9:30 p.m.
As Lin Fan went live, the viewer count shot straight to number one in the League of Legends category. The platform even hung an official banner for him—open Douyu, and you could see it immediately.
After all, they had spent a huge sum to successfully secure TES's team streaming contract. The conditions were loosened almost without limit, but as long as Brother Infinite Borders stayed, they felt it was all worth it.
You could tell from the platform's download numbers over the past half month.
Douyu made a killing!
Huya could only shake its head silently.
It was the first time they had failed to outbid Douyu…
This kind of treatment made Douyu's other streamers burn with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
But the two sides weren't on the same level of streamer at all, so they could only watch with reddened eyes.
Some even tried to imitate him—League of Legends streamers going off to play PUBG…
Unfortunately, they were just too bad. At first people were curious and went to take a look, but it simply didn't work.
Later on, even their League fans stopped supporting them. When they returned to League of Legends streams, both popularity and hype had dropped sharply.
They lost both the wife and the army.
From this, many people realized that if you wanted to develop across multiple games, talent was absolutely necessary. Without talent, it just wouldn't work.
And Brother Infinite Borders had already proven from the side just how terrifying his talent was.
After more than a year without playing mid, he returned and still dominated the entire league.
As the stream filled up, the chat became a dense wall of messages.
At first Lin Fan could still read them one by one, but now he couldn't see anything clearly.
Since that was the case, he responded to the earlier messages and stopped looking at chat.
"Alright, alright, good evening everyone. Today's matches were indeed a bit tiring, but thankfully the results were good."
"Look, I only ate a simple dinner before coming back, and I'm already training again. JackeyLove and the others are really working hard." As he spoke, Lin Fan manually moved the camera and swept it across the training room.
"TES, charge! Last year ended in regret—this year, no regrets!"
"Brother Infinite Borders, you've got to keep an eye on them and make sure they train properly."
Of course, sharp‑eyed viewers noticed that Knight wasn't in the room.
"Where's Knight? Don't tell me he got stomped by Rookie twice and his mentality completely exploded, so he didn't even bother with daily training?"
"If I were Knight, I'd retire on the spot. That'd be way too embarrassing."
"People already posted photos on Weibo—when TES won, Knight had a sour look on his face."
"They're just not the same kind of people. The rest of TES are focused on the game, while Knight's mind is full of his lower half."
"He'd fit perfectly on the same team as the Beach Boy—lots they could talk about…"
…
"Ahem, ahem… JackeyLove and Mark are all training hard. What's Brother Infinite Borders planning to play tonight? Isn't the Douyu Cup tomorrow? He's on the roster."
"Damn, I didn't dare believe it at first. When I saw the roster, I was dizzy."
"Brother Infinite Borders already said he was joining the Douyu Cup. When he hit Challenger in three or four days, I knew Teamfight Tactics was about to get a real pro player."
"After today's matches, I've realized my own shortcomings. Tonight, I'll grind some rank properly."
Lin Fan talked to himself as he opened the League of Legends client.
At that moment, even people who never typed in chat couldn't hold back.
"Holy crap, is Brother Infinite Borders trying to get back to peak form?"
"Hahaha, let's grind some points first!"
But after logging in, with the mouse moving nonstop, he smoothly clicked into Teamfight Tactics ranked and hit Find Match.
"Heh…"
"Realized his shortcomings, then immediately queues TFT? Damn, Brother Infinite Borders' kiting is top‑tier."
"Used to it, used to it. No emotional fluctuations at all."
"Any entertainment later tonight? Goose Goose Duck maybe? Xiao Zao and K‑God have already started trash‑talking each other."
Although many people played TFT, at high ranks the queue time was still long.
Especially since the high‑score players ahead had already formed a lobby.
The wait became even longer.
This time, it took over five minutes before entering the game.
"Alright, today's goal is 1300 points. Gaining 100 shouldn't be too much to ask."
As he spoke, Lin Fan controlled his Little Legend and ran toward attack speed.
In Set 7, attack speed was the top priority.
Adventure Xayah had been nerfed repeatedly, but it was still an excellent ladder‑climbing tool.
As long as the comp came together, you were guaranteed points.
So it was still a popular build—though there were even stronger ones.
For example, Dragonmancer Nunu. Once you had a Spatula, you had to pivot into it.
One‑star Dragonmancer Nunu stabilized HP; two‑star Dragonmancer Nunu ate the lobby. The more Dragonmancer traits, the better.
Even if Xayah carried Giant Slayer, she couldn't scratch it at all.
It was rated by everyone as a meta cancer.
Thanks to its skill mechanics—biting one unit after another like an all‑you‑can‑eat buffet—paired with Bloodthirster and Justice, it finished fights without losing HP from start to finish.
Everyone suffered.
But undeniably—it was strong.
Dragonmancer Jayce wasn't even worth a single hair compared to Dragonmancer Nunu.
"This patch's Dragonmancer Nunu is just too strong. Whenever a Spatula drops, I get dizzy," Lin Fan said.
This game's opening wasn't very smooth. The items were also a bit lacking, so he went on a loss streak. After Krugs at 2‑7, he still had 74 HP.
Overall, there was pressure, but not too much.
Of course, Adventure Xayah preferred win streaks. If you couldn't get them, you could only roll hard at level seven.
As soon as Lin Fan finished speaking, the neutral monsters dropped a shiny golden item.
"Damn it!"
He picked it up—it was a Spatula.
Without hesitation, he slapped on the large rod he'd just gotten from carousel and instantly made a Dragonmancer Emblem.
The chat exploded, scrolling wildly with question marks.
"???"
"???"
"What the hell?"
"Brother Infinite Borders' mouth is something else… He said he wouldn't play it, and the next second a Spatula drops. His body's honest—instant combine!"
"Holy crap, I can't accept neutral monsters dropping Spatulas!"
"Now he's just missing big components and a Tear. With this HP, he's definitely placing."
"Ahem, since the Spatula dropped, it's destiny. Even though we haven't held units yet, at 3‑2 we go level six and roll. Find one Nunu and we stabilize. TFT is actually pretty simple once you understand what the system wants."
"If you want to climb, you can't fight the system. Sometimes when you spend ten gold and can't roll anything, you should understand—the system doesn't want you playing that comp this game.
Be smart and pivot immediately."
"Remember Brother Infinite Borders' smug face!"
"Hide the Nunu!"
…
But the scene everyone wanted didn't appear. After leveling to six, he rolled just once and hit Nunu.
That saved a huge amount of gold. With the Dragonmancer Emblem on, he stabilized and started win‑streaking.
Carousel grabbed a BF Sword—Bloodthirster secured.
The stability became absurd. Level seven opened six Dragonmancers, then an effortless push to eight.
He easily took first place.
His rating jumped by 74 points.
"Easy. One more game and I'll hit 1300. My climbing speed's pretty good."
"Damn it, Brother Infinite Borders got to show off again. Is no one going to stop him?"
"Dog‑luck streamer is too strong. Even without a Spatula, the game drops one just for him? Exclusive Dragonmancer Nunu—the system wants him to eat, nothing you can do!"
"TFT really does have system factors. A cursed lobby is unplayable."
"What cursed lobby? If the game gives you units and you refuse to play them, that's on you. Brother Infinite Borders is right—if things look bad, switch comps fast."
"At this pace, he'll hit 1300 in no time. Then straight to Goose Goose Duck."
"Yeah, Brother Infinite Borders climbs too fast. I barely feel any enjoyment—Goose Goose Duck is way more fun."
"Play PUBG, Brother Infinite Borders. Your gunplay looks solid—train a bit and just go pro."
"True, he plays really well. Probably just that his teammates are too bad—always DOC‑reviving teammates."
"Is it possible some people are better off dead?"
"It's really just about accurate aim. If you can't hit shots, you can't draw fire."
"Not many people play Apex. Too few streamers, the hype's just not there. Rare to see it in a big streamer's room."
"Brother Infinite Borders still prefers PUBG. Apex just isn't as competitive."
Amid the noisy chat, Lin Fan had already started the second game.
This one wasn't as lucky as the previous one.
But in the late game he still stabilized at the limit, secured second place, and grabbed a small chunk of points.
He hit today's goal—1300 rating.
Checking the time, more than an hour had passed. It was already 10:44 p.m.
He pulled out his phone and saw that Xiao Zao had sent several messages.
Recently, they hadn't played Goose Goose Duck much.
Mostly because PUBG and TFT had stolen the time.
Thinking about it, it really would be nice to run a game with these buddies—relax and chill.
"Come on, send me the room code. I'm in."
Xiao Zao was fast. Thirty seconds later, it arrived.
"Ahem, next up is logic time. Don't say I played three matches today plus just burned all my energy—still, I'm pretty tired. We'll play two games to relax, then prep for tomorrow's matches."
As he spoke, he skillfully opened the VPN, boosted the connection, entered the game, and typed in the room code.
Going in, it was indeed a huge gathering—a 16‑player lobby!
These games got chaotic, but the more people, the more fun.
"ng, ng~"
"Brother Infinite Borders is here! Today's matches were absolute slaughter—awesome." Erzi blew him up as usual.
"Brother Infinite Borders, I directly acknowledge you as my dad!"
"Get ready—Xiao Zao is definitely hard‑carrying today!"
Everyone ran circles in the plaza, and the voice chat was naturally extremely noisy.
As the host followed the rhythm and hit Start Game, the joyful Goose Goose Duck session began.
The loading music alone signaled that this round wouldn't be ordinary.
"Xiao Zao, Masituo, General Yu…"
Lin Fan rolled Professional Killer. This lobby had Mimics enabled, meaning a good guy was mixed among the wolves—you had to think carefully before acting, or you might hit your own.
No rush. He lingered on the map for a while, waiting for cooldown.
There was no need to rush out immediately. Staying here also let prey come to him.
At that moment, he ran into Masituo.
"What's your role?"
"I have a knife, I have a knife."
"Ahem, I also have a knife."
"So what do we do?"
"My CD isn't ready yet."
"My CD isn't ready either."
"OK, I'll recognize you as a good guy then."
Through this conversation, he confirmed Masituo was evil, so the Mimic must be either Xiaozao or General Yu.
"I think it's most likely Xiaozao."
"Hard to say. I'll go chat with him privately later."
"Alright... I'll go solo."
After Masituo finished speaking, he controlled his black-skinned Kunkun and ran off.
Lin Fan headed toward the plaza direction.
To meet up with the main group.
As soon as he reached the plaza, he heard Xiaozao shouting to everyone that he was a good guy.
Lin Fan silently slipped in.
"Xiaozao, what's your role?"
"I'm definitely a good guy! Come on, come verify with me. If I die, Lin Sledgehammer pays."
"Alright, alright."
Lin Fan led him all the way toward the warehouse.
"What's your role?"
"I... I don't have a role, I'm just following you."
"Good, if you're following me then follow. You go in." Lin Fan said, telling Xiaozao to enter the warehouse.
Outside stood Kunholmes.
As soon as Xiaozao entered the warehouse, he saw a dead body.
"I know now, Lin Sledgehammer is evil. Alright, I'll go straight out and knife Kunholmes."
"Lin Sledgehammer, I know your identity now."
"Alright..." Actually, Lin Fan was also hesitating whether to knife Xiaozao.
Mainly because he hadn't expected there'd actually be a dead body inside.
Earlier when he was verifying identities with Masituo over there, this side hadn't been visited yet—it must have been Falcon's doing...
So Kunholmes was highly suspicious.
Unexpectedly, this actually confirmed Xiaozao was evil. That made things easier.
Go out and knife Kunholmes.
So both of them went out almost simultaneously.
Their positions were pretty close. Xiaozao saw Kunholmes and immediately pressed space—but his blade came down and killed Lin Fan instead...
Then Kunholmes standing outside immediately rushed over and knifed Xiaozao who had entered cooldown.
Looking at the kill screen, Xiaozao couldn't help but shout.
"AHHHHH, Brother Fan! Aiyooo, Brother Fan! I knifed the wrong person, Brother Fan!"
"..."
"AHHHHH, when I saw that dead body inside I knew you were evil, so I wanted to go out and directly knife Kunholmes, but we were standing too close!"
"Brother Fan, I'm so mad! This round was supposed to be an invincible start, but it became like this."
"I know. When I saw you see the dead body without reacting, I knew you were evil. When I went out with you, my thought was the same—knife Kunholmes..."
"Ahhh!!"
Xiaozao looked at his computer screen and couldn't help but roar toward the sky, unable to vent his grief and indignation.
Next, he pounded his chest three times in succession.
Like an angry gorilla.
"LOL! Xiaozao the dodo bird himself."
"I'm numb. Justice assassin! Directly knifed his teammate."
"Hahaha, Brother Infinite Borders is so upset."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup