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

"Nice!!!"

"Brothers, that was insane!!"

"Holy sh*t, we actually won!!"

"Xiao Yang played so well—grab a smoke and calm down. Damn, we really pulled it off!"

At the moment the match ended, the comms were flooded with the ecstatic voices of the "Old Veterans." Jiang Yang was just as excited, shouting along with them for a while.

Even though this wasn’t his first time playing with Steel Helmets, this was still Jiang Yang’s first official professional match. Sure, he’d played qualifiers before, but most of those teams were just university students with no real fighting power.

Today’s opponents, however, were a real deal—a registered professional team on HLTV! And since losing just one match meant elimination, the pressure on them had been immense.

Now Jiang Yang felt completely enveloped in euphoria.

Soon, Ma Xixi joined the voice chat, his excitement palpable as he exclaimed, "Incredible job, guys! You did it!!"

DD, however, chimed in, somewhat slurred, "Well... let's be real here. Xiao Yang’s been carrying even in smooth games, hasn’t he? We straight-up just got carried today, didn’t we?"

Even though it’s not uncommon to carry a team to victory, hearing compliments like these from his veteran teammates still made Jiang Yang a little proud.

"You guys played great too," Jiang Yang replied, his voice steady but cheerful. This match really had no weak links among the Steel Helmets players. Their firepower and communication had been on point.

The biggest issue with Steel Helmets was that they played too much matchmaking—everyone was a bit reckless, and their discipline wasn’t exactly top-tier.

But maybe because Jiang Yang had been sharpened by the "Dungeon Boss," his expectations for teammates weren’t that high. In the Dungeon Boss system, the other four players were practically bots. Yet today, the Steel Helmets held their ground in most situations, even pushing favorable positions on multiple occasions.

It was almost too good to be true. Jiang Yang felt like cheering and celebrating his heart out.

MO was just as thrilled. Even though he’d retired to become a commentator, retired pros like him still craved the thrill of competition.

The original purpose of forming Steel Helmets had been to enter those streamer-only tournaments. But as they kept playing, they realized streamer-level matches no longer satisfied them.

They naturally wanted to compete in higher-level tournaments. The problem was, as "Old Veterans," they were always just a step behind when facing active pros.

Even MO hadn’t expected Jiang Yang’s addition to bring such a massive improvement.

Steel Helmets had long lacked a strong sniper. Before Jiang Yang, MO had to pick up the sniper rifle as the in-game leader, and they’d only buy one when absolutely necessary.

Jiang Yang’s arrival elevated their team’s firepower and overall capability. His consistent AWP kills, his ability to clutch during tight situations, and his dominance in anti-ECO rounds relieved a significant amount of pressure off MO’s shoulders and freed up DD, the former "Top Breakthrough Player in Asia," to play his role to the fullest.

What impressed MO the most was Jiang Yang’s composure. Despite being a newcomer, there were moments when Jiang Yang seemed more professional than the veterans.

His playstyle was aggressive yet calculated, rarely making the kind of brain-dead moves that would make a spectator want to tear their hair out.

Take today’s opponents, Newhappy, for instance. While they were a professional team, they occasionally took unnecessary duels that even left MO, as their opponent, shaking his head in disbelief.

Jiang Yang, also a 16-year-old prodigy, was worlds apart from the Newhappy players in this regard. He was practically the perfect rookie!

In MO’s mind, Jiang Yang’s talent deserved to be bumped up another tier.

After this match, Jiang Yang’s resume was due for an update:

Jiang Yang: 16-year-old prodigy sniper.

Achievements: Led Steel Helmets to defeat Newhappy.

MO couldn’t help but shout, "Everyone played great today. Props to you all for staying so calm under pressure!"

Then, he added with a grin, "Special shoutout to my cousin. You were a god on Mirage today! Let’s keep up the momentum!"

Ma Xixi jumped in, adding, "I’ve gotta say, Jiang Yang was seriously solid. Watching from the god’s-eye view, he was the calmest one out there. Meanwhile, the rest of you were playing like maniacs."

Ma Xixi’s playful tone lightened the mood, and the group burst into noisy banter.

Suddenly, Su Di let out a startled exclamation.

"This cousin is seriously cracked! I’m tearing up just looking at these stats."

That was when the rest of the team finally glanced at the post-match data.

With just one look, Ma Xixi’s eyes widened.

"What!?"

ID: young

K/A/D: 32/4/7

Survival Rate: 92%

ADR: 162.1

Rating: 2.21

【Holy sh*t, these stats are insane.】

【Excuse me, how much?】

【Did we just witness the new ruler of Mirage?】

【Now I see why Newhappy looked so bad—he farmed them like bots!】

【4+ K/D ratio, are you kidding me?】

【162 ADR?!】

【CS standards worldwide may have dropped tenfold, but I haven’t.】

Ma Xixi turned to Jiang Yang, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Did you really put up these numbers?"

Jiang Yang shrugged casually. "Who else?"

"But it doesn’t make sense! Our family’s genes shouldn’t be this overpowered. How are you this good?" Ma Xixi exclaimed.

MO chimed in with a laugh, "His ADR and rating are higher than your height, Ma Xixi."

Ma Xixi’s face darkened. "Low blow, man. Some things just shouldn’t be said out loud!"

Still, after taking a closer look at the stats, Ma Xixi fired back. "You’re one to talk! On defense, my cousin got more kills than the four of you combined. What were you all even doing!?"

The Steel Helmets members were genuinely shocked.

In the match, they’d all felt that Jiang Yang was the team’s rock, but they hadn’t paid attention to how many kills he’d racked up. Now, looking at the numbers, they realized he’d been absolutely demolishing.

Sure, some of those kills came from lurking as a "special forces" operative, but even then, it took skill to execute cleanly.

Jiang Yang responded modestly, "This map’s my strongest. I probably won’t perform this well on other maps."

"Don’t sell yourself short. That was an amazing performance," Brother Xiaosa praised. "Keep it up tomorrow. Now go make your brother treat you to a late-night snack—I’m logging off to rest."

Hearing that, the rest of the Steel Helmets members suddenly realized their own fatigue. Satisfied with their victory, they logged off one by one.

Thanks to Steel Helmets’ big win and Jiang Yang’s stellar performance, the CSBOY stream was flooded with gifts. Fortunately, Jiang Yang was no longer the stream assistant, so he didn’t need to stick around thanking donors.

Instead, he downloaded the match replay for a brief review.

More than reviewing, though, he just wanted to admire his own god-tier stats. After all, a 2.21 rating is no joke!

These days, even a 1.3 rating is considered MVP-level. A 2.21 rating? That’s practically carrying two people’s worth of stats.

Jiang Yang was beyond proud.

Still, as he rewatched, he noticed areas where he could have played even better, even in rounds they’d won.

This realization doused Jiang Yang’s swelling ego, and he began reviewing the match seriously.

True love for CS and the pursuit of perfection would always accompany his journey.

When the review was over, Jiang Yang noticed that his "Hextech Advanced Transmuter" only had two hours of active time left.

Excitement mixed with unease brewed in his heart.

What would happen to the "Dungeon Boss"?

...