Chapter 91

"Two CTs rushed out of the Supermarket through the smoke; there was no time for them to adjust, but with people at the Supermarket corner, the Sofa, and the perimeter of the Bomb Site, a concentrated burst of fire... The match is over!!!"

"The score is locked at 19:15; VP has secured victory in the first round of overtime! This match has officially concluded!"

"After dropping the first map, VP has completed an astonishing comeback, winning two in a row!!!"

Wanjiqi's voice on the phone excitedly described the match situation, while Danking sat in his gaming chair, staring at the frozen screen in disbelief.

In his field of vision, the live audience was offering applause for VP's comeback.

His mind was still stuck on the moment Stewie2k tried to seize an opportunity with a one-way smoke, only to be inexplicably sprayed down through the smoke by Xu Beifang.

What is going on... We're both professional players, Beifang, where have you been secretly evolving?

Danking was still a bit dazed.

"The match is over. VP has told us in this game that they are still that ferocious Polish giant bear. Relying on their immense resilience, they have successfully taken down the restructured Brazilians!"

In a hotel in Hong Kong.

Watching the live stream, Xiaogui subconsciously blocked out the unprofessional commentary from the broadcast, but he was still amazed by the result of this match.

In the IEM Shanghai tournament at the beginning of the month, although they lost to VP.

But CSGO players of this era are actually quite clear-headed; they are opponents during the match, but they can still be good friends afterward.

The Tyloo members have always had a good impression of Xu Beifang, whether because of his fierce individual skill or his relationship with their own youth trainee, Danking.

Even from the clips of Xu Beifang he saw online, this young man was always gentle and mild-mannered, making it impossible to dislike him.

As a player who has been "playing with smoke" for two and a half years, Xiaogui actually knew how lethal that moment from Stewie2k was.

If he had stayed hidden in that one-way smoke, not firing at first, waiting for a few Terrorists to go down, then taking out the bomb planter with one shot, or directly picking off the Terrorist guarding B2 Floor, and then trapping the remaining Terrorists in the Bomb Site, VP would have been in a very difficult spot.

Yet he didn't expect Xiao Xu to suddenly react and abruptly spray Stewie2k to death.

This kill became one of the most critical moments of the round, and the subsequent instant kill on Tarik made it impossible for MIBR to play.

"VP's comeback really has half my credit," Xiaogui remarked. Under the skeptical gazes of his teammates, he said without changing his expression, "If I hadn't made Xiao Xu watch more demos of X9 and the others earlier, do you think that kill could have been made?"

"Do you understand the 'Danish Outsider' or not!"

Mo covered his head: "I only just realized now, Xu Haowen, that you are this shameless."

"Have you been hanging out with Danking for too long? Have you become a 'Credit-Stealing Kid' now too?"

Mo sighed again: "Honestly, I suddenly want to 'optimize' Xu Haowen out. All he does all day is brag and do nothing."

"Fine, fine, fine, Liu Ke, that's how you want to play it, huh." Xiaogui wasn't angry; he understood this was just a joke between friends. "When we get back to the mainland, watch me buy out Tyloo and show you what real strength is!"

The room immediately erupted into laughter again.

But after the jokes, the Tyloo members felt a bit lost.

VP's ZOTAC Cup journey continued, while they had encountered the former VP member Taz-led Team Kinguin in the first day of Group A, and were defeated by this all-Polish team by a narrow margin.

Because they lost Map 1 14:16—just two rounds short—they couldn't hold on in the end, and subsequently, Team Kinguin's Minise exploded with performance, ultimately defeating them on Map 3.

In the IEM Shanghai tournament, they were able to go toe-to-toe with VP.

Now VP was already stepping into the ZOTAC Cup finals, while they had been eliminated in the first round, which was truly a blow to him.

VP certainly had some luck with the group draw, but if anyone still thought that defeating MIBR, a championship favorite, was just luck, then they were truly blind...

The Tyloo members thought to themselves.

I didn't make any footsteps! How could he spray me to death like that?

Is the sniper barrel too long?

That shouldn't be!

The moment the match ended, Stewie2k was still immersed in confusion; he didn't even know how he had died.

As a first-generation smoke-mixing expert, his control over smoke was actually very good, and he clearly knew what effects his smoke grenades could achieve.

Could it be that his position was judged the moment he scoped in?

Stewie2k thought about it and then dismissed this judgment from his mind, because he was killed almost the instant he scoped in; the opponent's reaction couldn't possibly be that fast.

This meant the opponent had already judged that a smoke-mix was possible beforehand.

Could it really just be a random spray? This luck is a bit too good.

While Stewie2k was still wondering, on the other side of the stage in the VP player area, there was already frantic cheering.

Successfully turning defeat into victory on Map 3 and completing the feat of winning two after losing one, an indescribable sense of exhilaration erupted in their hearts.

Xu Beifang took off his headset and heard Pasha shouting excitedly in the room: "Wuhu~"

"Great job, brother! How did you guess he was in that position?" Byali reached out his hand toward him, asking with a smile.

"Somebody likes to play with this smoke grenade; I remember it very clearly, so I subconsciously sprayed a burst. I didn't expect to actually take the opponent out." Xu Beifang reached out and shook hands with Byali, then the two shared a brief hug to celebrate this spectacular match.

Everyone on VP wore a radiant smile; Pasha looked at the audience below the stage and even struck a standard barbell-lifting pose.

Never seen such a beautiful comeback; please cheer for me, cheer for... cheer for me!

Honestly, even in public matches, falling behind to this extent, fighting back from a 1:7 score, and finally completing a comeback in overtime—this is an exciting moment for any team member—let alone in a professional match!

Never mind the prize money, the audience, or others' expectations; just the pure desire to win made their hearts surge.

Kuben, as the coach, maintained his composure and didn't crowd in with the players. After their first wave of excitement ended, he walked to Xu Beifang's side and gave him a simple high-five:

"Nice, you played very well this match; it's all thanks to your performance."

Although Pasha had two more kills than Nice on Map 3, Nice's performance in several key rounds was fantastic!

And on Map 3, Mirage, his tactical impact from pushing forward many times was something Pasha couldn't compare to.

Several times he was at the front, and after getting the information from A1, he chose to stay still, allowing the rest of VP to gamble on sites. At this time, even if Xu Beifang didn't get a kill, could you say he didn't contribute to the team?

No one could say that.

Xu Beifang's bold forward-pushing operations brought huge benefits to VP on the defensive side!

He was already on the verge of becoming the true core of the team.

▲ttkΛn▲c〇

"It seems this ZOTAC Cup tournament can earn you a better contract," Kuben said with a smile.

Xu Beifang also nodded.

Only Pasha was frowning on the side, not agreeing with Kuben's plan.

Pasha himself certainly wanted to play until the '19 Katowice, but judging from the feedback from the club and the degree of his own decline in form, it was highly unlikely he would make it to that time.

Perhaps after this London Major, his "last dance," he would have to start preparing for retirement, or even choose to retire directly at the Major.

Neo would also likely choose to go to a tier-two team to lead some newcomers. In this situation, let Nice be the "Dean" at VP?

Forget it!

As the talent he discovered himself, he didn't want Nice to spend his best years in this short-sighted club.

Pasha was calculating in his heart which teams would be making roster changes after the '18 London Major, and then let Nice go and try out.

Kuben was full of joy, not knowing that his own captain was already favoring someone else.

"Everyone get ready, go shake hands with the opponents; don't keep them waiting."

Under the coach's lead, everyone sorted out their emotions, trying to be calm when facing MIBR, otherwise, it wouldn't be good to burst out laughing in front of these old friends.

Pasha couldn't help himself when shaking hands with the Godfather; the Godfather's face turned dark: "You guy, I'm holding a grudge. Next time we face each other, watch how I crush you."

Pasha restrained his smile and hurriedly argued: "Godfather... I was just happy to see you."

The Godfather "hummed" and ignored him.

In reality, he wasn't angry. If it were an unfamiliar player doing this, he would be very annoyed, thinking the opponent didn't respect him.

But between old friends and old rivals, there wasn't that much drama; this was actually proof of their good relationship.

However, the Godfather also muttered in his heart: 'It's not like you were the one carrying, what are you laughing at!'

When shaking hands with Xu Beifang, he quickly took on the demeanor of an old senior.

When the two hugged briefly, the Godfather praised: "Young man, you played well. Keep your style; there will be a place for you among the top-tier riflemen in the future."

"Thank you." Xu Beifang also humbly thanked him in the face of the Godfather's praise.

The Godfather's expression wasn't fake; he had always had a good impression of Brazilian CS.

Under the Godfather's lead, the Brazilians wanted to bring teams from all over the world together to communicate and improve, to get stronger together; they weren't afraid of opponents surpassing them.

The conflict between the Brazilians and the Danes actually stemmed from this.

During their dynasty period, the Brazilians were also very willing to pull the teams below them along, sharing the secrets of success, training with them, and improving together.

But after the Danes lifted the Major trophy on the stage, everyone gradually saw their strength.

The Godfather, Coldzera, and others also invited Astralis to do the same thing, but Astralis didn't agree. They wouldn't even accept practice matches from other strong teams now, which made the Brazilians very unhappy.

Later, because of Coldzera's low emotional intelligence and Device talking trash on Twitter, the two sides developed a grudge.

Xu Beifang soon shook hands with Stewie2k, the former "Pride of the Chinese," but looking at the gloomy Stewie2k, he didn't say anything, just went through the motions.

After the routine handshake, Xu Beifang was pulled in front of an advertising board for an interview.

"First, congratulations to Nice for winning the match against MIBR. How are you feeling right now?" the female host, dressed in revealing clothing, asked.

If it were his first time on stage, Xu Beifang might have been a bit nervous, but when he learned to treat the audience as bots, perhaps it should be the audience who was nervous. He smiled and answered in Chinese:

"Of course I'm very happy; after all, we've secured our ticket to the finals, and now we can go and compete for that trophy."

Listening to the magnetic voice of the young player in front of her, the beautiful host also smiled from the heart. She felt that coming to interview today was truly a treat; this kind of voice should be listened to secretly at home alone—it would be even better if he said some forbidden content.

Thinking this, under the influence of his voice, she felt this young man's appearance was quite a bit more handsome.

"I saw that you guys had a very difficult time in this match; you lost the first map, was the pressure high afterward?"

"It was indeed very high, but we chose not to give up and were still working hard to find opportunities. This is perhaps the most basic joy of competitive sports: as long as you don't give up, there will always be a chance."

"This man is too good at winning fans; listening to his interview is simply a treat," Wanjiqi remarked in the live stream. "I feel like if Nice stops playing professionally, going out to be a 'suggestive' male streamer would have a huge market!"

The live stream audience heard Wanjiqi's outrageous description, and the screen was instantly filled with question marks.

【What are you saying?】

【Super Moderator! Where is the Super Moderator?】

【Actually, I think so too; I'm already a fan.】

【When I type a question mark, it's not because I have a problem, but because I think you have a problem!】

【......】

"...... Alright, let's not talk nonsense. Let's look at the stats for today's BO3 and critique how Lü Bu performed."

Wanjiqi familiarly opened HLTV to check the stats for this BO3.

"These stats are truly exaggerated; the kill counts for the three matches were 25, 30, and 28!" Wanjiqi clicked his tongue in wonder in the live stream. "Xiao Xu played against this restructured international squad and put up stats like he was 'frying fish'! 83 kills across three maps, it's too crazy!"

【Outrageous】

【Today is God Lü Bu!】

【The MVP for this BO3 is settled】

【Three Heroes Battle Lü Bu, this time they really didn't win!】

【VP: Brothers, we have a cheater!! We're taking off】

【Total rating 1.42, this Xiao Xu feels like he's locking on randomly】

【Entry-fragging machine, family!】

"On Map 1, Xiao Xu got 25 kills, while the others were a bit lackluster; only Byali got 15 kills. Looking at it, the rest weren't really playing like humans."

"Map 2 was outrageous; Xiao Xu started driving a 'mud truck' and crashing into everything. On Inferno, his rating on the offensive side was 1.74, with a 93.3% non-death rate. These stats are exaggerated; he basically carried VP into Map 3 by himself. His second-half stats were a bit lackluster, but it didn't matter anymore."

"Entering Map 3, things got better. Although they were suppressed at the start, the other VP members found their form." Wanjiqi laughed. "Although VP is a 'slow-starter,' at least they warmed up. On this map, Pasha and the others finally started to exert force, which is an important reason why they were able to win Map 3."

After looking at the stats, Wanjiqi said with much emotion: "Actually, this Map 3 also shows that there is a certain gap in strength between the two sides. After all, VP was down by so many rounds at the start against MIBR and was saved purely by a five-kill in a long-gun round."

"Later, you say Pasha's calling wasn't that good either; it was purely relying on individual ability and resilience, and the MIBR group's aim went soft toward the end."

"And on the defensive side, MIBR's A1 and A2 were pushed to pieces; their information was completely taken away, so they couldn't play anymore. VP kept gambling on sites, and the Godfather was left dumbfounded."

The audience in the live stream discussed it heatedly, and Wanjiqi added:

"MIBR is actually the strongest team in the entire ZOTAC Cup. Now that this strongest team has been crushed by VP, everyone can really look forward to tomorrow's final."

Had things to do this morning; didn't have time to sit down and write until two o'clock. Thanks to 'Silent Years' for the alliance leader donation, thank you, Boss!

(End of chapter)