Chapter 156: Why should we let others eat our own team's flashbang?

"This Banana Road is a bit too fierce, isn't it?" hunter rolled his eyes, mimicking his younger brother, and muttered to himself, "It's like playing against my cousin."

hunter's evaluation was very high; after all, his cousin was none other than NiKo, one of the world's strongest entry fraggers today.

However, recalling the HLTV news he had seen before the match, he felt it was to be expected. After all, HLTV's assessment of nice was also that he was one of the strongest entry fraggers in the second half of 2018.

It was no surprise to see such a performance.

With both sides locked in a fierce battle, the score had already reached 7:3.

Relying on the coordination between him and nexa to counter-flash on B Site, they had managed to scrape together a few rounds.

Although they had won two consecutive full-buy rounds, they had to admit—ever since that star player on the other side entered Banana Road, everything had changed.

The opponent's offensive pressure on Banana Road was simply too strong!

And what was hardest to deal with was that the opponent wouldn't give them any room to breathe.

The opponent loved to push quickly on Banana Road. Although they didn't die to nice every single time, this playstyle put them under immense pressure.

nice's kill count had now reached a level that felt surreal—averaging 1.5 kills per round over 10 rounds; he was just a total monster.

"It's alright." nexa and hunter fist-bumped. "Win one more round, and they'll be broke. Stay steady."

"hunter, you and ottond can set up a combo at A2 Floor. Try to trade some kills in the connector."

"As for Banana Road, just play standard map control. Don't push deep to look for plays."

nexa's reaction was quick. Since they couldn't beat them on Banana Road, they might as well just use utility to apply pressure.

Then, let the teammates heavily defending A Site find a way to gain a man advantage.

It just so happened that otto had an AWP this round, which could coordinate well with hunter.

The countdown ended. otto arrived at the A2 Floor balcony, his AWP hard-aiming the spiral stairs crossing point, while hunter stood inside the boiler room, holding the VIP while quietly waiting for feedback from the opponent.

"A2 Floor has set up a combo; the AWP is hard-aiming, and the cousin in the boiler room is ready to trade. And this wave, the spiral stairs duo is preparing for a fast push—Vitality is in trouble!" Ma Xixi said in the stream with a hint of worry.

"What about otto? The AWP is hard-aiming the stairs, but he missed! Zywoo's strafe speed was too fast; he didn't connect that shot and instead got hit down to low health."

"But the cousin is still in the boiler room. What!! The cousin in the boiler room fired first but was instantly countered by Zywoo. This CT combo at A2 Floor was countered by Zywoo alone, who got 1.9 kills!"

"That little French fatty is fierce!"

Seeing the kill feed in the top right, Xu Beifang synthesized the information from his teammates and also began to move.

He first shoulder-peeked to pre-aim, confirming no one was hard-aiming behind the barrel, then moved to the tree position and sprayed through the wooden board to ensure no one was hiding behind it.

Then, step by step, he cleared the information next to the yellow wall.

"Dou Dou, can you help me burn the sandbags or throw a stone slab flash?" Xu Beifang asked over voice comms.

"Wait, let me throw a sandbag fire first, then I'll help you with the flash."

Having received Dou Dou's response, Xu Beifang held the crossing point. Seeing the sandbag fire fly out, he began to hug the wall and face it.

"Bang!"

Hearing the flashbang pop, Xu Beifang, who was ready, strafed out immediately.

A "fly head" was right there against the stone slab, weeping tears.

"Da-da-da~"

【nice used SG553 to headshot kill nexa】

"Nice flash, Dou Dou!" Xu Beifang praised. That flashbang had fully blinded nexa, and he only needed to fire.

"Huh?" Apex looked at the flashbang still in his hand, stunned. "I haven't thrown it yet."

"It was the opponent's flash!" Xu Beifang finally understood what had happened.

……

"Damn it, brothers, you have to call it out before throwing a flash!" nexa said, speechless. "Your flashbang went from release to pop way too fast; I had no room to react."

A Site was under pressure, and nexa intended to actively push forward to counter-flash, wanting a teammate to throw a flashbang.

But Espiranto threw the flashbang instantly from behind. He hadn't even reached his position and couldn't react at all, getting fully blinded by his own teammate's flash.

The moment his vision returned was the moment of his death. This feeling of dying at the hands of your own teammate was truly miserable.

B Site suddenly lost a player. Ottond in the connector actively rotated to B Site to reinforce, because at this moment, there was only one teammate left on B Site, and they had no utility left. Once faced with the opponent's fast push, no counter-measures could be taken.

nexa felt a splitting headache. "Letn1, just apply some pressure in the middle, then rotate to reinforce B Site. There's no point in you staying on A Site alone; you might as well come to gamble on a 3-man B defense."

……

"The player count is 5 vs 3. Vitality feinted on A Site, then turned around and rotated to B Site, preparing for a B-site rush."

"But the CTs gambled the site again. Otto stood at the coffin, hard-aiming the crossing point, and while fully blinded, he calculated the timing and killed Zywoo. He easily secured the first kill."

"Espiranto is standing at the second box, and Vitality threw a three-box fire. This round is over!" Although Ma Xixi's skill level wasn't high, his understanding of the game was quite good.

He clearly saw that the opponent's retake had already reached the long corridor, and he still had two flashbangs in his hand.

The CTs behind the second box were already facing the wall; they were organizing a counter-push!

"The CT behind the second box seized the opportunity and sprayed down the fully blinded nice, but his aim was a bit off; he couldn't hit Apex's head, and was counter-killed by Dou Dou!"

"But Ottond mixed out from the coffin smoke and killed RPK."

"Letn1 mixed out from the CT spawn smoke to trade, killed NBK, then turned and killed Dou Dou too!!" Ma Xixi sighed. "Because they started gambling the site and rotating early, they were even comfortable facing this attack, ultimately completing a 5 vs 3 retake."

【What is Vitality playing at! Gambled again】

【They never learn after being gambled so many times, sigh】

【The opponent's IGL must be a fan of Zeus, just stubbornly gambling the site like this】

【Actually, Vitality did feint on A Site, but the opponent just stubbornly gambled B and happened to run into it. What can you do?】

……

"Gambling again!!" The mask of pain was already hanging on Apex's face.

He truly couldn't understand the opponent's defensive playstyle. Whether they were ahead or behind, they loved to heavily defend and gamble on sites.

At times like this, Vitality is purely gambling.

If they find the right area, the attack can take the bomb site and score without taking any damage.

If they find the wrong area, it becomes a fierce firefight, and whether they win depends on their individual performance.

A 5-on-3 frontal engagement, with the opponent already set up with their utility, is not something that can be won easily.

"It's okay." Xu Beifang bumped fists with apex. "We still have the lead in the score; we just need two more rounds to make the first half perfect."

Xu Beifang's words made apex feel a bit better; no matter what, it was a fact that they were currently leading in the score.

Having lost several rounds in a row, they now had an economy of around 3400.

This economy could afford full armor and Galils, but the overall impact wouldn't be significant, as the opponents had all picked up SG553s.

"Save 2000 in economy, half-armor with pistols, keep about 2000, and remember to buy a smoke and a flashbang."

"The opponents know we're broke this round, so their sniper rifle should be at A Site. We can try to fake them out," apex explained his idea. "Throw an A-Site line smoke, pretend to hit A, but actually rotate quickly to B Site."

The quick A-Site line smoke was an unconventional explosive grenade tactic they had recently researched.

The specific direction involved using three smoke grenades to cut off the connection between the entire bomb site and the small and big pits, then rushing the big and small pits directly.

However, they were using it as a feint here.

Xu Beifang bought half-armor and a P250 with utility, then began moving toward the side path to control the map.

After confirming the opponent hadn't pushed VIP immediately, they each moved to their respective areas.

At 1:30, three smoke grenades directly split the battlefield.

"Nice, you stay in Mid to harass; everyone else, quick rush Banana."

Xu Beifang nodded to show he understood, then walked alone in Mid, making footsteps and actively moving toward the Link.

If the opponent's Link sniper was cautious, they would choose to retreat to the bomb site at the first sign of trouble, opting to abandon the Link.

However, judging by the trajectory of the smoke grenade flying toward his face, the opponent should be in the Library direction.

Xu Beifang aimed at the general direction and strafed directly out of the Link smoke.

"Bang!"

—Bang!

HP -74

ottond missed his flick shot and got tapped in the head by the P250, scaring him into jumping backward to safety.

With that much health, another P250 shot to the body would likely kill him, so he didn't dare look at the Link again and could only hold the Library area.

"Xu is still ruthless here; his form is excellent today. He came out of the smoke and immediately tapped the Library sniper in the head. It's a pity he didn't have a Desert Eagle, otherwise, he would have secured the kill."

"On the other side, espiranto is also firing from the Yellow Wall with his sniper, choosing to return to CT Spawn to hold the crossing."

Seeing his teammate miss the shot, nexa stood at the Coffin, holding the crossing and preparing to fire.

But just as they met, he heard a "bang," got tapped in the head, and was left with only 28 HP.

He didn't dare stay long and quickly retreated.

With this health, he couldn't turn into an ECOtezhongbing, but as the commander, he understood that staying alive was more important now.

As long as he survived, it wouldn't be a big problem even if he let the opponents plant the bomb.

The fierce firefight at B Site made Karrigan and the others at A Site restless.

Two teammates were rotating back from CT Spawn, while he himself was pushing forward from A1 alone.

Carefully peeking time and time again, searching for positions where people might be hiding...

"Bang bang!!"

Finally, while jiggling to clear the A1 corner, the P250 fired continuously from there, instantly killing him!

【Nice used P250 to headshot kill hunter】

"There's a lurker left at A1, watch out for A1 flanking you!!" hunter shouted loudly in the voice chat.

Being suddenly killed like this was something he really hadn't expected.

The few CTs who had already returned to CT Spawn felt hesitant, considering whether to go back to A.

They had their doubts, but the heavy gunfire at B Site still made them choose to rush over to help.

"Brothers, A Site is undefended, can we rotate to A now??"

After securing the first kill, Xu Beifang picked up a long gun and quickly searched the entire A Site.

Just as he expected, the team nexa led was very active in rotating back.

They had started a firefight at B Site, and A Site was completely undefended!

The main force at B Site had already entered the bomb site but hadn't secured any kills. They were originally in a dilemma, but after hearing Xu Beifang's words, apex immediately shouted excitedly: "Run, run, run!! Turn around and go back to A!"

The Vitality members immediately started running, retreating from the B Site bomb site.

Ma Xixi was stunned when he saw this scene: "What!! Vitality, who had taken the bomb site, turned around to hit A!!"

"Top-tier rotation! After taking B Site, they didn't plant the bomb, but went to A Site to plant it instead. This play is too top-tier!!"

Ma Zong expressed that he was already dumbfounded.

Even the 20-second rotation on the Boston map was done by FaZe without having taken the bomb site.

This was the first time he had seen a rotation performed after an area had already been occupied.

Hearing the footsteps of the opponents retreating from Banana, nexa also realized: "They're rotating to A!! Chase them quickly!!!"

Having spent so many years in second-tier tournaments, this was also his first time encountering such an outrageous rotation tactic.

espiranto chased to Banana with his sniper rifle and successfully caught Vitality's tail, sniping RPK.

However, on the A Site side, lent1, who was already rotating back on the road, made a mistake and was directly held by Xu Beifang in the Pit.

"3-on-3, there seems to be a sniper rifle chasing out from Banana," RPK reminded.

They lost one person in the first Banana attack, and he was chased and killed, so now only Nice, apex, and Zywoo remained alive.

Zywoo and apex jumped onto A2.

Xu Beifang glanced at the time above his head and gave a suggestion: "No need to rush, wait for them to make a mistake first, there's still plenty of time."

With this formation stretched out, the initiative was entirely in their own hands.

Xu Beifang stood on the bicycle in the Pit, holding A1 directly, quietly waiting for the opponent to appear.

【apex used P250 to headshot kill espiranto】

The clutch situation came down to 3-on-2, and Zywoo jumped down from A2 with a spin jump to plant the bomb.

He originally intended to plant a safe bomb, but the moment he moved, he saw an arm on the left side of the Link.

"Link! Link!!" Zywoo shouted, pulling out his P250.

Xu Beifang peeked directly and sprayed down the low-health nexa.

Zywoo picked up the C4 again and began to plant a safe bomb.

"The remaining one, otto, is holding the crossing in the Library; he only has 20 HP left," Ma Xixi praised. "Although the rotation looked a bit abstract at first, because they took a huge risk without a CT Spawn smoke."

"But I have to say, Xu's performance at A Site was steady; he stood in the Pit and intercepted two rotating CTs, creating space for his teammates to rotate back."

"I can only say this rotation was very imaginative!"

otto only had 20-something HP left and had no intention of playing the clutch.

After pretending to aim for a while, he chose to save his weapon.

At this moment, nexa actively called for a timeout.

The opponent's rotation had truly left him a bit dazed.

They had already rushed into the bomb site, yet they didn't plant the bomb and rotated instead. apex's command had opened the door to a new world for him.

He had to calm down now.

(End of chapter)