Chapter 34: I Told You to Make Them Default, and You Finished Them Off?

After enduring the long-standing torture of over 100ms latency, Su Zhe almost felt like shedding tears as he looked at the fluid game screen before him. This feeling was exactly like a few months ago, when he had finally replaced his dying laptop.

At this moment, the voice of es3tag came through the TS channel: "Arrow, just hold the default in B2 later; everyone else, stick to your positions."

Without any superfluous chatter, the simple setup of the opening positions was completed just as the countdown ended. Su Zhe purchased a kevlar vest in the shop and headed straight toward B2. He first checked the sewer exit, and finding no one there, he proceeded to the kitchen and held an angle.

...

Among the ten players in the match, the most nervous one was not Su Zhe, but rather nicoodoz, one of the new trialists for Team X. Having joined a professional team back in 2018, he had spent the previous three years competing in various tier-two and tier-three squads, only finding an opportunity to join the legendary FNC in 2022. At that time, he had been full of ambition, thinking he had finally made it. He had spent the entire first night at FNC unable to sleep, dreaming of high tournament prize money and sticker revenue. To his surprise, he lasted less than a year at FNC before the club sold him off, sending him back to a tier-three team until he received the trial invitation from Team X a few days ago.

"I must give it my all this time!" nicoodoz, assigned to main B defense, encouraged himself.

Team X, like NiP, was playing a default setup. There were no excessive demands from the team; the purpose of the trial was to observe a player's style and habits. Thinking about the research he had done yesterday, he was fairly certain where NiP would place the rookie who had never played professionally. Seeing that NiP was also playing a default, he couldn't help but want to showcase his abilities.

nicoodoz communicated with his veteran teammate TeSeS, expressing his desire to move up to B2 silently to gather information. TeSeS didn't quite understand but respected the call, so he boosted him up to B2. After ensuring the middle of B2 was clear, nicoodoz boldly pushed forward toward the kitchen. With his years of professional experience, his pre-aiming fundamentals were solid, which gave him the confidence to seek out opportunities.

"No one above the sewers, so they must be in the kitchen..."

With a plan in mind, nicoodoz crept toward the close corner of the kitchen. After measuring his distance against the wall, he crouched and peeked out with a pre-aim.

"Bang!"

[Arrow headshotted nicoodoz with a Glock]

"WTF!"

nicoodoz was shocked. He had clearly pre-aimed and locked onto the head, so why was he the one who died? The coach, observing from behind Su Zhe, witnessed the entire process. After a moment of hesitation, he wrote the words "fast reaction" and "solid positioning" in his notebook.

"Nice! Great shot!" es3tag praised after seeing the kill notification, realizing what had likely happened. He couldn't help but feel amused; they really thought they could treat their rookie like a soft target!

Glancing at the one minute of round time remaining, he spoke into the mic: "They probably have a warning on B now. Arrow, push out from the sewers and help your teammates control mid. We'll execute a split-A through the archway in the second wave."

Su Zhe abandoned the idea of lurking the B site and headed to the sewers, sneaking all the way to mid. After confirming the area was clear, the two players holding the default at the NiP terrorist entrance joined up with him.

"I'll go first." With that, Su Zhe hugged the right side of the archway and picked up speed. Seeing this, the coach’s face showed satisfaction again. It was a detail-oriented play; by hugging the right side of the archway, if the CTs in the short alley wanted to help their teammates at the arch, they would have to expose themselves to the middle of the road to get a shot. This made it easier for his teammates on the chairs to provide cover fire. While this was basic for a pro, he knew this was a complete rookie, and being able to execute such details instinctively was impressive.

...

At this point, his teammates at A2 were already peeking and firing to draw the defenders' attention. Hearing the shots, Su Zhe first peeked from the right side of the arch to check the CT jump-spot. Finding no one, he immediately shifted his focus and sprinted toward the jungle.

Nertz, holding the jungle position, had been keeping an eye on the archway while the middle was in chaos. Seeing the terrorist burst out, he immediately tried to trade with his USP. However, the USP's fire rate was simply too slow. After his first shot missed the head, he attempted to adjust his aim. But Su Zhe moved like a nimble mountain dog, weaving while pouring bullets into the CT’s body.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

[Arrow killed Nertz with a Glock]

After securing the kill, Su Zhe didn't rush the site, instead planning to slip into the VIP room to cut off the rotating CTs from B. He didn't expect TeSeS to rotate back so quickly; the moment he entered VIP, he was one-tapped by a USP from the supermarket position.

"VIP window!"

Su Zhe immediately called out his death, then watched his teammates. In truth, with Su Zhe securing two kills, the situation had become very clear. With the positions of all the CT defenders revealed, the four NiP players easily utilized their coordinated trades to win the pistol round.

"Arrow! Great performance! Keep it up!" After the round, es3tag offered a fist bump. Su Zhe hesitated for a second before bumping his fist against his.

Is this what it feels like to play professionally? It feels amazing!

With the pistol round in the bag and neither side having set tactics, the score quickly climbed to 3-0. But once the rifle rounds began, the defensive advantage of Team X started to show. TeSeS and sjuush, as veterans of Team X, may not have been calling tactics, but they still cooperated with the trialists' requests.

At the start of the round, Nertz asked for a flashbang to successfully clear out k0nfig, who was playing the default in A2. headtr1ck, seeing that A2 was lost, immediately fell back from his primary A1 position to prevent a counter-aggression. Consequently, Team X used their numbers advantage to seize control of the middle.

es3tag, seeing that their early map control had failed, hastily organized an explosive B-site execute. However, Team X had anticipated this and positioned their defense closer to B. After a series of trades, Team X won the first rifle round.

Subsequently, the match fell into Team X’s rhythm, and the score soon reached 3-5. Su Zhe hadn't made any major mistakes in these rounds, but he hadn't contributed much either. In the previous round, Team X had organized a counter-aggression on B2; he had managed to take down one person during a double-peek, but that was all he could do.

REZ looked at the scoreboard and sighed: "Nertz is something else! His aim is so crisp!"

es3tag nodded: "Indeed. After all, his performance at ENCE wasn't bad. If not for the team wanting to put him on the transfer list to make money, he wouldn't be here trialing for Team X." He then reminded the team in the channel: "The opponents are counter-aggression-heavy; we need to find a way to deal with it."

He didn't arrange any specific tactics, as the outcome of the trial wasn't the priority; the goal was to see how Su Zhe would handle various situations. Coach djL, standing behind them, also wanted to see how the boy would handle the pressure of counter-aggression while playing a default.

Su Zhe was wiping the sweat off his hands on his pants. Looking at the 3-5 score and recalling es3tag’s mention of the high expectations for the trial, he couldn't help but feel nervous and anxious.

...

Need to find a way to deal with this...

After a semi-buy round, they had plenty of economy this round. Su Zhe purchased a full set of armor, an AK, and a full set of utility before heading toward B2. Because he had been killed in the back by a CT pushing out of the sewers in a previous round, he threw a flashbang into the sewers himself. Finding no CTs there, he returned to B2.

This time, he didn't choose to hold a default in the kitchen. He had thought of a way to counter the aggression: be proactive and catch the timing of their push. He began to peek, ready to burst out at any moment.

Behind him, the coach frowned, scribbling the word "reckless" in his notebook before turning his gaze back to Su Zhe’s screen.

Feeling the timing was right, Su Zhe pre-aimed at the white car and crouched as he peeked. Suddenly seeing a black dot flash below the white car, his crosshair snapped down instantly.

"Dah!"

[Arrow headshotted nicoodoz with an AK-47]

"Huh? How could I get air-tapped like that!" nicoodoz was stunned. He hadn't intended to push, knowing his teammates were taking mid control, so he was just jumping to peek for info on B2. To think that one look would cost him his life?

"Uh..." The coach was also surprised. The reaction had been so fast that even he hadn't clearly seen where the CT was before the kill occurred. Did he have that much confidence? Just as the coach was about to cross out "reckless," he saw Su Zhe pushing forward again. He sighed and stopped his pen—still too young. In this situation, one should wait for teammates to use the numbers advantage to attack. Otherwise, searching the site alone and giving up his life would just be a standard one-for-one trade.

Su Zhe, unaware of the coach's thoughts, continued to clear corners in the sequence he had practiced after securing the kill. Finding the B site empty, he shouted into the mic: "B site is clear! You can come in!"

As he planned to hold the supermarket to cut off the rotating CTs, the sound of a flashbang from the short alley caught his attention. Su Zhe, who had just entered the site, quickly turned 90 degrees toward the alley. Seeing the CT burst out, he immediately crouched and sprayed.

"Dah-dah-dah!"

[Arrow killed TeSeS with an AK-47]

Just as Su Zhe finished firing and turned to move, another CT peeked from the alley to trade. He simply predicted the trajectory of the CT’s wide peek and tapped twice.

"Dah! Dah!"

[Arrow headshotted kyxsan with an AK-47]

The coach fell silent as he watched this. After a moment of consideration, he erased "reckless" from his notebook and changed it to "adept at proactively seeking opportunities"...