Chapter 7 – They Come from Shanghai – Part 1
Beijing
June
As usual, Ah K came to the net café for training. Neither A Jie or Xi Cheng is around, only rabbits and a couple others are hollering as they play MU. Seeing Ah K, rabbit yells at him excitedly: “Hurry, log on before A Jie and the rest of them arrive. You have no idea what treasure I got – A soul stone and a blessing stone! Shit, what kind of unnatural luck I’m having today…… Life is great!”
Ah K: “Two stupid rocks make you smug like that?”
Rabbit: “I am the boss now, everyone in District 1, Server 5 respects me.”
Ah K: “Congrats……I’m not going to MU, have to practice CS.”
Rabbit: “You should play some other stuff as well. You are not the first line anyway, no matter what you do, not with Xi Cheng here.”
Ah K says nothing and begins to practice on a AWP map.
Rabbit and the others make a face and laugh, then return to boisterously play MU.
Neither Xi Cheng nor A Jie showed up tonight. Rabbit and the others let go of themselves and immersed themselves in MU, only Ah K silently practiced his shooting. This would’ve been a calm night in Beijing, just like any other. Yet the unexpected happened around 10 PM.
Date: June 12th, 20002
Location: Seattle Net Café, Beijing.
“Owner, give us five seats.”
After getting used to the oily Beijing accent, the owner who originally came from Shanghai can’t help but be moved upon hearing mandarin with a slight Shanghai accent. He lifts his head and his eyes brightens – Five young women are smiling before him, some of them are talking quietly amongst themselves: “I haven known of this place before, big sis knows her ways after all….” “What perfume are ye using, ones Hong Kong Bai Xiang last time?” “Nah, jus the ones from the shop at Lu Jia Zui.”
The owner straightened his slightly white hair, and spoke emotionally in proper Shanghai dialect: “If ye want to chat online, A Zone 30 to 35 will do.”
The girls smiles while covering their mouth, they want to catch up with the fellow from their hometown – after all, while there are no shortage of people from Shanghai in Beijing, one does not usually get a chance to speak their home dialect, least they want to attract disdained looks from Beijingers. Yet the tallest and the only girl with a stern face continued on in mandarin: “We are not here to chat.”
The boss replies: “If you want to play Poker on Lian Zhong, A zone will do as well.”
The girl emphasizes each word she spoke: “We are not here for poker either. We are here for a match against X·FILES.
With that, the noisy net café suddenly became silent. The netizens around the front counter put down their mouse and turned to stare at the five girls. The owner adjusts his glasses and took a careful look at them, then speaks slowly: “You do know what X·FILES does, right?
The tall girl replies: “We Do. X·FILES is held as the strongest CS team in China, champion of the CS tournament in the Beijing Region and Hua Bei province. Since the start of this year, they have been challenging teams around the nation. They beat No.1 of almost all the regions with major leads, according to the internet, now they are truly the strongest team in China.”
The boss asks: “And yet you want a match with them?”
The girl replies: “Are you giving us seats or not? We want seats in X·FILES’ practice area.”
The boss looked at them for a moment, before slowly handing out 5 seat tags to the tall girl.
When rabbit returned from the washroom, his eyes seemed to lack focus, but his spirit was unusually high. He shook Ah K’s shoulder: “Ah K, a comet just struck earth, the sun just rose from the north, five hot girls want a match with us.”
Ah K: “Didn’t I tell you, I have no interest in girls on MU.”
Rabbit: “Not MU, CS, it seems there is a team of girls that is asking the owner for seats, they made it clear they are here to play a match against us.”
Wang Bi De (Did you guys remember him, he is the player “Peter” who played the match between X·FILES and Black Heaven from Nanjing, as well as JACK from Anhui.) snickers: “You brat is just too desperate for a woman – aren’t you afraid to lose face playing CS against women?”
Rabbit: “What face is there to lose, they are all hot~”
Wang Bi De: “What use is hot girls, CS is played with skill, not pretty face. Aren’t you afraid to ruin our team’s reputation playing with women? The captain will give you a proper scolding if he finds out!”
“Is that so?” A cold and crisp voice approaches. “Is it that much of a shame to play with women? What do you think CS is? Men’s special privilege? You still think that women are still lambs to the slaughter in a world relying on brains and skill rather than brute force? Why not give it a try, see who dies before whose gun.”
Rabbit and Ah K dumbfoundedly watched the approaching figure, not knowing which one to stare at. Rabbit sighed quitedly: “What a cool woman, what a pretty girl’s team.”
Ah K also spoke quietly: “They aren’t necessarily all beauties, but they do know how to look good.”
The tallest girl takes a sweep at the men in the training area and asks: “Who is the captain?”
Wang Bi De replies with a hint of pride and arrogance: “Our captain isn’t here today, nor is our vice-captain. So I am in charge of here for now.”
The girl nods: “Good. I am the captain of team Blood Flower, the girls behind me are our players, Xiao Xiao – She is the sniper; Ah Lin – Fragger ; Yue Yue – Fragger; Nocker – Free Role. Our team is abbreviated as B.F., from Shanghai, and the second place of the 2002 Shanghai Region CS Tournament. We want to meet the X·FILES for a friendly match as we happened to be travelling to Beijing.
Rabbit: “Hold it, I am the match coordinator of our team, it seems you are not an opponent we are looking to play against. We have already played against the champion of Shanghai.”
Wang Bi De picks up where Rabbit left off: “It was a win with 19:5, Your Shanghai teams were quite decent around the country, winning 5 rounds, after all. I think we don’t need to play against each other.”
Tian Nan: “You mean 3T? They were the champions of Shanghai last year. We’ve played three matches against them in March, all major wins for us. They are already going downhill, only we can represent the highest skill level Shanghai has to offer. What about it, still think we don’t have what it takes to fight you guys?”
Some snickered in the crowd: “Little girl sure talks big, representing Shanghai……”
“Even the Men in Shanghai can’t beat us, little girls like you all come here yelling……”
“Hey, the one with the big eye is the prettiest of them all! Her name is…….”
“Her name is Xiao Xiao, sniper. Haha, who could believe a girl this pretty plays CS.”
Xiao Xiao lowered her head sheepishly when she heard the discussion about her, but the girl named Ah Lin was scanning the crowd, and winking at any men that looked slightly more attractive.
Tian Nan turns around, casting a stern gaze at the onlookers commenting about them. The few who still wanted to bring something up were forced to swallow their words under the pressure of her gaze.
Tian Nan asks Wang Bi De again: “Can we have the match now?”
Rabbit replies on the side: “Our captain isn’t here, and you girls are indeed women. If we play against you, people might accuse us of bullying women.”
Tian Nan: “Bullshit! If we can beat you, we win, if we can’t, we lose. Bullying? Who do you think you are?”
Rabbit was startled by Tian Nan’s aura, he mumbles to himself: “So cool……”
Wang Bi De says: “Fine, we will fight! But don’t start crying if you can’t beat us.”
The B.F. player Ah Lin, who has not spoken up till now, smiles at Wang Bi De: “Then please don’t cry as well if you lose.” Then she gave Wang Bi De an alluring wink that left the latter speechless.
Ah K tugs on Wang Bi De’s sleeves and speaks quietly: “The captain isn’t here and you just agreed to a match like this, what if something…..”
Wang Bi De: “You kid don’t speak much normally, why are you babbling like an old woman when you do?” In any case, you will get a chance to go on.”
Ah K hesitates for a moment, he remembers that he hasn’t played a real match for a long time, and finally held back his words.
Without A Jie and Xi Cheng, X·FILES’ roster is as follows:
X·FILE│peter（Wang Bi De, deputy captain）
X·FILE│K（Ah K, Sniper）
X·FILE│liming（Li Ming, Fragger）
X·FILE│rabbit（Rabbit, Grenadier）
X·FILE│shen（Shen, Free Role）
Blood Flower Roster：
BLOODFLOWER!Mm＊Tian Nan (Tian Nan, captain and commander)
BLOODFLOWER!Mm＊XiaoXiao（Xiao Xiao, Sniper）
BLOODFLOWER!Mm＊Lin（Ah Lin, Fragger）
BLOODFLOWER!Mm＊YueYue（Yue Yue, Fragger and Grenadier）
BLOODFLOWER!Mm＊Nocker（Na’er, Free Role）
Time: 22:18 PM, June 12th, 2002
Teams: X·FILES vs Blood Flower
Map: Office
(TL Note: I can’t find a picture for the map of Office as is in CS 1.6, so I am using the version in CS:GO instead, which may be slightly different)
Office is a mid-sized hostage rescue map. The CT must enter the building occupied by T to rescue hostages within the given time. The building is a two-story office building. This map is also sometime known as “White-Collar Crisis”, probably because the map being a typical White-Collar office building: Computer room, meeting room, office cubicles are all in place, even the hostage are wearing dumb looking white coats.
X·FILES is playing as the CT first, they are to rescue the hostage being held by the Blood Flower. Wang Bi De and Rabbit exchanged an earnest smile before heading out, they both knew the battle would be resolved shortly.
Just a couple girls who have no idea who they are dealing with daring to challenge them. They wouldn’t have agreed to the match if it weren’t for the girls being kinda pretty – This is just playing along with them.
The people in the net café all came to watch in the X·FILES training zone after hearing an all-female team from Shanghai came to challenge. The onlookers eagerly voiced their opinions about the two teams, of course, most of the discussion focused on the appearance of the five girls. Two netizens almost started a fight over which girl is the prettiest.
Blood Flower players ignored the discussion of the audiences. Especially their captain Tian Nan, who commanded the battle in an orderly manner, her face stern but confident. Only Ah Lin casted alluring glances at others, causing waves of stir in the crowd from time to time.
The first round is the usual pistol round. Wang Bi De charged ahead, as though he really is the captain. He enjoyed the pleasure of commanding. Rabbit followed right behind him, like an assistant accompanying a senior official. Shen and Ah K are both not frontline players, and only got their chance because of Ah Jie and Xi Cheng’s absences, so the two were even more spirited in their advances, almost as though they wanted the whole world to see their skills.
When the five CT entered the building, the stairs and the rooms were all silent. Wang Bi De made a gesture and the players split up to search for enemies. He and Rabbit would go rescue the hostages in their room.
As the round started with only $800 in funding, both sides had to fight it out with pistols. Wang Bi De has a title of “Prince of Pistols” in the team – A name he earned after taking out all five enemy players with pistols during a match against a team from Kunming. He liked people calling him by that name, even if sometimes they used it to joke with him.
Wang Bi De is deeply proud of his role as a first line player of X·FILES, to the point of being a bit smug. He still remembers his first test to apply for the team. He lost 0:24 against his examiner Ah Jie in a 1v1 in Dust 2. In one month, he tried again, with a score of 5:24 – the best of all players who applied that time.
Wang Bi De has always been a person who just wants to get by in life. He never took anything seriously, including his relationships. Yet he changed to a different person after joining X·FILES, all that he put in and received from CS, all the happiness and pain he felt from it exceeded the sum of it in the past 24 years of his life.
“Come girls, come within my embrace, I will make you die gently in my arms.” Wang Bi De said quietly, like a poet moved by his own words.
Rabbit hopped around in joy, sniffing for the scent of beauties.
It is still all quiet. The CT entered the hostage room without trouble, Wang Bi De rescued the hostages and began to lead them back. Once they enter the CT spawn, they’d be victorious.
Ah K told them to hold, waved his hand to signal for the potential of an enemy ambush. Rabbit nods, and gestured to Ah K to be at ease, and that they got this. Wang Bi De is leading the hostages with Rabbit and Ah K covering for him in front and behind.
Suddenly, several gunshots rang out in the distance, and the message of Liming and Shen’s death appeared on the screen. Rabbit is clearly puzzled for a moment, as Li Ming and Shen are the 5th and 6th best player in the team, how were they taken out so quietly? There is no expression on Wang Bi De’s face, he continued to advance quickly. Ah K know what he had in mind, just get to the spawn and all will be fine – Win this round, and they will have more money for guns in the next.
Ah K continues to follow behind the hostage, loyally protecting the hostage as they fled towards the safe zone. Yet just as he turned to check the terrain to the left, he suddenly felt a shake. Ah K quickly turned out to fight back, but it was too late. Sister Ah Lin in her terrorist costume took him out with three shots through her alluring gaze.
Rabbit quickly came to fill Ah K’s position when he saw the latter’s death message. According to experience, the T should still be close to the location of death, likely reloading. Now is the ideal time to go after the enemy.
Yet the place is silent without anyone. Rabbit switched to silent walking, and focused on tracking the enemy.
Still no one. Could she have gone that quickly? Impossible, the terrain is complicated and interlinked, like a narrow street battle. If she had left, she must have turned towards the left, but Rabbit had been aiming at that crossing, there is no way she would have escaped. Then where could she be? Rabbit cautiously waits in place– She will certainly show herself once she believes he had left. She can’t wait for long, his teammate is already carrying the hostage to the safe zone, they must be throwing everything they have to stop that from happening.
Yet only two people are left in Rabbit’s side, but there are five enemies, no matter how you see it, they have the advantage. In times like this, patience is what matters, Rabbit tells himself. “Wait for her to come out, and then shoot her in the head – settle it quick.”
After several seconds of waiting, he suddenly realized something. Why is the opponent waiting as well? Why not come out and fight him? What can she be waiting for? Could it be…
Just as Rabbit realized something is amiss, misfortunate is already befalling upon him. After a burst of footsteps, two beauty terrorists jumped up from both sides of the corridors, crossing each other mid-air. At the same time, they caught Rabbit in their crossfire. Poor Rabbit can only blame himself for not knowing how to burrow, and turned into a corpse filled with holes in mere moments.
All onlookers cannot help but gasped in surprise. The coordinated attack was beautifully executed. Rabbit finally realized what Ah Lin is waiting for – She is waiting for another teammate. Waiting for another teammate to catch rabbit in a hopeless crossfire. Who would’ve thought a girl loving to wink towards guys is this calm and calculating in CS, obtaining the greatest gains with least risks.
Rabbit gritted his teeth and tightly clutched his mouse.
Wang Bi De is the last one left. His teammate’s death message appeared on the screen one by one. He shelved his underestimation earlier, it seems the all-female team does have what it takes to take the fight to X·FILES. He doesn’t have his earlier ambition to take them all out, now he just wants to escort the hostage to safety.
He is already at the building entrance, a bit further and he will be at CT spawn. It is then, he saw a figure.
That figure swings by the cover in front of the entrance, and runs ahead. Wang Bi De saw it clearly, she has her back towards him. He was just about to chase before realizing that it is probably a trap. It is a strategy in CS to use one teammate as a bait, and have others hidden in cover to deal the killing blow when the opponent tries to chase. Wang Bi De smiles coldly, how can a simple trap like this fool me? There must be a CT on the left or right side of the door.
Wang Bi De did not rush to give chase. On the contrary, he walks silently and squatted beside the entrance. If he’s judgement is correct, the enemy must have thought that he did not give chase because he chose a different path. When the T jumps out after she could wait no longer, it will be the time of her death.
Just as Wang Bi De expected, a T jumps out agilely from the left side of the door. Wang Bi De compliments in his head: “To be expected of a girl, they even jump in such a pretty way. But, heheh, time to send you home!”
Wang Bi De aimed at the head of the T, though he felt something was amiss when he pulled the trigger – even though the T who jumped out also shot back, it seemed to lack determination, she instead focused on running left and right. Wang Bi De’s experience tells him something unusual is going on, but he has no leeway to think about that. He must first kill the T in front of him, and leave the rest for later.
When only a single bullet remained in Wang Bi De’s USP pistol, the T fell to the ground. Wang Bi De quickly lowered his head to reload, with four enemies left, a tough fight probably lies ahead. After taking out that T, he suddenly had the hope of taking them all out again, just like the time where he took out all 5 enemies of that team from Kunming. He scanned his surroundings cautiously while he reloaded. Just then, Tian Nan’s merciless figure appears before him.
Her pistol aimed at his head.
As he fell backward towards the ground, Wang Bi De understood, he understood everything.
It was indeed a trap, but the real bait is the second T. The T running away from him is just a distraction, to fool him into believing that is all the enemy’s trap entails. That is why he held nothing back when he fought the second enemy, and the real killer would only come when he exhausted his ammo.
Tian Nan must be counting the number of his shots while waiting. 11 shots of USP, she must have clearly calculated that he only has one bullet left. She appeared so leisurely and dominantly before him, then shot him mercilessly and calmly. The teamwork between the three is probably the deadliest trap Wang Bi De had experienced. They knew their advantage in number, and thus sacrificing a comrade is of no concern to them. In the end, they achieved their goals and perfectly ended round 1.
The crowd have their mouths wide open, even forgetting to cheer.
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