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

Pay Attention—This Man Is Called Xiao Shuai.

He is a CS:GO professional player.

Today, he’s about to start his second-round match in the Asian RMR.

Right now, there’s still plenty of time before the match begins. Having already finished his preparations, Xiao Shuai is casually surfing the web as part of his daily routine.

His outstanding performance yesterday left him itching to see how the internet was reacting to him.

He opened Bilibili and was about to check out CSBOY’s recorded stream to see what people were saying about him when he stumbled upon a clip from Big Brother Long Neck—a.k.a. Leonkai.

Xiao Shuai actually liked Leonkai quite a bit. Back when he faced Leonkai in the ladder matches and completely dominated him, other streamers had immediately jumped to conclusions, swearing up and down that Jiang Yang must be cheating.

But Leonkai had been different—he had spoken cautiously, unwilling to wrongly accuse anyone.

In the CS:GO scene, Leonkai might not be the most popular figure, but his character was undoubtedly among the best.

《Leonkai: "The Steel Helmets Ruined CNCS!"》

Jiang Yang burst out laughing the moment he saw it and instinctively clicked on the video.

The very first scene was his 1v4 clutch on Mirage—a top-tier highlight.

This was also Jiang Yang’s first time watching his clutch from a god’s-eye perspective, and he immediately noticed a few areas where he could have made better decisions.

But looking back, given his perspective at the time, his choices had been natural.

“Damn, that really was risky,” Jiang Yang muttered. “If Danking had landed just one more pistol shot, the outcome of Map 1 could’ve been completely different.”

Had they lost Map 1, Steel Helmets would have been on the back foot, and the outcome of the BO3 would have been much harder to predict.

After all, Tyloo might have their moments of inconsistency, but their skill level was undeniable.

But that’s the beauty of CS:GO—a single round, a single kill, can change everything.

And as the key player who tipped the scales, Jiang Yang was absolutely loving it!

The clip continued, showcasing the highlight plays from both sides.

For Steel Helmets, it was mainly Jiang Yang and DD stepping up.

On Tyloo’s side, Danking and Cy1 were putting in the work.

But when Tyloo couldn’t hold out in the final moments of Map 2, and Steel Helmets pulled off the comeback together, Leonkai’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“No way… Steel Helmets actually beat Tyloo?”

Even though he had just watched the whole match unfold, he was still shocked.

As a veteran CS:GO player, Leonkai had always hoped that Tyloo could reclaim their 2018 glory and that Chinese players would make their mark on the international stage.

Yet time and time again, Tyloo had let him down.

And now, they had lost to Steel Helmets.

For a die-hard Tyloo fan, Leonkai was utterly speechless.

It felt like being a soccer fan watching the Chinese national team lose to a bunch of casual players.

After a long silence, Leonkai finally spoke.

“Steel Helmets really were insane today. Let’s check out the post-match stats.”

He quickly pulled up HLTV’s database and refreshed the page a few times.

“Alright, the stats are in. Let’s take a look—”

Before he could even finish his sentence, his expression changed dramatically.

“What the hell?! Xiao Shuai averaged a 2.01 rating across two maps?!”

Leonkai took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, as if he had misread the numbers.

But after checking again, he saw the same result.

Leonkai’s neck stretched out as he let out a stunned cry.

“He got 73 kills?! DD only had 35 kills across two maps, even if you doubled his kills, he still wouldn’t surpass Xiao Shuai!”

【???】

【Is this guy even human?? Did he borrow S1mple’s USB today?】

【Wasn’t Little Yang supposed to be tame against Tyloo? Why is he getting stronger the more he fights?】

【This is insane—+43 kills!】

【Xiao Shuai really is a divine stand-in.】

【How did Tyloo end up getting smurfed on…?】

Leonkai couldn’t help but laugh.

“Tyloo really had no way out of this, huh?”

He continued to analyze the stats.

“He dropped 40 kills on Map 1 and 33 on Map 2.”

“Looking at it this way, Tyloo’s loss was completely justified. How do you fight when Steel Helmets has an extra player on the board?”

“73 kills—if Xiao Shuai got four kills per round and his teammates cleaned up the last one, he could have won 18 rounds on his own.”

“If he landed five ace rounds, he could have single-handedly closed out 14 rounds. That’s just broken.”

By the time he finished looking at the stats, Leonkai had completely stopped questioning Tyloo.

“Plus 43 kills—holy sh*t…” He laughed again. “This kid’s gotta be cheating, right?!”

Of course, he wasn’t actually accusing Jiang Yang of hacking—it was just that his stats were so absurd that Leonkai couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Even Danking, who already had an insane performance, only got 53 kills across two maps.”

“But Xiao Shuai had 20 more kills than him—10 more per map. That’s a completely different tier of performance!”

Though Leonkai was disappointed that Tyloo lost, he saw a glimmer of hope in Jiang Yang’s talent.

Maybe—just maybe—this kid could be the one to save CNCS.

——

Jiang Yang scrolled through various CS:GO content creators’ clips, enjoying the wave of praise.

He was on cloud nine, barely keeping himself from getting carried away.

If these people were here in person, he’d at least pretend to be humble.

Right then, he heard his cousin, Ma Xixi, yelling excitedly.

“Yang Yang, check this out—HLTV put you on their Weekly Best!!”

Jiang Yang turned his head just in time to see Ma Xixi rushing over.

A few minutes ago, HLTV had posted their weekly highlight video, titled 《young VS Tyloo》.

HLTV is a professional CS:GO statistics and ranking site, widely recognized for evaluating players.

Each year’s top player rankings are based on HLTV’s data, and they also release weekly highlights featuring exceptional plays.

Normally, only players with truly outstanding performances make it into HLTV’s highlights.

Jiang Yang never expected himself to be featured.

——

Watching the clip, he saw his own 1v4 clutch on Mirage play out in slow motion.

Ma Xixi, sitting beside him, was just as amazed as he had been the first time.

Even after watching the play several times, he was still in awe of Jiang Yang’s decision-making and execution.

“That was seriously insane.”

Jiang Yang grinned with satisfaction.

Ma Xixi praised, “You really played out of your mind yesterday. Keep it up today. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but if you guys can take down VG, you’ll really make a name for yourselves. And if you guys get the Major stickers… that’s when you’ll have officially made it in this scene.”

Jiang Yang’s eyes lit up. “I’ll give it my all! I heard those stickers are worth quite a bit, huh?”

Ma Xixi nodded. “Not much for me, but for you? A lot. If you don’t blow it all on a car or a house, you could live comfortably for years on that money.”

He added, “You could even let your aunt and uncle hold onto it for you. Show them that you’re serious about going pro.”

Hearing that, Jiang Yang nodded.

His parents had agreed to let him pursue a CS:GO career mostly because of Ma Xixi.

Ma Xixi had personally guaranteed them that if Jiang Yang couldn’t make it big, he’d help him find a decent job. That was the only reason his parents had reluctantly let him take this leap.

But Jiang Yang knew—no matter how much his cousin supported him, if he could achieve real success in the pro scene and earn a stable income, his parents would no longer see this as him goofing off.

They’d see it as him chasing a real dream.

——

“But wait, I don’t think we’re playing VG today.” Jiang Yang suddenly remembered. “They lost yesterday. Got 2-0’d by NKT, so we’re up against NKT instead.”

“NKT? That Thai team? The one XCC’s on now?” Ma Xixi asked. “Aren’t they kinda bad?”

Jiang Yang shrugged. “I only caught a few rounds, but honestly, VG played super passive yesterday. On defense, they just let NKT walk into sites without contesting. Plus, XCC was on fire—he absolutely popped off, which is how NKT won both maps in close scores. As a team, though? Yeah, they’re not great.”

Ma Xixi smirked. “So this whole Asian RMR is basically a Tyloo 2018 alumni reunion, huh?”

Then, he clapped Jiang Yang on the shoulder. “Well, you guys better not mess up like VG did. Play smart.”

Jiang Yang rolled his eyes. “Even if we wanted to play passive, we couldn’t. I’d love to slow things down, but DD and the others just keep rushing in headfirst.”

Ma Xixi laughed—Steel Helmets really were a team of fearless maniacs, impossible to rein in.

“Alright, keep grinding. I’m heading out to pick up your niece. Want anything special for lunch? Gotta treat you a little.”

“Eh, you guys pick. I’m not picky.” Jiang Yang replied, then turned back to his ladder practice.

——

Afternoon arrived. The second round of the Asian RMR began.

Steel Helmets were up against XCC’s NKT.

Although Ma Xixi had downplayed NKT’s strength, Jiang Yang still took the match seriously.

But reality proved that NKT’s first-day performance had been a total fluke, purely carried by XCC’s individual pop-off.

On the other hand, Steel Helmets were riding high after their win against Tyloo—everyone’s confidence had skyrocketed.

They were playing better than ever, and their desire to win was stronger than ever.

In this state, Jiang Yang didn’t even need to hard-carry.

Aside from a few ECO rounds where they let him go crazy, in rifle rounds, he barely had to do anything—his teammates were cleaning up before he even had to step in.

In the end, Steel Helmets swept NKT 2-0.

The map scores? 16-5, 16-7.

Total domination.

DD even ended with a monstrous 1.46 rating.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yang only had a 1.21 rating—way below yesterday’s insane numbers.

Viewers who had tuned in specifically to see him go off immediately started trolling in the chat.

【Damn, Xiao Shuai already fell off.】

【Bro peaked for one match and is already washed.】

【This rating is unacceptable, where’s our god-tier Xiao Shuai?】

【What happened to the guy who dropped 73 kills yesterday?】

But Jiang Yang didn’t care at all—stats meant nothing if they didn’t win.

——

Meanwhile, in the losers’ bracket, Tyloo and VG faced off.

A massive BP (ban-pick) blunder by Tyloo cost them the match.

VG barely took the series 2-1, eliminating Tyloo.

VG then went on to face NKT in the next elimination match—and this time, they proved that NKT’s first victory was a total fluke.

VG stomped them 2-0, just like Steel Helmets had done.

——

That meant the final qualification match was set: Steel Helmets vs. VG.

If Jiang Yang and his team could take down VG, they would qualify for the Major.

If they won, they could go live and yell,

“We’re going to the Stockholm Major!”

Just imagining that moment sent chills down Jiang Yang’s spine.

This was it.

One last match. One last step.

If they won—they’d make history.

Jiang Yang had never been more fired up.

——