With the regular season concluded, the playoffs officially began.
The ten teams that qualified were V5, RNG, JDG, LNG, TES, Weibo, EDG, BLG, RA, and FPX.
The playoffs still used the gauntlet format.
There wasn't even any buffer time for rest—once the regular season ended, the playoffs started immediately.
March 26.
BLG vs. RA.
In Game 1, RA looked like they were fully online. They seized the initiative right away and took down BLG with a huge scoreline.
Everyone thought BLG was basically done for.
A fitting "divine punishment backlash." Honestly—deserved.
People were already expecting RA to 3–0 BLG with ease and completely ruin their season.
But that was giving RA too much credit.
In Game 2, BLG found their rhythm again under Crisp's leadership.
At seventeen minutes, the game flipped completely.
BLG grabbed a massive advantage, and from there it turned into garbage time—pure stat-padding.
It didn't last long. At twenty-eight minutes, BLG ended the game in one push.
The score became 1–1.
Both games were stomps—one per side.
At this rate, it was probably going to be another "dragon-and-tiger clash" (two bad teams pecking at each other).
Who would win was genuinely hard to say.
Game 3 began…
RA's entire roster had a meltdown. Not even five minutes in, they'd already handed over five kills.
No need to say more—this one was gone too.
It seemed Game 2's loss hit RA far too hard.
They couldn't stabilize their mentality, and the cost was enormous.
In the end, the Bo5 still ended with BLG laughing last.
Reverse-swept: down 0–1, then three straight wins, advancing to the next round.
RA said goodbye to the playoffs—successfully coasting through a whole season.
After leaving IG, Leyan once again had a one-round playoff exit.
A lot of people hoped Leyan would "enforce justice" and completely stomp BLG, but if you're not good enough, what can you do?
Besides, people seemed to forget—he himself has no morals. How could he enforce justice and act as its spokesperson?
Then it'd have to be a dark massacre.
But compared to Chen Rui, Leyan's heart didn't seem quite that black.
All you could say was RA tried their best. Their raw strength still wasn't enough to eliminate BLG.
And after all the drama and deception in this Spring Split, unless BLG somehow won Worlds, those black marks would never wash clean.
They still wouldn't get "clean" traffic, or "clean" fans, going forward.
Everyone at TES also watched this series closely.
Not because they wanted to stand up for "Shen," but because the winner would be their opponent in the second round.
Which was two days later—March 28.
Only one day in between.
You had to admit: the pressure on BLG was enormous.
They had to search for tactics, endure the nationwide hate pointed at them, and go all out to beat TES.
For them, at this stage, as long as they won—winning was success.
Everyone's vibe was unbelievably hard-edged.
Challenging the "dark forces." Nobody believed in them—so they were going to charge straight to the highest stage anyway.
And honestly, after beating RA, the whole team really did tighten into one rope.
---
Everyone had that fighting spirit.
After all, this age was peak chunnibyo.
Imagining the whole country looking down on you, and then charging uphill against the wind—just thinking about it was exhilarating.
They'd just won, looked out at the crowd in the arena, listened to all the online attacks from RA fans—how could that not feel amazing?
So what if it was TES?
A ten-win streak in the regular season didn't mean anything.
This was playoffs.
In playoffs, everyone turns up the intensity.
We, BLG, are ready to truly start swinging.
---
Meanwhile, at the TES base.
The players were all seriously preparing—unlike BLG's group of chunnibyo fantasies.
Of course, except for one person.
"Diao De Yi is flaming."
"Diao De Yi has been glued to Lin Da Chui the whole game. Neither of us even had a chance to use the knife, but now two more people are dead, so it has to be an outside kill.
So far we haven't seen San San once. I suggest we all vote out San San! Lin Da Chui and I are definitely good guys—vote out San San and the game ends.
If it still doesn't end, then we can only knife Xu Ke'ai."
With only four players left, Da Sima delivered his final summary.
Just as he wished, they voted out San San.
But the game still didn't end.
That made Da Sima even more convinced his judgment was correct.
Xu Ke'ai was the final wolf.
"Cafeteria, everyone to cafeteria! Xu Ke'ai, don't even think about running. I'm the Sheriff. Lin Da Chui, just follow me, don't get stolen by Xu Ke'ai."
Lin Fan immediately responded, "Okay. I'll go to cafeteria and find you as soon as I spawn."
"No, Teacher Ma, I'm not a wolf! Why are you coming at me the moment you show up…"
After respawning, Lin Fan hid in the fog tunnel for a bit to wait out the cooldown, then controlled his duck and headed to the cafeteria.
Only Teacher Ma was there.
"Where's Xu Ke'ai?"
"I didn't see her."
"She obviously doesn't dare come. Ring the bell and just vote her."
"Okay." Lin Fan agreed, then raised his hand and knifed Diao De Yi in one clean strike.
He'd fattened the pig for the whole game. Now that it was plump, it was time to slaughter it.
When the prompt appeared on screen, Teacher Ma froze for a long time.
Lin Da Chui was actually a wolf?
He couldn't accept it. Completely couldn't accept it.
"Stupid goose. Stupid goose!"
"Teacher Ma, you were the pig being raised for a whole game, Teacher Ma."
"Can't accept it. A Sheriff with no value—actually negative value."
Listening to the chaotic voices in his headset, Teacher Ma forced a bitter smile.
"Lin Da Chui is way too terrifying. His acting was too good. So many times both wolves were together and they still didn't knife me?"
"Because I'm the Bomb King. I don't have a knife."
With the game not over yet, the dead geese could only sit there and review.
"Did Xu Ke'ai have a knife?"
"No… thankfully Lin Da Chui took you out himself. If you had knifed Xu Ke'ai, that'd be two bodies and the wolves would just lie down and win. Then you'd be even more of a clown."
"So dumb, so dumb. Da Sima even calls himself smart—got absolutely destroyed by Lin Da Chui."
"We lost. Now it's just a question of when Lin Da Chui finds Xu Ke'ai."
"Stop running, stop running. It's just you left. Die sooner, end sooner. If you had a knife, we could maybe fight, but I'm pretty sure you don't."
"…."
Hearing that, Xu Ke'ai just stopped moving and started spamming the spacebar loudly in place.
Lin Fan got a little cautious.
But one "good guy with a knife" had already been sent off earlier, and he'd just slaughtered Diao De Yi—there was no way there were three knife-holders, right?
So he walked up and knifed her too.
The results screen popped up: the ducks won.
And Lin Fan's chat instantly exploded with comments.
"Psychopathic. Absolutely psychopathic—bullying kids in here."
"Everyone else is training and Brother Infinite Borders isn't… is that really okay?"
"Honestly, playoffs are here. You should probably train a bit, right? If you lose Round 2 it's a disaster—there's no Guardian Angel yet."
"Brother Infinite Borders probably knows what he's doing. It's fine, it's fine."
"Is it really fine? BLG suddenly looks kind of strong."
"If TES gets eliminated by BLG… Brother Infinite Borders is gonna have to carry a massive blame. My advice is: train properly."
"It's useless. Playoffs are tomorrow. What's the point of training now? Might as well just have fun."
In reality, Luo Sheng was also worried.
He went to the training room early that morning to check, only to find Lin Fan had zero intention of practicing.
He was anxious too. But it had always been like this—and now they'd even finished the regular season on a ten-win streak. Being anxious alone wouldn't change anything.
In fact, it might've been better if they'd lost the last regular-season match. Then Lin Fan might change his routine, and they'd have a reason to make him train seriously.
But for the upcoming BLG match—if it wasn't smooth—then once they got back, they were going to have a heart-to-heart talk.
Playoffs were an opportunity.
They had to change Lin Fan's training attitude.
He was already this strong. If he changed and trained every day… how high would the ceiling be? It was honestly unimaginable.
A Worlds championship… suddenly felt within reach.
Just thinking about coaching a team to a title—this feeling was heaven.
It would also finally fill his regret.
Back then, when the team got beaten into disbanding, he was devastated.
He'd stayed in this industry all these years for one reason: to fight for a Worlds trophy.
But "Lin Fan doesn't train" trended again—alongside today's playoff results.
Before it was the regular season.
Now it was playoffs.
Five games of high-intensity play—and you don't train?
Could that really work?
A lot of TES fans were worried.
Even if they beat BLG, what about the strong teams after that?
---
That was the question.
But Lin Fan's recent performances had conquered a lot of people.
They felt it was fine to believe first, doubt later.
A pro player surely knew what he was doing. He wouldn't waste his career for nothing.
Still, plenty of people felt it was a pity—his attitude toward the profession.
At this age he was already at his peak, his match dominance maxed out, and yet you could clearly feel he still had room to climb.
But every day he was wasting his talent like this.
A modern-day "hurt Zhongyong."
TL:
This is a reference to a famous Chinese parable/essay called "Shāngyòng Zhòngyǒng" (伤仲永) or "The Tragedy of Zhongyong" by Wang Anshi, a Song Dynasty writer.
The story is about a child prodigy named Fang Zhongyong who could compose poetry at age 5 without any education. His father, instead of nurturing this talent through proper education, exploited it by parading him around to wealthy people for money. By his teens, Zhongyong's abilities had regressed to average, and by adulthood he was completely ordinary.
So when someone calls something or someone a "modern-day hurt Zhongyong," they're referring to:
Wasted potential or squandered talent A prodigy who didn't fulfill their early promise Someone whose natural gifts weren't properly developed Exploitation of talent rather than cultivation of it
_____
If you're talented, you should train hard and fully unleash it.
Not spend every day fooling around with streamers, playing this and that.
And once people brought that up, they started cursing Da Sima again.
If you want to play Goose Goose Duck, go play it yourself—why drag a pro player into it?
If games ended quickly, sure, one or two minutes.
But most of the time, it was endless arguing. A full round could easily burn over half an hour.
For a pro, time was life.
Precious practice time was being wasted bit by bit like this.
March 27.
4:45 PM.
EDG vs. FPX.
The S11 Worlds champions had a disappointing Spring Split.
They finished only seventh.
In that situation, they had to start from the first round of the gauntlet.
The pressure was huge.
If they wanted to represent the LPL at MSI, they'd have to play a full set of rounds.
The good news was that their first opponent wasn't strong.
FPX had barely grabbed a playoff ticket.
Their team synergy was a mess.
And their mid laner had already found his landing spot for next season—once the match ended, he'd be shipped straight to the Southeast Asia league.
His Spring performance was so bad he basically deserved that treatment.
So in Game 1, EDG won cleanly—18 to 5—and took the first point.
The gap in strength was obvious.
It felt like even if EDG "threw," FPX still couldn't win.
EDG should've been able to 3–0 them easily.
But then in Game 2, something every strong team can't avoid showed up again.
A meltdown.
A full-on meltdown.
It was like they couldn't accept the pressure unless they dropped a game.
So in Game 2, EDG acted out an incredible movie—an epic crime.
It slapped a huge question mark onto this series.
They were clearly stronger, yet somehow they didn't look steady.
FPX tied it up—crushing EDG in return.
"EDG feels like their mindset has issues."
"Yeah, it's a huge problem… my advice is: don't watch this match—just watch what EDG is trying to do."
---
At the same time, a bunch of people flooded into Lin Fan's stream.
"Brother Infinite Borders, since you're not training anyway, why not cast today's match? We can all watch the chaos together—wouldn't that be fun?"
"Seeing JackeyLove still grinding practice makes me feel way safer."
"I'm used to Brother Infinite Borders being like this. In the end, we'll see how he performs on stage."
"Cast it already, Brother Infinite Borders! Your casting is super entertaining—hands spread, 'I don't train and I still stomp.'"
Lin Fan ignored all of it.
"Anyone want to build lineups? If nobody does, then today's afternoon Infinite Borders stream is ending.
We've got a match tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be able to stream again. If you miss it, there won't be another chance."
But the truth was, not every day did someone come looking for Lin Fan to build lineups.
Infinite Borders was too niche.
And besides, whales had their own circles. For lineup research they'd go to people within that circle—rarely would they ask an outside streamer to help.
"Looks like there are still seven or eight days left until S1 ends. Going into S2, it'll probably overlap with playoffs and opening the land at the same time… my head's gonna explode."
The moment he said that, the chat started scrolling like crazy.
"Please, Brother Infinite Borders, just drop Infinite Borders already. Next is the critical period—you can't be careless!"
"I'll pay. I'll hire an account pilot. Brother Infinite Borders, focus on matches—guaranteed Main City level 7 in 72 hours."
"You're underestimating Brother Infinite Borders. He's streamed Conquest opening before—he opened Barracks in 36 hours. It's insane.
That's why I always say his Infinite Borders level is actually high. He's not just a guy throwing money with zero thought."
"So if anyone wants Brother Infinite Borders to build lineups, hurry up and get in."
And sure enough, someone really did come and ask him to build a lineup.
After logging in, the account was actually pretty solid—top three teams at 37 red. Even in the T2 bracket you'd have a good experience, and going out to "fish" would feel even more exhilarating.
"This game sense really is different from other people's. Brother Infinite Borders is Brother Infinite Borders—such a good idea!"
"Guan Yu, Da Qiao, and Zhuge Liang—this team is theoretically very strong. Guan Yu absolutely has to bring Calm Deliberation."
While Lin Fan was streaming Infinite Borders, scouts up front reported back: EDG found their form again in Game 3, winning 17–9 at 32 minutes without breaking a sweat.
2–1, match point.
All the pressure went to FPX.
FPX fans didn't get to see Lwx pop off. Game 4 was just as flat—no waves, no peaks.
In the end, EDG eliminated FPX 3–1.
As soon as the match ended, Luo Sheng appeared in the training room.
"Tomorrow it's our turn. Are you all fully rested and in good condition? This is playoffs—there's only one chance.
Lose and you're out the door. Win and you get to keep writing your legend!
I hope tomorrow we get a good result.
Go back early tonight. You can leave at nine, then get up early and play a couple games to warm up your hands."
With Luo Sheng's instructions delivered, the whole team nodded repeatedly.
Lin Fan was even more disciplined than anyone.
The moment nine o'clock hit, he logged off the training computer.
Luo Sheng just stared, dumbfounded.
Since when did Lin Fan listen to him this obediently?
With Lin Fan in this state… Luo Sheng genuinely had no confidence for tomorrow's playoff match.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup