"Lin 'Big Hammer,' give me a friend slot!" Smoke Lady shrieked into voice chat the instant it ended.
The moment she backed out, she sent a friend request.
Unfortunately, Lin Fan only liked being the one to initiate—he didn't like being put on the spot. And after just two games with her, he couldn't take it anymore.
How many kidneys do you think he has to grind this hard?
Right?
So he ignored it and queued the next one.
Didn't get first this game? Then next game he'd eat.
"Ah, what a pity. The luck was really good, but I still didn't get to add Lin 'Big Hammer.'"
"What's there to pity? There are tons of good players. I'll have my boyfriend carry you to first later. If he won't add you, then forget it—like he's some rare treasure."
"You seriously don't read Weibo? Lin 'Big Hammer' is really famous."
"Apex even has a person like that? It's a niche game. Even if you're a fan, you can't have that many…"
"He went viral from Goose Goose Duck. He's TES's mid laner, pops onto Weibo trending all the time. I've seen him at least ten times this month."
"The craziest part is he's a League pro, but he's cracked at a bunch of games. Not long ago he even hard-stomped multiple Honor of Kings pros—did you forget? Isn't Yinuo your favorite player?"
"Holy crap, him? Then how can you be sure it's him?"
Apex is different from other games: you can use the same ID.
"The moment I saw 'Lin Big Hammer,' I went straight to Brother Infinite Borders' stream. Otherwise, why would I cling so shamelessly to try to add him?"
"Got it… so that's why."
Streamers' thinking was simple: if you could latch onto someone with big heat and play with him, your followers would rise no matter what.
Just like the "ex-pros playing Goose Goose Duck to relax" circle.
After this period of fermentation, it had already reached a terrifying level.
The moment you went live, the heat was there.
In that situation, a lot of people wanted to squeeze in.
But one lobby maxed out at sixteen people. That meant that aside from the core members, nobody else had a chance to participate.
And once it hit fifteen, by default they didn't let anyone else join.
That was a slot they reserved for Lin Fan.
After all, who knew what other game would suddenly steal him away midstream?
"Ugh… I don't want to play Apex anymore. I want to play Goose Goose Duck too," Xinran said gloomily.
In the end, she opened Lin Fan's stream.
She watched Lifeline, now with two proper teammates, massacre the whole lobby.
Were the two of them really that bad last game?
"Holy crap—if it was these two last time, I'd have gone completely insane."
"But the way they played did have some 'game experience.' Hide-and-seek is still pretty fun."
The chat scrolled like crazy.
"Hahahaha, looks like Brother Infinite Borders really suffered last game."
"How could he not? The moment a fight started, it was him with one gun charging forward. The two vases were useless, and he still had to endure mental damage. Who could accept that?"
"Damn, he's killing so hard—going for 27 kills?"
"From this moment on, this is Brother Infinite Borders Plaza!"
Even though he didn't hit 27, he still got 17 and led the squad to a strong first-place finish.
"Comfortable. That was textbook Lifeline gameplay."
"Teammate gets killed—res while killing."
"Satisfied, satisfied. Been waiting five or six days and finally got a god-tier lesson."
"See? Apex is really fun. I hope everyone goes in and tries it."
"It's fun watching Brother Infinite Borders kill, but if we go in we'll just get exploded. If it turns into hide-and-seek, it's not fun anymore."
"If you've got skills it should be alright. Just play Lifeline and you'll probably have decent game experience."
"Next game, next game—time for Honor of Kings."
"Nonsense. It's clearly Infinite Borders chill time."
"If you don't boot up Genshin right now I can't accept it."
"Even same-type games should be played—PUBG time."
"What else? Might as well go play Jiahui."
"It's 2022 and you're still talking about Jiahui?"
"But lately is there any horror game? Let Brother Infinite Borders play one for a bit, at least."
"Probably not much. Paper Bride 3 is okay."
"Dream on. Brother Infinite Borders won't play that kind of thing. He only likes competitive games. Look at the games he plays—aren't they all 'warm and cozy'?"
"And then quietly drops 27 kills."
"Don't rush. Rest a bit—high-intensity combat makes my eyes tired. Do some eye exercises. You can do them too."
"Actually yeah, hearing you say that, my eyes really do feel dry and sore."
"Love it, love it. First pro player I've seen who cares this much about health—and he even cares about his fans."
"Today counts as a tough battle, right? It's almost 6:00. The Douyu Cup is about to start."
"Yeah. Do you think Brother Infinite Borders can advance?"
"I think it's no problem. The other streamers are just there to fill spots. Their rating is all from spamming games—they don't really understand the game."
"Holy crap, so if he makes finals and then gets top two, he can represent Douyu in the China qualifiers? Damn, that'd be interesting if he really goes."
"Not gonna lie, it's pretty interesting. Brother Infinite Borders, good luck."
Then the stream started getting "airplanes" floating by.
One after another.
In the blink of an eye, he received twenty airplanes.
And the cut on airplanes was pretty high, so the income was nice.
Since the tournament started at 6:00 p.m. and they had to play five games, it would probably go past 10:00.
Eating during the matches would look bad—at the very least, you had to show the right attitude.
So at 5:30, as a true food enjoyer, Lin Fan went to eat. Skip one meal and you're starving, alright?
Fifteen minutes—battle solved. At 5:50, he returned to the training room, and the officials had already created the lobby.
They sent him the password through a notification.
"Alright—seated, seated. Let's get to work."
He spoke and quickly found the room and entered the password.
The moment he got in, two people were already waiting.
"Hello, Brother Infinite Borders."
"Brother Infinite Borders, go easy on us today."
Then the bottom-left "mini theater" started up.
But that made sense. With Lin Fan's popularity and heat, if you could build a good relationship and get carried playing with him, would you be afraid of lacking traffic?
Not at all.
Lin Fan only replied with a simple hello.
There were plenty of strong players in this group too—Juanzi, and Liliuo.
Getting first place wouldn't be easy, but advancing wasn't much pressure.
At 6:00 sharp, everyone was in, and the match started on time.
The moment the game began, everyone had a clear goal: BF Sword and Needlessly Large Rod.
Lin Fan headed straight for attack speed.
Against these Mudhead Trucks, plus Dragonmancer Volibear, or Dragonmancer Nunu, Olaf was the best fit. Even without an Assassin Emblem, he could pivot into Scalescorn.
Of course, if the units didn't come early, attack speed could also go into Adventure Xayah or Nidalee.
Nidalee's first-place ceiling was a bit lower, but her "get points" ability was still very strong.
Because of Astral's effect, you could basically always hit three-star Nidalee at low levels. If you couldn't, you should really think about why your luck was so bad—are you cursed?
That's why, at the start of Set 7, tons of people rushed Nidalee.
As for the official stream, the title was simply "Brother Infinite Borders Competes," instead of featuring Juanzi.
That alone showed the respect.
The main broadcast room hit over two million heat, and Lin Fan's own room broke five million.
"What's Brother Infinite Borders playing this game?"
But the very next second, the neutrals dropped an Olaf and a Diana.
That was an explosion!
Even the official caster shouted: "Neutrals drop Olaf and Diana—straight into Scalescorn!"
"The items are pretty suitable too. Rapid Firecannon time, Diana as the secondary carry. I heard earlier that Brother Infinite Borders is an 'immortal arts master'—now I see it's well deserved."
The main broadcast also put the spectator camera on Lin Fan.
"Double Scalescorn immediately. Next is just rounding out the comp. If he can get an Assassin Emblem, he really takes off."
The first Augment: D.D. Street.
A light roll… another Olaf.
Lin Fan deliberately put Olaf on the frontline to tank damage. When he comes this early, you're obviously stacking attack, right?
Even at three units, two Olafs plus Diana were an unbeatable existence.
So he went straight into a win streak. In this patch, not many people fought for attack speed early, so no rush—maybe he'd still get it later.
Worst case, he could spin Treasure Dragon.
This game was clearly an "econ to the max" line: healthy HP, go eight, then find three-star Olaf and eat first.
Just depended on whether he could hit Assassin Emblem later.
Carousel didn't give him attack speed, but he still made Ionic Spark for Diana—secondary carry damage also maxed out.
At 3-2, he high-rolled again.
Lin Fan thought for a moment and chose to reroll the Augments.
Afu's Treasure Trove!
Get a Spatula and three random basic components.
No hesitation—he picked it.
The three components dropped: attack speed, crit gloves, and armor.
Perfect.
Rapid Firecannon and Assassin Emblem were both live.
The armor could go on Braum, or become Frozen Heart for Diana.
Then a two-star Olaf showed up uninvited. In that case there was nothing to hesitate about—push six, spike the board: four Conquerors, two Assassins, two Ragewings, plus Sejuani.
Top-tier fighting power.
One word: eat.
Save econ, go eight, and find three-star Olaf.
Even though there was someone contesting him, that guy had no Assassin Emblem, his items were average, and most importantly, his unit count wasn't even close.
Free-hit one copy, then D.D. Street gave another copy.
By 4-1, he already had seven Olafs.
He thought for a moment… then shoved all-in.
He rolled 30 gold and finally found the last two Olafs.
Three-star Olaf!
Eat.
Not only were the items perfect, the comp quality was high too.
While rolling for Olaf, he also hit three-star Braum.
Stand him in the backline—he pulls everyone in, and Olaf just chops: one swing, one kill!
In the first game, if Dragonmancer Nunu weren't so absurd, Lin Fan would've taken it at full HP.
But thankfully the result was still good—he took first place in game one.
Eight points right away.
With a first-place finish in game one, the pressure for the remaining four games wasn't that high anymore.
This crazy performance didn't just make his chat explode—it also pulled a wave of people into TES's official Weibo comments.
"Go look at what your player is doing! He's going insane in the TFT tournament!"
"At this pace, he really might advance…"
"Damn it—Brother Infinite Borders' game talent is maxed. Feels like he could go pro in anything and never starve."
Meanwhile, in the manager's office, Guo Hao saw the comments and could only shake his head helplessly.
What do you do when your club has a pro player who won't do his real job?
The Douyu Cup's second game started quickly.
This game, Lin Fan took a look, thought for a moment, and grabbed a Tear of the Goddess.
He planned to play macro this time—aiming for Dragon Lord.
But early Dragon Lord requires you to keep your HP stable; only once the comp comes together do you have a shot at first.
This round wasn't as smooth as the last. He lost his win streak before neutrals and got a little "G."
Luckily, his early-quality units were good.
Most importantly, at eight he found Dragon Lord Ao Shin.
The Pee-Pee Dragon could finally show its power.
Bzzzt—zapping them until their souls left their bodies.
But in the late game, a fully built Nunu was still too much. He only got second this round.
Still—first and second in two games. His points were already extremely secure.
The remaining three games could be played casually. As long as he didn't go 8th three times, he'd advance easily.
In game three, he originally wanted to run Shimmerscale, but after thinking about it, he decided to play it safe.
He went Adventure Xayah, successfully hit nine, found Shyvana, and used the extremely high unit quality to take this round too.
"If we count it like this, advancing is no pressure, right? Boys, do you want to see Shimmerscale? I think we can do one—see if we can hit a three-star five-cost."
After all, Lin Fan wasn't really here for rank.
He was just here to join the fun and see how far he could go in a TFT tournament.
So he decided to do a show.
The viewers were hyped.
A tournament needs players like this.
How can everyone only care about points and nothing else, right?
So this round, Lin Fan locked in Shimmerscale.
But Shimmerscale's power really was low.
Later on, he never found two Emblems. In that case, he could only get sent out in fifth place.
The stream, though, was lively as hell.
"So cool!"
"Game five, do another one—go for three-star five-cost!"
"What a pity. If there was a Fortune loss-streak mechanic, you could cash out and stabilize—maximum entertainment."
"Yeah, Shimmerscale's entertainment value is a bit lacking."
"But if he hits a three-star five-cost, Brother Infinite Borders becomes a god today."
Game four Shimmerscale wasn't going well.
But game five took off immediately.
He pushed levels and free-hit a Volibear!
It's happening.
A light roll found Kayn and Aatrox.
Three Shimmerscales—online.
He slammed it. The first Shimmerscale item was Goldmancer's Staff.
Once it went on Volibear, coins started clattering nonstop.
The moment that state came out, everyone felt like it was done.
After he got two-star Volibear, the power was okay.
But this game produced a monster: a full-HP Healer!
Juanzi free-hit a Healer at level seven, and it was full HP—its disintegration was absurd. In that situation, Lin Fan ate a painful loss.
But his economy was maxed. At 3-7 neutrals, he was level seven and still had fifty gold.
This game had a future…
He pushed nine with forty HP and forty gold still left.
Hitting a three-star five-cost was basically impossible.
But man, printing money this game felt incredible. Playing Shimmerscale still got him points—third place for six points.
After five games, he ended with 33 points. Group A's second seed advanced to finals.
Not long after the tournament ended, "Brother Infinite Borders advances" hit Weibo trending.
Damn it—this League pro really doesn't leave anyone else a way to live. He has to stick his foot into every field.
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup