CS: I became Top 1 by grinding my skill level

"Let me introduce you. This is my younger sister, Du Chengzi. She is currently a sophomore at Columbia University's Business Administration program."

Du Sinian, whose meticulously styled hair had been turned into a bird's nest by his younger sister, stood next to her with a look of utter despair, introducing the four team members.

"We've asked her to be our team's temporary manager and coach this time..."

"What do you mean by asking me to be a 'temporary' manager and coach?!"

Du Chengzi, who was standing nearby, was displeased when she heard this, and her almond-shaped eyes widened in disapproval.

"I've invested most of my allowance into this, so I should be the largest shareholder, right?"

"The big spenders are willing to condescend to be their managers and coaches, they're secretly ecstatic, right? You agree, aren't you, heartbroken old man?!"

Du Chengzi pouted and nodded at Han Tian.

"Yes, that's right, look, it's crooked."

Han Tian remained expressionless, then suddenly smirked, looking just like a war god with a crooked mouth.

"Hahaha!"

Du Chengzi was amused by Han Tian and burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. He also kept one hand busy, rhythmically patting Du Sinian's shoulder.

Everyone watched as the captain, who was usually the most mindful of his demeanor, was being swayed back and forth by a girl who was a head shorter than him.

"Ne Zha is here." Ike recalled the first time he met his boss's sister last year, when she suggested to Du Sinian that she dye her blond hair rainbow-colored.

Fortunately, Mr. Du covered for him, and a few days later he finally managed to coax the troublemaker back to school.

Zhao Qingcheng, standing to the side, was quite different from his usual lazy self. The reason was simple: the captain's sister was a bit... too beautiful, and he started to feel self-conscious.

His chubby face, covered in pimples, was taut, as if he was trying to appear mature and serious.

Zhang Zhen still looked somewhat gloomy, his head slightly lowered, indicating that the blows he had suffered these past few days had not yet subsided.

Fortunately, although Du Chengzi had a terrible personality and even gave Han Tian and the other three nicknames, after greeting everyone, he actually took out a planning document from his backpack and started discussing it with Du Sinian.

Judging from the conversation Han Tian overheard between the captain and her, it seemed that she wanted to continue to regulate the various facilities of the Orange Team Club, such as the cafeteria on the second floor. Although it was called a cafeteria, Du Sinian initially only intended to set up a place to eat. Moreover, for so many days, apart from Du Sinian himself, everyone had basically been eating takeout in the training room. So Han Tian had only been to the huge second-floor cafeteria once or twice, and went out out of curiosity to take a look.

Du Chengzi plans to pay a better chef to manage the second-floor cafeteria, so that the team members can no longer order takeout every day.

She and Du Sinian offered many suggestions, such as establishing a dedicated external equipment warehouse, and dividing the activity area on the third floor into several sections to serve as temporary dormitories, which would also be convenient for team members like Zhang Zhen, who live far away, to stay temporarily.

A list titled "Athlete Support Services" was compiled, which included psychological counseling services, rehabilitation massage services, etc.

It has to be said that Han Tian thinks it's very professional. At least for a small team like Orange, she is really seriously considering how to be comprehensive in a small club.

With her arrival, Du Sinian no longer needs to desperately cut back on his training time due to team affairs.

"She seems unruly and has a bad temper on the surface, but unexpectedly she is a girl who is both practical and has strong execution skills."

This is Han Tian's evaluation of Du Chengzi.

"That perverted old man is spying on me again. Does he enjoy defying authority? What a pervert!"

This is Du Chengzi's evaluation of Han Tian.

......

"ha--"

At 6:30 a.m., Han Tian yawned. In a few hours, he would win his first offline competition.

As he boarded the bus again, Han Tian sat by the window and took out his phone to browse the news on the Perfect APP. An article on the homepage quickly caught his eye.

"[The promotional effect of the Electric Snake Cup has exceeded expectations. The official Electric Snake brand is considering holding the Electric Snake Cup offline competition in major cities across China on a rotating basis over the next five years.]"

"[Edmund Zhang, the head of operations for the Electric Snake Cup in China, said in an interview that they are currently planning to apply to Valve to upgrade the Electric Snake Cup to an officially certified C-level tournament within two years, where participating teams can earn points]."

"C-level tournament? Points?" Han Tian caught these two key pieces of information. Valve's points are the lifeblood of second and third-tier teams. The points ranking determines whether a team is qualified to be invited to participate in most tournaments organized by the tournament organizers.

Especially for the Chinese teams nowadays, because there are few competitions with points in the Chinese region, the teams are ranked low and are not qualified to participate in any slightly formal events. They are trapped in a corner and forced to work behind closed doors, thus creating a vicious cycle.

The fewer points you have, the fewer matches you have; the fewer matches you have, the fewer points you have; the fewer matches you have, the worse you are; the worse you are, the fewer points you have.

In conclusion—the smaller the fish, the smaller the fish.

It's unclear when it started, but the Chinese region has been caught in this vicious cycle. Players and coaches have lost their motivation, and even a large number of professionals have joined the underground industry of betting. Many players who initially aspired to become professional players have ended up making a fortune from betting.

"The road ahead is long and arduous."

Han Tian sighed. This was the situation he wanted to change. He wanted to make a name for himself and prove to those who humiliated themselves in the dark and damp places that Chinese CS players could also shine on the field.

Han Tian prepared to turn off his phone screen; they were almost at their stop, and he needed to get off the train.

"Um?"

Just after he accidentally swiped his finger across the screen, he saw a familiar name at the end of the news article.

"[Niko, a star player from the CS:GO team, was elected as the global brand ambassador for ElectroCare yesterday. Edmund Zhang, the operations manager for China, revealed that Niko may be invited to China before the end of the off-season to participate in promotional activities for the ElectroCare Cup.]"

Han Tian was instantly wide awake.

"Wait a minute? It's only early July, the off-season will be over in about ten days at most, right?"

"So, Niko might come to Jinan in the next ten days?"

Han Tian's heart was pounding. He never expected that in a few days, he might meet that kind-hearted person, the strongest active CS rifleman, the god of seedling cultivation and pre-aiming—Niko in person.

"We absolutely must find a way to get in touch with the prawns."

Whether it's to test their skill level or to lay the groundwork for their future career in Europe.

Han Tian felt that if he could get in touch with superstar Niko, he might be able to solve many of the problems he was currently facing, but he didn't know if Niko would agree.

.......

"Ding-dong—"

Upon arriving at the bus stop, Han Tian pressed the notification button again.

While pondering how to meet Niko, Han Tian slowly got out of the car without noticing that the burly man he had encountered yesterday was actually standing in front of the breakfast stall opposite him.

Today, the big man didn't get on the bus; instead, he strolled leisurely into the breakfast shop.

"Mushroom and pork buns"

He made an "8" gesture towards the breakfast shop owner.

"We sell twelve per basket, and we don't sell less than one basket, handsome."

The proprietress was busy serving porridge to the customers and assumed that this burly young man wanted eight steamed buns.

"I mean, let's have eight baskets first to try and see if the flavor is good enough."

The burly man seemed a little impatient. After speaking in a muffled voice, he waved the "eight" gesture in front of the proprietress's eyes again.