Chapter 77

August 6, 2018.

Suitable for: Nothing (crossed out), drowning sorrows in alcohol.

Avoid: Everything.

……

"Sorry, you two came all this way to cheer for me, yet I couldn't even win a single minor match." Xu Beifang took a sip of beer, feeling somewhat guilty.

His two roommates had traveled thousands of miles to support him, yet he hadn't been able to present them with an ideal result.

The IEM Shanghai tournament had concluded, and VP had ultimately lost to NRG with a score of 0-2.

"It's fine, just being able to see you play on stage is enough to make me happy." Ma Dong remained emotionally stable; as a loyal CS: GO player, he wasn't surprised by this outcome.

Honestly, if it weren't for Xu Beifang playing for VP, even if someone had given him a free ticket to the finals, he might not have come—because this was a match with a foregone conclusion.

Although in CS: GO, miracles can always happen until the very last moment of a match.

But for professional teams, they can minimize the probability of such miracles occurring.

pasha had always been Ma Dong's idol; he had started on the path of CS: GO because he saw someone playing games who also had such huge muscles. This contrast attracted him and led him to gradually understand the game.

Yet, even as a fan of the muscle-bound player, Ma Dong still had a clear understanding of the strength gap between the two sides in this final.

If not for Xu Beifang's explosive performance in this tournament, VP might have struggled even to reach the semi-finals, let alone beat Tyloo.

And as for NRG?

Coming to participate in IEM Shanghai was purely a way for them to pick up some easy money.

NRG was ranked 9th in the world at the time, capable of going toe-to-toe with teams like fnc, mouz, Liquid, and FaZe.

What did an "old man" team like VP have to compare with a group of strong teams?

Therefore, Ma Dong believed the result of this match was predetermined.

"But we still lost, couldn't even take a single map." Xu Beifang felt very frustrated.

He knew NRG was strong, but he hadn't expected them to be *this* strong. In the finals, NRG swept VP 2-0, and even on Train, which VP had chosen themselves, they only managed to score 11 rounds.

Xiao Ming raised his glass to clink with Xu Beifang's, comforting him: "It's okay, what genius youth hasn't faced setbacks? This is just a little bit of frost and snow!"

"I believe these will become the final nutrients for you, Godfather, to win a Major championship. Besides, we, your own people, will definitely be fans for life, alright?"

Downing the 8-degree beer in one gulp, Xiao Ming picked up another chopstick of Lotus Root Blood Duck, his scalp quickly going numb from the spice.

While drinking beer, he added: "But Beifang, don't put pressure on yourself. The reason for losing this match doesn't lie with you at all. Your performance throughout the match was flawless. How many clutches did the other VP members lose? I was dying of anxiety watching from the audience!"

danking was frantically grabbing food on the side. Hearing this, he gave Xiao Ming a thumbs up: "I agree with that. I didn't expect VP to be so trash. neo dragging them down wasn't enough, pasha's form dropped off, and even byali was useless on the second map."

"This was purely you and michu playing 2 vs 5. How is that supposed to work?"

danking's words weren't just comfort; they were his true thoughts.

In this final, although Xu Beifang didn't have it as easy as he did against Tyloo.

But as an entry fragger, his performance in his position was still quite outstanding.

His entry attempt rate was as high as ever. Although his entry success rate was lower than usual, someone had calculated it to be around 39%.

And in this IEM Shanghai tournament, the average entry success rate for all riflemen was around 31%.

It is worth noting that the average entry success rate for all riflemen was pulled up by Xu Beifang.

This was enough to show the huge contribution he made on the offensive side.

VP was always able to frequently break through NRG's defensive lines, tearing a hole in them.

But the average level of NRG's members was higher. Xu Beifang often had fewer multi-kills after a successful entry, and the VP members who came to trade were always losing the clutches in ways they couldn't imagine.

"It's still that I'm not strong enough." Xu Beifang's smile carried a hint of bitterness. "If I could have broken through and taken out two people at the front several times, maybe we could have won that Overpass map. There were several times where we were just one shot away!"

Ma Dong felt that Xu Beifang's psychological pressure would need time to slowly wear off. They couldn't comfort him out of this unwillingness, so he simply changed the subject and asked:

"Have you really decided to go pro?"

A few months ago, when Xu Beifang decided to go pro, Xiao Ming never took it seriously, and Ma Dong just thought he was talking big.

Even when he trained hard every day, Ma Dong just thought Xu Beifang wanted to climb the ranks and take the game seriously.

It wasn't until later, when Xu Beifang went to Tyloo for a trial, that they realized their roommate could actually go pro.

Later on, they saw Xu Beifang shining in this IEM Shanghai tournament.

Xu Beifang also adjusted his emotions and nodded: "I told you all about this a long time ago. I'm going to go pro."

It's just that no one took it seriously back then.

"Then what about school?"

Xu Beifang picked up a spoonful of meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed continuously, feeling the explosion of spicy and fresh flavors in his mouth.

"Just tell the counselor the situation. When school is about to start, I'll just go and apply for a leave of absence."

danking, sitting next to them, was being blown away by the spicy Jiangxi cuisine, drinking water non-stop. He also asked:

"What about your parents? Do they agree with you going pro?"

danking's own parents were quite open-minded and didn't have any opinions about this circle.

Of course, it might also be because they didn't want him to be a couch potato at home all day, so they planned to let him go out and interact with society.

After all, even though he says he's working, danking is still taking money from home every month.

Xu Beifang smiled embarrassedly: "I didn't dare tell them……"

"How come?" Ma Dong asked concisely.

"You all know that my parents are both sailors; this line of work is actually very hard. They worked hard to get me ashore, just wanting me to find a good job on land, settle down, get married, have children, and live a normal life."

Ma Dong and the others nodded. In fact, this is the wish of most parents; they don't expect their children to be rich or have great achievements, as long as they are safe and healthy for the rest of their lives.

"I finally got into university. Although our school can't compare to Tsinghua or Peking, it's at least a bottom-tier 211. In their eyes, I can find a very good job after graduation, as long as I follow the steps."

Xu Beifang explained, "If I suddenly say I'm going to play esports, they'll just think I'm addicted to the internet. They might even come off the ship and beat me up."

"My current arguments are all pale and weak." Xu Beifang smiled again, "But at least I got runner-up with VP this time, and the prize money is 50,000 in total."

Xiao Ming nodded: "That's pretty good. 10,000 each. This one match is equivalent to a white-collar worker's monthly salary."

"But the champion gets 125,000! That's more than double the difference!"

Ma Dong glanced at Xiao Ming and added: "The runner-up prize is 50,000 USD! That's about 350,000 in RMB!"

"350,000!!!"

Xiao Ming was instantly dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

You have to know that he had looked into the future prospects of his major; an ordinary accountant only makes about 6,000 a month. 350,000—they would have to work for 58 months to earn that!

"Godfather, take me with you to go pro. I don't want to spend another day in this crappy school!!" Xiao Ming instantly crowded next to Xu Beifang.

Ignoring the clowning Xiao Ming, Xu Beifang explained: "It's not that exaggerated. My current weekly salary is 400 Euros, which isn't high, but the club doesn't take a cut of the prize money from major tournaments. We players and the coaching staff split it, but it's mainly for the players."

"After taxes, I can get about 8,000 USD. Once this prize money hits my account, I'll have the confidence to tell my parents that I want to take this path, and that I can earn money in CS: GO esports with my own skills."

"If you can't make money and put too much effort into a career, the elders will only think you're wasting your time. But if you have earnings, as long as it doesn't break the law, they will think you're doing great." This was a principle Xu Beifang summarized from his previous life.

This society is realistic; as long as you can make money, that's the truth!

In fact, this is the same in CS: GO. Before, Xu Beifang had no achievements, and even if his performance on Faceit was very good, everyone still didn't recognize him.

But now that his status has changed to a free agent, many teams will throw olive branches his way.

Ma Dong, Xiao Ming, and the others felt a bit melancholy again. Now their brother is on the right track, having taken the most critical first step on his professional path.

What about them?

University life is always beautiful but confusing.

The three of them were silent for a while, drinking and eating, with only danking being blown away by the spice.

He just didn't understand, were Xijiang people raised in the Flame Mountain?

How can this food be eaten? But it's so delicious!

Recalling the BO3 that ended today, Xu Beifang couldn't help but admire the wisdom of the veterans.

They might have anticipated the outcome of the match since yesterday. Going out to play at night wasn't "throwing," but rather a clear understanding of their own strength.

Just then, a WeChat notification sound disrupted his thoughts.

A female classmate @-ed him in the class group.

Xu Beifang was confused and could only reply with:?

Immediately after, a link was thrown out, and then the other person asked below: "Beifang, is this you?"

It was a Bilibili link, showing the uploader's name as—CSGO Jinnan Jun.

Xu Beifang now knew that this CSGO editing blogger might have come up with some new tricks.

Xiao Ming and the others also saw the information in the class group and clicked in one by one to check.

"A C-tier player with 1200 hours, can he go pro? His answer is yes!"

As soon as Ma Dong and Xiao Ming saw this title, they gradually understood everything: "Holy crap, this Jinnan Jun made a documentary for you!"

Clicking play, the video meticulously produced by Jinnan Jun played slowly:

"A C-tier player with 1200 hours, can he go pro?"

Just this one sentence aroused enough interest from netizens, and the video screen was also filled with "No."

After the opening, Jinnan Jun slowly began to narrate Xu Beifang's experience on the path to going pro.

From the initial arrogance of posting a highlight reel on Bilibili, to the later critique by Yang Zhiqiang.

Among them, the ridicule and mockery from netizens were all written in, making many players feel the same way.

Every CSGO player has had the dream of becoming a professional player, but most of them aren't good enough and wouldn't say it so publicly.

What they worry about is just not being good enough and being "kindly greeted" by netizens with words.

Immediately after, there was a series of interesting things Xu Beifang did on Bilibili.

Starting from 10,000 bots a day, actively listening to others' suggestions to practice, and later constantly changing his practice route following high-ranked players like Leon Kai.

The scene of meeting Qiezi in the ladder also surprised many players.

They then realized that the man who broke Qiezi's defense was the protagonist of the video in front of them.

Duo-queueing with danking, being invited by Tyloo for a trial, and completing the achievement of 【That year at twenty-one, standing like a lackey】.

The scenes of failing the trial and being mocked by netizens, and soloing with netizens with his personal temper, also made netizens smile.

Approaching the overall tone of the video, the voiceover tone Jinnan Jun found also became low:

"Xu Beifang, who came to Faceit, withstood high ping and constantly charged towards the goal of the top 100 on Faceit, hoping to get a chance to go pro, but no one was willing to lend a helping hand. No one would look forward to an older player who is 21 and has no match experience..."

"Xu Beifang suddenly closed the live stream, making netizens sigh. Many people in the CNCS circle were helpless. Under the questioning of his good friend danking, he explained that he had found a job, and finally, at his invitation, he would go to the IEM Shanghai tournament..."

"Although losing a partner to fight side-by-side with made danking very uncomfortable, he still hoped to awaken his friend's fighting spirit in this tournament."

"But I never expected that on the second day of the match, Xu Beifang took off his Tyloo jersey and revealed the VP jersey underneath. I don't know when, but he had already become a member of VP!"

At this moment, the entire video screen was filled with "Ah!" and "?".

Everyone didn't know why this O. Henry ending appeared.

A strong sense of contrast rippled in their hearts. Their expressions in front of the video were exactly the same as danking in the picture.

What the hell?

How did he suddenly become a VP player?

Jinnan Jun didn't explain and continued to narrate: "Joining the server, he finally started his first match on the stage."

"Under the confusion of his good friend, Nice showed all the fighting spirit in his heart. In this match, he easily slashed 5Power and successfully won the match."

"Later, he also became VP's thigh, charging bravely in the IEM Shanghai tournament and achieving good results. Although he lost to the world's 9th ranked NRG, his performance as a rookie was impeccable."

"From a C-tier player who couldn't even walk properly, to killing everyone on the stage of IEM Shanghai, the price was 4 months of time, hard training from morning to night, refusing invitations to dinner with roommates, and the result of enjoying loneliness alone..."

"But, in the end, he did it!"

"He took the first step on the professional stage, but it won't be his last. The future of this young Chinese player is infinitely bright, working hard towards his dreams in places others can't see."

danking clapped his hands, his whole person full of fighting spirit:

"RNM, it's lit!!"

Looking at the nearly 70,000 views in the video description, Xu Beifang knew—

He's going to be famous!

I've laid some groundwork earlier; the current VP configuration simply can't beat NRG. For this kind of match that is bound to be lost, I will use some methods to summarize it. I don't know how this way of handling it is, you can give some feedback.

(End of chapter)