After that Honor of Kings game, Lin Fan's fanbase gained a huge wave of new girls. Maybe not surpassing JackeyLove, but at least on par with him.
His subscriber count in the backend shot up like crazy. Not only that, the room's popularity hit a new milestone—surging past seven million!
That was over four million more popularity than doinb…
When doinb saw the gap, he couldn't help clicking in to take a look.
And the moment he saw Lin Fan was streaming Honor of Kings, he completely couldn't hold it together.
Damn it—this guy eliminated me in pro league, knocked LNG out, and now he's this cracked at Honor of Kings too?
And the most ridiculous part was: streaming Honor of Kings in the League category.
Can people really accept that?
But looking at the heat… it seemed they did.
doinb's eyes turned sour.
He'd operated his stream for so long, finally climbing into the "big streamer" tier.
Yet this guy had only been streaming for three months and not only had far more subscribers than him—his daily popularity outright crushed him.
And the worst part was, this guy also eliminated him.
Crushed in every way. Damn it!
He took a deep breath.
Out of sight, out of mind. He wouldn't watch.
But he had to do something—snatch some heat back.
Otherwise Douyu would just become "TES says whatever and it goes," and that made LNG look terrible.
Maybe he could pull a few pro players together and organize a showmatch?
There were still more than ten days before playoffs semifinals (top four to top two).
A blank period of games—perfect timing.
He could absolutely do it…
After all, only four teams still had matches.
There were plenty of eliminated pros, and everyone was on break. If he organized something, the heat would be huge.
The thought made doinb's eyes light up.
Pull everyone who wants to watch matches over—wouldn't the popularity explode?
Main job or side job—at least one has to take off.
Since he got eliminated in pro play, he had to put more effort into streaming.
doinb felt like he'd found the money code. He almost wanted to start immediately, but first he'd need to warm it up.
When he ended stream later, he'd casually mention it, then go offline and contact players right away.
The hotter the names, the better…
Uzi had to be first.
After his comeback he'd only played seven or eight games. If doinb could pull him in, people would definitely watch.
Then Brother Infinite Borders too. That guy didn't seem passionate about matches—more like clocking in for work.
He probably wasn't preparing much for the next series either. If possible, pull him in as well.
doinb sank deeper into his fantasy.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan kept thanking people for gifts.
Just one Honor of Kings game, and he'd already received over a dozen airplanes.
Viewers felt great, the streamer's pocket got fatter.
And that was only the effect of one game.
If he kept streaming Honor of Kings, the new fans he attracted would be beyond imagination.
After all, he was the first pro player to truly "link" Honor of Kings and League of Legends.
Other pros might joke about the "Damo meme," but if you actually made them play, they were only okay—yet their mouths were still unbelievably hard.
Like Gangzi: he could cast a Honor of Kings match and shout dozens of hero names.
Everyone watched it as a joke; it didn't really convert into fans.
Some people even blacklisted him—he didn't respect Honor of Kings, and he made up hero names…
"Damn, how is Brother Infinite Borders so good at Honor of Kings?"
"Honestly, is it because he's scammed too many little sisters?"
"Dogshit! Absolute dogshit!"
"I knew Brother Infinite Borders didn't do his job, but now even his Honor of Kings is this good—I can't accept it."
"Will we really see someone transfer from the League division to the Honor of Kings division later?"
"Damn, just imagining that makes me lose it."
"TES won Worlds… but not in League, in Honor of Kings."
"Shit—now the visuals are here. The visuals are so here."
"dine can genuinely transition into a Honor of Kings pro. Yinuo and Yi Zheng are basically ceiling-level players…
and they got stomped. With this 1v1 level, if he joins KPL, he'd be a tier above everyone."
"Another game, another game. Brother Infinite Borders, I want to learn Damo! Give us a Damo lesson!"
"Yare… I thought I clicked the wrong room at first. Why is Brother Infinite Borders playing Honor of Kings? You've got me stunned."
"Damn, the club's statement was actually real… insane!"
Chat was scrolling at breakneck speed. Even if you stared, you couldn't keep up—the room was simply too big.
The heat also scared Douyu's staff.
TES's streaming contract was set to expire right after this Spring Split. It was a deal signed two years ago after TES won MSC.
At first, it did bring massive traffic—Douyu's daily active users rose a lot.
But TES's monthly stream counts were pitifully low.
And their results kept sliding.
On top of that, the contract amount refused to budge, and Huya was competing on the side, so this year Douyu didn't plan to pay big money to renew TES.
But what happened today completely changed upper management's mind.
Most importantly: Brother Infinite Borders was hardworking.
Unlike other pros who might not stream even once a month, he'd stream over ten hours on days without matches—true workhorse.
With him, there was always a topic.
So they had to lock down a TES contract immediately.
If that wasn't possible, they needed an individual contract with Brother Infinite Borders.
With him, traffic was guaranteed and discussion was maxed out.
So Douyu management issued an order down the chain: they must sign Lin Fan.
They had already contacted TES just now,
and agreed to renew under the original contract terms…
But they got a reply: Huya had already stuck their nose in earlier.
Huya and Douyu both had Tencent as their major shareholder and even had intentions to merge,
but approval had been delayed.
The State Administration for Market Regulation would likely block it…
So the two platforms still competed fiercely.
Especially Douyu—their management's market response was far weaker than Huya's.
Year after year, their reports got crushed.
Now that they learned Huya was trying to poach, Douyu was furious.
That was dirty!
But aside from being anxious, they had no better option.
They couldn't outspend Huya anyway.
Every year, Huya got a huge injection of cash from Tencent,
so they could just throw money and smash people to death.
Douyu could only play the "relationship" card with TES.
They'd worked together for two years. Switching platforms suddenly—surely the players wouldn't adapt that fast.
"If worst comes to worst, we can at least keep Brother Infinite Borders' individual contract…"
But even saying it out loud lacked confidence.
Anyone could see it: Huya was coming for Brother Infinite Borders' heat.
This year, Huya lost Uzi's contract to Bilibili, so their League category desperately needed someone to carry the banner.
Over time it was proven: Gangzi's fanbase wasn't enough, and the later push—Xiao Chaomeng—was a big streamer,
but comparing him to Uzi was a joke.
After spending so many resources, Huya realized that to find a "banner" for a category,
they still had to look inside the pro scene.
Now Brother Infinite Borders was perfect—especially since his "composition" was complex.
He could stream any game. That was like paying once and hiring multiple game streamers.
Plus, you got the rest of TES's roster along with him—so many champions.
No matter how you calculated it, it was a win.
Of course, Lin Fan had no idea how badly these two platforms wanted him.
In just a bit over an hour, the club had already negotiated several times.
For a nine-figure contract, all three sides were extremely patient, pulling and tugging as hard as they could.
And as the seller, TES held all the leverage.
In the manager's office, Guo Hao grinned ear to ear.
This year, the club's revenue might exceed imagination.
Watching Lin Fan's stream, he never expected a pro player being good at other games would become an advantage.
Not only that—he could still help the team win.
Comfortable.
This year, the club's biggest harvest was discovering Brother Infinite Borders.
Even if they didn't win the title, his traffic alone made it profitable for TES.
And it wasn't just the streaming contract being negotiated—sponsor deals were too.
A five-million salary… suddenly felt a bit low.
If they won Spring Split, he'd talk to head office again.
Not as high as Knight, sure—but eight million had to be possible, right?
For a player who could bring revenue to the team, you couldn't be stingy.
He never expected JackeyLove—a Worlds champion—would get surpassed so easily in just two months.
Of course, JackeyLove's title was a long time ago.
And people were fickle. EDG won Worlds only half a year ago—then got eliminated in playoffs and people treated them like dogshit.
JackeyLove keeping his popularity steady for four years was honestly not easy.
Guo Hao's hand didn't stop. As club manager, he had to "support" properly.
He generously sent a Super Fire Rocket.
But the next second, Guo Hao froze.
He only sent one. Why did the room suddenly pop up with more than a dozen?
Then he focused his eyes.
wxz…
Holy shit.
He tensed up.
Didn't he stop playing with the team? After withdrawing investment, IG really had been getting worse year by year.
Last year they still had TheShy and Rookie. This year it was just "Sect Leader" Xun holding the fort.
By Guo Hao's read, after Summer Split, IG would definitely sell Xun to keep the org running next season.
Even someone like him, who only understood a bit, could see IG's current roster was intentionally padding Xun's stats.
The purpose was obvious.
But Principal Wang had been gone from esports for a long time.
Why show up now?
People said his family's finances had issues,
but a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse.
A single meal for him was still twenty or thirty thousand. Pulling together a team would be easy.
"Thanks to Principal Wang for the twenty Super Fire Rockets. Boss is generous."
A 40,000-yuan donation was not a small amount.
Normally, that was Lin Fan's income for two days.
For League streamers, big spenders were rarer.
After all, one "brother, chicken" from a cute girl after you donate… instantly gets you hooked, rock hard.
Lin Fan carefully watched the chat.
Normally, after Principal Wang flexed, he'd say something.
Sure enough, the next second, a huge highlighted message appeared, the special effect showing his status.
The message stayed centered on screen for a while.
"Not going to make a name and fortune on the pro stage—hiding here as a small streamer?"
Lin Fan paused for a moment before he understood what he meant.
After all, Lin Fan was already a League pro. Getting the same "advice" as JackeyLove did was confusing.
But seeing the Han Xin he was controlling, it was obviously talking about Honor of Kings.
"Hahaha, Principal Wang—Honor of Kings probably doesn't have a team that wants me. How about you build one and let me be a League pro and a Honor of Kings pro at the same time?"
"Okay."
Principal Wang didn't do any extra nonsense. He agreed immediately.
Was this the confidence of rich people?
Lin Fan stared blankly.
Was he really going to build a Honor of Kings team tomorrow?
With Principal Wang's personality, it wouldn't be surprising if he did.
After all, for his pro dreams, he could invest in IG and even register as a player around the same time.
Then he retired with a 100% win-rate Jhin.
"Boss, don't do it. I was joking earlier." Lin Fan was actually a bit scared.
If a real pro team got built… then what?
Recently, Principal Wang seemed to have participated in Tencent's Honor of Kings variety show—training with a bunch of celebrities alongside pro players.
Did that hook him?
"IG's Honor of Kings division is under construction. There'll be news soon."
After sending that message, Principal Wang dropped another twenty Super Fire Rockets.
Then he vanished from the room.
The viewers went crazy.
"Holy shit, he's really poaching?"
"IG has never built a Honor of Kings division. If it's Principal Wang, it's actually possible."
"IG is building a Honor of Kings division?"
"No longer investing in League, switching to Honor of Kings—really you, Principal Wang."
"He won a title, became a pro, fulfilled the dream. Now he's touching Honor of Kings and wants to copy the League path again."
"But if they poach Brother Infinite Borders, I can't accept it. No matter what he plays, he's a League player!"
After Principal Wang threw gifts in Lin Fan's room and mentioned IG's Honor of Kings division,
it clearly wasn't a joke.
"IG Honor of Kings division."
"wxz Brother Infinite Borders."
"dine transfers to IG."
In just two days, Lin Fan had hit Weibo trending eight times.
Calling him the king of trending wasn't for nothing.
TES's parent company immediately grew tense.
Principal Wang had money—money—money!
And the contract TES signed with Brother Infinite Borders wasn't that long.
Using a money strategy, it really might be possible to smash him dizzy.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup