Who knew how much time had passed.
Meng Lang’s eyes gradually became as cold and focused as NiKo’s.
His counter-strafing grew ever more practiced, his pre-aim ever more precise, and his shooting rhythm finally found that subtle feel!
Neither too fast nor too slow, yet always in the instant before his opponent could fire...
He pulled the trigger first!
At last,
after one particular rewind.
The attack began again!
Meng Lang’s heart was as still as water. He turned sideways and peeked!
Bang—!
The first one, down!
Instantly ducking back, making a tiny adjustment to his position, he flashed out again!
Bang—!
The second one, down!
Even faster than before!
He did not pause in the slightest. His footsteps slid as he used the red box to avoid any possible firing lines.
Bang—!
The third T, who had just edged out, fell at the sound!
The last two Ts were clearly frightened by this terrifying Desert Eagle, and their attack rhythm showed a trace of hesitation—this was also an opportunity Meng Lang had discovered. The enemies in the system space were not AI; they were more like living, breathing people.
That meant,
when you showed enough dominance!
They would also feel a certain pressure!
Now!
Meng Lang seized that fleeting opportunity and actively swung out wider!
Bang—!
The fourth shot struck the fourth T precisely in the head!
The last T finally swung out completely from the flank, rifle bullets whistling toward him!
Meng Lang could even feel the scorching heat of the bullet grazing his cheek, but at this moment he had entered a mysterious state!
With only one bullet left in the magazine!
He did not choose to reload!
His wrist made a minute adjustment, the mouse shifted lightly, and almost by instinct he dragged his crosshair smoothly along the head level!
Bang—!!!
The fifth roar of the Desert Eagle, like the proclamation of the god of death, rang through the A site by forklift!
The fifth headshot!
The bullet landed, blood bursting out!
The last T was blasted to the ground by Meng Lang’s fiery Desert Eagle shot!
1V5!!!
I did it!!!
All of you can die!!!!
Meng Lang sucked in a fierce breath, as if he had just broken free from underwater, his heart pounding wildly, so excited he was almost trembling!
This Desert Eagle ace!
The demands it placed on mentality, mechanics, and rhythm were practically abnormal!
But he had done it!
He did not use an AK!
He did not use an AWP!
Since when was killing such an inconvenient affair!
“Hahahaha!”
Even in the system space, Meng Lang could not help bursting into laughter.
He laughed loudly!
He laughed freely!
Even a little smugly!
Though there was no audience here!
No cheers!
But after persisting through countless failed rewinds, when he truly accomplished all of this and completed this 1V5 front-site defensive clutch,
for one instant,
he suddenly felt
that he was actually rather remarkable!
At this moment, the system’s voice arrived in Meng Lang’s mind right on time:
【Congratulations to the host for completing NiKo’s Desert Eagle clutch!】
【Listening to bullets whistle through despair, forging a king’s crown amid gunfire—this is the path of the King of the Desert Eagle!】
【Old Ni’s remnant body has been fully fused. When the host is equipped with the Desert Eagle, marksmanship +15】
The system notification ended.
The scene before Meng Lang’s eyes shattered inch by inch!
The world spun around him!
The next second, he returned to the G2 training room.
Beside him, m0NESY was still slumped in his gaming chair, looking as though Meng Lang had completely drained him dry.
Hah—!
Finally,
he was out of prison again!
This counted as his second stint behind bars.
Meng Lang glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of his computer screen. It was still locked at 01:56 a.m.!
This damned time stop!
Sigh, if only he could move around in reality too—Meng Lang thought with a regretful sigh.
The kid sprawled over the chair beside him heard the sigh and thought Meng Lang was finally tired. He could not help asking,
“Bro, are you finally tired?”
“Don’t call me bro.”
“Huh?”
“Call me the Desert Eagle King.”
“.”
Mental.
The corner of the kid’s eye twitched as he looked at Meng Lang.
They had duo-queued the whole night. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Meng Lang’s Desert Eagle before; it was like a water pistol.
Worse than his own.
Far worse than Young Master Ni’s.
Meng Lang, however, chuckled and rubbed his hands together, looking at the kid collapsed in his gaming chair as he coaxed him patiently:
“Ilya! Want to go again? I’m terrifyingly strong right now!” He could hardly wait to charge into real combat!
Huh?
Again?!
The moment the kid heard this, he once again displayed his traditional art. With a jolt, he slid down from the chair, shouting, “No, no.”
Shut down the computer, grab the phone.
In one smooth motion, he returned to the training room.
He was an internet-addicted youth, yes.
But his addiction was not that severe.
“Fine, then you go rest first.” Meng Lang waved his hand, not one to force a man.
When the kid heard this, his fleeing footsteps paused for a moment. He turned back and glanced at Meng Lang, who was enthusiastically clicking into another FPL solo queue.
He had once chatted with Meng Lang late at night.
They were both seventeen or eighteen years old, the same age, and had no reservations about speaking too deeply despite a shallow acquaintance.
One could say they had spoken freely.
He knew Meng Lang’s goal was TOP 1. Uh, although that sounded a little funny.
But thinking about it wasn’t against the law.
What professional player didn’t want that?
The kid himself wanted it too.
It was just that there were too many superstar players in the professional scene. Right now, he was still only a talented new-generation sniper under NiKo’s halo.
TOP 1 was far away. No! Even TOP 10 felt out of reach.
The road to TOP 1.
How could it possibly be reached in one step?
In the dead of night, looking at Meng Lang’s back, the kid could not hold back and still advised him, “Why don’t you go rest too? There’s still a match tomorrow. Some things can’t be rushed.”
Meng Lang did not understand the kid’s meaning right away. He only felt that, well, that made sense too. Even if he had trained up his Desert Eagle and wanted to test it, there was no need to hurry at this very moment.
“Fine! Then let’s go sleep.”
In the hotel corridor, the tall Meng Lang had both hands behind his head. The kid beside him followed along, looking enviously at Meng Lang’s height and muscles.
The two walked and chatted on their way back to their rooms.
“Bro, why do you practice for so long every time? Don’t you get sick of it?”
“No, CS is so interesting. Besides, the clumsy bird has to fly first.”
“What kind of joke is that? You’re still clumsy?”
“I just feel like I’m not that smart. Right, is Ilya worried about me?”
“Huh? Not at all. I just... just don’t want you stealing TOP 1 while I’m asleep.”
“Then you’d better be careful, haha!”
Meng Lang laughed aloud.
In his heart, he thought to himself:
I still have training after falling asleep!
Back in the room,
Old Ni was wearing an eye mask and sleeping soundly!
The schedule of an “old person” was truly regular!
Meng Lang sighed with emotion, quickly washed up, then jumped onto the other bed and lay down.
He closed his eyes.
“System bro, let me in!”
【Will you consume 1000 GOAT points to begin a training match simulation against the “Galácticos,” FAZE Clan?】
【Confirm】
Karrigan, Twistzz, here I come!
The next second, Meng Lang’s consciousness sank into the simulated training space, while sleep mode was activated at the same time.
Nothing happened overnight. The next day.
After NiKo got up, he rubbed his sleepy eyes and discovered that when he had gone to sleep, the neighboring bed had been empty; after waking up, the neighboring bed was still empty.
A double room had been forcibly turned into a single.
After washing up, NiKo went downstairs. He still did not see Meng Lang in the hotel’s buffet restaurant. Only when he returned to the training room did he see Meng Lang sitting in front of a computer.
As if he had not moved all night.
“Bro, didn’t you sleep?”
Meng Lang did not speak. He turned his head, his mouth chewing a hamburger in big bites. On the computer screen was a group of bots. With his mouth full, he said indistinctly,
“Woke up not long ago. Got up and shot some bots to find my feel.”
Fine!
Young people’s schedules were fierce!
NiKo shrugged.
Soon, huNter-, nexa, and coach XTQ also entered the training room.
The moment they came in and saw Meng Lang wearing headphones and shooting bots, a trace of surprise and admiration appeared in their eyes.
What young people feared most was being unable to endure loneliness.
Becoming proud and complacent.
Yesterday, after winning their opening match against his old team EG, they had still wondered whether the breath Meng Lang had been holding in all this time would disperse just like that, and they could not help worrying.
There were plenty of players like that.
But the Major had only just begun!
Yet this morning, seeing Meng Lang as though nothing had happened, doing what he should do just as before, their worries instantly vanished.
“Right, who’s our next-round opponent today?” the kid asked. Yesterday, once he had returned, Meng Lang had dragged him into duo queue, so he had not paid much attention to the situation in the 1/0 group.
Hearing the kid’s words, huNter- had just been about to speak when he looked at Meng Lang’s back with a strange expression. A match subconsciously surfaced in his mind.
That’s right, it was the match from the replay clip in Wanjiqi’s stream not long ago—in a do-or-die game, Meng Lang had taken three kills in a clutch and planted the bomb. He originally had the chance to drag the match into overtime and let the team see hope of advancing.
But at the critical moment,
the AWP in his hands and the luck in the unseen both betrayed him.
First, his AWP whiffed an easy shot and hit the leg. Then he was taken away with a headshot by EliGE, who had dry-peeked out with a random-spread AK bullet that hadn’t even been counter-strafed,
and from then on, the foreshadowing of his hand injury was left behind...
That’s right. G2’s next opponent was 【Team Liquid】.
A 2021 HLTV annual TOP 10 team.
World ranking, ninth!