CS: Demon King C, you said I was a genius?

After packing his things, Su Zhe and his teammates walked out of the venue together.

As soon as he saw the blue sky and white clouds outside, Su Zhe spotted a team uniform that he knew all too well. He looked into the crowd and sure enough, he saw his old teammate Rez.

The other person had obviously seen him too, and with a look of surprise, quickly walked over and gave Su Zhe a big hug.

Rez patted Su Zhe on the back with a big smile and said, "I was thinking of looking for you at the hotel, but I didn't expect to run into you here!"

Looking at his teammates with whom he had spent months of time and night, Su Zhe felt a genuine smile on his face, a reunion with old friends.

However, when he looked at the NIP members behind Rez, he couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

In less than a month, NIP has almost completely replaced its coaching staff and players, leaving Rez as the only person they still know.

He also has a strange fondness for k0nfig, es3tag, and others.

Rez noticed Su Zhe's mood, and his smile faded. He put his hand on Su Zhe's shoulder, squeezed it, and said, "Do you have time now? Want to go grab a bite to eat together?"

Upon hearing this, Su Zhe glanced at his teammates behind him. Coach GUM could roughly understand English, so he said, "A-God, you go eat first. It's okay, we can review the game later."

Su Zhe thought for a moment, glanced at the time, and realized it was only a little past four in the afternoon. He then said to Rez, "How about we wait a bit? Do you have time after ten o'clock tonight?"

Although Su Zhe also wanted to catch up with Rez, the competition was still ongoing, so the competition results had to be the priority.

Rez nodded: "Okay, just call me when you're free."

After saying goodbye to Rez, Su Zhe and his teammates boarded the bus to the hotel.

The task of reviewing the game is quite heavy. In the past, when I was with NIP or G2, the main task of reviewing the game was to deal with the opponent's actions and the decisions we made.

For example, in the game Mirage, if you know that the enemy is about to finish their bombs and move in from A1, why don't you take the initiative to try to push A2 from the bottom floor, instead of letting the enemy burn you out and giving you a free kill?

LVG's task of reviewing their performance is much more complicated, mainly because their fundamentals are not solid, and they often make mistakes in the game, resulting in them losing the game.

In today's match against Black Panther, they even made mistakes in the most basic double-pull follow-up shots. Otherwise, with Su Zhe's strong performance, they shouldn't have won such a difficult game in this best-of-three series.

Moreover, at GUM's (Su Zhe's) request, everyone prepared a notebook and a pen.

During the debriefing, everyone should write down their mistakes and post them next to their computer screen to remind themselves of the foolish actions they had taken.

Some people even fill an entire page with dense writing.
Of course, it's not just about writing it down. If the same mistake is made three or more times in a formal match or training session, a fine will be imposed.

If there's no punishment, no one will take it seriously.

The LVG players naturally complained about this rule and secretly criticized the coach behind his back. However, despite their complaints, they were at least outwardly doing it seriously.

After the replay, LVG and others did map practice for today's match. When the practice ended, Su Zhe checked the time and it was already 11 p.m.

"Take it slow. At least we're on the right track. Some playing styles and habits are hard to change in a short time."

Su Zhe was somewhat glad that he hadn't joined the Tianlu youth training team back then, otherwise it would have taken much more effort to cultivate the most basic habits and then reverse them later.

This also made Su Zhe realize that the gap between domestic and foreign countries started from youth training, and with various other problems, the gap would only widen.

"With these changes, it will take at least a year and a half before this team can truly compete with international teams."

Lost in thought, Su Zhe walked out of the training room and dialed Rez's number.

After the two met on the first floor of the hotel, Su Zhe said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I had a lot of questions and kept you waiting for so long."

"Trying to play along, huh?" Rez waved his hand, then put his arm around Su Zhe's neck and laughed, "Since you feel so guilty, you can treat us to this meal later."

With their combined income, they wouldn't care about the cost of a meal, and Su Zhe smiled and agreed.

Restaurants that are still open close to midnight are not easy to find abroad. The two searched for quite a while before finding a barbecue restaurant that was still open.

After the two sat down and ordered, plates of meat were quickly brought to the table by the waiter. They used tongs to flip the sizzling meat slices on the grill while chatting about their recent experiences.

Su Zhe suddenly remembered something and asked, "What are the others in the team busy with right now?"

Rez knew he was asking about his former teammate, so he replied, "I don't know about the coach, and I haven't contacted him either."

"k0nfig and es3tag, sigh, they're getting old, but their contracts with the club haven't expired yet, so it's hard for them to find new teams. Now they're just staying home taking care of their kids and doing some live streams."

"headtr1ck seems to have joined a team called B8, and I haven't seen him recently."

Upon hearing this, Su Zhe picked up a piece of grilled meat, put it in his mouth, swallowed it, and then asked, "And what about you?"

“Me?” Rez shook his head with a wry smile. “I’m alright, at least I still have matches to play.”

Upon hearing this answer, Su Zhe realized that Rez hadn't been doing well lately either, so he didn't ask any further questions about it.

Although I have achieved some success and gained some international recognition, I am not a club owner and cannot help my former teammates much.

After all, he doesn't even have a team in mind right now, and NIko hasn't responded to the results of his discussions with G2's management.

After their conversation, both of them felt a bit frustrated and asked the waiter for a few more bottles of beer.

Both teams have matches tomorrow, so two bottles per person won't affect their performance tomorrow and will even help them sleep better tonight.

However, neither of them had a high alcohol tolerance, and after drinking beer, they became slightly tipsy, and Rez started talking more.

He suddenly looked guilty and said to Su Zhe, "Actually, I feel quite sorry for you. Back then... back then, when k0nfig and es3tag wanted to recruit you into the team, I was against it."

"If they hadn't been so adamant, you probably wouldn't have had the chance to come to NIP. I'm sorry."

After hearing this, Su Zhe remained silent for a while, then shook his head with a smile: "What do you have to apologize for? If it were me, I wouldn't let a kid who has never played professionally directly enter the team's starting lineup."

To be honest, the more he learned about professional CS:GO, the more incredible it seemed that he had joined NIP in the first place. While there were examples like ropz directly entering the starting lineup, those were years ago, and with clubs becoming more standardized, such instances are practically nonexistent.

Rez's guilt was not lessened much by Su Zhe's words, after all, he did not know that Su Zhe had a system.

If Su Zhezhen hadn't joined NIP's starting lineup, his career would have been very different. He might still be working his way up in some youth team, waiting to be promoted.

Rez sighed heavily and then said, "But at least the final result is good. You're now a player who has won an S-level tournament."

As he spoke, he looked up at Su Zhe and said quite seriously, "You will lift that trophy sooner or later; it's just a matter of time."

"Hey! Hey!"

Su Zhe was thinking about how to persuade Rez to let go of his guilt, but upon hearing this, he immediately waved his hand to interrupt.

We were having a nice chat, why did you suddenly start cursing? What's going on?

Rez seemed to remember something, laughed, and said, "That's not what I meant."

Su Zhe shook his head and said, "Why talk such nonsense? The past is the past, and no one can predict the future. We finally get to sit down and have a meal together, so let's talk about something pleasant."

Rez realized his lapse in composure. Although he still had many regrets to express, he kept them all to himself and only talked about the happy times they had spent together.

Some things are better left unsaid; revealing them will only cause more trouble.

The conversation between the two then turned light and cheerful. Su Zhe felt that he would never forget the beginning of his career, even many years later.

The two didn't finish their meal until 1 a.m. and return to the hotel.

"Good luck in tomorrow's game!" Before parting, Rez hugged Su Zhe tightly again and said.

“Yes! You too.” Su Zhe said quite seriously, “Actually, you still have a long time ahead of you.”

Rez smiled and nodded.

He knew Su Zhe was referring to his professional career. He was already 26 years old this year, and his competitive state had declined far too much compared to his peak a few years ago.

However, at 26, he might be considered an older player in other games, but he still has many opportunities in CSGO.

There are quite a few players in the professional arena who are older than him and have achieved great results.

"I will."

Rez gave a serious "hmm," perhaps afraid of disturbing Su Zhe's rest, and then turned and went back to his room without saying anything more.

"I don't know how long my career will last."

Su Zhe watched Rez's retreating figure for a moment, then returned to his room.

The next morning around 10 a.m., the regrouped LVG members knew who their opponent would be that noon.

Jee's wish did not come true. Their opponent in this round was very strong, namely Team X, who defeated NIP yesterday.

"Damn it, how can a team like this be placed in the play-in stage?" Jee cursed after learning about their opponents.

This time, Team X is different from the Team X that Su Zhe defeated in NIP last time.

Team X recently recruited degster (Pat Bear), filling the last gap in their team.

The player Paipaixiong is often criticized in the professional scene, mainly because of his bad temper and frequent complaints about his teammates' poor skills, as well as his tendency to slack off in scrims.

Nexa and other professional players have also criticized him.

However, it cannot be denied that his sniping skills are absolutely top-notch, and his strength is fully worthy of being a first-class sniper. Moreover, he is currently in a honeymoon period with Team X.

Even the top teams wouldn't dare say they can easily defeat a team like this.

GUM said helplessly, "There's nothing we can do. They made frequent roster changes recently, which resulted in the team not having enough points to be directly invited to the main event."

He then comforted everyone, saying, "It's okay. Like I said, just do your best. No one will blame you. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves."

Su Zhe, who was standing beside him, nodded and said, "That's right. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just treat it as a learning opportunity and do your best."

Su Zhe seemed to be in good spirits; the drinking and chatting with Rez last night hadn't affected him at all.

With the skill of "High Energy", he even took turns soloing with the five members of Team X in the "Simulation Training Device" when he woke up in the morning.

Although there were no star players with particularly outstanding marksmanship among the five members of Team X, Su Zhe understood the real reason why Team X was so strong now.

This is why Su Zhe said it was a great learning opportunity.

With the team's most reliable player saying this, the tension among the rest of LVG eased considerably.

Jee, the most lively member of the team, shouted, "Then let's do our best! Win or lose, we have to see picture three before we talk about anything else!"

After shouting, he resumed his playful expression and said to Su Zhe:

"God A, I'm just saying, if you lose the game and someone criticizes you on the forum, I'll immediately create an alternate account to fight back for you!"

Su Zhe:
Just as he was about to say something, GUM gently kicked Jee from behind: "Don't do something so stupid! If someone finds out, you'll be roasted alive."

"Hehe, I was just joking!"

The group then set off for the competition venue in a joyful atmosphere. (End of Chapter)