Chapter Fifty-One: Overcoming Obstacles and Defeating Adversaries

On the second day of the school sports meet, the e-sports tournament also commenced.

Among the many teams registered, only two truly posed a threat to our squad: one was HuaYang, the other Edoo.

HuaYang had claimed last year’s school e-sports championship, then went on to represent our school in the citywide collegiate e-sports challenge, earning an impressive second place. Edoo, meanwhile, was a team formed by several sophomore Counter-Strike enthusiasts who gathered through the school BBS.

Last year, Edoo, against all expectations, fought their way into the finals. Even when they faced HuaYang in the semifinals, they endured three overtimes before narrowly losing by just a few points—a testament to their formidable strength.

The first day of the competition was the preliminary round. As predicted, the three seeded teams, including ours, advanced without suspense.

On the second day, the semifinals and finals were to be held.

In the semifinals, HuaYang was fortunate enough to face the weakest of the four finalists, Team 219. Judging by their name, we guessed all their members came from the same dormitory—219 being their room number.

With a score of 16:1, HuaYang advanced to the finals without any uncertainty.

We, however, had the misfortune of encountering Edoo—a fierce battle was inevitable.

The venue remained unchanged: the office of the Computer Association. The two teams sat in adjacent rooms, while a computer in the corridor outside served as the match’s server.

After a coin toss, the match officially began. The map was DUST2, and we chose to play as the terrorists.

1:0. Under the concentrated fire of five GLOCK18s, we claimed the first round with ease.

In the second round, Edoo took a gamble, stacking all their members on the A short path, while we opted for a slow push up A long. The two sides passed each other in a dramatic twist.

With his teammates covering him, Su.d swiftly planted the C4 on the A site. Unexpectedly, Edoo made another fatal misjudgment, convinced the terrorists had planted at B. They rushed en masse to the B site...

The third round was another economic round for them. We wiped out the opponents at the cost of only one player, and the score shifted to 3:0.

The match continued smoothly. By halftime, we held a solid lead at 10:5.

But the second half brought unforeseen changes. With no retreat, Edoo unleashed astonishing energy, taking five consecutive points and tying the score at 10:10—back to square one.

The next round was crucial: if we failed to win, the opponent would surpass us, which would deeply impact morale. Seeing anxiety on everyone’s faces, JOY couldn’t help but remind us, “Don’t panic! Play steady!”

Yet easier said than done. This was our economic round: five USPs faced a lineup of AKs and AWP, so fragile and weak—winning seemed nearly impossible. Just as the spectators had lost hope, a miracle occurred.

JOY and Night, using only two USPs in the B tunnel, managed to take out two attacking opponents. Meanwhile, a fierce fight at A allowed us to eliminate another enemy.

However, the superior firepower of the opponents overwhelmed the A site, and Edoo’s players began planting the * on the A platform.

Without hesitation, JOY and Night snatched up the AKs left behind by the terrorists, charged out of B tunnel, scaled the mid slope, and hurried to the A bombsite. The terrorist guarding A short exposed only his head and was instantly taken out by JOY with a headshot. Hearing gunfire from short, the last surviving opponent retreated toward A long. JOY urged Night to defuse the bomb quickly, while he switched to the AWP he had seized, aiming at the slope at the end of long.

As the AWP rang out, Night finished the defuse in the last second before the C4 exploded.

We won this round by sheer luck. Edoo’s players underestimated us; when they planted the bomb, they didn’t place the C4 where it could be covered from long, allowing Night to defuse it freely on the platform, while the terrorist retreating to the slope at long was powerless to intervene. Had the Edoo player chosen to stay on the platform and stall for time instead of retreating, the outcome would have been uncertain.

Be that as it may, we took the round, marking a turning point in the match. We reversed our earlier decline and, with renewed momentum, won the game 16:13.

The final was scheduled for two-thirty in the afternoon.

At lunchtime, we all went to JOY's dormitory. Xiao S had already packed takeout for us. Gathered around JOY’s computer, we ate lunch while watching the DEMO recorded from the morning’s match. Though JOY’s mouth was stuffed with food, he ignored appearances and pointed at the screen, analyzing the weaknesses revealed during the game.

Last year, our team was eliminated by HuaYang in the finals. JOY had shown us the DEMO from that match. Before this tournament, we had played several practice matches against HuaYang, so both teams knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses well—there were no secrets.

The afternoon match confirmed this. Fortunately, the randomly chosen map was Nuke, HuaYang’s weakest. Even so, both teams fought fiercely from the very first round.

Compared to Edoo, HuaYang had a clear advantage in experience, but we withstood their relentless attacks. After two overtimes, we finally triumphed 22:20, avenging our narrow defeat in last year’s final.

When the match ended, the players from both sides, led by their captains, emerged from their rooms. Friendship first, competition second: in the corridor, we shook hands and embraced our HuaYang rivals. There were no losers today—for everyone had given their all. Next came the awards ceremony; the prize for the champions was a 128MB USB drive for each member. The sponsor’s stinginess was truly astonishing.

“Dinner’s on me tonight!” Night announced gleefully. “Hey, what’s JOY doing over there?”

Prompted by Night, we suddenly noticed JOY standing alone, leaning against the corridor railing, quietly smoking a cigarette.

For JOY, everything could now end perfectly.

(Chapter revision completed on September 1, 2010)