Dao Ta

Wen Man’s voice was low, with a wicked laziness, as if he had just woken up.

The live stream chat exploded.

“Damn, is this God Wen? Is God Wen on?”

[Good luck in the Year of the Horse]

[Click to learn more about the event]

“He’s on, and it’s open mic.”

“The question returns: Is the streamer an AI? Not a single word all night. The description says EGT team? Can someone give some info?”

“Nah. What info does a practice squad need?”

“New streamer, just started. Yesterday I even saw boost prices listed.”

“So the question is, how much did God Wen offer to duo queue with him?”

“Damn, but it’s really an eye-opener. First time I’ve seen this streamer interact with a teammate. A miracle!”

“Didn’t anyone see the streamer hit the wall?”

“Tactical wall-collision”

“Top-tier movement”

Xue Wei quickly adjusted his position, following Wen Man to another spot to hold an angle.

This map was still new; he had only played it once before and hadn’t had time to learn many small details.

This map had a high vantage point, a natural sniper position, but correspondingly, there were breakthroughs from all directions.

“Damn, isn’t this God Wen’s famous map?”

“Right, right, his first world championship match was on this map. A 1v3 clutch with two HP. European commentators’ mics blew out, and several tables were smashed.”

“The streamer is 1500 points, how come there are several 2500-point players on the other side this match? How did they get matched at this rank?”

“His hidden combat power is too high; the streamer’s personal KDA is already in the top three hundred in the national server.”

“Same for God Wen; his combat power is too high. Even after dropping ranks for a day, the system will still judge his hidden score to be 3000+ within 24 hours. Of course, the opponents the streamer gets matched with while duo queuing with him will be strong.”

Their teammates this round were two Indians, playing with no mic, zero communication throughout.

On the other hand, the opponents were high-skilled players from the EU server.

One of them recognized Wen Man: “Pretty!!! come on show your camp!!”

Wen Man typed: [Freeman.]

“Come on!!!”

The live stream also surged: “Please!!! Let God Wen play sniper! Streamer, streamer, please give him the gun! We want to see God Wen snipe! He’s the world’s number one sniper!”

Many of Ming Xu’s fans also took the opportunity to mock: “The streamer has no self-awareness at all. God Wen tells you to take the sniper, and you just take it? Whose fault will it be if you lose? Overestimating yourself.”

“Can the streamer die faster? I want to see God Wen’s perspective.”

“Wielding a sniper before Wen Man.”

Just then, a gunshot rang out, and one of the opponent’s IDs grayed out.

[EGT.Now] used GRT-Stellar to headshot and kill [niferenss]

“I told him to take the sniper.” Wen Man’s voice clearly entered the live stream from the mic, lazily, “He won’t lose.”

The live stream fell silent for a moment.

“Holy crap, God Wen is watching the stream too?”

“Brother, check the online list, half the pro scene is here. Do you think God Wen wouldn’t take a look?”

“Those stirring up trouble should take a break; God Wen hates it the most.”

Xue Wei looked at the bullet comments, paused, and scanned the live stream’s viewer list.

He didn’t see Wen Man’s account; this person might be on an alt account.

Or, using a teammate’s account?

“Look out, Naonao.” On the mic, the man suddenly reminded him in a low voice, “Someone’s coming.”

Xue Wei snapped back to attention, adjusted, turned his gun, and fired a shot into the alleyway.

The opposing assaulter happened to jump out, running right into his bullet.

[EGT.Now] used GRT-Stellar to kill [AARon27]

“Holy crap, seriously, if God Wen wasn’t on his team, I wouldn’t believe he wasn’t hacking. This is too outrageous.”

“Opponent’s breacher: actually a weak point.”

“This pre-aim is a bit insane. Interested, followed.”

“His game sense is really good, huh? When God Wen said someone was coming, I hadn’t even reacted, and he already sniped them.”

Only one enemy remained.

The mid-door was already locked down by Xue Wei, so the last opposing assaulter didn’t dare to approach, having disappeared for a long time.

They were probably stealth-walking slowly to flank.

Xue Wei quietly listened for footsteps, his weapon-switch key already gripped in his hand.

Suddenly, someone dropped from the ceiling above them.

The opponent directly jumped from the rooftop and began spraying bullets.

Before Xue Wei could even look up, a heavy, muffled thud of a shot came from behind him.

[CHN.Pretty] used M1216 to kill [ZHINESE] at close range

The M1216 shotgun, colloquially known as a ‘sprayer’ (pēnzi), instantly kills any assault weapon at close range.

However, in the 《Fire》 competitive scene, the M1216 series of shotgun has not been used in matches for two consecutive years.

This is because in professional 《Fire》 matches, situations requiring close-quarters combat are extremely rare—close combat implies a major misjudgment of the enemy’s position.

Combined with complex terrain, these types of guns are far less cost-effective than assault rifles and light sniper rifles.

“I’ve lived long enough to see everything. God Wen is really playing a casual game, even pulled out a shotgun.”

“God Wen not sniping, I’m so unaccustomed to it.”

“But watching the streamer snipe is also amazing! First time I’ve seen this playstyle!”

“Casual viewer, just joined. Is this sniping? Isn’t this playing with an assault rifle?”

On the other side, Coach Alan was discussing in a private chat with others.

“This EGT member’s game sense is terrifying. His aim is pre-aiming, not the usual scope-in, find-target, kill. Enemies seem to be running straight into his crosshairs.”

“Did Captain Wen say anything?” Another young man was silent for a moment, then typed, “Why is Captain Wen duo queuing with him? Captain Wen hasn’t brought us for scrims this week. That streamer, he’s from the practice squad, right?”

“Captain Wen isn’t playing seriously. Look, he picked up a shotgun; he just randomly found someone to duo queue with.”

“Is he really not hacking?” One member asked, “I barely saw him scope in?”

Alan enabled a full mute for everyone.

“Everyone quiet, take a closer look.”

“He did scope in, but he cancelled the scope-in delay by switching to his knife and then back. It looks like he didn’t scope in, but he actually already did and found his aim.”

Alan watched the replay, taking slow, frame-by-frame screenshots.

The group fell silent for a moment; a group of people gasped.

“Then that reaction speed…”

“At least top-tier among top-tier pro players.”

Alan disabled the full mute.

Someone said: “It’s… different from Captain Wen’s playstyle.”

Wen Man’s sniping style was very conventional, excelling in stability, accuracy, and ruthlessness.

His signature weapon was the M28A1, the sniper rifle with the strongest penetration and highest power in 《Fire》, once killing an entire team with wall-bang headshots.

However, this small streamer was clearly much more aggressive.

He used GRT/AWM, with faster transfer speed and higher rate of fire.

Rather than tracking shots, he focused more on pre-aiming.

Comparing the two, one’s playstyle was static, the other dynamic, with an extremely strong contrast in styles.

In Xue Wei’s live stream, fewer and fewer people were asking him to give up the sniper role.

This round ended.

Xue Wei looked down at the enemy’s corpse at his feet—the one Wen Man had just shotgunned to death.

He wore a golden short stiletto at his waist, which, as the spectator camera moved, reflected a shimmering, wave-like light.

This game only allowed confiscating weapons held by the enemy.

Since the enemy hadn’t drawn their knife, he couldn’t take this knife.

Xue Wei watched for a while, then shifted his view and entered the next round’s preparations.

Live stream: “Here they come, here they come, dying laughing, he’s looking at skins again.”

“Bold guess: it’s a female streamer.”

“Upstairs, stop spouting nonsense. He had his mic on yesterday, he’s a guy, and his voice is quite pleasant.”

“The streamer really has good taste; every skin he fancies is sky-high priced.”

“Streamer, streamer, this skin is the M9 Bayonet – Cloud Sky. Black market price eleven thousand. Do you want it? If you do, call me ‘gege’ and I’ll buy it for you, oh.”

“Streamer big brother, my demands aren’t that high. Just make a sound, and I’ll buy it for you.”

Xue Wei still showed no reaction.

However, from the live stream’s perspective, he started running around, scraping his knife against his gun, or shooting at the white feather chickens that spawned in the camp.

In short, he was miles away from his teammates and appeared very busy.

During the pre-match warm-up phase, Wen Man had already started chatting with the two quiet teammates.

For the preparation stage, everyone just shot each other, ‘you shoot me, I shoot you’.

The opponents and his teammates had a discussion, wanting to get a photo of killing Pretty.

Wen Man didn’t refuse, but his flashy movements dodged bullets from all directions, and the enemies just couldn’t kill him.

A teammate @’ed Xue Wei in the public chat.

[Teammate 1]: @EGT.Now, U with Pretty?

The other party, unsure of their nationality, spoke broken English.

Xue Wei listened for a long time without understanding what he meant, only hearing the opponent constantly calling: “come here, come here.”

He didn’t go over.

The other teammates, seeing that he also had a team prefix, wanted to try to get his kill for a screenshot, so they moved towards Xue Wei.

As soon as they approached, several avatars simultaneously turned gray, and they were sent back to the respawn point.

Wen Man decisively headshotted all four, taking them out: “he’s my sniper.”

“Don’t touch him.”

A new round of the game began; they stopped fooling around and entered the next round.

Xue Wei played steadily, quickly pushing the score to 8:0, shutting out the opponent.

Wen Man didn’t even fire a single shot in these rounds.

Live stream: “Dying laughing, a once-in-a-century sight, God Wen slacking off.”

“Vote God Wen out! Quick!”

“I’m starting to get interested! The streamer’s skill isn’t bad, huh?”

“So ridiculous, this is already a 2500-point match, and the streamer is still dominating, not nervous at all duo queuing with God Wen.”

In the next round, someone from the opposing team typed: “CHN, wallhacker?”

Perhaps because he dared not provoke Wen Man, he @’ed Xue Wei’s ID.

Xue Wei recognized him; it was the person Wen Man had shotgunned to death in the first round.

Their ID was ‘zhinese’, an insulting term for Chinese players.

Such things were common on international servers.

When there are many players, there are also more toxic people.

After watching many streams on the platform, he knew encountering such players on international servers was normal.

Before Xue Wei could react, the opponent spouted another string of insulting words, which were then blocked by the system.

“Holy crap, how did we run into this kind of maggot again? So disgusting.”

“Let’s go, Naonao.” Wen Man’s voice was relaxed and steady, “Go to point A.”

Chinese server players playing on international servers had a consensus: when encountering such situations, they usually ignored them or directly quit the team, then filed a complaint.

The opponent acting like a clown was their own business; if anyone dared to play like that in an international match, they’d be banned for life.

The ‘bros and sis’ in the live stream said: “Dying laughing, here’s another one, talking nonsense when they can’t win.”

“Streamer, don’t let it affect your mood; you’re playing very well, I don’t think you’re hacking.” A big brother confidently stated, “Because typical hackers wouldn’t dare to play as exaggeratedly as you do.”

But Xue Wei stopped.

Xue Wei picked up the GRT-42, paused, then suddenly threw it away, switching to a USP-S.

His character stopped halfway, frozen for a second or two, then suddenly even threw away the USP-S.

He was left with only a short knife in his hand.

“Holy crap, holy crap, what is he doing? Why did he throw away his gun?”

This round, he didn’t hold a fixed defensive position.

Xue Wei charged in with his knife, directly killing two.

Wen Man guarded him.

Just then, the enemy [zhinese] and another assaulter threw flashbangs, flanking him from front and back.

Xue Wei made a quick turn, and Wen Man immediately followed up with a burst, killing one, then threw a flashbang.

A buzzing sound rang out; [zhinese] and Xue Wei were both blinded by the flashbang.

At the same time, Wen Man’s voice came through, as if egging him on: “Naonao, knife him.”

Xue Wei couldn’t see the screen.

Relying on instinct, he swung his knife.

In the two seconds of white screen, he swiftly dispatched the enemy holding an AK-47 with his short stiletto.

[System: [EGT.Now] used M9 Bayonet to kill [zhinese]]

[System: [EGT.Now] won this round without firing a single shot.]

Xue Wei pressed K to open his mic, and the clear voice of the young man emerged.

“I can kill you without even firing a gun.”

“And you think I need hacks?”