Stockholm Major spread throughout the CS:GO scene in no time.
No-prize poll: Which team do you think the protagonist will join?
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