At the same time, in the match.
“My bad.”
Xiao Lizi took the blame first, then rallied them. “Next round is a gun round. Let’s play it properly. Ilya, get the AWP out. They’re going to have an AWP too. This round, swap positions with me—I’ll watch stables for you. Dark, keep holding connector. You go Banana. Their AWP is very likely to creep up Banana this round.”
ZywOo’s offensive AWP on Banana was one of Inferno’s classic scenes.
m0NESY had been saving money since the Deagle round two rounds ago, and the previous round had been a full eco, so he had just enough cash to buy an AWP. Hearing this, he nodded.
But in his heart, he was a little nervous.
NiKo heard Xiao Lizi’s setup. As the secondary caller, he thought for a moment, then suddenly suggested, “I feel like this kind of plain default with 3A and 2B is still too passive. How about this: I swap with Dark. I’ll watch connector. Early on, we look for a chance to control mid and boiler. We can’t let them walk up on us every round.”
NiKo’s words made sense.
If they could take control of mid and boiler, that meant they could read the Ts’ attacking intention earlier and rotate in advance, instead of always waiting until the Ts broke into a site before arriving late in a desperate rush, ultimately forced to save their guns.
Meng Lang did want to say that he had spent all of last night battling Liquid on Inferno in the simulation space.
Right now, his grasp on the map’s timings was decent, and swapping with Xiao Lizi to control boiler would be no problem. But considering that age and experience still counted for something, and that he and m0NESY could hold B just as well, he did not refute NiKo’s suggestion.
Xiao Lizi considered it briefly, then decisively nodded and agreed to NiKo’s proposal.
Douyu 6657 livestream room.
“All right! Now we’re heading into the first gun round of this match. G2 has made a wide-range defensive reshuffle here. Li Shen still opens with a fast smoke at T ramp, and m0NESY’s defensive AWP has come to Banana! This is getting interesting. Is B going to be mainly held by the two kids?”
“Oh! Wait! G2 has a setup on Banana this round!”
At this moment, on G2’s side, as soon as m0NESY’s AWP arrived, Meng Lang crouched behind car. m0NESY nimbly climbed on top, forming a boost with Meng Lang!
The AWP peered over the slab smoke in front of him, directly holding the T-ramp smoke.
Wan Ji Qi’s eyes immediately lit up.
“ZywOo is still at T ramp right now! Wait a second—the T-ramp smoke will fade first. This boosted angle from m0NESY is a non-pre-aim spot. I feel like m0NESY is going to get the opening kill with this AWP!”
Along with Wan Ji Qi’s voice, the observer’s camera also cut over to this spot, and the viewers in the livestream room all grew tense.
Soon, the opening T-ramp smoke gradually faded.
Wan Ji Qi also sped up his speech. “It’s coming, it’s coming. A duel between the two snipers! No one would ever pre-aim m0NESY’s position. This opening kill—”
Before he finished speaking, there came a thunderous “bang!”
The AWP’s iconic, dull gunshot tore through Banana’s silence!
The next second, a kill notification suddenly appeared in the upper right corner of the screen—
[Vitality-ZywOo killed G2-m0NESY with AWP!]
From m0NESY’s perspective, the instant the T-ramp smoke dispersed, a figure had only just appeared at the edge of his scoped vision. He had not even had time to fully settle his aim!
Then the screen abruptly turned gray and white!
A violent kill feedback hit him!
“Ah!” m0NESY was so startled by the sudden death that his hand trembled, and his whole body jolted in his chair.
After he came back to himself, shame and frustration instantly surged onto his face. He hammered his mousepad hard.
Wan Ji Qi’s commentary suddenly rose in pitch!
“Oh—!! ZywOo! A spot no one in the world would pre-aim, he pre-aims it! This is ZywOo! That familiar sense of complete vision! m0NESY was completely ‘sensed by killing intent’ in this play! He never imagined someone from far away would pre-hold this off-angle boost to death!”
At the G2 player seats.
Seeing someone drop instantly at the start, NiKo’s heart gave a thud.
He immediately called urgently in voice chat, “Dark! Throw a mid smoke to delay them! I can’t clear boiler anymore. I have to come back and help B!”
Almost at the same moment m0NESY died, Meng Lang reacted extremely quickly. A precise mid-Banana smoke grenade flew out of his hand!
With a “puff,” it bloomed near the white wall, forming a gray barrier.
As for Meng Lang himself, he turned without hesitation and retreated toward the back of CT, refusing to get greedy.
This timely smoke did indeed slow Vitality’s attacking rhythm.
Besides, having just secured the opening kill and gained the man advantage, they were in no hurry. They chose to steady themselves first and did not rashly force through the smoke to give an opportunity.
Soon, NiKo rotated back from connector and took position, crossfiring with Meng Lang at the back.
“Vitality is playing this very smart right now,” Wan Ji Qi analyzed rapidly. “After getting the man advantage, they aren’t in a rush to execute. Instead, they choose to slow down and control the map, because they can’t determine how many players G2 has rotated back to B.”
“Look over on A. Magisk and dupreeh have already started throwing utility to harass. It sounds lively as hell, crackling and popping, but no one’s showing. This is classic containment. The goal is to make G2’s A site afraid to send too many people back to B. They have to leave at least two behind.”
“But Banana hasn’t been idle either! They threw a slab smoke, ZywOo has steadily taken his favorite tree position, and apEX... apEX has already silently crept behind the slab! At the same time, Magisk and dupreeh, who were making noise on A just now, have also started quietly withdrawing!”
Wan Ji Qi’s voice suddenly rose, carrying shock. “Oh?! Looks like in this gun round, after gaining the man advantage, Vitality’s final target is still B! Then what can G2 do about it?”
At this moment, NiKo observed that A was all thunder and little rain. He frowned, unwilling to sit and wait for death, and called to Meng Lang, “Bro, push up with me a bit. Get some info!”
But he had only just reached near the slab and had not had time to make his next move when Magisk, who had just rotated back from A to Banana, came straight at him holding a grenade!
“Bang!”
The grenade exploded by NiKo’s feet, instantly taking off 34 HP!
Fuck!
NiKo cursed inwardly, knowing things were bad. A nade-and-molotov combo—where there was a nade, there would be fire.
He had just been about to retreat—
“Bang!!!”
Another AWP roar came from the direction of tree!
The sound was dull, yet deadly!
Immediately afterward, a shocking notification appeared on the screen!
[Vitality-ZywOo headshot G2-NiKo through the wall with AWP!]
NiKo instantly went numb!
Wasn’t that wallhacking?
Then he looked again at the ID that had killed him... never mind.
With no time to think, the anxious HooXi immediately shouted for Meng Lang to throw a cutoff smoke and defend from the back, while also calling the two CTs on A to hurry up and rotate.
The livestream chat instantly exploded!
Dense rows of “???” and “wallhack!” flooded the screen.
At the Vitality player seats.
Magisk was also stunned!
“You wallbanged NiKo?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Because, it’s me.”
Even Big Potato rarely cracked a joke.
With two kills secured and victory within grasp, the atmosphere within Vitality immediately relaxed.
Douyu 6657 livestream room.
“Whoa!!! ZywOo! It’s you again! France’s ultimate weapon!” Wan Ji Qi cried out in shock, his voice changing pitch. “Not even pretending anymore, huh?! A headshot wallbang through the slab! This is way too exaggerated! It really looks too much like wallhacking! How is anyone supposed to play against this?!”
At this point, Wan Ji Qi’s tone suddenly turned sharply downward. “And do you know what the scariest thing is right now? The scariest thing is—someone has been invisible behind the slab since the very beginning! That’s right! It’s apEX! He slipped over while the mid smoke still hadn’t faded!”
“Now G2 only has Dark left on B! Once the utility pops, is Dark still not leaving? If he doesn’t leave, he’ll absolutely get swung on and farmed by apEX after a pop flash!”
“Eh? Wait! Dark... Dark switched guns? He picked up the AWP m0NESY just dropped! What does he want to do? Is he trying to hold ZywOo at tree? But there’s already someone close!”
“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over! Dark is about to give himself away for free this round!”
However,
amid Wan Ji Qi’s despairing cry,
at the very instant Magisk had also silently crept to the edge of the slab smoke, and apEX behind the slab was holding a self-flash, preparing to swing out—
Meng Lang suddenly shivered!
[Spider Sense!]
In the next instant, as if blessed by sudden insight, he flicked his crosshair and whipped out a shot with the AWP!!
“Bang—!!!”
The AWP in Meng Lang’s hands let out Banana’s third roar!
But his bullet was not fired toward the distant tree position!
Instead, it slammed viciously into a certain spot behind the slab!
[G2-Dark headshot Vitality-apEX with AWP!]
apEX, who had abruptly dropped dead, saw his screen turn gray, and he himself could not help being startled!
Fuck!
What the hell was that?
On what basis could he wallbang me?
Yet Meng Lang did not pause for even a moment. He moved slightly, worked the bolt to chamber the next round, and immediately the AWP’s crosshair snapped across at a speed almost impossible to follow with the naked eye!
“Bang!!!”
The fourth AWP roar followed close behind. The bullet once again struck Magisk with precision just as he was about to swing out from the car side through the slab smoke!
[G2-Dark killed Vitality-Magisk with AWP!]
Double kill!!!
After completing the double kill, Meng Lang still did not stop. He instantly switched to the smoke grenade NiKo had dropped, threw a precise cutoff smoke to seal the route, then quickly retreated toward CT without even looking back.
In the 6657 livestream room,
Wan Ji Qi was so excited he almost jumped out of his chair, roaring with all his strength:
“My god! Those two shots from Dark! He killed them and still got away! Once again, he single-handedly pressed pause on the Ts’ offense! This is way too absurd!”
“I thought he was going to hold ZywOo at tree, but in the end he turned around and wallbanged the two close-range rats who had silently crept up! apEX was silently tucked against the slab, Magisk was shift-walking through the smoke—yet in front of him, it’s like they couldn’t go invisible at all!”
“Transparent! It’s really too transparent!”
“Dark! Could it be that today, you’ve also plugged in the same kind of ‘USB drive’ as Big Brother ZywOo?!!”
At the player seats.
Big Brother ZywOo’s expression darkened. He raised his head and looked toward the opposing G2 seats.
Meng Lang sensed his gaze,
raised his head,
and slightly arched an eyebrow at Shushu.
—You started it!
Hmm???
The observer’s camera happened to capture the interaction between the two during the match.
In an instant,
the chat in the 6657 livestream room boiled over!