Chapter 40: Were They This Pathetic All Along? (Better Late Than Never)

January 31, 2024.

NiP welcomed the first match of their new roster.

Sitting in the player’s chair, k0nfig wiggled his fingers and sighed, "I never expected to run into ENCE again. What a small world!"

"Last time at the CAC in Shanghai, we were eliminated by ENCE 2-1."

REZ echoed from the side, "True, it’s a shame we won't be able to get real revenge."

Su Zhe asked like a curious child, "Why? Are they that hard to deal with?"

headtr1ck explained, "Because a while back, Team Falcons bought out almost everyone from ENCE. The only one left, Nertz, went to Team X. Wasn't he on the opposing side when you had your trial? All five players on ENCE have been replaced now."

"I see..." Su Zhe searched his memory but still couldn't quite recall; he struggled to remember the IDs of lesser-known players.

es3tag chimed in, "Alright, the match is about to start. Focus up; their IGL is gla1ve."

gla1ve was one of the architects behind Astralis’s historic three-peat of Major championships, serving as their captain and IGL.

Although the meta shifts had caused that dynasty to crumble and gla1ve was no longer considered the absolute top-tier caller, his legacy remained, and he could not be underestimated.

k0nfig laughed heartily, "Don't worry! We'll definitely win this first match! By the way, Arrow, are you still feeling nervous?"

Su Zhe: ...

He wasn't thinking about it until it was brought up, and now he couldn't help but have mixed feelings—mostly excitement.

"I'm fine, no worries."

Su Zhe didn't want to make his teammates worry, so he decided to regulate his own mindset. Besides, the qualifier venue had no audience, and he kept reminding himself that this was just a regular practice match.

Although his original intention for joining NiP had been to complete a task, he had been working hard for a month. If he failed to qualify and was relegated to the academy team, it would be devastating. He had to prove himself.

Soon, under the referee's instructions, both sides began the map veto process.

The first round of qualifiers was a best-of-one. es3tag immediately banned Anubis. Their team was a traditional "hexagon warrior" style, and they hadn't played that map once all last year.

After some deliberation, ENCE banned the tactical map, Nuke.

Following the veto process, the map for the BO1 was decided as Ancient.

After final warm-ups, the players entered the server as notified by the referee.

Map: Ancient
ENCE: dycha, hades, gla1ve, kalar, Goofy
NiP: es3tag, k0nfig, headtr1ck, REZ, Arrow

After a knife round to determine sides, NiP won and chose to start on the defensive side.

"Let’s go! Take them down!" The teammates bumped fists in encouragement.

"Let's go!" Su Zhe cheered for his team and himself.

...

In the 6657 livestream channel, Wanji cleared his throat and said, "Alright brothers, today we’re watching NiP versus ENCE..."

Before he could finish, the chat began to stir.

[???????]
[What’s the point of watching these two teams?]
[I get it, since the streamers Wanji usually roots for aren't playing, he has to watch gla1ve's match to show his 'filial piety' indirectly.]
[Watch the main stage C9 match! I want to see electronic! Unfollowing if you don't!]
[Both these teams are washed, nothing to see here.]
[...]

Wanji glanced at the dense wall of text on his secondary monitor and found it somewhat amusing.

He insisted on casting the side-stage match, saying, "Actually, the match between these two teams is quite interesting. I mainly want to see how this newcomer on NiP performs."

He stared at the side monitor to gauge the audience's reaction.

[NiP's newcomer? Arrow? What the hell is that? Which tier-two team did they buy him from?]
[Holy crap! An Asian player? Is he ethnically Chinese? Don't tell me he's one of those 'banana' players?]
[Why does the ID 'Arrow' sound so familiar?]
[WDF? Isn't that the streamer who went from C+ to the top of the platform last year? How did he end up at NiP?!]
[I remember now! Holy crap! I bet my buddy that he was definitely cheating, and now he's playing pro at NiP?]
[Is that the guy who went to TYLOO for a trial and said he’d be promoted to the main roster in a year?]
[Four months from C+ to the NiP main roster? No way, bro, is this even real?]
[...]

Wanji chuckled while watching the chat. He had heard of this "Arrow" before; the domestic CS:GO scene was small, after all. He had even stumbled into Su Zhe’s stream while scrolling through TikTok.

He never expected him to inexplicably end up playing pro for NiP. Even though NiP wasn't as strong as some tier-two teams right now, they were still a top-tier organization by name!

In all his years of casting, Wanji had never heard of a domestic player joining a European team. It was too surreal.

"Alright, the pistol round is about to start. Let's look at the utility setups..." Wanji pushed aside his other thoughts, intending to watch the match through to the end.

...

"This round, we’ll play a standard 2-1-2 defensive setup. k0nfig, you go mid at the start to gather info. Everyone else, hold your angles and wait to see if they give us an opening."

es3tag took the qualifiers seriously, so he arranged a conservative setup for the pistol round.

After the countdown ended, Su Zhe bought a kevlar vest and headed straight to the A site. According to the team's arrangement, he was the primary anchor for A.

"They threw a VIP smoke! I can't see mid!" k0nfig's voice suddenly came through the headset.

es3tag considered this and commanded, "Then just hold the VIP smoke, and be ready to support either side..."

Before es3tag could finish, k0nfig shouted urgently, "They threw a flash and pushed through the smoke! At least three in VIP!"

Su Zhe glanced at the kill feed in the top right and saw that k0nfig had been overwhelmed and killed by the terrorists.

He immediately turned his aim toward the CT spawn, and as the terrorists emerged, he flicked his USP crosshair onto them.

*Pop! Pop!*
[Arrow killed kalar with a headshot using USP]

es3tag, seeing k0nfig go down, was about to fall back and wait to see if the terrorists were hitting B or A, but he didn't expect Su Zhe to actively push out and challenge them.

He was about to call him back, but the kill feed updated again with Su Zhe’s name.

"Nice shot! Fall back—"
*Pop!*
[Arrow killed Goofy with a headshot using USP]

es3tag: ??

His brain hadn't processed the situation yet—how did they suddenly have the numbers advantage?

Seeing two kills, he still decided to fall back and wait for the B-site teammates to rotate so they could sandwich the enemy.

Then... he saw Su Zhe aggressively strafe out toward the CT spawn again.

*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
[Arrow killed hades with a headshot using USP]
[gla1ve killed Arrow with a headshot using Glock]

"There's one more, hit him twice in the body! He has the bomb!" the fallen Su Zhe shouted in the voice chat.

NiP: ??

What just happened? How did you almost kill everyone?

es3tag reacted first. Glancing at the mini-map and seeing his teammates were almost at the rotation point, he also strafed out to look for a kill.

Seeing the bomb carrier trying to retreat to VIP, he clicked two shots into the terrorist's body with his USP, taking him down.

The last terrorist, dycha, who was outside A-main, had intended to wait for his teammates to take the CT spawn before pushing A-site to sandwich them, but in the blink of an eye, his teammates were all dead.

In a 3v1 post-plant scenario with the bomb spotted, he didn't struggle much; after one failed attempt, he was taken down by the three remaining NiP players.

"Bro, you're a beast! Three kills right out of the gate!" k0nfig, who had died early, bumped fists with Su Zhe, shouting in excitement.

"It was nothing. They played poorly and gave me the chance," Su Zhe said, feeling a bit embarrassed by k0nfig's blunt praise.

Actually, he hadn't expected them to be so bad. When he saw k0nfig go down, his first instinct was to trade the kill. After getting the first one, he wanted to fall back, but the terrorists kept pushing into his crosshair; they missed their shots, giving him even more opportunities.

He realized the intensity of this aim duel wasn't even as high as his "simulated training" before bed...

After that, he just got into the zone. Since he already had two kills, he figured he might as well go all the way.

es3tag had wanted to lecture Su Zhe about team discipline, but after hearing that exchange, he didn't know what to say. The triple kill was a massive contribution to the team; otherwise, retaking 4v5 would have been very difficult.

Wanji, who was casting the match, was also stunned. He had just finished saying the rookie lacked experience when the situation instantly reversed.

This made it hard for him to comment, so he quickly changed his tune: "This youngster... his aim is quite sharp!"

"ENCE planned to accelerate and pinch A from mid; they successfully took k0nfig's head, but as soon as they reached the CT spawn, Arrow’s USP cleaned them up!"

"A triple kill completely shattered ENCE's offensive plan! This was purely a victory of raw aim!"

The audience in the chat was losing their minds. They had been questioning if Su Zhe was a relative of the NiP owner—how else could he have inexplicably joined the main roster?

But that opening triple-kill pistol play had left them speechless.

This wasn't a guy here to slack off; he was here to be the carry!