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

Seeing the score of 9-10, Su Zhe breathed a long sigh of relief, and his tense mood gradually calmed down.

It seems like they're only one point apart, or even just one bullet away.

But he had already sensed that if there were a few more games, the final result would probably be the same, unless Donk's performance was really bad or he deliberately threw the game.

His gun control isn't quite at a level where he can use his arm and move at will. Most of the points he won against Donk were achieved through secondary positioning or by taking advantage of favorable gun positions.

"The recent matches have really boosted my confidence. I still need to practice."

Su Zhe chuckled self-deprecatingly, then stood up and politely shook hands with Donk, exclaiming in admiration, "Your recoil control is absolutely amazing! How did you learn that?"

Donk didn't understand what it meant at first, but luckily there was a translator nearby.

"Uh," this question stumped Donk. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Play more games, and you'll naturally learn it."

Su Zhe:
What's the difference between this and not saying anything at all?

That makes sense, though. At Donk's level of gun control, it's impossible to stick to a fixed trajectory anymore; it's more about feeling and muscle memory.

This is similar to secondary positioning. After thousands of hours of training, the positioning process is no longer about watching the crosshair move towards the target, but rather about naturally throwing the crosshair towards it.

The short film program ended after the two shook hands.

The purpose of this solo challenge is not to determine who is better between the two.

The main purpose is to create a promotional video to help sell more tickets for the upcoming offline venues.

Soon, Donk went back to his rest area to prepare for the match, while Su Zhe returned to the hotel in a car arranged by the event organizers.

"If only I had spent more of my nights practicing with Donk on the 'emulator' these past few days... maybe things would have turned out differently today..."

Su Zhe gazed at the city lights outside the window, which had already darkened, and thought to himself.

He then shook his head, dismissing the idea. The result of a solo match might be meaningful, but the main thing was to improve his own hard skills.

After all, nothing else matters when it comes to the team's results.

Can't the champion of an exhibition match be considered a champion?
After returning to the hotel, Su Zhe went straight to the training room to put away his peripherals. When he entered, he found the kid still playing ranked matches inside.

"Goodness, Ilya, is the first thing you do when you get back to the hotel to play ranked matches?"

The child turned his head, smiled, and replied, "Anyway, it's still early. I can't sleep if I go back to my room now, so I might as well play some games."

Su Zhe raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more; he understood now.

The child now clearly distinguishes between games and work. Daily training and practice matches are like work, while ranked matches are like entertainment.

Su Zhe calculated that his child only played games for three or four hours a day after get off work, so his internet addiction wasn't that serious.

He watched the kid play for a while and felt itchy to play himself, so he decided to turn on his computer and play a game with the kid.

The following day, the IEM Dallas tournament was still in full swing, with the group stage matches already concluded.

The six teams for the knockout stage have all been determined: G2, Navi, FaZe, Green Dragon, and the local team Liquid.

Today is the first day of the offline competition, which is the elimination round of the top six.

However, since G2 had already secured a spot in the semifinals, Taz gave the entire team a day off today, allowing them to approach the upcoming high-intensity matches with a relaxed mindset.

It was already 11 a.m., and Su Zhe and his teammates were traveling in a van to a seafood restaurant in the city center.

Su Zhe hadn't originally intended to come, but he arrived at the training room early in the morning to begin his daily challenge.

Unable to resist the enthusiastic invitations from Niko and Breath, I finally decided to participate in this team building activity.

Niko was driving a rented van, one hand on the steering wheel, chatting animatedly with the people in the back seat.

"Arrow, am I cool driving?" Niko looked up at the rearview mirror and met Su Zhe's gaze. He then tossed his hair and asked.

Su Zhe:......

"Drive carefully. I don't want HLTV to have news about the G2 accident tomorrow..."

At this point, Su Zhe even started imagining some Douyin videos, such as:
"Breaking news... G2 suffered a car accident during IEM Dallas... Valve has decided to remove the app in their honor..."

Niko grinned and said, "What's there to be afraid of? I've been driving for over ten years, I can drive with my eyes closed."

The kid in the passenger seat clicked his tongue and said, "Close your eyes and drive it for me to see. You're just bragging!"

"Then should I open it with my eyes closed?"

"Hey! No, no, no!"

Everyone on the bus burst into laughter at their conversation.

The child then turned to him and asked, "Arrow, have you taken your driving test?"

Su Zhe nodded. He had learned to drive during the summer after graduating from high school.

I was mainly bored out of my mind during that period. I felt empty, lonely, and cold every day, and I even thought about finding a summer job.

In the end, his father persuaded him to take the driving test when he had some free time.

Su Zhe later learned why his father was so eager for him to get his driver's license—his father had secretly over-reported 1000 yuan when applying for funds from his mother.

The child looked envious and said, "I'm going to get my driver's license during the next off-season! Have you bought a car yet?"

"Buy a car?"

The child's words immediately sparked some thoughts in Su Zhe.

Which young person doesn't dream of owning a sports car?
His bank account balance has long since exceeded six figures, and this number continues to increase, making him financially independent.

If IEM Dallas ends, I can take advantage of the break to go back to China and look at a car for myself.

So Su Zhe shook his head and said, "I haven't bought one yet. I was just thinking about it. Do you have any car recommendations?"

The car stopped at the traffic light. Niko thought for a moment and then asked, "What type of car? A sedan, an SUV, or a sports car?"

"Any sports cars you'd recommend?"

"A sports car?" Niko stroked his stubble. "If we're talking about sports cars, how about a 911? Then I can join the same car club group as Ropz."

"?" Su Zhe couldn't hold back any longer after hearing this. "You damn bastard!"

Since ropz posted on Twitter in February about buying a 911 sports car, not only has Faze's racing performance declined significantly, but ropz's own statistics have also plummeted.

Many questions have arisen in the tournament community, with speculation ranging from whether ropz's poor performance was due to Hanwang replacing the director, or to ropz's own shortcomings.

Until last month, Danish analyst Bubzkji published an article on Twitter, which essentially suggested that ropz's decline in performance might be related to his purchase of 9/11, and his analysis was well-reasoned and supported by evidence.

This led to a rumor that ropz was cursed by the 911 sports car, and many memes and images of it appeared.

Niko chuckled, clearly mentioning 911 on purpose, but then he added:
"Actually, ropz is in a rather passive position in FaZe right now. Big Brother completely lets him play during the match, and it's hard to give him any items or resources." "I don't know how many times I've seen ropz solo in the inner area of ​​the Nuke, trying to secure the win, only to get wiped out by the enemy's Iron Gate, Yellow Room, and Connector."

"It's really difficult for him to perform well in this position."

The people in the car nodded in agreement, and then added, "Besides that, Faze's overall performance is indeed not good. I guess they've been runners-up too many times, and they've lost their fighting spirit."

There can only be one winner in a competition, while the runner-up is the biggest loser in a competition.

Since the end of last year, Faze has won runner-up titles in four S-level or higher tournaments, including Major and Katowice.

The runner-up position at the fourth IEM Chengdu was handed to him by G2 himself. It's no wonder he was mentally devastated.

While everyone was chatting, Niko had already driven to his destination and parked.

After getting off the bus, everyone headed straight for the seafood buffet restaurant.

The restaurant is quite upscale, with an average cost of around $150 per person including tip.

However, there is a wide variety of dishes, including unlimited servings of relatively expensive ingredients such as Australian lobster, bread crab, red prawns, and caviar.

Su Zhe now loves buffet restaurants the most. Under the influence of the [Energetic] skill, his appetite is now frighteningly large, and he could even easily film a food vlog at a buffet restaurant.

So he grabbed a large platter, filled it with seafood, and even asked the waiter to bring out two steaks.

This left Niko, who was standing to the side, completely dumbfounded. He stared in disbelief and asked, "Are you sure you can finish all of this?"

Su Zhe chuckled and said, "Don't you know how much I usually eat?"

Niko nodded, then shook her head. "I know, but having so much raw material piled up here still gives me a bit of a shock..."

It's called a seafood buffet, but it's actually similar to a seafood hot pot. You can choose to boil or steam it, and there's a pre-mixed sauce for dipping.

After taking a deep breath and slurping up a shrimp, he said with a relaxed expression, "It's been so long since I've felt this relaxed. I hope our upcoming matches will go just as smoothly."

Su Zhe held up a steamed Australian lobster, showing its two claws, and looked at Niko, saying, "What does this look like?"

Niko looked puzzled: "What does it look like? What else could it look like? Like a shrimp, of course."

Su Zhe laughed heartily, "Doesn't it look just like you?"

Niko: "?"

Is there any similarity between this and me?

Su Zhe struck Niko's signature celebration pose, raising his pincers high.

Seeing this gesture, Niko instantly understood his meaning, glanced at Su Zhe, and casually held up two fingers, "F**K! You!"

The child next to him observed carefully, nudged Niko with his elbow, and said, "Hey, you know what, it really does look alike."

Niko was ruthless with the children, touching them all over and letting them roll around in their seats.

"Stop tickling! It itches! It itches! It itches!" The child was clearly ticklish and surrendered after only two seconds. Niko indulged him and let him off the hook.

The group continued eating and chatting for an hour, still enjoying their meal.

That's how it is at buffet restaurants. Even if you've eaten almost everything, you still feel like you're making a profit by eating every last bite, so you have to eat until you're stuffed.

Taz patted his round belly, took a sip of juice, and said, "I wonder who our opponent will be... I hope Liquid can pull through..."

Their semifinal opponent will be decided between Liquid and Na'Vi.

As for the liquid faction, they're all a bunch of muscular gunmen. If they were to face them head-on, G2 wouldn't be afraid.

It's nothing more than a battle of numbers and states, which happens to be G2's strength.

Even though Liquid's current commander is Idea Guy, he doesn't pose much of a threat to them.

As for NAVI... to be honest, NAVI's current form is actually not very stable, but G2 now seems to have a mental block against NAVI.

Just as the kid said in a post-match interview, he even gets nervous when playing against NAVI.

When people are nervous, they tend to overthink during a game, which can lead to distorted gameplay. NAVI has now become a real nightmare for G2.

This is why Su Zhe was able to defeat NAVI when he was with NIP and LVG, while G2 was frequently defeated.

Mindset and form can sometimes outweigh everything else in a match.

Upon hearing Taz's words, the atmosphere at the dinner table suddenly turned cold, as everyone clearly remembered the unpleasant implications.

Su Zhe observed everyone's emotions, then picked up a sea urchin, poked at it, and said, "What are you all standing there for? Keep eating!"

Niko, sitting next to him, patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "It's always you, you have such a good attitude."

Su Zhe chuckled, "What's wrong with my mentality? So what if it's NAVI? They've never beaten me even once."

"..." This sentence left Niko speechless. "It seems... that's really true."

Su Zhe continued, "So what's there to be afraid of with NAVI? If we meet them again, we'll just win one more time."

……

We arrived at the restaurant at 11:30 am, and by the time we came out again it was almost 1:30 pm. We definitely got our money's worth from this buffet, as we ate for a full two hours.

Niko then took everyone to visit some nearby attractions.

It's called a tourist attraction, but it's really just places like an aquarium and some famous high-rise buildings. Considering this country's history is only a little over 200 years, what kind of tourist attractions could it possibly have?

Around 7 PM, the G2 players had had their fill of fun, so they headed to the Keberl-Herson Convention Center, the venue for the IEM Dallas tournament, which can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators.

They planned to get a feel for the atmosphere of the competition beforehand and see firsthand who their next opponent would be.

Shortly after entering the venue, the players from both sides took to the stage with the host's approval, and the audience erupted in cheers.

The market for liquids was filled with cheers of "Let' GO! Liquid!"

The match between the two sides started quickly, and the G2 players quickly got into the atmosphere of the audience, cheering for the wonderful plays on stage.

This was Su Zhe's first time watching a game in an offline venue, and he couldn't help but get excited too.

After nearly three hours of intense battle, the result of this best-of-three series is in.

Liquid dominated NAVI 13-4 on their chosen map, Town.

But NAVI quickly adjusted their mindset and subsequently completed a comeback, winning two games after losing the first one, and becoming the final winner of this best-of-three series.

This means that G2 will face their arch-rival NAVI again in this semi-final.

Breathing in the air, watching the NAVI members cheering and celebrating on stage, he thought to himself, "It feels like NAVI's form has returned..." (End of Chapter)