As a streamer, Ying Yu naturally had his own image to maintain.
Although he had just lost to Lin Yu, he couldn't accuse Lin Yu of smurfing or using a secondary account. Instead, he had to come up with various excuses to placate his viewers.
After all, his persona was the renowned Demon King S. Across all of China, there were fewer than five hundred players better than him.
Even if the opponent was smurfing, in the eyes of his viewers, Ying Yu should have crushed them effortlessly.
Not to mention, claiming the opponent was smurfing and still losing was not an option.
After taking down Ying Yu, Lin Yu didn't pause for a moment. He had no idea that the player he had just eliminated was an S-tier player and a streamer.
Lin Yu pulled out from A Short, first glancing at A Platform with his peripheral vision. Then he aimed directly at Long A, crouching to gain an advantage as he waited for his prey to approach.
Earlier, when he reached the vicinity of A Short, he heard his teammates reporting that there were two enemies at Long A.
Judging by the timing, if those two enemies hadn't continued to push forward at Long A, they should be arriving soon.
Soon enough, the sound of footsteps confirmed Lin Yu's suspicions. He focused intently, ready to aim.
As the first enemy appeared, he pressed the left mouse button without hesitation.
This CT, having already taken several shots while contesting Long Doors, was low on health. So when Lin Yu's shot hit his head, he immediately went down.
The second CT realized something was wrong, but they had already abandoned Long Doors, and the Terrorists had already pushed through.
Now at Long A, caught between a rock and a hard place, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and rush towards the CT Ramp, intending to engage Lin Yu in a firefight.
This time, Lin Yu didn't manage to headshot the enemy instantly. He missed the first shot, and the second hit the opponent's chest, giving the enemy a chance to retaliate.
However, because Lin Yu had already positioned himself well, exposing only a sliver of his head, the CT's return fire failed to kill him.
Instead, standing still and continuously firing, the CT was taken down by Lin Yu's two consecutive headshots.
With that, Lin Yu successfully completed a triple kill.
Meanwhile, cheers erupted from his teammates.
"Awesome, bro."
"Nice one."
"Great shot, great shot."
The remaining two CTs were also taken down by teammates arriving from Long A at Mid Doors and CT Spawn, securing an easy victory for the Terrorists in the first round.
In the second round, Ying Yu force-bought an MP9 and pushed up Mid. This time, he managed to get a kill, but was quickly overwhelmed by the reacting Terrorists.
Without Ying Yu, the remaining players were no match for Lin Yu. With Wei Cheng's support, Lin Yu decisively executed a flash and push through Long Doors, taking out two close-range CTs and securing the second round victory.
By the start of the third round, Ying Yu, having run out of money, turned to his queued viewers.
"Hey, can you hear me? Drop me a gun, and we'll win for sure."
Hearing this, the viewer didn't hesitate and tossed him an M4A1.
At this time, the M4A1 was still the 25-round version, considered its peak, and had just recently replaced the M4A4 as the CT's main weapon.
With the gun in hand, Ying Yu regained his confidence and started boasting to his viewers again.
"The pistol round was a fluke, last round was a weapon disadvantage. If they dare come A Short again, I'll take them down instantly."
"Five bucks to join, thirty a month, hop on if there's space, show some love with gifts, Demon King S leading the charge."
...
On the other side, Lin Yu glanced at the spawn position and frowned.
This time, they were in a typical no-man's land, with no suitable position to RUSH B or contest Long A, everyone bunched up in the middle of T Spawn.
Seeing this position, his teammates couldn't help but complain.
"What a crappy spot."
"Default, I guess."
"Yeah, bad positioning."
Lin Yu thought for a moment and rejected his teammates' suggestion.
"We can hit A Short, throw an A Short smoke, I'll push, someone come with me, the rest control Upper Tunnels, don't contest Long A. Once I take A Short, you guys come from Lower Tunnels to A Short."
He knew that as the highest-ranked player, he needed to lead if they wanted to win.
Of course, since it was just a ladder match, he wouldn't argue with teammates if they didn't listen.
But generally, when someone like Lin Yu, the top in-game leader, spoke, everyone listened. If it were the last-ranked leader, it might not be the case. Read this novel at novelping dot com for the best experience.
Hence, CS players often joked about having their own caste system.
Seeing someone take charge, the teammates readily agreed.
This time, the one coordinating with Lin Yu wasn't Wei Cheng, as he was too far away. Instead, it was a random teammate named "Living for Sakurajima Mai" who joined Lin Yu at A Short.
As the game officially started, Wei Cheng initially moved towards T Ramp, throwing an Xbox Smoke. He intended to regroup with the other two teammates at B Site, but Lin Yu called him back.
"Don't go B yet, it's a bit slow, watch Long Doors."
"Got it."
Then, Lin Yu waited by Mid Barrels. Once the Xbox Smoke popped, he led Mai-senpai straight to A Short.
Under his command, the Terrorists formed a 2 B Tunnels, 2 A Short, 1 Long A attack formation.
This formation wasn't ideal, as it was weak for both A and B pushes, but it gathered a lot of information, allowing them to quickly grasp the CTs' movements.
Soon, the teammates relayed information.
"One at B Site."
"I hear someone running on the sand."
"Long A just smoked."
Dust II, being a very straightforward map, allowed Lin Yu to deduce the enemy's general positions from the scattered information, likely a 1-1-3 setup.
He just wasn't sure how many enemies were at A Short, but that didn't affect his decision-making.
"Purple (Mai-senpai), can you throw an A Short flash?"
"I can, but I'm not sure if it'll be good."
"No worries, just throw one."
As Lin Yu spoke, he moved to a close position at A Short, while Mai-senpai positioned himself in the A Short nook, pulling out a flashbang and aiming at the sky. After a second or two, he stopped.
"I'm ready, should I throw?"
"Throw!"