God A?
Meng Lang glanced at the skill description:
【Shuttling through flashes of lightning, dancing wildly amid a hail of bullets—this is the feast of the hair-dryer enjoyer! Wielding a MAC-10, he is like a ghostly dancer on the battlefield, turning an unassuming submachine gun into the team’s firmest shield and most unexpected blade! His hair dryer is not a tool of slaughter, but a hymn of devotion, an indispensable, dazzling gear in the team’s economic machine!】
Only after reading the introduction did Meng Lang realize that “God A” referred to AmaNEk, the former G2 player.
Unlike the star-studded big names on the team, AmaNEk was the classic supporting-leaf type of player, silently contributing in the background.
When the team’s economy was healthy in rifle rounds, he would often take the initiative to buy the cheap MAC-10 “hair dryer,” using the money he saved to buy the team’s main AWPer, kennyS, his signature “Wildfire” skin AWP.
Yes, he was AmaNEk, the only player in G2 whom the community respectfully called “God A”! And it was precisely because of this long-term, deliberate choice and practice that he had honed his MAC-10 skills to perfection.
He had long ranked near the top of the pro player charts for percentage of kills with submachine guns, and players jokingly called him the “hair-dryer enjoyer.”
It could be said that he was the MAC-10 jinchuriki through and through.
Seeing this, Meng Lang immediately became interested. Right now, in force-buy and half-buy rounds, his weapon choices were mainly the Desert Eagle and the Scout, but on certain maps with complex structures, those two guns were not always the optimal solution.
Not to mention certain specific tactics—for example, when the team needed him to act as the first-entry rifler. In those situations, the Deagle’s low margin for error and the Scout’s weakness in close combat felt somewhat out of place.
At times like that, if he had a submachine gun with decent firepower and rapid movement speed, the situation would become much more “comfortable.”
And the MAC-10 hair dryer was undoubtedly an extremely cost-effective weapon with strong close-range burst potential among the SMG family.
Its affordable price of 1050 made it the first choice for the T side when the economy was poor.
But back when Meng Lang was in EG, he had been the main AWPer, so in half-buy rounds he would naturally prioritize saving money and preserving the economy;
Later, after transitioning into a rifler, he mostly played support, and in half-buy rounds he would basically prioritize dropping guns for teammates and buying team utility. He rarely had the chance to buy a hair dryer and go for entries himself.
When the team needed him to draw crosshairs, he would often just charge in with half armor and a Glock.
So when it came to the hair dryer, his proficiency with the gun was only at the level of “able to use it,” far from mastery or expertise.
But now,
hadn’t the opportunity just arrived?
【Attempt to fuse with “God A’s Remnant Body”?】
The system prompt surfaced again. Meng Lang glanced at the kid in front of him, who had just finished his interview and was walking toward him with a smile, seemingly wanting to say something.
Meng Lang smiled faintly back at him as well, silently muttering in his heart, “I’ll be right back.”
In the next instant, the world around him suddenly froze. The noisy sounds of the venue receded like the tide, and Meng Lang’s consciousness was once again pulled away, entering that familiar mysterious training space.
This time, the map that unfolded before his eyes was Dust II.
Meng Lang felt a faint joy in his heart. This map was good!
The next second, Meng Lang’s perspective sank abruptly, as if his soul had been injected into a T-side character holding a MAC-10.
At that moment, he seemed to clearly feel the light weight of the gun in his hands, as well as the unique, slightly sharp outline of its body.
Clutch information instantly flooded into his mind:
At the start of this round, all three of the T-side teammates with rifles had been wiped out. Only “he,” holding a hair dryer, remained, along with a teammate holding an AWP—an AWP that “he” had funded with the money saved from buying the hair dryer.
And that AWPing teammate was currently trapped deep in the tunnels.
An AWPer without information, under circumstances where they were down so many players at the start, simply could not move.
By common sense, the best choice in front of him seemed to be saving the gun.
But this “God A” whom Meng Lang was attached to made a bold decision—he resolutely slow-walked out from lower tunnels, quickly peeked mid doors, and entered the crisis-ridden mid area to actively gather information!
At this moment, he caught a rare timing.
Taking advantage of the gap when the CT crossing from A long to CT spawn wasn’t watching mid, he slipped unnoticed toward B site and first sprayed down a CT’s back behind the tall box on B site from window.
With that, all the CTs were “activated”!
The CT at short directly pushed out through mid doors into mid!
But God A made a swift turn, and with the hair dryer in his hands, he performed a jaw-dropping mid-range spray control, instantly taking down the CT who had swung out from mid doors to trade!
Meng Lang stared blankly:
Wait?
This hair dryer… could be controlled like this at mid range too?
And it wasn’t over yet!
After succeeding, God A did not linger in the fight at all. He immediately wrapped back through B tunnels, slow-walked close to lower by the stairs, and unleashed another rapid burst of “rat-tat-tat”!
Triple kill!
He blew the CT sneaking up lower tunnels into numbness, successfully covering the AWPing teammate who had been trapped in tunnels and allowing him to safely rotate to back plat and enter B to plant the bomb!
Afterward, God A pre-aimed window in advance and killed the CT rotating back through window at close range—show your head and get blown away!
Quad kill!
Finally, at the B doors, with a perfect running spray, he caught the last CT who was hastily rotating back!
Five kills! ACE!
This was a textbook-level individual show completed in an eco round with the cheapest weapon!
And in this round, the teammate holding the most expensive AWP on the field had only completed one task—planting the bomb.
Meanwhile, this “supporting leaf” holding the hair dryer
had shouldered every responsibility: gathering information, entry fragging, covering the plant, and even guarding the bomb and cleaning up at the end!
He had practically slaughtered the entire server by himself!
So this was… the springtime of a supporting leaf?
Meng Lang secretly praised him in his heart. As expected of the “hair-dryer enjoyer,” his MAC-10 play was simply divine!
Moreover, this gun seemed much fiercer than he remembered, especially at close range within ten paces—fast and accurate!
No wonder the MAC-10 was called the “hair dryer.” That rate of fire really was like blasting madly against the enemy’s scalp, instantly giving them a “new hairstyle of death.”
Not to mention that incredible mid-range spray control. The accuracy could actually be maintained at that level. It truly somewhat refreshed Meng Lang’s understanding.
Just then, the system’s mechanical voice rang out again:
【This is a MAC-10 hair dryer. Aim at any body part and you may empty the magazine. Now, enter AmaNEk’s body and use what you have just learned to complete this clutch!】
Meng Lang’s eyes immediately lit up.
Dust II was his specialty map. Even if the enemy adopted a dynamic defense, he had confidence that he could rely on his understanding of the map to find an opening.
Of course, he might need a little time to adapt to the hair dryer before reaching God A’s realm of “man and dryer as one.”
First, he would set himself a small goal!
Ten tries!
Clear it within ten attempts!
Next, he began his first attempt.
Step one: go out through mid doors first to gather information. He remembered that there had actually been a CT holding the cross from A long to CT spawn at the time. It was just that God A had caught the perfect timing when the opponent happened not to be watching mid, allowing him to successfully slip near window.
However, Meng Lang didn’t know whether his luck was just too bad or not, but two times in a row, the moment he showed himself at mid doors, he was spotted by the CT crossing at A long and instantly arrested.
He did try to imitate God A by taking a mid-range spray duel, but he quickly discovered that the effective range of the hair dryer was simply too poor. Its short 145mm barrel caused the bullet spread at medium-to-long range to be extremely random, making the trajectory difficult to control!
Even if he occasionally landed shots, the damage would be greatly reduced, making it almost impossible to fight.
Meng Lang understood that God A’s spray from mid doors to window had belonged to an extreme operation at close-to-mid range, while his own distance from mid directly toward the CT at A long was completely outside the hair dryer’s effective range.
After three failures, Meng Lang simply changed his approach.
He stopped wasting time with the CT at CT spawn. After exiting mid doors, he directly pulled out his knife and sprinted with loud footsteps, taking advantage of his high movement speed!
Even if he was spotted, he relied on his speed advantage to quickly break away from the opponent’s line of fire.
The downside of playing this way was that the CT on B site would discover his movements in advance, and the CT at short would jump down to support through mid doors even faster. This meant that Meng Lang would soon face a 1v2 situation.
This was a small challenge.
After trying twice more, Meng Lang gradually grasped the feeling of counter-stopping and firing during this kind of high-speed movement, and successfully completed the opening 1v2.
Here, he gradually figured out the core characteristic of the hair dryer—its bullet spread while running and jumping was far smaller than that of rifles!
So when playing the hair dryer, one could completely pair it with flexible and unpredictable movement to disrupt the enemy’s aiming rhythm and close the engagement distance.
As for mid-range spray control, Meng Lang confirmed through repeated attempts that it was indeed feasible, though its priority was far lower than close-range “head-drying.”
At mid range, one could attempt to control the spray by strictly controlling the firing rhythm and combining it with trajectory compensation.
Although it was not as stable as rifle spray control and could easily result in bullets flying all over the place, this gun, paired with its movement, possessed a unique margin for error.
For example.
When you use an AK to duel an enemy, if you mess up the spray, you can basically only grit your teeth and hold down left-click until you spray into the sunset, or transfer, or switch to tapping.
But if you mess up the spray with the hair dryer, you can directly use the high movement speed to strafe left and right or jump sideways, opening up distance or finding a new angle—after all, this thing was like the PP-Bizon, a weapon capable of effective run-and-gun!
After gradually figuring out and mastering these details and trajectory-control techniques, Meng Lang once again displayed his profound foundation and astonishing learning ability as a Dust II specialist.
On his sixth attempt, he still did not choose to gamble on that elusive luck to catch the timing. He directly pulled out his knife and rushed out from mid doors into mid.
As expected, he was spotted by the CT at A long.
But fortunately, at the instant the opponent opened fire and sprayed, the flexible movement he had previously trained—combined with the characteristics of the hair dryer—allowed him to miraculously break away from the opponent’s line of fire without losing a single drop of HP!
Then, without pausing at all, he charged straight toward window, made a flying jump-peek, and headshot the B-site CT who had realized something was wrong while still in midair!
Immediately afterward, he rushed without stopping to B doors and held the angle. With a classic wide-swing running spray, he instantly melted the other CT who had swung out from mid doors to trade!
For the next steps, he perfectly continued God A’s decision-making.
A CT had already begun rotating back from CT spawn. At that distance, the hair dryer had no advantage whatsoever; he absolutely could not go there.
He directly took position early at the stairs in B tunnels.
At this moment, his “teammate” brought the C4 from back plat into B site to plant. Sure enough, someone on the CT side wanted to wrap through lower tunnels and cut off the plant, only to be caught red-handed by Meng Lang, who had been waiting for him for a long time!
Rat-tat-tat—!
The extreme rate of fire spat out madly!
Triple kill!
Meng Lang once again experienced the pleasure of close-range “head-drying,” then successfully covered his “teammate” as he planted the bomb. The situation became a 2v2 retake.
Meng Lang first blew away window, then ran and sprayed B doors!
A perfect spray transfer!
He directly collected the last two kills!
Five kills! ACE!
The moment the final CT fell, Meng Lang felt an indescribable sense of exhilaration flowing through his entire body. It was unbelievably satisfying!
At this moment, he somewhat understood why some people in the community joked that “the hair dryer ruined CSGO”!
This thing really was easy to get addicted to!
The smoothness of running and gunning throughout the whole process and the thrill brought by the killing efficiency were no less satisfying than the famous “run-and-gun god weapon,” the Bizon.
It was just that its magazine capacity was relatively smaller than the Bizon’s, but its rate of fire was far more terrifying than the Bizon’s—up to 782 rounds per minute!
That meant it could empty an entire magazine in around 2.3 seconds. Can you believe that?
At this time, the system prompt arrived by his ear right on schedule:
【Congratulations, Host, for completing God A’s clutch! (Hair-Dryer Enjoyer)】
【Dancing wildly amid a storm, deciding the fate of the world within ten paces—this is the feast of the hair-dryer enjoyer! Its ultimate rate of fire is its rhapsody, its ghostly movement is its waltz, and when the gunshots ring out, they become a death symphony performed for the opponent!】
【God A’s Remnant Body has been fused. When the Host is equipped with a MAC-10, marksmanship proficiency +15!】
The prompt ended, and the training-space scene before Meng Lang’s eyes shattered like broken glass.
Immediately after, he returned to reality, and his ears were once again filled with the noisy sounds of the venue. The kid, who had just finished his interview, happened to walk over!
He was in high spirits, seemingly wanting to share something with Meng Lang, but when he opened his mouth, the words were clearly already at his throat, yet he suddenly got stuck. He froze there in astonishment, his face full of confusion as if saying, “What was I just about to say?”
The kid scratched his head and said gloomily, “Strange. What was I just about to say to you? I clearly remembered it, so why does it feel like I suddenly forgot?”
Actually, it wasn’t “suddenly.”
Meng Lang chuckled inwardly!
But what came out of his mouth was:
“It’s fine, that’s normal. I do that all the time too. Let me help you think. Mm! I guess you must have wanted to say that after we go back, you’ll practice with me for just a little bit!”
That “little bit” of yours is not little at all!
The kid’s expression immediately changed, and he shook his head like a rattle-drum. “No, no, no! I remembered! There’s an internet-famous restaurant in Antwerp with really good shrimp. Niko said this morning that if we won today’s match, he’d treat us to a meal there!”
“Shrimp? What kind of shrimp?” Meng Lang asked curiously.
The kid took out his phone and flipped through the guide. “I think they’re called North Sea gray shrimp. The preparation is pretty special. They’re served as a cold dish inside hollowed-out tomatoes. I heard they’re very fresh and tasty. Their fried shrimp croquettes are also very famous.”
After hearing that, Meng Lang felt somewhat regretful and casually said, “Oh, I thought it was Boston lobster.” In his impression, Boston lobster had always been considered a relatively luxurious delicacy back home.
Unexpectedly, the moment he said that,
the G2 player seats suddenly fell silent for an instant.
Cousin and Xiao Lizi seemed to have thought of something extremely funny, lowering their heads as they burst into laughter with a pfft—they had remembered the little amusing tidbit Meng Lang had secretly explained to them before about CNNikoFansCLUB.
Meng Lang also immediately realized he had let something slip. He quickly shut his mouth and turned his head somewhat guiltily, only to meet a “death stare” comparable to Clearlove’s next door!
Old Ni was staring at him with a half-smile.
Clearly, after Meng Lang had secretly “educated” Cousin and Xiao Lizi, Old Ni was not entirely unaware of it either.
Meng Lang let out two dry chuckles, then hurriedly oiled the soles of his feet and slipped off to the side, pretending to organize his backpack.
“This kid!”
Old Ni shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, while countless emotions surged in his heart.
This Antwerp Major journey, for him, had gone so smoothly that it was almost like a beautiful dream.
Even today, they had completed a perfect revenge against the galactic battleship FAZE, which had nearly traumatized them in the last IEM Katowice final!
Old Ni, who had repeatedly fallen short at Majors, had never imagined that the beginning of a Major campaign could be this smooth!
This unprecedentedly wonderful start!
It simply made him want to cheer!
But deep in Old Ni’s heart, there would occasionally be a faint trace of fear—fear that this really was nothing more than a dream that would shatter at a touch.
But as he looked at Meng Lang, who had oiled the soles of his feet and run off, at the back of that young Eastern rookie,
Old Ni suddenly laughed again!
There was no one this good at stirring things up in his dreams!
“Let’s go, let’s go! I’m treating today. Consider it a celebration banquet for beating FAZE!” Old Ni waved his hand and said magnanimously.
When everyone heard this, they immediately burst into cheers.
No one felt the slightest psychological burden about making Young Master Ni, who had the highest salary on the team, pay.
That evening, Meng Lang ultimately did get to eat this celebration meal that Old Ni treated them to.
However, compared to that exquisite North Sea gray shrimp dish, what interested him more was “mussels and fries,” known as Belgium’s national dish.
Plump and delicious sea cucum—ah, no! Mussels! Paired with Belgium’s specialty fries, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, thick and full, dipped in rich sauce, Meng Lang ate until he cried out in delight, even recalling the happy memories of his father taking him out to eat KFC when he was little.
In high spirits, he even specially took a selfie with his G2 teammates and the food to earn Goat points. Old Ni and the others cooperated by making peace signs.
Afterward, Meng Lang posted it on his Instagram and Weibo.
The caption was concise and clear:
“We beat FAZE! Young Master Ni treated us! Beautiful!”
The comment section was immediately filled with all kinds of memes and “I’m drooling” messages.
Old Ni smiled as he watched Meng Lang, who was currently fighting the kid over the last fry. Suddenly remembering something, he turned his head and asked Xiao Lizi, who was looking at his phone, “Right, who are we playing tomorrow? The schedule should be out, right?”
“No idea. Let me check if the matches are finished. It’s probably still those guys from the original Legends group.” Xiao Lizi spoke while swiping across his phone screen.
This was no wonder. After the first day of the Legends Stage, the teams that had advanced from the Challengers Stage had almost been completely wiped out, aside from G2.
Not long after they beat FAZE, even Imperial, who had also come up from the Challengers Stage, had been kicked to death in some unknown corner by another not-so-famous “apex predator,” BIG.
That meant that tomorrow, the teams in the “1-0” winners’ group would be full of powerful “apex predators.”
Xiao Lizi took out his phone and checked the official schedule!
Sure enough, among the eight teams that had fought their way up from the Challengers Stage, aside from G2, only Spirit had also pulled off an upset and defeated FURIA.
And their opponent tomorrow in the 1-0 group
was none other than the “Team X” that had successfully defended its position by kicking Liquid to death right out of the gate today—the strong Danish team ranked as high as 5th in the world by HLTV last year!
Heroic!
At this moment, the kid, who was scrolling through social media nearby, suddenly had a strange expression on his face. He raised his head and said to everyone who was enjoying the food:
“Bad news. Meng seems to have… been targeted.”
Everyone curiously gathered around to look at the kid’s phone screen.
It was a segment from an interview with Heroic’s star rifler stavn and their newcomer jabbi by an esports media outlet:
“【The strongest rookie of the Antwerp Major】? Sorry, but I find it hard to agree. In fact, in my opinion, among rookies, jabbi is the better one.”
“As for Dark? Perhaps he’ll be giving up that title tomorrow. Who knows?”
—“Little Angel” stavn pursed his lips and said in a very relaxed tone.
Beside him, his good brother jabbi shyly pressed his lips together.