"Evaluate Brother Infinite Borders' performance in the Douyu Cup."
"It's a bit ridiculous. Feels like he's mastered every comp. Whatever he wants to play, he can pivot instantly. The key point is—his dog luck is pretty insane."
"I can only say luck streamers don't go far—unless you're Brother Infinite Borders."
"If he hadn't messed around for two games, he'd absolutely have topped the group today."
"Seriously absurd. A professional League player can even play Teamfight Tactics this well?"
"Didn't Brother Infinite Borders already come clean on stream? He's a TFT pro. League of Legends is what he's actually unfamiliar with."
The Weibo discussion was extremely lively.
Soon after, the officials clearly knew what everyone liked to talk about, and before long the topic surged straight to number one on Weibo.
Never underestimate the power of men when it comes to pushing heat—it's just as savage.
Amid this wave of discussion, a post from TES's official Weibo quietly appeared in everyone's feed.
"Hahaha, I thought TES's official account was about to talk about Brother Infinite Borders. Didn't expect a hard turn straight into criticizing Knight."
"Knight's temper is really something. Playing this badly and still looking for trouble—isn't that just asking to die?"
"Look at Brother Infinite Borders. He doesn't even train and still starts every match as long as he wins. People really aren't the same."
"Exactly. At least Brother Infinite Borders never looks for someone to carry him to the stage. In that regard, he completely outclasses Knight. He still has merits—we're all inferior to him."
"I finally see it now. The worse you are, the bigger your temper. When we flame Brother Infinite Borders' mechanics, he never gets mad."
"Who was the main culprit behind getting reverse-swept 2–3? Wasn't it you, Knight, doing absolutely nothing? Now you've even got an attitude and skipped training? Well punished!"
At this moment, TES's official Weibo released a notice.
Contrary to what many expected, it wasn't about dealing with Brother Infinite Borders' so-called 'not doing his job.'
A pro player openly participating in other tournaments did look a bit arrogant.
Playing other games could be explained as casual entertainment, but entering competitions was another matter entirely…
It felt like a challenge to club authority.
But Lin Fan had already considered this before signing up.
He'd informed Luo Sheng in advance, and only after receiving management approval did he register.
Even though he knew it probably wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't said anything,
Leaving a bad impression was still undesirable.
In front of leadership, being capable was one thing—but forcing them to deal with principle issues crossed the line.
Because of this, Luo Sheng also understood that Lin Fan wasn't someone who disregarded everything. He acted with limits.
As the situation fermented, more and more people flocked to TES's official Weibo to gloat.
Because today, management issued a punishment to Knight for leaving the club without reason and skipping training.
And the punishment was severe—two months' salary docked outright!
Based on the contract details revealed before the Spring Split, two months of pay amounted to 7.5 million yuan!
This was a heavy blow for Knight.
Got a bad temper? Then according to the contract, your money gets wiped clean!
Extremely satisfying. If you've got the guts, keep skipping training—let's see if the club follows up with even harsher punishment.
In reality, management was quite pleased that Knight had slacked off today.
In the match against V5, his market value had plummeted. BLG and Weibo didn't want to be suckers.
Renewing on the old contract was clearly impossible.
But now that 7.5 million had been cut, renegotiation still had a chance.
The key issue was Knight's downward trajectory. Even though he was two years younger than Lin Fan, the club chose to abandon Knight.
Most importantly—his reputation wasn't great.
TES Sports had poured huge investments over the past two years. Even without good results, the club at least had traffic.
As long as there was traffic, the parent company wouldn't lose money.
For them, spending what was pocket change to generate traffic was absolutely worth it.
As for Knight losing two months' salary, everyone applauded.
Four simple words: he brought it on himself.
Skipping work has consequences.
At this point, someone made a post asking:
"Serious question: Brother Infinite Borders plays other games during training hours. Why wasn't he punished?"
There were plenty of replies.
"Do you slack off at work? Compared to skipping work, slacking is nothing."
"Exactly. When top employees slack off, bosses just turn a blind eye."
"Let me explain it this way: even if you play games all day at work, but you keep bringing in massive investments,
as long as you don't cross the line, the boss won't punish you.
Applied to Brother Infinite Borders, it fits perfectly. A pro player's job is to win matches.
Every match he's played, he's won. Eighteen MVPs in the regular season, five in playoffs.
Shouldn't the club worship a player like that? How could they possibly punish him?"
"Still, I'm not optimistic about Brother Infinite Borders. He hasn't gone far yet. Not training properly will eventually limit him."
"Same. I just watch his streams for fun—they're entertaining, especially pro players playing Goose Goose Duck."
"Xiao Zao~"
…
"Damn, I can already picture it."
"Brother Infinite Borders isn't panicking at all. If League stops working, he can just pivot into Apex or Naraka Bladepoint. The popularity's a bit lower, but still fine."
"That's true. He could even scrape by in TFT. The Funiu Cup had over two million in prize money last year."
"Retiring to become a streamer would still make him a big one. Sure, the heat would drop later, but food and drink wouldn't be a problem."
"Food and drink aren't the issue—it's honor. If Brother Infinite Borders doesn't train, his strength will drop after MSI. At best he'll grab an MSI title while still in form."
"Faker's already washed. T1 is basically all about top lane now. Honestly, Brother Infinite Borders mid could stomp Faker into the dirt."
"Heh. You know the three great illusions of League? Number one is 'Faker is washed.'"
With more people, the discussion inevitably derailed.
Mention Faker, and arguments always follow in the domestic scene.
…
After TES released the punishment notice, Knight rushed back to the club early the next morning.
He stood outside the manager's office, waiting for Guo Hao.
Two months' salary was no small amount!
Getting docked just like that was unacceptable.
He came back early specifically to negotiate.
He'd once been the top domestic mid laner, had bled and sweat for TES.
Just missing one day—was that worth losing so much money?
He couldn't accept it!
Today, he was going to have it out with Guo Hao.
Before signing, it was all sweet talk. Just a few bad matches and a new mid shows up, and suddenly they turn on him?
That morning, even the cleaning auntie heard fierce arguing erupt from the manager's office.
In the end, Knight stormed out, face dark, slamming the door.
He wanted to leave the club outright—but with his contract still active, leaving today would probably land him on Weibo again with another punishment notice.
So he could only sit in the training room obediently.
Face dark, he scared even Big Huang—who was on decent terms with him—from saying a word.
Two months' salary docked—he was clearly seething. No one wanted to get caught in the blast radius.
And with the current trajectory, Knight would likely transfer in summer.
Getting too close to him now wouldn't end well at the club.
It was better to cling to JackeyLove instead.
Brother Infinite Borders was strong right now, but without training, he had no future.
The only one who could truly anchor TES long-term was JackeyLove.
A World Championship title was a gold-plated calling card.
"Jackey Bro, want something to drink?"
"Huh? Nah. People keep calling me fat lately. One milk tea is basically eight bowls of rice."
JackeyLove shook his head.
"Ask Brother Fan then."
"Me? I'm good. Just grab two bottles of mineral water from the water bar later."
"Alright. I'm heading there anyway—I'll get them for you." JackeyLove took off his headset and walked toward the water bar.
Big Huang watched him…
"Yeah, sucking up to Brother Fan might be the better play right now."
JackeyLove returned and placed the water bottles on the desk.
"Brother Fan, you advanced yesterday. Any matches today?"
"Group B today. Once they're done, there'll be a few days' rest before finals. Top two represent Douyu."
"Then this schedule… won't it conflict with our matches?"
"If it conflicts, I'll forfeit. Doesn't matter. That stuff's just for fun—not life. League is my life."
"Right. League is life…" JackeyLove instantly got it.
After all, without money, how do you live?
And as a League pro, your salary comes from the club. League always comes first.
"But I heard from Douyu that they can postpone the finals."
"That's fine too. China has four slots—two in spring, two in summer.
If I can't do it in spring due to conflicts, I'll try again in summer."
And with so many tournaments, he even wanted to try Naraka Bladepoint solos, plus Apex and PUBG if possible.
Showing off on a bigger stage—that's way more interesting, right?
"Damn, Brother Fan is insane. Even tournament organizers are willing to delay for you?"
"Understandable. Didn't you see yesterday? My stream hit over seven million heat. For TFT, that's honestly absurd."
Even TOC finals struggle to break ten million.
But yesterday's small platform event already reached that level.
Anyone with a brain knew why.
If schedule conflicts prevented his participation, the ones losing out would be the organizers—not Lin Fan.
So changing times was the obvious choice.
Of course, the chain reaction would be big. Other platform leagues would get delayed too.
But Douyu and Huya shared the same shareholder and were both under Tencent Games—internal coordination wasn't a big issue.
Looking at the lively training room, then thinking about losing two months' salary, Knight grew even more resentful.
Why did you get to live so comfortably?
Everyone favored you. All resources were invested in you.
You didn't even need to train at the club, and participating in other tournaments was fine.
He'd just taken one day off to cool down—and got fined two months' salary.
How unfair was that?
His former substitute mid had completely replaced him.
The psychological gap was unbearable.
"Lin Fan—solo me, two games!"
The voice came from the corner. Not very loud, but clear enough.
"Hm? You want to solo me?" Lin Fan narrowed his eyes.
"Log in."
"Alright… rules?"
"First blood."
"OK."
No one else spoke. They silently returned to their seats.
At the same time, Lin Fan's stream chat exploded.
"Knight's got balls, challenging Brother Infinite Borders to a solo?"
"He's salty. Keeps losing while Brother Infinite Borders keeps winning. Thinks someone's throwing against him."
"Brother Infinite Borders, teach him a lesson."
Lin Fan logged in, and Knight's invite came instantly.
The moment Lin Fan entered the room, Knight impatiently hit Start.
"What skill do you even have? Wasn't it all Tian playing like a dog for you? You like streaming, huh? I'll hard-stomp you so everyone sees—you've got no real skill. The club's just a joke."
Knight didn't hesitate—he instantly locked in Sylas.
Lin Fan considered for a moment. He'd just been rewarded with Shadow Assassin Zed yesterday.
Hadn't warmed it up in matches yet—might as well test it in a solo.
He picked Zed and quickly set his runes.
"Holy crap, Zed!"
"Brother Infinite Borders pulling out a new champion again."
"His champion pool's deep, but Zed into Sylas—won't that be rough?"
…
"Damn it, why does this idiot's Q feel like it has auto-aim?" Knight's chest was tight as he gasped for air.
Both sides had just hit level three, but his HP was already below half.
Zed's health, meanwhile, was still very healthy.
It was pure poke. Every time he tried to sidestep, he didn't know why—but he just couldn't dodge.
"This can't go on… I have to force a fight."
But at that moment, Zed auto-attacked to hit level four.
Living Shadow snapped out, Zed blinked in, and two shurikens landed cleanly.
Level three Q didn't hurt much—but at level four it was different.
Two hits plus an auto proc'd Electrocute. Sylas, already at half HP, dropped below two hundred.
Knight hurriedly pressed W to heal, but Ignite was already on his head.
He couldn't recover in time—no choice but to fight through it.
Sylas's passive burst was still high, and his E had brief CC.
But Lin Fan's HP lead was too big. He pressed E, Shadow Slash into an auto, leaving Sylas with less than half a bar.
Knight panicked and flashed away.
Lin Fan flashed after him and finished the kill with a single auto!
Staring at the black-and-white screen, Knight felt his chest tighten, throat constricting, unable to catch his breath.
His vision darkened, and he felt his body fall backward…
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup