Chapter 9: Leon Kai
Leon Kai. Real name: Ren Kai.
To the Chinese CS community, he's a household name. Known as "Fatty Kai" or the "Sage," he's been the voice of CS tutorials since 2017. He's respected not just for his game knowledge, but for his rock-solid character. In an era where the ladder is infested with "technologically gifted prodigies"—a sarcastic term for cheaters—Leon Kai became the community's shield.
He pioneered the "Cheat Identification" show, also known as "Holding Court." He downloads suspicious demos, reviews the first-person perspective, and, alongside thousands of viewers in his live stream, delivers a verdict.
"Thanks for the sub, 'I want to suck Leon Kai's big...'—Wait, what kind of username is that?! Get out of here!" In his studio, a long-necked man who looked vaguely like a friendly alien was scolding his chat with a smirk.
Today was the BLAST Spring Showdown group stage. After finishing his official commentary, Leon Kai's hands were itching for a game. He tried to queue for 5EPL—the highest-tier solo queue in the region—but the queue was legendary for being slow.
"Ugh, this queue is gonna take thirty minutes. Let's hold court instead. Chat, send me some demos. Any new 'prodigies' I should know about?"
The chat exploded. One comment caught his eye: "Perfect World S-Rank. A total Hacker vs. Hacker (HvH) fest. One cheater trying to act, and one guy not acting at all."
"An S-Rank HvH? Interesting," Leon Kai muttered. He downloaded the demo. "So, the guy sending this says 'Boston_NiKo' and his own teammate are both cheating. Let's look at the teammate first... 'Tutu', right? Which round?"
Leon Kai watched Tutu go on a rampage with a Scout. He burst out laughing. The guy's crosshair was staring at the floor, his movement was erratic, but every shot was a headshot. "Hahaha! Case closed! This guy isn't 'acting' later—he was cheating from round one. He just got tilted by the other team and cranked his settings to Max."
[Chat]: "Lmao, blatant." [Chat]: "Perfect World anti-cheat is a joke." [Chat]: "Wait, if Tutu tilted, how good was the guy on the other team?"
Leon Kai grinned. "Alright, let's see who tilted a spin-botter. Let's look at 'Boston_NiKo'."
The perspective shifted to Jake. "Okay... first round... Wait, his movement is actually good. He's got that NiKo flow." Jake baited the A-site perfectly, then rotated to the sandbags. When the flash popped, Jake flicked 180 degrees to dodge it and then—BAM. BAM. Two instant headshots.
Leon Kai sat bolt upright. "Whoa! That anti-flash was frame-perfect... and those two shots? Holy... that's clean."
[Chat]: "CHEATER! That's an auto-trigger!" [Chat]: "Look at the lock! Mute the stream, he's cheating!" [Chat]: "Shut up, Silver-ranks. His pre-aim is perfect. That's a pro smurfing."
Leon Kai stayed silent, but a sense of dread began to pool in his stomach. In CS, cheating is usually easy to spot because aim and movement grow together. If a player has "silver movement" but "global aim," they're cheating. But there's a reverse rule: it is nearly impossible to catch a cheater who actually knows how to play. If your movement is already smooth and your crosshair placement is pro-level, a low-setting "legit cheat" is invisible to the naked eye.
And this 'Boston_NiKo' had the movement of a God.
As a streamer, Leon Kai knew the stakes. If he called a pro-level player a cheater and was wrong, the backlash would be career-ending. He followed one rule: Presumption of Innocence. Unless there was "smoking gun" evidence—like a wall-hack snap or a spin-bot—he wouldn't deliver a guilty verdict.
The demo reached the B-site ace. Jake pre-aimed the outside, swung wide for the dead corner, and then did a 90-degree snap to the flanking Terrorist.
"GOD TIER! He's not even trying to hide it!" "How did he know he was at the dead corner?!" "STREAMER, DELIVER THE VERDICT! HE'S TURNING ON!"
Leon Kai replayed the ace three times. He slowed it down to 0.5x speed. He watched Jake's crosshair micro-adjustments. Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke to his 50,000 viewers.
"I can't call this. His pre-aim and movement are too good. This might just be pure, terrifying mechanical skill. If he's cheating, he's using the most expensive 'legit' software on the planet. But if he's not... we're looking at a monster. Let's keep watching."