Chapter 53: Machine, the Servant of Three Masters (Please Follow!)

Starting a match at past three in the morning is no big deal for domestic viewers, as they are already quite used to it.

A standard best-of-three series is manageable; one can sleep until the middle of the night, wake up to watch the games, and head straight to an 8 AM class or work afterward.

The exhausting best-of-five matches under the old MR15 format were the real endurance tests, where watching from midnight straight through until grabbing breakfast in the early morning was a regular occurrence.

While countless trolls were wandering across major platforms looking for a home, their phones suddenly flashed with a notification that Machine was live, prompting them to eagerly return to the fold.

[Streaming at this hour? And we haven't missed the pistol round? Is a maid streaming on his behalf?]

[Machine, are you losing it? Falcons only has your Uncle Magisk, and your Daddy Duri and Daddy Tom haven't even shown up yet.]

[The poor play cars, the rich play watches, ... Machine]

[Might as well just wash up and go to sleep, what's the point of watching this match? Nip is bound to lose anyway. Look at how terrible they played against G2 yesterday; Arrow was figured out ages ago.]

[Totally agree, farming stats against two tier-two and tier-three teams the other day was a joke; the moment they face a true powerhouse, their true colors show.]

[......]

Some viewers didn't genuinely dislike Su Zhe; they were simply put off by the overwhelming online hype surrounding him, pure knee-jerk opposition regardless of the fact that he was Chinese.

Ignoring the chaotic barrage of chat messages, Machine didn't pay them much mind, having long since grown accustomed to this atmosphere—after all, he had raised this community himself.

He cleared his throat and began, "I watched yesterday's match as well. To be honest, it didn't have much to do with whether Arrow was researched or not. The main issue was that headtr1ck's sniper was completely shut down by m0NESY, while the rest of the team simply couldn't handle the direct firepower from Niko and the cousin."

"Arrow basically had no room to create opportunities, especially on the CT side where he was constantly on rotation. Poor stats were entirely expected under those circumstances."

[??????????????]

[Already starting the hype train?]

[Machine, did you remarry? You're disowning your Uncle Magisk now?]

[Machine, the three-faced turncoat!]

Too lazy to argue, Machine was about to look up a 2018 match video to relive some classics when he glanced at the time, realized the game had already started, and hurriedly switched his stream capture to the live match feed.

"Alright, today's broadcast features Nip taking on Falcons. The pistol round is already underway, let's take a look at both teams' utility setups..."

......

Es3tag immediately initiated a classic fast-paced apartment rush, hoping to catch Falcons off guard while they were still cold at the start of the match.

To their surprise, Magisk in the pit had returned to his peak form, securing two USP headshots against the players emerging from A-Main.

He then smoothly shifted positions and dropped k0nfig rushing out of apartments. Headtr1ck, trailing right behind, found himself caught in a devastating crossfire from both the bomb site and the pit, falling in vain.

Su Zhe was lurking alone in connector for flank watch this round, but before he even reached the archway, all his teammates had already bitten the dust.

Ultimately, left in a 1-v-5 clutch, he was caught out in the open and eliminated by Maden, who was rotating back toward the library while the archway CT served as a distraction.

"What the... is Magisk's aim this hot right from the start?" k0nfig muttered in frustration, watching the lost pistol round.

There was nothing wrong with the tactical design, and A-Main and A-apartments were synchronized, but they simply got outmatched in pure mechanical skill and were single-handedly dismantled by Magisk.

Es3tag checked the economy board, sighed upon seeing everyone sitting around $2,000, and called for a Tec-9 force-buy.

"Let's hit apartments through the fast rush again this round," es3tag said after a brief moment of thought.

Su Zhe thought he misheard. "Huh? Apartments again?"

He couldn't understand the logic.

It was blatantly obvious that Magisk was anchoring the A-site; rushing it again was practically handing him free momentum. If they still had submachine guns and failed, the opponents would be able to buy aircraft carriers next round.

Es3tag nodded and explained, "Their positioning in the pistol round was extremely cautious, and their force-buy setup will likely be similar."

"We'll buy three HE grenades this round. When A-Main and A-apartments synchronize, we'll blanket the pit with three nades first. As long as we can take control of the pit, this round becomes much easier. They'll most likely be on SMGs, which put them at a disadvantage in long-range gunfights."

Su Zhe nodded in understanding. This turned out to be an impromptu, targeted strategy.

At the same time, he silently reminded himself never to hold the exact same defensive position twice in a row during a match, lest he end up dead without even knowing how it happened.

Once the countdown ended, Su Zhe bought full armor, a Tec-9, and a utility kit consisting of a flash and a smoke, then followed his four teammates toward the side alley.

Over in the 6657 livestream channel...

"Judging by Nip's opening movement, they're eyeing A-apartments again. However, the CTs have immediately smoked off the T-tunnel and mid."

"If Falcons notices quietness down banana, they might gamble a four-man stack on A!" Machine analyzed with a frown from the spectator perspective.

Although Falcons were playing cautiously this round, with their economic advantage, map control was still a priority.

Es3tag, moving through mid, sensed this as well. "Don't rush, slow the tempo down. Let's secure control of A-apartments first. Once the smokes in mid and T-tunnel dissipate, Arrow, go apply some pressure down banana and gather information on their B-site."

Hearing the call, Su Zhe began pulling back toward the T-tunnel.

The map of Inferno fell silent once more. As the CT map-control smokes faded, Su Zhe, positioned at the T-tunnel, peeked out cautiously to gather banana information, only to be greeted by a barrage of MP9 bullets.

Immediately afterward, another smoke grenade popped right at the T-tunnel entrance.

"Another smoke dropped. Only spotted one person," Su Zhe communicated with his team over voice comms.

At this point, only about 50 seconds remained in the round, and a single smoke wasted another 20 seconds. This was the downside of improvised strategies—the opponents kept making unexpected moves.

After a moment of deliberation, es3tag called the shot: "Never mind banana! Rotate and group up in mid."

......

Watching the unfolding situation, Machine narrated, "Nip is still planning an execution onto the A-site for their second wave. REZ in boiler threw a smoke covering the connector niche, so it looks like they're committing solely to A-Main and A-apartments. But Maden on B-site is also moving up, leaving only Snappi to hold the banana niche."

"Nip is walking right into a four-man A defense from Falcons! The Sun God can't help himself; he's trying to push through the connector smoke to catch a timing, but someone was holding the smoke the whole time! He only manages to ding es3tag with a MAC-10 before getting traded out by REZ."

The fallen es3tag yelled, "Throw the pit nades and rush out immediately! Don't wait for their rotates to arrive!"

Hearing es3tag's call, Su Zhe, standing at the boiler entrance, pulled a grenade from his pocket and tossed it alongside his teammates' flashes.

Magisk in the pit had intended to stare at the wall, waiting out the opponent's initial wave of flashes before swinging out to counter-peek.

Maden's rotation was arriving instantly, and holding the team's only silenced M4, he was confident that as long as he found a solid angle, he could rack up kills.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, a grenade exploded right beside him, instantly dropping his health to 73.

No big deal.

Just as the terrorists' flashbangs popped, he prepared to crosshair-placement-peek A-Main for some multi-kill action, but the next moment, he saw two distinct utility arcs flying toward him.

Hearing two crisp sounds of grenades bouncing off walls, a deep sense of dread washed over him as he tried to reposition, but it was already too late.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

[Arrow + k0nfig killed Magisk with a grenade]

Having secured the kill on Magisk in the pit, Su Zhe followed right behind his teammate, surged past A-Main, and rushed onto the bomb site.

B0ROS behind the box cover managed to shred the apartment terrorist with an MP9, but was quickly traded out by k0nfig from A-Main.

A textbook trade-frag sequence. Just when everyone on Nip thought the round was safely in the bag, Maden, who had just rotated into the library, erupted.

First, he picked off k0nfig at long range, then swiftly flicked his crosshair to drop headtr1ck jumping down from apartments.

REZ tried to trade the kill next, but in a long-range duel, the Tec-9 was even more disadvantaged than the MP9; after landing a single headshot to reduce Maden to low health, REZ was gunned down as well.

Su Zhe, positioned at the rear, caught the remaining health info of the opponent and wide-swung the library position. Spotting the CT model, he focused his crosshair squarely on the body.

"Rat-tat-tat!"

[Arrow killed Maden with a Tec-9]

"A 1-v-1 clutch with only 10 seconds left. Does Arrow still have a chance? The CT rotation from banana has arrived! There's no time left to plant the bomb!"

Having picked up the bomb, Su Zhe was just about to start planting when he heard footsteps from A-Main.

Moving slightly ahead of the default planting spot, he tapped the bomb briefly to bait the sound, then pre-fired an angle through the cover.

"Clang!" A distinct headshot sound echoed.

Snappi, having rotated back and realizing the opponent hadn't actually planted, began playing ring-around-the-rosy circling the high box on the A-site.

With the final five seconds ticking down, as long as he stayed alive, he would win the round.

Without glancing at the round timer, Su Zhe faked a left-hand movement sound, then planted his crosshair directly on the right side of the high box.

Hearing the footsteps, Snappi didn't fall for the trick. He decided to micro-peek the left side to spot Su Zhe's exact position before making a move.

Yet, he still underestimated Su Zhe's reaction time. The moment his arm barely clipped into view, the sharp crack of a Tec-9 rang out.

"Rat-tat!"

[Arrow killed Snappi with a Tec-9]