Chapter 9 Part 2

 

Chapter 9 – Double Elimination – Part 2

 

The small path is dark and gloomy. In a normal server, this path would be one of the most hotly contested battlefields between CT and T. Usually, flashbangs would fly with bullets, grenades would dance with AWP. Yet in a tournament, this place is surprisingly calm. Both teams would remain in silent walking mode before contacts, hiding themselves like ghosts.

Liu Zuo took a look at the entrance to the pathway, and he didn’t spot any CT. Yet he knew that at least one CT would be defending the otherside. He turns to give his order: “Wait until 1 minute 30 seconds and then charge.”

The flow of time ticks by with the clock. Danger lies just below the calm surface, and even the judge sitting aside can feel the tension in the match. Everyone held their breath as they waited. A bloody battle is but blinks away, and the air smells of murder. 

Finally, the planned time to charge has arrived, Li Zuo shouted: “Go!Go!Go!”, with that, the five of them bolted across the dark path like an arrow let loose. Everyone scattered towards their own position, while Piggy carried the bomb straight for the bomb site. The only thing on his mind is to plant the bomb as quickly as possible. He can’t even tell why a sense of panic and worry gripped his heart, all he is hoping for is to carry out his duty as quickly as possible.

The bombsite is right ahead, the huge spray painted marking clear as day. Piggy leaps onto the abandoned train cart and begins to plant the bomb. During the few seconds of the planting process, Piggy has no weapon in hand and must rely on his teammate’s protection.

In his first attempt to plant the bomb, Piggy’s mouse slipped and the plant failed. He must start over again. He grits his teeth and thought to himself: “The fuck am I scared of, those guy’s maybe tough, but I am tougher. Besides, I have a whole team of strong teammates to cover me……”

At this thought, Piggy’s heart dropped as he recalled what Big P quietly said to Liu Zuo this morning: “Liu Zuo, I don’t see how that W guy is as strong as you say. It’s fine that Yan Ning is the bottom fragger of every match, but that W guy is consistently second from the bottom, not much better than Yan Ning. Those two always appeared like they don’t really give a damn, and it's always the three of us doing all the work.”

Liu Zuo replied: “Maybe we haven’t met an opponent for them to take seriously.”

Piggy remembered how he laughed back then: “Then us three can take a bigger cut of the prize money.”

Thinking about it now, Piggy suddenly felt unease. If Liu Zuo and Big P fell early in a match, can he really rely on W and Yan Ning? The matches before were going too well, and they almost never encountered a tough opponent. There was only this one time against a team from Wuxi, where Yan Ning was the only one alive against three opponents. Yan Ning fired at the enemy with the light smg MP5. Her shots seem dispirited and bullets whizzed by the enemy, missing them by over 10 meters. The enemies looked at each other, not able to believe what they were seeing – and it ended exactly as you would expect. Fortunately, B.H. won in the end, as Liu Zuo really was unstoppable wherever he went, coupled with Big P and Piggy jumping around in ambush, they won the game like a breeze.

Like a breeze? The rest of them were overjoyed the day they made it into the regional final, only W said coldly then: “The tournament hasn’t started yet.” Now that you think about it, W’s words probably mean they were winning like a breeze because they simply haven’t met a strong team. SIP has been giving Piggy an ominous feeling since the start today. Could this really herald the beginning of a tough path ahead?  Up till now, the once smooth sailing Bonus Hunter haven’t won a single round – But they can’t lose this match. Fifty-Thousand dollar is waving at him, how can he let it grow wings and fly away.

Piggy finally finished planting the bomb, and as he remained there on the back of the cart, he suddenly thought of that couple’s classic pose in the movie Titanic. He wants to open his arms wide like Rose, except he is going to shout: “Money, wait for us!”

Of course, Piggy was just letting his imagination run wild for less than a second. Then, he immediately grabbed his AK and prepared to defend the bomb. Yet before Piggy can get out of the cart and into cover, a shadow appears in the darkness behind him. The shadow silently approached Piggy, his M4 aimed at the latter’s head.

This is CS, its drama hides its cruelty, its silence hides its danger.

Liu Zuo was fighting for his life in the pathway when the gunshot rang out. Piggy’s death is reported on his screen. Liu Zuo complained in his mind. The CT that killed Piggy must be defusing, and it can be completed in a few seconds if he has a defusing kit. If the bomb is defused, the round that they planned so much for will end in defeat once more. That is to say, Liu Zuo must kill the defusing CT within seconds to turn the battle around.

Liu Zuo quickly estimated his options, if he dash out now, he can at least shake the CT that’s trying to tie him down – He will then get to A and kill the defusing CT, and defend the bomb, getting blown up with it if necessary – Having decided his course of action, Liu Zuo legs it without further hesitation. Fast, Gotta go fast! Time is everything.

The CT Captain Wang Dadao, who is facing Liu Zuo in the pathway, knew what Liu Zuo was thinking all too well. Hearing Liu Zuo’s footsteps, he takes out a grenade from his pouch and tossed it with all his strength in a leap. He can’t catch up to Liu Zuo, but he can’t let him off easily. With that one grenade, Liu Zuo will be losing quite some HP even if he survives. Wang Dadao did not give up on hunting Liu Zuo down either, and he relentlessly continued his chase after tossing the grenade.

By now, Yan Ning and Big P are both dead. The game came down to a 3 v 2 between CT and T, with Liu Zuo and W being the only remaining Ts.

Liu Zuo gritted his teeth and ran to A – The grenade from earlier did hit him, but thanks to Liu Zuo’s quick wits, he leapt up in the last moment and only lost a small amount of HP – The CT on A site is indeed defusing. From the referee’s perspective, the CT can finish the defuse in one more second. Liu Zuo raised his gun to shoot before even catching his breath, and headshotted the CT with a single tap. The CT’s effort went to waste at the last moment as he collapsed to the floor.

In just a few seconds, Liu Zuo’s mad dash, Wang Da Dao’s grenade, and Liu Zuo taking down the diffusing C together was like a breathtaking action movie for the audience. The probing and subsequent cloth quarter fighting between the teams, the fantastical drama and the cruelty of deaths on the train tracks kept all the audience on their toes, and even the referee can’t help but wipe the sweat off his forehead.

Yet this movie did not end here.

The curtain cannot close if the bomb does not blow. Liu Zuo knows Wang Dadao is catching up behind him, and that is not even his greatest concern. His main concern is the other surviving CT – Liu Zuo doesn’t even know where that CT is, yet he must be hiding somewhere nearby, stalking him like a predator stalking its prey.

Liu Zuo silently walked towards the other end of the cart on which the bomb was planted. As he expected, Wang Dadao is already at the position where Liu Zuo shot the defusing CT earlier. Liu Zuo raised his M4 once more, his finger tightly on the trigger, his gun aimed at Wang Dadao’s head.

Liu Zuo’s shooting terrified all those who had faced off against him. He rarely misses when shooting on the move – unless he was flanked – If he is lying in wait, he almost never missed his target.

He is confident in himself, and he needs to give confidence to his teammates. When they left their home this morning, Piggy told him: “Liu Zuo, I never really looked up to anyone in my life. But there are two people I cannot help but respect and look up to. One of them is you.”

The other person, even though Piggy didn’t mention him by name, Liu Zuo knows too well. It is A Jie, halfway across the country in Beijing. That legendary A Jie had proven to be a nightmare for god knows how many CSERs. Perhaps it’s not really a nightmare, but a mix of surprise and awe. Unpredictable rotation, beautiful shooting backed by both instinct and skill, and calm yet decisive decision making and command, all this made A Jie a perfect exemplar to CS players.

Since their chance encounter, A Jie was the person that’s been on Liu Zuo’s mind. To Liu Zuo, all that effort to fight their way to Beijing, to go to the nationals, is motivated by a desire to meet A Jie once again, even greater than the desire for the prize money. When they meet once more, Liu Zuo will no longer be a merc under someone else’s team tag, but a CSER with his own team, supported by his own comrades. He wants to have another match with A Jie, fair and square, and that desire is like a dream that propels Liu Zuo to keep improving and going forward.

Liu Zuo’s gun barrel is pointed at Wang Dadao’s head. In another 0.1 second, Wang Dadao will be out of the game like all other warriors who perished in this round.

20 seconds until the bomb explodes. A Jie, wipe your guns, wait for us in Beijing!

Liu Zuo pressed the trigger.

After a gunshot, the person hit fell dead. Their body was sent flying by the significant impact of the bullet, and slowly fell to the ground in seemingly slow motion, blood splattered on the ticking time bomb.

Everyone, from players to audience to referee can’t help but find their mouth wide open, surprise all over the face. Amongst everyone, none are more surprised than Liu Zuo.

That gunshot is neither short and muffled like a silenced m4 nor loud and vicious like an AK47 rifle. Rather, the sound was long and echoing, then suddenly cut off. Anyone with experience in CS would quickly recognize this as the sound of AWP, and the wielder must be an experienced CSER. You can tell from the sound of that gun shot – the sudden stop is caused by the shooter quickly switching the flashlight on and off. Turning the flashlight on and off as fast as possible while shooting will help to prevent the distinctive sound of AWP firing giving away the shooter’s position. There is a difference between different skill levels in their attempt to conceal that sound – A pro’s switching is so fast that it sounds like the gunshot sound was simply cut off.

Liu Zuo’s corpse fell hard on the ground after being sent flying. He saw the ground littered with gravel, the type that would make rustling sounds when you step on them. When he was young, his parents sent him back to live in the home village for quite some time. In a little hill back there, those kinds of gravel are all over the place, a dump for the left over from construction works by the villagers. The kids love to play there, wearing their grandma’s handmade shoes on those gravel, that rustling sound and soft feeling under the feet brought warm and happy memories to everyone’s childhood.

The person who made the train map must have been a foreigner, yet how could he so accurately depict the memorable gravel ground? Though now under an abandoned train, the feeling you get while stepping on them is the same. Playing on this map reminded Liu Zuo of home, reminded him of the Grandma who always nagged and worried about him not eating enough. That feeling is just like this ground, soft.

Liu Zuo’s blood splattered on the ground. Looking at the stark red on his screen, it's hard to tell whether Liu Zuo was depressed or bewildered, perhaps both. Death happens, no one lives forever in CS. Though it is how he died that troubled Liu Zuo – He already figured out that the sniper was on the platform to the right the moment he was shot, yet Liu Zuo paid particular attention to that sniping spot when he walked into the sniper’s field of vision. At that time, the sniper did not show himself, perhaps still hiding there.

It took less than a second for Liu Zuo to then crouch down and prepare to shoot Wang Dadao, which is to say that the sniper spotted Liu Zuo, scoped in and shot him all under one second. In Liu Zuo’s mind, this kind of speed is almost the limit even for W. Besides, snipers have the option to take their time, he can spot Liu Zuo, take aim and only shoot when he is certain of the kill. Yet he didn’t wait, he almost sniped Liu Zuo the moment he spotted him. Why? Why did it turn out like this? Why didn’t he wait for the golden opportunity?

There is only one explanation, the sniper must’ve known Liu Zuo’s position even while he hid on the platform. He might have even aimed at Liu Zuo, but chose to not shoot the running Liu Zuo to avoid drawing attention. When Liu Zuo crouched down, he knew he couldn't wait any longer, because he must have somehow figured out that Liu Zuo was aiming at Wang Dadao. He shot with no hesitation because he knew his teammate was in Liu Zuo’s sights, and so he fired the deadly shot.

How did the Sniper know? How did he show up and save his teammate in such a crucial moment? This rescue is extraordinary, as it almost means victory for the round. Wang Dadao already jumped on the cart and began to diffuse after Liu Zuo died.

Liu Zuo looked at the screen, the person who killed him is named “Feng ''. He never heard of this person. Yet this name is all too familiar to SIP players and their fans – It is none other than their key player: The Strategist Chen Mingfeng.

Chen Mingfeng again scanned the area around the defusing Wang Dadao with his scope, even with victory in their grasps, he remained cautious as ever. The gentle breeze on the high tower blew away the smoke from the AWP’s barrel, Chen Mingfeng thought in his mind: “This is teamwork. Tacit understanding forged over countless training sessions– Teamwork that Indies like you guys cannot understand.” Chen Mingfeng’s teammates noticed a faint smile appearing on his face.

In three more seconds, CT will have the victory of this round. The round’s significance is that it either serves as the foundation for the CT’s victory in the first half, or the turning point for the T to turn the table. Both sides knew this, which is why the fight was exceptionally hard. Yet given how things are going, it is likely that the CT will bag another round. Piggy’s face white as he stares at the screen, his finger tightly gripping his mouse.

Second-line players of SIP can’t help but show signs of joy on their faces, the victory of this round is in the bag, and the victory of the first half is waving at them. Some of them almost can’t resist the urge to clap. Just then, another long and echoing AWP shot rang out.

Did Chen Mingfeng locate the last T? Given Chen Mingfeng’s shooting skill, the fate of that T is sealed. Seems like that the round will end with Chen Mingfeng’s final shot…… No! Sharp-eyed players noticed that while Chen Mingfeng’s name showed up on the screen, it wasn’t in place of the shooter, but…… the dead.

The last warrior of T, W, using the same AWP, headshotted Chen Mingfeng.

Only Chen Mingfeng knew how much weight was behind that shot. Actually, when W appeared in the twisted tunnels, Chen Mingfeng already spotted him and moved his scope to W with incredible speed.

Yet W only allowed his scope to move half the distance. Chen Mingfeng was already hit when his scope was halfway to the target, hit by the man who suddenly appeared from the tunnel. That man showed no signs of anxiety, perhaps feeling certainty from confidence, or perhaps he simply does not care. Chen Mingfeng fell to the ground, unable to anticipate anything this time. Wang Dadao saw the message of Chen Mingfeng’s death.

Wang Dadao quickly made his decision, based on the sound of the gunshot, W is close by. If he continues to defuse (which will take about two more seconds), he will likely be attacked while defusing. If he dies, the CT would lose this round. Wang Dadao gave up defusing without hesitation, and turned to find W for the final battle.

10 seconds until the bomb explodes.

Kill that T with the sniper rifle – There is no way he can match me in close quarters – Then turn and defuse, there is still time.

In reality, almost right after he turned around, he found himself face to face with W. W appeared like a ghost right behind Wang Dadao, holding his AWP. While startled, Wang Dadao certainly has what it takes to hold the title of the captain. He immediately jumped to the left and raised his gun to shoot.

In CS, snipers would usually hide in fixed locations and snipe the opponent from afar. That tactic is determined by the characteristics of the sniper rifle. Despite the massive damage allowing for one-shot kills, all that power goes to waste in close quarters given the slow rate of fire and the delay caused by scoping in.

Even as he started firing, Wang Dadao still felt a slight sense of confusion – If this person can take Chen Mingfeng out in one shot, why would he be so foolish as to run into his face with a sniper rifle? He should know what would happen when he uses an AWP against the flexible, powerful, and rapid-firing AK. Why would he do this?

There isn’t much time to think, Wang Dadao aimed at W’s ahead, ready to pull the trigger.

His finger tightly gripped the mouse, his right index finger pressed the mouse button. A chain of bullets flew toward W.

——If Wang Dadao shoots, there is no way he will miss his target.

That’s the thought in the mind of all SIP players.

——The opponent is just a newbie from a nameless newbie team, they should thank god for making it to the regional final. Now it is time to send them home.

That’s the thought that still remained in the mind of all the SIP players.

At this moment, W jumped high into the air.

In that moment, the last two remaining people in the train yard – W and Wang Dadao – had jumped into the air, the difference is Wang Dadao is already falling back to the ground and W is still rising into the air. In the flash of that instant, another Echoing AWP shot rang out.

The two men returned to the ground under the force of gravity once more. But Wang Dadao is now a corpse falling backward onto the ground.

—        Jump scope!

Someone in the audience let out a cry of surprise.

While using an AWP to score a kill mid-jump is a difficult move, it is not unheard of. Yet W completed scoping in, aiming, and firing all in lightning fast speed before landing, which really did surprise those who know the game well. What is more surprising is how W dares to bring the AWP for a close quarter attack, using the sniper rifle like an SMG. What kind of confidence is behind this?

W stood silently on the spot, put away his awp, and turned to leave.

The audience and the referee are likewise silent. The bomb ticked in this silence, until finally exploding.

One of the most brutal rounds of the first half is finally over, T won their first round of the match.

The question is now on everyone’s mind, who can laugh until the end? Those who believed SIP would win for sure are now having second thoughts, perhaps Bonus Hunter are stronger than they had imagined.

Who would win?

That is something that can only be known at the very last moment. There is no fate and no prophet in CS.

 

 

After one hour of tough battle, the match between Bonus Hunter and SIP finally came to an end. The audience came and went like the tide, “whoosh”, and they are gone – like the closing curtain over a movie or the end of a romance, their departure is so clean and crisp that it almost makes one feel cold.

Liu Zuo: “Let’s head back to base.”

The few of them stood up, Yan Ning had once again disappeared into the crowd like a ghost. Big P mumbled to himself: “She really came and went without a trace…”

Chapter 9 Part 1

 

Chapter 9 – Double Elimination – Part 1

 

In a strange turn of events, the June heat of Nanjing suddenly turned gentle and cool, almost as though it is trying to accommodate the blood boiling excitement of the CS grand tournament. For two weeks, there were no major winds or rains, every day was clear and calm. It can be said that CSERs from JiangSu province were able to enjoy a happy summer. Regular tournaments turned every day into a festival.

Outside of the tournament venues, various sounds of cheer can often be heard, from cries of “ura” to players hugging each other and screeching in joy. Of course, some of those people leaving the venue were defeated – Most of them were silent, some with visibly red eyes. Most memorable was the defeat of the famous Team RL of Nanjing. After their defeat, RL players walked out the front gate together, and together bought out all the mangoes from a wandering mango vendor near the front gate. All the players squatted in a circle, and began to eat mangos as a team. Once that is done, everyone wipes their mouth. The captain gives the order “Disband!”. The player then went their own ways.

Piggy was observing on the side at the time, and he couldn’t resist the urge to comment to a four-eyes beside him: “They sure are well-trained, even having to say “disband” before they go home.”

The four-eyes replies with a sigh: “Heh, they are really disbanding. RL was sponsored by the Four Sibling Computers of Nanjing, it was agreed that if RL won the games, they could become Four Sibling’s PR representative. I heard the captain mention that RL strictly ordered their players that winning is the only acceptable outcome. Now that they lost, they can’t even afford to rent a server, let alone getting sponsorship. What can they do but to disband? Sigh, poor guys……”

Piggy nods with a sigh: “It really isn’t easy to make a living being a CSER like us.”

The four-eyes replies: “That’s not necessarily true. Those Beijing teams have it much better. Teams like Green Miracle and X·FILES, BEAT all have major corporate sponsors, they even go to games in luxury buses.”

Piggy: “Don’t bring up X·FILES in my face, If you do I’ll get pissed!”

The four-eye looks at him, puffs his chest, and walks away with a “Hmph!”.

 

 

Two weeks later, just as they had hoped, Bonus Hunter entered the finals of Jiang Su Regionals.

For the participating teams, these past two weeks were like a cruel voyage, a storm can be upon them at any moments, and a single mishap can flip the boat, sending everyone home. Was there a team who didn’t strive hard for that final victory? Was there a team who did not tread carefully as though they were walking on thin ice? Yet the reality is cruel, only four teams entered the final. The list is as follows:

Nanjing: Lotus Clan

Su Zhou: S.I.P

Wuxi: Rain Man

Nanjing: Bonus Hunter

These four teams will start the final competition for the two national tournament tickets in double elimination format.

Bonus Hunter’s first opponent is to be SIP, the latter is a famous team from Su Zhou. Everyone knows that the first match is of vital importance. The winner will seize the initiative for the tournament. The winner is already one foot into the gate of the national final, and the loser will be in an extremely disadvantageous position. The losing team’s chance to advance and their morale alike will be seriously impacted.

June 25^th is the date of the match. Piggy couldn’t sleep well the night before, he rolled around in his bed and made the double bunk bed creak. The restless piggy sighed in his bed, worrying that his lack of sleep will affect the match tomorrow. The next moment, he is excited about the upcoming match, thinking how to best show off Bonus Hunter’s power in the match. He is even seeing droves of pretty girls, flower in hand, shouting: “Big bro Pig Head 3…..” – No, there needs to be a “dear” added in front – “Dear big bro Pig Head 3……” The pretty girl in the dress came running, and even gave him a kiss. “Let’s go on a date.” The pretty girl says, “Big bro Pig Head 3, you are so handsome, I love watching you play CS!”

Piggy’s face immediately turned bright red, he covered his head with his pillow and yelled: “I don’t wanna, I am still a pure virgin!”

Piggy’s emotional cries woke Liu Zuo. Liu Zuo raised from his bed and asked: “Piggy, you still exist?”

Piggy: “Still exists, 100HP.”

With that, Liu Zuo immediately collapsed, he began to snore again as he fell back into deep sleep – almost as though the person awoke moments ago wasn’t him. Beside him, Big P turns around in bed, mumbling: “100k, 100k, 100 and 100k……”

Piggy thought to himself: “Seems heroes do think alike, Big P wants money, I want girls, between the two of us we would have bagged all the beauty and wealth.”

At the same time, SIP’s lair is a scene of chaos. Their captain, Wang Dadao is commanding his team members to scour the internet for any information on Bonus Hunter. Yet no matter how hard they tried, they can’t find any details about Bonus Hunter. Wang Dadao mumbled in thought: “As long as they are still earthlings, they have to leave some trace, not to mention a team that fought their way to the Jiang Su final is no pushover. How can there be no leads at all?”

SIP’s strategist – Chen Mingfeng, nicknamed “Little Zhuge” – waves his paper fan, and leisurely replies: “There is only one possibility: they aren’t a professional team, but rather a bunch of independent players. Perhaps even a team formed ad-hoc right before the tournament.”

“Indie players?”

“Holy shit, isn’t that a stretch? Indie players can make it to Jiang Su finals?”

“So we will win without breaking a sweat?”

Everyone begins to voice their opinion.

The strategist, Chen Mingfeng shook his head: “That is not so. Think about it carefully, a team of nobodies fought their way through all kinds of adversaries to the final, without so much as a bump on the road, meeting less resistance than a butcher cutting up a carcass. What kind of skill does it take to achieve something like this?

Hearing this, captain Wang Dadao grimaced: “Strategist, how much chance do you reckon we have?”

Chen Mingfeng lowered his head in thought for quite some time before replying: “I reckon half-half, and it depends on the map we draw. The map pool for the match tomorrow includes Aztec, Dust2 and Train. If it’s the first two, based on our usual training, we can probably have a 50% chance. If it’s the last map, then maybe our victory will be certain.”

Wang Dadao’s eyes lit up: “Why is that?”

Chen Mingfeng smiles: “What is the most important thing about a team? It is teamwork! What are training for this whole time? It is teamwork! What is the key to deciding a match? It is teamwork! Nothing matters without teamwork and coordination. As a newly formed team, they may have top tier personal skills, but their teamwork may not be as coordinated as ours. AZ and D2 are the most commonly played maps, with more tactical guides, and they are probably better prepared. On the other hand, Train is not an often played map, and the terrain is more complex. Most importantly, in a battlefield with such complex terrain, teamwork is what will shine through. If we can take the fight to the train yard, I predict that our teamwork will allow us to triumph over Bonus Hunter!”

Wang Dadao nodded and gathered his teammates.

“Comrades, brothers, tomorrow is our first battle for the regional championship. I believe I don’t need to further emphasize the importance of this battle, this is the one match we are all looking to  win. Our opponent is mysterious and unpredictable, but they must be staying up all night to figure out our strategy as well. I hope that we can display an even greater amount of coordination and team work, brothers, as this is precisely what the opponent lacks. We can only win if we stand as one, work hard, brothers!

Yet we know, the four men in the Bonus Hunter base are not researching strategies at this point in time. Instead, they are having four different dreams, mostly having to do with money or hot girls.

Even though they are all dreaming about money and girls, W’s dream is still a bit different – He saw a beautiful girl standing in a field of grass, smiling as she waved at him. He quietly called to her: “Qing Qing…” Though the girl is still smiling, she is further and further away. He could not grab her no matter how hard he reached for her. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by, and the girl disappeared. W, almost sobbing now, called out again: “Qing Qing…” Yet the girl disappeared after all. W did not know, but a streak of salty liquid is streaking down his handsome and stern face in his sleep.

Liu Zuo dreamed of Yan Ning.

Big P dreamed of fat stacks of cash, he tried to stuff them all down his pants and it is still too much fit.

Piggy was carrying on with his harem dream, fluctuating between excitement and embarrassment while being half awake and half in dreams.

 

 

First match of the double elimination.

Time: June 29^th, 2002.

Location: Red Hacker Net Café, Jianye District, Nanjing

Map: Train

Participating Teams: SIP vs Bonus Hunter

 

Wang Dadao let out a long sigh of relief after drawing the Train map he had hoped for. His strategist Chen Mingfeng smiled beside him, and all their teammates were also looking inspired. According to their strategic planning earlier, getting Train in the map draw already set them upon the path of victory.

Big P is confused by the jubilant SIP players, he turns to ask Liu Zuo: “Captain, was the match over, and they already won without us knowing?”

Liu Zuo: “That can’t be, today is the semifinal between them and us, I am absolutely certain.”

Piggy: “They probably got tasty lunch, look at the anticipation in their eyes, they must be thinking of food.”

Big P: “You do have a point.”

As the few of them mumbled amongst themselves, W is already testing the machine in his seat. SIP’s Captain, Wang Dadao walked by and passionately held W’s hand: “You must be Bonus Hunter’s captain? I’ve been hearing about your fame all this time! We will have a good match today.”

W withdrew his hand, his eyes on the screen: “I’m not the captain.”

Wang Dadao evaluated the situation, then immediately turned to the other guys chatting to the side, and picked Liu Zuo as he walked towards them. Wang Dadao’s voice arrived before his person, his big hands then tightly gripped Liu Zuo’s hands: “Comrade, today is the day of our decisive battle. I wish you guys can fight your best and show us your styles, we hope to have a honest and fair match against you!”

Liu Zuo stares at Wang Dadao’s round face, at a loss for words. He choked for quite a bit before saying: “Let’s all improve together with time.”

 

A few minutes later, the two teams readied in position. Piggy’s face is red with excitement, and even Big P and Liu Zuo are having a bit of trouble controlling their emotions – you can’t blame them, since its formation, Bonus Hunter have endured poverty (The landlord appearing like a ghost and asking for rent), sexual harassment (the weighlifter an eternal scar in the heart), being used as tools (merc works)…… Though it may not be as difficult as the red army’s march across the grassland, it certainly isn’t easy either. Now they finally see a ray of hope, how can they not be excited. If they win this match, they aren’t far from the national final. A hundred thousand dollars are almost welcoming them with flowers in hand.

Big P and Liu Zuo exchanged a glance and took a seat, filled with confidence. Only W and Yan Ning are still their usual, cold self – Liu Zuo and the guys are now getting used to it. W is the best sniper they’ve seen, and Yan Ning is the prettiest meat bullet they’ve met, what’s the big deal with appearing a bit cold?

On the command of the judge, the match formally begins after three server restarts. In the 12 rounds of the first half, Bonus Hunter will play as T while SIP plays as CT.

For most CS players, Train can be a very frustrating map to play.  First of all, its terrain is very complex, both bomb sites are abandoned train tracks. The CT spawns in a building between the two sites, and T spawns across the map. The possible route of attack includes a small two-story building, a larger corridor for close range fire fights, and a dark path to the distance. An attack carried out in the first 30 seconds is usually in T’s favor, as the combination of paths available and coordination between players means that it is impossible for CT to prevent the T from getting into the bombsite. Yet once inside, that’s where the nightmare for T begins.

CT has plenty of locations to hide and ambush the T from, including under the train, behind abandoned crates or in the curved path. Not only that, the CT have unmatched ability to strike from above, they have 2 to 3 high ground to snipe from. A sharpshooter holding those positions can easily pin most of the T’s forces. CT doesn’t have to wipe out the T at all, they just need to guard the bombsite. What they need is a stalemate – What does the stalemate mean? It means T’s defeat, without a chance to plant the bomb, T is doomed to lose.

 

At the start of the first round, Liu Zuo led the charge up the two storied building. Usually, a CT sniper will be watching from across the building. This of course is not a concern in the first round, where no one can afford an AWP. Liu Zuo, Big P and the rest of the T roared as they charged into B, trying to settle the battle quickly.

The way there is strangely quiet, the CT seems to be away on a vacation.

Big P, Piggy, and W protected Liu Zuo as the latter began to plant the bomb. Once the bomb is planted, CT only has 35 seconds to diffuse. Yan Ning wanders around the group with her Glock 18 in hand, almost as though she is but a passerby here.

Gunshots rang around Liu Zuo the moment he began to plant. CT appeared like ghosts from every direction. Some of them ambushed from below the train, while others stood above, and still more hurried over from A site to reinforce. Liu Zuo grits his teeth and thinks to himself: “These suckers sure run fast! You guys better hold on, if I die it's gonna be hard to plant again!”

Yet Liu Zuo couldn’t last till he finished planting after all, Wang Dadao took aim from afar, and took Liu Zuo out with a few bullets from his USP. While the strategist Chen Mingfeng appears timid with his glasses and clean-shaven look, he is fiercer than anyone else in a charge. In his own words, he is an “Intellectual Combatant”. The strategist Chen Mingfeng is like a tiger charging down a mountain, first taking out Piggy with his USP as the latter tried to return fire while sprinting. Then, he turned towards Big P as the latter tried to seek cover under the train – Maybe it is because Big P is too fat and clumsy, he was taken out by four bullets from Chen Mingfeng before he could squeeze his fat ass under the train.

Now the only T left is W and Yan Ning, and there are still 5 CTs. The one-sided situation is clear. Piggy’s mouth is open in shock from this sudden development, seemingly not believing the fact that he had already perished. W, who is still alive, gestured to Yan Ning to hide and begin to return fire on the move, hoping to draw away the enemy’s fire. While Glock 18 is not W’s strong suite, he still took out two CTs. Yet the CT’s teamwork really is coordinated, one immediately fills the gap when another falls, giving W no moment of respite. Finally, out of ammo, W was surrounded and taken out as well.

Now Yan Ning is the only one left. She seems to have just woken from a dream, innocently holding the bomb beside the train. The three CTs smiled at each other and gathered around, followed by a barrage of gunfire.

The corpse of five T lie upon the train tracks. Guns and bomb scattered all over the ground, like the disastrous scene after an airstrike. Piggy’s hands begin to shake. Not because they lost the first round – While it was rare for them to lose the first round, it did happen before – what caused him to panic is the enemy’s powerful, coordinated attack and almost flawless teamwork. The entire operation is quick and vicious, their estimation of the T’s attack plan and subsequent surround precise and merciless. Sweat begins to appear on Piggy’s face.

Piggy secretly peeked at Yan Ning and Liu Zuo beside him. The former is cold as usual, giving no hint as to what she is thinking. The latter’s face is serious and stern, but still filled with confidence and hope. Piggy’s heart calmed itself a little, he told himself to keep it together.

At the start of round 2, Liu Zuo instructed the team to not rush. The T bought no guns, only carrying some flashbangs or grenades. As CT had won round 1, they should have the fund for M4. T is now in an extremely disadvantaged position. Now it is the time to use their skill to create a breakthrough – Liu Zuo thought to himself. Yet before they can demonstrate their advantage in skill, the T found them surrounded by attacking CTs.

Wang Dadao smiles as he commands his team to surround the T tightly in the two-story building. The CT attacks simultaneously from three entrances. Despite the fierce T resistance, they can do little when surrounded from all sides. Within a few minutes, they have already lost three rounds in a row.

The T is now in a pinch. If they keep on losing, it will only be even harder to turn the game around. Furthermore, while Bonus Hunter have just formed recently, they have never encountered this kind of desperate situation. They can't lose any more rounds – Bonus Hunter is seeing the signal of danger. At the start of round four, the T discussed the situation in their base, and decided to push through the small path. Normally, the path will only be defended by a single person. Once broken through, Piggy will rush to plant while the rest provide cover against the CT assault. Once ready, the five of them marched out together.