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

September 23, 2021, Thursday.

Good for: Sacrifices, bathing, taking office, travel...

After class in the morning, Jiang Yang received his "Crazy Thursday" meal set from the delivery guy.

As a first-year student, it was quite extravagant for him to be spending like this at the end of the month.

If it were just his living expenses, Jiang Yang would definitely be eating dirt by the end of the month. But fortunately, he worked a summer job for a month with his cousin, earning 10,000 yuan in salary and a 20,000 yuan bonus.

At first, Jiang Yang was reluctant to accept the bonus because, honestly, he had never seen so much money before, and it felt a bit overwhelming.

But Ma Xixi explained to Jiang Yang that it was simply because he had been active in his livestream, and during August, CSBOY’s livestream received a lot of gifts. This 30,000 yuan was just a small portion of it, so Jiang Yang eventually accepted the bonus.

At that time, Jiang Yang had actually considered taking a break from school to stay with his cousin.

He thought that with his current progress, he would soon be able to become the top player on the domestic platform and then use this achievement to join a professional team.

They discussed the prospects of a career in CS:GO, the current environment in CNCS, and the challenges he would face if he chose this path.

Ma Xixi told him everything he knew.

He didn’t think Jiang Yang was bragging because his progress in the game was faster than anyone Ma Xixi had ever seen.

He believed that with determination, Jiang Yang could definitely pursue a professional career in the future.

But as a professional in the CS industry, Ma Xixi didn’t want Jiang Yang to go pro.

Because it was too difficult!

The salary in domestic CS careers wasn’t high; even the best clubs like Tyloo only paid around 30,000-40,000 yuan a month. But if Jiang Yang worked as his assistant, Ma Xixi could easily offer him a salary of 30,000-40,000 yuan.

Moreover, Jiang Yang was truly talented at livestreaming. Even without any major tournaments to commentate on, just by being present in the livestream, he brought in even more traffic than before.

So Ma Xixi needed to make sure Jiang Yang understood both the good and bad sides of his decision.

If Jiang Yang was truly determined to go pro, Ma Xixi could help him connect with major domestic clubs or even send him to a foreign club’s youth training program.

But he was also worried that Jiang Yang might have become too distracted and didn’t want to return to school.

After all, Jiang Yang was still young, only 16, and this was the age when most people just wanted to have fun.

After listening to Ma Xixi, Jiang Yang didn’t argue much. He knew that his cousin had his best interests in mind. After all, Ma Xixi had been a professional player and was much more familiar with the industry.

However, after a month of working during the summer, Jiang Yang had truly fallen in love with CS:GO.

He enjoyed the feeling of improving, the thrill of landing a kill, and the satisfaction of winning together with his teammates in intense matches.

Even after hearing about the current state of CNCS, he still wanted to pursue a professional career in CS:GO without hesitation.

However, Jiang Yang's father had taught him an important lesson when he was younger:

“Goals are meant to be achieved, not just talked about.”

So Jiang Yang decided to attend university first. He planned to improve his skills and then show his cousin, through his results, that he was serious about a career in esports.

With his “Crazy Thursday” meal set in hand, he walked back to his dormitory. As soon as he opened the door, he saw three pairs of eyes light up.

“Damn, Yang, is that for us?”

“Man, you're the campus heartthrob!”

“You're handsome, rich, and living the life!”

Jiang Yang rolled his eyes at his Tianjin roommates. “So, are you eating or not?”

“Of course we’re eating!”

After 10 days of military training, they had all gotten quite familiar with each other. In fact, Jiang Yang had become somewhat famous across the campus.

Due to his good looks, he had been voted the campus heartthrob by freshmen during military training, and now, there were people daily asking about him on the campus confession wall.

Luckily, Jiang Yang had experience in high school with this kind of attention, so besides attending necessary classes, he mostly stayed in his dorm and avoided the crowds.

“Yang, when are you going to make Perfect World Rank #1?” Huang Zhipeng, his Tianjin roommate, asked.

Jiang Yang heard the question and imitated his accent: “Today!”

Although he had entered university and had to deal with various tasks, Jiang Yang hadn’t let up on his training. Even during the 10 days of military training, he only skipped the 5km run.

After training, whenever he had time, he would practice his shooting.

Once classes started, whenever he didn’t have class, he focused all his attention on CS:GO. As for relationships and socializing, he didn’t actively pursue them.

All those unnecessary social interactions were simply too time-consuming.

This focus had propelled Jiang Yang’s improvement.

“System, start!”

With a thought, the system panel appeared in front of him once again.

[Old Veteran: Jiang Yang]

[Age: 30]

[Team: None]

[Status: Comeback in progress]

[Overall Level: Professional lv.2]

[Gunplay: Professional lv.1]

[Awareness: Professional lv.3]

[Map Understanding: Professional lv.2]

[Positioning: Professional lv.5]

[Reflexes: Professional lv.8]

[Communication: Professional lv.2]

[Handgun Proficiency: Amateur lv.9]

[Sniper Proficiency: Professional lv.5]

[Rifle Proficiency: Professional lv.1]

[Other Weapon Proficiency: Professional lv.4]

[Comeback Point: -43960]

[Signature Skills: ‘Hunter’s ECO Clutch (Intermediate)’, ‘NIKO’s Pre-Aiming (Intermediate)’, ‘MachineWJQ’s Formula Commentary (Beginner)’]

[Personal Items: None]

Looking at the system’s data now, Jiang Yang had achieved professional level in almost all areas except for handgun proficiency.

That was understandable because, aside from being good with the Desert Eagle, his skills with the USP and Glock were a bit lacking.

He believed that with time, he would be able to master the handgun skills as well.

Both rifles and handguns required a lot of practice, and Jiang Yang wasn’t in a rush.

His awareness and map understanding had improved quickly, partly due to his mastery of "Dust2," which helped him transfer his skills to other maps.

Additionally, he hadn’t realized that his “MachineWJQ’s Formula Commentary” skill also provided significant growth.

At first, Jiang Yang thought the skill was useless since he was planning to become a pro player, not a commentator.

But when he learned it, he realized that understanding game commentary helped him appreciate match strategies, especially the importance of watching the mini-map.

He saw how players’ movements and tactics on the mini-map dictated what actions needed to be taken. This helped him focus on playing for the team, not just chasing kills.

His game understanding and awareness improved rapidly after that.

With the strong positioning ability gained from Dust2, even his [Positioning] skill had increased.

As for sniping, his skill was absurdly high, and he hadn’t done any special training—just casually practiced 100 shots during his downtime.

Sometimes, talent just can’t be stopped.

For signature skills, the improvements were slower because they required more practice, but that would come with time.

The data from the system gave Jiang Yang a solid foundation to aim for the top of the platform.

The system had confirmed his professional-level skills, so if he couldn’t make it to the top, what was the point of being a pro player?

Plus, sniping was such a powerful weapon in ranked matches.

According to Jiang Yang’s understanding, his sniper skills were already at the level of a second-tier professional.

In ranked matches on Perfect World, he had even faced off against New Happy’s sniper, Jee, and successfully outplayed him.

That was a sign of his true abilities.

After sharing his "Crazy Thursday" meal with his roommates, Jiang Yang sat down at his computer to start his climbing journey for the day.

He checked the leaderboard—he was currently ranked second on Perfect World, with 74 stars in S rank. The top player had 75 stars, only one more than him.

In Perfect World, after reaching S rank, the number of stars determined your position. The more stars, the higher you ranked.

As long as his rating was above 1.2, he could earn stars after a win.

This meant Jiang Yang only needed two wins to claim the top spot.

His roommates knew about this, and they all sat back to watch.

After a brief warm-up, Jiang Yang started his first match in Dust2 on the ranked ladder.

As expected in higher-ranked games, there were many familiar faces, and people often checked the battle history of their teammates.

When they saw "Farmer Junior" in the team, they immediately checked Jiang Yang’s stats and were impressed.

With a 70% win rate and a 1.41 rating as a sniper, it was intimidating at first glance.

Knowing Jiang Yang liked to play with a sniper, his teammates were very supportive. Jiang Yang was able to use the sniper from the start of the round, which had a huge impact on the game.

Though the opponent played with strong tactics, they still lost in the end.

After that round, Jiang Yang received a rating of 1.51 and earned another star.

Just as he was about to start his next match, he saw a notification in the top right corner.

A player called "Jiang Yang himself" from the previous round, who had performed poorly, had sent him a friend request.

Jiang Yang was initially hesitant, but since it was a fan, he accepted the friend request.

“Jiang Yang himself: 666”

“Jiang Yang himself: Nice game.”

Jiang Yang simply typed a reply: “Thanks, lol.”

“Jiang Yang himself: Want to duo for a couple of games?”

Jiang Yang immediately refused: “Sorry, I’m grinding for points.”

However, just as he rejected, he noticed a familiar message on his screen.

What’s going on?

Wasn’t he still not top-ranked?

He quickly checked the leaderboard again.

Turns out, the streamer on some platform had lost his last match, and now his stars had dropped to 74.

Jiang Yang automatically moved up to the top rank on Perfect World.

[Mission: Reach #1 on any platform]

[Reward being distributed...]

...

Meanwhile, in the VG club.

The veteran player, Ah Zhong, poked his head over to ask: “What did the Ninth Master say? Have you checked out that kid’s skills?”

259 turned his head, unimpressed: “I think that kid thinks I’m too bad to duo with him.”

Ah Zhong laughed: “I told you to practice your aim. Otherwise, you’ll never match up to these prodigies. Just be upfront about your intentions.”

259 shook his head: “Forget it. If he’s really that talented, we’ll see him in the pro scene later.”

As one of the most renowned CS team captains in China, 259 liked to scout talent from ranked matches.

He had noticed the player ‘Miss Excellence’ a few days ago. The young guy played really well, and after watching his videos, he was impressed by his skills.

But he was still a one-trick pony, which left 259 conflicted.

Since his invitation was declined, 259 wasn’t going to push further.