That day, Knight didn't even know how he made it back to the dorm.
He'd been beaten into a daze.
At first he thought Lin Fan had no real ability and was just getting help from his jungler…
Then after losing two solo games in a row, he admitted Lin Fan had something—but not that much.
Anyway, he refused to accept it.
Sooner or later he'd win one or two. There was no way Lin Fan was better than him on every champion.
Reality slapped him hard.
Not only did he not win—he got styled on in all kinds of ways.
He was beaten so badly his mind went blank. Add in that earlier fall, and after eight straight games, he didn't win a single one.
Not one game even made it to level six.
Every one of them ended around three or four minutes.
Lying on the bed, he felt the room spinning.
He couldn't even lift his head.
He wanted to find an excuse to comfort himself, but after lying there for ages, he couldn't come up with one.
But one thing was certain: there was no place for him on TES anymore.
After getting beaten down like that, he had no face to keep staying.
Eight games, slaughtered from start to finish—Lin Fan was one step away from grabbing him by the collar and asking, "You convinced yet?"
At the same time, "Brother Infinite Borders bloodbathes Knight" shot straight to Weibo trending.
It sparked a lot of discussion.
"Now this is truly hilarious. Knight started the trouble, challenged Brother Infinite Borders to a solo, and went 0–8."
"Can't he just put himself in the right place? Every match he's played, in my memory, he hasn't won a single one."
"Knight is better suited to pure, innocent romance. Pro play doesn't really fit him. At this point he feels like the worst mid in the league."
"I was in Brother Infinite Borders' stream, so I saw everything clearly. Yesterday's entertainment value was maxed. Knight probably got mad about losing two months' salary, then saw how comfy Brother Infinite Borders had it at the club, and wanted to prove himself."
"The idea wasn't bad. He knew Brother Infinite Borders streams every day and has a huge audience. If he could stomp him, even the haters might hype him up, and he'd regain some notoriety. But his own skill just isn't there."
"Brother Infinite Borders is the number one mid in the league right now. Who agrees, who disagrees?"
"Solo doesn't prove everything, but his laning is absolutely maxed out."
After all, solo has no junglers.
You can dump your entire brain into laning without worrying about ganks, and in that situation, the strength you show can be several times higher than usual.
Unless you're truly bad…
Even in lane you don't look at the minimap, don't worry about the enemy jungler—and you still get stomped.
So people genuinely didn't expect Knight to lose every single game.
Because Knight did have skill.
But going 0–8 could only mean one thing: Brother Infinite Borders' laning is fully maxed!
No wonder TES could win streak all the way, then withstand pressure and reverse sweep.
"Brother Infinite Borders' champion pool is insanely deep. Eight games and he pulled out so many weird picks. Zed has a lot of appearances, sure, but he's still a normal mid… then he even pulled out Kalista. I genuinely didn't expect that."
"Kalista mid? The inventor of mid lane? I've got a bad feeling—don't tell me he's addicted to long-range bullying short-range?"
"I think you guys watched too much Song Jiang and got possessed. What mid lane has short-range? Aren't they all ranged? Kalista mid has no competitiveness—once you hit six, you just get deleted."
"True. Pulling out Kalista at that point only means one thing: Brother Infinite Borders had zero pressure. He even wanted to give a game, but Knight was just too bad."
"Hahaha, I only want to know one thing: can Knight find a job in Summer Split? TES definitely won't keep him. The expenses are way too huge."
"Yeah, and the other teams aren't stupid either. With that kind of salary, I think it's pretty shaky."
In fact, Weibo Gaming also saw the trending topics and all the discussion.
Their coaching staff even watched Lin Fan's full solo-stream video.
"It feels like a dad beating up his son. From start to finish, he couldn't fight back at all."
"Do you think buying him back would really be an upgrade over Angel?"
Hearing the analyst, the coach shook his head. He honestly couldn't say.
"Then… should we just buy Brother Infinite Borders?"
"We could've before. Now? You're dreaming."
After all, there were too many rumors lately about TES revising Brother Infinite Borders' contract. Some leaks even claimed his annual salary was over 30 million.
The credibility wasn't high, but it was obviously information TES wanted out there:
We value him highly. Don't try any dirty tricks.
But the truth was, most teams didn't dare gamble.
Because he was famous for not training…
How long could a player like that keep his form? Nobody knew.
And at his current performance, without 20+ million you probably couldn't even get him.
If you bought him and his form suddenly dropped, wouldn't that be a catastrophic loss?
This kind of deal was basically a high-stakes bet.
Most importantly, Brother Infinite Borders still hadn't won major titles. A lot of his fanbase was "soft."
In that case, it could vanish easily—and his commercial value was inflated.
He wasn't like Uzi or JackeyLove. Even if they played poorly, they still had massive diehard fans.
"Forget it. Just send TES an offer for Knight. Among the tradable mids, there's not really anyone better than him. Our team still needs a mid who can stand up. Knight should know what to do."
"Yeah. And with his current performance, we don't need to offer that high. I think maybe eight million can get it done. That's our advantage. If we coach him and train him for a while, he can recover. Knight is young and still has talent."
* * *
Since everyone said so, the Weibo manager nodded.
"Then tomorrow I'll go talk to Guo Hao."
"JDG might be thinking the same. They've wanted Knight for a long time, so we have to move fast."
If Knight knew this, he'd definitely be happy.
After all, a team like Weibo still wanted him.
And JDG too—a title-contending team…
* * *
TES base.
Even though it was already 2 a.m., the lights in the coaching room were still on.
Luo Sheng was reviewing the eight solo games between Lin Fan and Knight.
Eight games, eight different champions.
Two of them especially interested him.
One was Shadow Assassin Zed. The other was Renekton, the Butcher of the Sands.
Both champions were viable in matches.
The more he replayed it, the more satisfied he became.
He let out a long breath and rubbed his tired eyes.
"Lin Fan showing up this year really solved a huge problem for TES…"
JackeyLove was good at everything.
Precisely because he was good at everything, he wasn't the type suited to being the team's "big brother."
As for Knight—he could only be the "big brother" within the league environment.
And this year, with that performance, he couldn't even be a big brother in the league…
Of course, "team big brother" wasn't simply the player who could carry.
A team's "big brother" was the one with the highest authority among the five, the one who could stabilize morale and serve as the glue holding the team together.
The ceiling of the "big brother" decided the ceiling of the team.
And Lin Fan played that role perfectly.
Especially the three games against V5—those fully proved it.
TES really was future-proof now.
Five people—the most correct five people.
Knight could actually be a substitute.
When Lin Fan wanted to rest, let Knight play.
That would be perfect.
But the problem was—his sub salary being higher than the starter salary was completely unreasonable.
The club couldn't allow that…
"Still, after those eight games, Knight's mentality might have a serious problem. Give him two days off to recover. If he goes back into the training room right now, he might break completely."
Then Luo Sheng thought of something and pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Ugh. Lin Fan really didn't hold back. With this video spreading across every club, Knight probably won't sell for a good price in the transfer window…"
Then he smiled.
"Let Guo Hao deal with the headache. The manager can figure out how to run PR."
Early the next morning, Luo Sheng went to the dorm.
He told Knight to take the next two days off and adjust.
In the upcoming matches, he might get a chance to play.
Hearing that, Knight—who still felt foggy—snapped awake and nodded excitedly.
Coach still had him in mind.
He would still get stage time in future matches, and prove himself on the finals stage!
Seeing Knight look like he'd been injected with chicken blood, Luo Sheng finally relaxed.
Last night he'd truly been worried that Lin Fan had beaten Knight into uselessness. Now Knight still had spirit, which meant he still had hope.
…
As for Lin Fan, he got up at his usual time, washed up, ate breakfast, and came to the training room.
Then he started the stream.
Fans and viewers had already been waiting. The moment the camera turned on, they started typing.
"Handsome! Brother Infinite Borders bullied 'Coward Hand' into numbness yesterday. I watched it live, but after it ended I rewatched those eight games a bunch of times."
"Hahaha, Knight overestimated himself. He insisted on feeding. I'm telling you, with his 'killing teammates' achievements, the only one who's ever solo-killed a teammate eight times is probably Brother Infinite Borders, right?"
"Are we playing League today? Today?"
"Morning variety show—duo with JackeyLove. Yesterday was insanely satisfying. It felt really interesting."
"This early, JackeyLove probably isn't even up. Brother Infinite Borders' schedule is pretty healthy though. Ends stream at midnight, sleeps on time, probably wakes up around seven."
"Among pro players, that's actually rare. Maybe it's exactly because of that healthy schedule that he can maintain his form this long."
"That actually makes sense… But what's the morning variety show? Any more 'stomp Knight' content? If yes, please increase the intensity!"
"For morning, I suggest Apex!"
"Apex get out. It has to be Genshin. Brother Infinite Borders' Genshin quests have piled up. If he doesn't do them soon, he'll be late."
"Did he still not do the level 35 ascension quest? Or did he?"
"Then you missed it. He already did it earlier. He cleared Electro Hypostasis super fast. Doesn't look like F2P at all, but it really was C0. Absurd."
While everyone talked, Lin Fan quietly opened WeGame, found QQ Speed, and logged in.
Over this period, he'd practiced a couple games now and then. His driving was pretty solid.
Not pro level yet, but he was already in the high-skill tier.
"Let's run two games first—relax a bit."
QQ Speed was still competitive, but each race was only a bit over a minute.
In that sense, it was perfect for relaxing.
Find match. Start running.
No nonsense—mini-drift start, take first.
He ran the map smoothly, knowing where the shortcuts were and where he needed higher-level drifting.
He stayed in the lead the whole way.
People thought QQ Speed wasn't that interesting, but watching the stream, half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Simple: QQ Speed streams were addictive… but if you actually played, three or four rounds and you'd feel bored.
But most games were like that—watching others was fun. You could watch streams all night.
If you played yourself, two or three rounds and you'd want to log off.
Maybe it was age. When he was younger, he could stay up all night and be fine. Now if he stayed up until two, he'd feel dizzy. The next morning he wouldn't even know who he was.
And if you queued enough, you really did run into a few experts.
Lin Fan had two races where he didn't get first—he got second.
That was when he realized the gap between him and top players was still pretty big.
He watched the replay videos several times, studying the opponent's details.
Then he kept researching, opened a custom run, and ran the track again.
In the end, he broke through and set a new record.
"No wonder. I always felt like I wasn't running this section well. That's why. Queue into a few strong players and you really do improve."
"6666. For a moment I can't even tell what kind of pro player Brother Infinite Borders is."
"I watch Xiao Ge practice tracks like this too. This kind of training is exactly pro training."
"Hahaha, in Brother Infinite Borders' stream I've already gotten used to it. Didn't he also improve at PUBG step by step?"
That was true.
At first he knew nothing—he only knew how to hide in a car and fish.
If someone drove over, he'd instantly swap to the passenger seat, then smack them with two frying pans and send them off.
Couldn't win, but the entertainment value was maxed out.
Later he started practicing aim. At first everyone mocked him because he couldn't hit anything.
A lot of people even told him to just go play League…
But later, when he started killing four, five, then getting ten-plus kills and eating first place, everyone realized something was wrong.
Oh no—Brother Infinite Borders actually figured it out!
And dominating the battlefield really was satisfying to watch.
Eventually he even pulled in a lot of PUBG fans.
Shooter games were similar. Once you understood PUBG, you could pick up CrossFire or CS quickly too.
That whole genre—he played very well.
Next on the "grind hard" list was Naraka Bladepoint.
Compared to everything else, he'd practiced it for a long time.
He even found several pro experts to practice weapon drills with.
That was how he truly got good.
"Naraka stage was the hardest grind. I wonder what game he can break through next?"
"VALORANT maybe?"
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup