CS: I’m Only 16, and You Want Me to Stage an Old Veteran Comeback?

Thursday, August 5, 2021.

Today’s Auspicious Activities: Weddings, Consecrations, Bed Placement, Haircuts, “Send Me 50 via WeChat”...

Even at 5 p.m., the scorching summer heat in Shanghai made stepping outside utterly undesirable.

“Am I really using the AWP? It’s a teammate’s gun, so I have to be confident!”

“Anyone who enters this Banana Path today dies!”

“Oh~ A Desert Eagle, huh!”

The voice of Jiang Yang’s cousin, Ma Xixi, brimming with confidence, echoed in his ears. Ma Xixi was playing a game called CS:GO, and everything he said was from the game.

The next moment, Jiang Yang watched as Ma Xixi fell into silence.

Leaning back into his gaming chair with a perplexed expression, Ma Xixi seemed utterly baffled by how his prized AWP had been taken down by a Desert Eagle.

“Oh~ An AWP, huh!”

“Why aren’t you saying anything now? Cat got your tongue?”

“Your teammate worked so hard to save up for that sniper rifle, and you didn’t even get a single kill—what a waste of humanity!”

In CS:GO, the AWP costs 4,750 in-game dollars to purchase, whereas the Desert Eagle is just 700.

In other words, the opponent had managed to land a perfect headshot with a $700 weapon against a fully equipped sniper.

If this were the esports league, it’d be akin to a mid-laner with full items getting solo-killed by someone with just two items—naturally, a hard pill to swallow.

Although Jiang Yang spoke softly, Ma Xixi still caught every word, his face flushing with frustration.

“If you keep yammering on over there, I’m docking your pay,” Ma Xixi snapped irritably.

The mention of a pay cut promptly shut Jiang Yang up. After all, Ma Xixi wasn’t just his cousin;he was also his boss.

That said, Ma Xixi wasn’t genuinely angry. He had a laid-back personality and was too close to Jiang Yang to truly get upset.

Still, a question lingered in Jiang Yang’s mind:

How could his cousin, with such mediocre skills, become one of China’s top CS:GO commentators?

But thinking about work-related topics made Jiang Yang sigh.

Two months ago, he’d just finished his college entrance exams and was now a soon-to-be freshman.

Initially, he had planned to find a summer factory job. However, most factories wouldn’t hire him due to his young age, and the ones that did offered wages that were downright exploitative.

When Ma Xixi heard about his situation, he immediately brought Jiang Yang onboard. Conveniently, Ma Xixi’s assistant had gone on a summer vacation, so he roped Jiang Yang in as a temporary helper to sort files, read chat comments, and so on.

Though officially hired as an assistant, the role felt more like his cousin just wanted him around for fun.

Today was Jiang Yang’s first official day on the job, and his only task so far was to liven up the atmosphere.

The work was light, giving him ample time to think about his future.

In high school, his academic performance had been inconsistent, resulting in him barely meeting the admissions cutoff for second-tier universities.

To make matters worse, with no previous university students in his family for guidance, he’d heard that civil engineering had decent job prospects and hastily chose it as his major.

It wasn’t until summer break that he finally understood what civil engineering entailed—and now his future looked bleak.

Jiang Yang was already considering pursuing a postgraduate degree to change his field.

In high school, his sole focus had been studying. But after the college entrance exams, the realities of living expenses, university life, and future career paths hit him like a ton of bricks.

At just 16 years old—thanks to starting primary school early—he felt an invisible pressure weighing on him.

He didn’t have any grand ambitions or particular talents, leaving him utterly clueless about which direction his life should take.

For now, he could only take things one step at a time.

Suddenly, Ma Xixi noticed the bored Jiang Yang and started teaching him.

“If I get killed, you can read the chat comments and thank the viewers for their gifts. That’s part of your summer job too.”

Jiang Yang nodded and glanced at the monitor displaying the chat messages. One by one, he began thanking the viewers:

“Thank you, Goblin Coffee, for the Huya Number One gift...”

“Thank you, Little Shi Meow, for the Huya Number One gift...”

“Thank you, Xu Beifang, for the fan badge...”

“Thank you, Ma Xixi...” Jiang Yang paused.

Still waiting to respawn, Ma Xixi looked puzzled. “Why’d you stop? Don’t selectively read comments!”

Encouraged, Jiang Yang resumed:

“Thank you, Ma Xixi, for the fan badge from ‘High Heels of Hatred at 1.6 Meters Tall’...”

“Thank you, Shorty Carrying a Dummy with a Folder for the fan badge...”

Ma Xixi’s face instantly contorted into a look of constipation, while the livestream audience burst into laughter.

“All right, go entertain yourself for a bit,” Ma Xixi said with a wry smile. “I think I made a huge mistake.”

Despite his words, Ma Xixi was secretly delighted.

As one of Huya’s top CS:GO streamers and a leading commentator in Chinese CS:GO, Ma Xixi had a considerable following during tournaments.

However, outside of tournaments—often late at night—things could get dull.

Jiang Yang’s playful teasing, while irreverent, injected a unique liveliness into the stream, much to the audience’s amusement.

In the world of streaming, you need a little flair to stand out.

Before long, even Ma Xixi couldn’t help but laugh along. Jiang Yang’s earlier hesitation to mock him out of respect, only to dive right in later, was a comedic goldmine.

Jiang Yang, for his part, was content to sit back and watch.

Whatever challenges university life might bring, at least this summer was shaping up to be an enjoyable one.

Soon, Ma Xixi respawned and jumped into the next round, with Jiang Yang watching intently from the sidelines.

Jiang Yang was no stranger to the game himself.

In fact, the first time he’d ever played CS:GO was when Ma Xixi had taken him to an internet café.

During his sophomore year of high school, CS:GO had become wildly popular in China, and Jiang Yang had joined the craze, running around with P90 submachine guns at the C+ rank.

Even just watching Ma Xixi play now was entertaining enough.

Though Ma Xixi’s gameplay was far from impressive, he always had an arsenal of excuses for his mistakes—like “the mouse hit the keyboard,” “network lag,” “crosshair feels off today,” or “didn’t practice my aim pre-match.”

Yet when Ma Xixi pulled off something spectacularly absurd, he’d laugh along with the audience, fully embracing the humor.

Watching his cousin’s antics, Jiang Yang couldn’t help but laugh as well.

Through Ma Xixi, he rediscovered the purest joy of playing CS.

He decided that after work each day, he’d try diving back into CS:GO himself.

Suddenly, a few lines of text appeared before his eyes:

“At 30, your professional career was in shambles. Beaten down by younger prodigies, your resolve was shattered, and you were barely making a living through streaming. While visiting your cousin’s house, you experienced the pure joy of CS through his gameplay and resolved to return to CS:GO for one final dance!”

“Reopen CS:GO. Reward: Old Veteran Gift Pack.”