June 3.
The off-season felt calm… but not really calm.
On Weibo and Tieba, threads stacked up one after another.
"Brother Infinite Borders has TFT Worlds this afternoon. Anyone want to go learn together?"
"Learn? No. I'm just here for the laughs."
"Is anyone else like me and thinks Brother Infinite Borders can make finals?"
"Making finals should be kind of hard, right? I rewatched the China qualifiers. It was mostly luck—his luck was insane. And this format is specifically designed to avoid 'luck' and make you prove it with skill."
"I feel the same. That triple 'just because' had way too much luck in it. Now there's no elimination day one, so to advance you have to fight your way out. Brother Infinite Borders is a League pro—his TFT understanding definitely isn't as deep as the others."
"I don't get it. Why do you people have this kind of bias against Brother Infinite Borders? Before he even lost, you said he'd 'sandbag' and definitely lose, and in the end he still never lost.
Now he's walked all the way here as first seed, and you still don't believe?"
"I've been saying it: trust first, then doubt! So I believe he can definitely make finals, and he'll win the whole thing!"
"I'm even more inclined to think he'll win. Then he'd be the only pro player who can win a 'side job' title—not a domestic title, but a world title!"
"If he really wins, I swear… the main topic for the next month or two will be Brother Infinite Borders blooming everywhere."
The fun-seekers all had their takes.
Some wanted to watch Lin Fan crash and burn in TFT, but more people wanted to see him win.
There'd be something to talk about. Especially after MSI, everyone started seeing Lin Fan in a better light.
Before, when League fans saw him playing Infinite Borders, they'd frown and force themselves not to flame.
Calling him "Brother Infinite Borders" used to be pure sarcasm.
Because if a pro player had a nickname from another game, it couldn't mean anything good.
It was basically stamping "not doing your job" on his forehead.
But now everyone could cheerfully call him "Brother Infinite Borders."
That change was brought by a championship.
Esports is like that—when you lose, even breathing is wrong. That's the reality.
Take Faker next door. Domestically he's being called "Big Fei Teacher" now.
If he can get his payback at Worlds and take the title, he'll be the Demon King again…
With all the discussion, a lot of people who didn't even know Lin Fan had TFT Worlds today started marking it down to watch later.
It was scheduled for 6 p.m., right around when most people get off work—prime time.
So before the tournament even started, both the official stream and Lin Fan's stream had insane traffic.
Normally, TFT Worlds viewership would be lucky to break eight million.
This time, before it even began, it was already pushing ten million.
That was absurd.
And you could see the ratio of official viewers converting into actual TFT players steadily rising.
Hard to say if Lin Fan alone caused it, but you could definitely see TFT's influence climbing. If it keeps growing, it might even form a full professional league…
At the TES base.
Since the match started at six and players had to enter half an hour early, Lin Fan went to the cafeteria for dinner before five.
By the rules, they had to play five rounds. With breaks included, it would take over five hours.
If he didn't eat now, he'd be eating close to midnight, which would be bad for digestion and bad for health.
JackeyLove and the others ate with him.
"Fan-ge, if you win, that's 150k USD—another million RMB. Holy crap, that's insane. You can be a pro and still go earn side money in other games."
"Even if you finish 32nd, it's still 2k USD guaranteed. You'll have money to treat the bros."
"Are you going to treat everyone and then end up lying in the hospital for a night again? We already had to stay with you in the hospital. I suggest you treat all of us."
That made everyone burst into laughter.
JackeyLove's seafood-allergy hospital trip really was too funny.
"But I'm not stingy. If I win, we're hitting Wallace. Order the whole menu if you want."
"Damn it! Just Wallace? At least make it KFC, right, Tian?" Zoom raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?" Tian looked distracted.
"Brother Tian's been off lately. You dating?" Mark joked.
"Go away… I'm not dating. It's not even close yet."
"Holy crap, you actually have someone? Who? Do we know her? We can help you plan it." Da Huang pulled over a small stool and started eating popcorn.
Tian hesitated. After all, the person he wanted to pursue was Letme's ex, and that didn't sound great.
"You might know her… or you might not…"
"Then we have to vet her even more. You know our identity attracts bees and butterflies. If a bad woman screws you over, you're dead. Might even ruin your career," Lin Fan said, half-joking but half-serious.
To be honest, most pro players stopped school around middle or high school.
Their mentality is still basically that of kids.
Once they get results, plenty of people with bad intentions stick to them. At this age, it's easy to be impulsive. Easy to fall into traps.
If you can cut losses in time, fine.
If you can't… your whole career gets wrecked.
Looking at it that way, Bin is a rare clean stream in pro league.
No messy thoughts. Even taking care of physical needs is handled with his own hands.
The fact he can perform top lane isn't for no reason.
That alone puts him above a lot of other pros.
"Have you heard of Mozi?"
"Mozi? Holy crap—aren't you two, like, eleven years apart? If I remember right, you're born in 2000. Mozi's an older woman. Not saying it's bad, but if you can accept it, I think it's pretty good," JackeyLove said with a shocked expression. He couldn't accept that age gap.
Lin Fan fell into thought too.
"If it's Mozi… it's not impossible. Auntie, I don't want to work hard anymore!"
Age isn't the issue. Body and looks are…
"Is it Top Laner 55's ex?"
Tian nodded.
"Didn't that get super messy a while ago? Breakup drama. Don't you know the reasons behind it?" Da Huang, being on the gossip frontlines, knew plenty.
"What I heard sounded like rumors. Mostly collabs. And he was my former teammate—he shouldn't do that kind of thing, right?"
"Then you decide. But my advice is: observe more…"
"And besides, isn't playing games good enough? When you're free, play other games. No need to comfort girls. Look at JackeyLove—at dinner he's holding his phone nonstop. Too much trouble," Lin Fan stuffed a chicken cutlet into his mouth in a few bites.
"Alright, my time's about up. I'm going to the match."
"Good luck, TFT Bro! After today you're TFT Bro for real!" JackeyLove gave him a thumbs-up, and Lin Fan returned it.
TFT relies on real skill. Unlike League, there aren't "cheats" in the same way. He wasn't fully confident.
This was Worlds, with top players everywhere.
So he could only hope his luck stayed better.
At 5:30, he logged into the tournament client on time, found the lobby, and joined.
He scanned the players already waiting.
All English letters—he didn't recognize a single name.
Maybe because he was first seed, there weren't any other Chinese players in this group.
On the official broadcast:
"Group A is ready. Brother Infinite Borders will represent China as first seed!"
"I honestly didn't expect he could make it this far. His game understanding really is higher than ours.
His formations and positioning are too strong. I studied his POV for a long time, and I've learned a lot," Shen Chao said as a guest on the desk.
"And I finally understand why my rank hasn't been rising, and why I can't play well in tournaments. I haven't truly 'eaten' these cards. My mechanism understanding isn't good enough—I'm just playing by formula."
"So right now I actually favor Brother Infinite Borders. Advancing won't be a problem. His understanding is deep, and in matches he dares to play comps others don't dare to play. Even winning with Astral Swiftshot was ridiculous."
Chat scrolled nonstop.
"Damn, Shen Chao actually has this clear self-awareness? Rare. Before, on stream all he did was talk tough."
"Yeah, pure formula player. Once he started relying on formulas, his level kept dropping. Back then he could research so many lines. Now he can't."
"Shen Chao is still an old-school TFT king. It's kind of a shame he stepped down. He plays with Brother Infinite Borders often—asking for a tip or two should be fine."
"I think Shen Chao's pretty fair here. From my perspective, Brother Infinite Borders isn't just 'luck' all the way. He definitely has skill."
"Same."
Other regions' casters also gave their takes.
"China's first seed, Dine, is actually an LPL pro player who just won MSI."
"My god! Really? I was about to say China's first seed might be Dine's fan. I'm actually his fan too—his MSI performance was outrageous. His LeBlanc basically stomped Faker's butt flat!"
"Yep, it's real. He's dine. When the match starts, you'll see his face."
"Even though he's first seed, I'm not optimistic about him. With this format, advancing is harder. These two days have reduced luck to the extreme.
So I think he'll be eliminated…"
"If Dine can be China's first seed, I believe in his skill. I'll vote for him. If he can't make finals, I'll kiss a donkey's butt!"
"Oh my god, Johnson, you trust him that much?"
"Yes. I'm sure Dine won't disappoint me—just like the MSI finals two days ago!"
"Even if you say that, I won't change my mind. Since you're kissing donkey butt, I'll kiss donkey face!"
"I specifically watched his games. Honestly, I've always felt it was more luck than skill. And this format is designed to reduce luck and emphasize skill. Under that, his path will be extremely hard."
"Mike, that's just your subjective bias. But that's what makes it fun—your donkey face is guaranteed!" Johnson said smugly.
"Hahaha, didn't you bet during MSI that if Faker didn't win, you'd kiss donkey butt?"
"Heh…"
Even before the first game, the atmosphere was already blazing.
Casters making bets like this was rare.
Overseas, opinions on whether Lin Fan could make finals were basically 50–50.
He's China's first seed, but he's also a League world champion—hard to process.
To become a world champion, the effort required is unimaginable. How could he have time for TFT?
But everyone's excitement for the event was real.
As time ticked, the desire to watch only grew.
In the official stream, chat waves rolled in.
"Why hasn't it started?"
"Brother Infinite Borders' stream is open but he's not talking!"
"He can stream, but he can't interact or read chat."
"Then I'd rather listen to Shen Chao hype Brother Infinite Borders."
"If Brother Infinite Borders could hear Shen Chao right now, he'd probably be happy. I'm happy just listening."
Meanwhile, in the lobby, the referee signaled the match was about to start and asked if everyone was ready.
Players quickly typed "1" in all chat to confirm.
Then the game began—Group A Round 1 officially started.
The broadcast switched. The eight players' loading screens appeared.
Everyone's spirits lifted. After waiting so long, it finally started!
"By normal tempo, you want to prioritize grabbing Attack Speed first. Let's see where Brother Infinite Borders spawns."
"Nice. One loop, and the Attack Speed is at bottom side. If he follows up now, he can contest it," Shen Chao said, instantly slipping into analysis.
On this patch, every comp basically wants Attack Speed start. Getting it means you've already eaten half the game.
As the true 1-1 god, Lin Fan naturally secured the Attack Speed!
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup