At 1:17 a.m., Zhan Ying lay in bed rolling back and forth, replaying the very last game she'd played before ending stream.
She was about to cry from how stupid she'd been.
She couldn't sleep—she really couldn't.
Anyone with experience knew that when you're insomniac at night, you absolutely can't force yourself to sleep. The best thing is to get out of bed, scroll your phone or watch a show, shift your attention, and stop thinking about not being able to sleep.
Once your eyelids start drooping, don't rush to sleep—wait a bit more, and the effect is best.
Of course, if you're always insomniac, none of that helps and you should see a doctor.
But most insomnia is psychological. If your mentality is adjusted well, it's easy to sleep soundly.
So Zhan Ying didn't plan to force it.
She unplugged the phone charging on the nightstand and opened Weibo to scroll.
Because when she ended stream, she'd glanced once—yesterday's incident had already hit trending. That was the main reason she couldn't sleep.
She wanted to see what people were saying.
With a light tap, she entered real-time trending.
Posts and discussions refreshed one after another.
"Seeing this news in the middle of the night feels like a dream. I'm scared that one day Brother Infinite Borders will stop playing League."
"I just want to know how we jumped from League to Go. What is going on?"
"I looked it up. Zhan Ying is professional 2-dan. He can win that? That's insane."
"Yeah, that's the core discussion. No idea where he learned it. Just like nobody can figure out Brother Infinite Borders' champion pool."
"Honestly, seeing this makes me believe even more that this is why his competitive form can stay so stable. There's no need to think—Brother Infinite Borders is just a genius."
"I don't know what you guys know about Zhan Ying, but as a small fan of Sister Ying, I can only say: Zhan Ying never kills nobodies. And since this was just an online Go game, losing is normal. I just didn't expect the winner would also be a pro player from another scene."
"I never reacted much to any Brother Infinite Borders news until today… only today did I completely lose it. Two days ago we were still guessing what game he'd expand into next, and today he dropped this bomb."
"Brother Infinite Borders fans shouldn't be too shocked. Zhan Ying is all fame, no substance. That 'pro 2-dan' was just time-grinded. Ever heard 'grind the old man'? Ever heard 'bully the kids'? If you don't know, Google it and you'll discover a new world.
TL:
The phrases "grind the old man" and "bully the kids" (磨老头/磨老人 and 欺负小孩) refer to a controversial practice in Chinese Go rankings where players allegedly inflate their rank by:
"Grind the old man" (磨老头) - Playing repeatedly against elderly, weaker players who may have inflated ranks themselves or are past their competitive prime, accumulating easy wins
"Bully the kids" (欺负小孩) - Playing against young beginners or low-level youth players to pad one's win record
So Zhan Ying is the shame of Chinese women's Go. Then you'll understand why Brother Infinite Borders could win."
"I opened Weibo at 12:30. Now it's 1:30 and I've been reading you guys for an hour. Do you know how I spent that hour? I laughed for a full hour! What a Zhan Ying. A pro losing to an amateur. The funniest part is the 'amateur' is a gamer. Buff stacked to the max."
"Kindred spirit. I get you. I've been laughing at the same point too. Only Zhan Ying can do this."
Zhan Ying lay in bed holding her phone, pouting.
"What the hell?"
"What do you mean losing to an amateur is normal?"
"A loss in Go… can that be called a loss?"
"So annoying! How do I get my face back?"
She'd randomly entered a room and ran into a streamer—an even bigger streamer with serious heat.
But the problem was there weren't many people playing Go in rooms. Random matching was actually pretty normal.
The biggest issue was that this wasn't a normal loss. She misread a ladder and lost horribly.
Humiliating.
If her teacher found out, he wouldn't even dare say she was his student.
Absurd!
Especially combined with what she'd said not long ago—
Her face got slapped hard.
Even if she was thick-skinned… she was still a girl.
"Waaah… what do I do? I'm going to cry from my own stupidity!"
She couldn't sleep, so she tried to distract herself with Weibo.
Now she couldn't sleep even more.
How could it ferment this fast in just two hours?
At this spread speed, by morning, most of the Go circle would know.
"No face… no face."
But then again, hadn't she lost her face long ago?
Thinking that way—if you've already got no face, what is there to fear?
Her mood instantly brightened.
"Still… this guy's traffic is insane."
She glanced briefly. Out of ten people discussing, maybe one mentioned her. And many of those only mentioned her after a quick search.
Meaning very few actually knew who she was.
She was only being mentioned because of Brother Infinite Borders. Unexpectedly, she'd ridden a wave of heat too.
Envy.
Two words: envy.
"So strong. League MSI champion, TFT Worlds champion. His game talent is absurd."
"Naraka too—group leader in every bracket…"
"Holy shit?"
She checked her Bilibili backend. Her followers were 70,000 before. Now it had jumped to 130,000.
She put her phone down and understood one truth.
Trying to survive in Go had no future. Right now, the biggest traffic and hottest topics were games.
Ridiculous. She just brushed against a wave and gained 60,000 followers?
She'd run her Bilibili account for four or five months.
Working herself to death, and in a month she could only grow this much.
No wonder so many streamers loved chasing heat. There was a reason.
If you caught the heat, the reward was basically a month of effort.
Who wouldn't chase it?
She'd been thinking she was stupid.
Now she felt lucky.
If she hadn't missed it, how could she lose? And lose in such a stupid way?
Exactly because she was a "2-dan expert" and lost to Brother Infinite Borders, the topic heat became this high.
They supported each other. Missing one piece and it wouldn't work.
"Hahaha…" Seeing she gained 60,000 followers overnight, she tossed all the shame away.
Then, while excited, she couldn't even hold onto her phone properly.
It slipped from her hand and smashed into her nose.
"Ow… ow ow ow!"
It felt like someone had punched her hard in the nose. Tears and snot poured out.
She rolled around in bed several times before it eased a bit.
…
June 21.
Guo Hao arrived early at the club. Looking at the report the staff handed him, he was grinning like crazy.
"Yesterday's topic heat was actually this high."
"Hahaha. I expected high heat after Lin Fan qualified in Naraka, but I didn't expect him to also collide with Zhan Ying."
"Nice. Worlds hasn't even started and we've already far exceeded HQ's KPI. Now we just need to maintain this heat… but with Lin Fan's chaos speed, it's not about maintaining at all. It'll definitely explode—especially after Worlds ends…"
Guo Hao held the data sheet and even fantasized about the moment they won it all.
Each player gets a house, and he gets promoted into senior management. Salary and bonuses soaring—beautiful.
Even if they didn't win, for a team like TES that only needed traffic and heat, the revenue this year would still be great.
Lin Fan, Lin Fan—lucky general!
There wasn't a player in the whole league better at causing big news.
"But Summer Split is almost ending. That means there's less than half a year until we have to prep contract renewals. Next year the salary cap will be brutal…"
Thinking of JackeyLove, and Lin Fan who produced both results and heat this year—those two carries' salaries would give the club a headache again.
But if you don't raise it, it doesn't match their traffic and value.
Last year they were willing to spend 120 million. This year traffic is higher—no way the budget gets smaller.
It would just get eaten by salary cap rules. Even with the Douyu signing fee, HQ still needed to inject more.
Conservatively, at least 200 million…
At minimum, the players' take-home can't be lower than this year. If needed, he'd use his old face as a lobbyist.
Of course, that was thinking far ahead.
But before that, he should warn HQ early.
Squeeze the budget out now. Otherwise, when money gets tight later, it'll be troublesome.
After all, many clubs were staring at TES's double carry.
Even though Brother Infinite Borders loved stirring trouble and producing big headlines, he always led the team to win. The heat he stirred was also good for the club.
Not to mention, with traffic high enough, the commercial value was unimaginable.
Humming a tune, Guo Hao put the report on his desk.
His mood was excellent.
Because TES's current situation, from a manager's view, was pure bliss.
There was nothing he needed to handle.
Spring Split title, MSI title, and a four-win start in Summer.
Calling Guo Hao the league's most relaxed manager wouldn't be wrong.
He just needed to sit in the club and wait for sponsors to come sign contracts.
And ordinary companies weren't even worth looking at.
As for the story's main character, Lin Fan did what he always did: after breakfast, he went to the training room and started streaming.
If we're talking self-discipline, he was absolutely the most self-disciplined man in the whole league.
His schedule was flawless.
Not long after, barrage messages flooded in again.
"Good news: Brother Infinite Borders is self-disciplined. Bad news: it has nothing to do with League."
"Damn. I missed the best part last night. I went to sleep after the Naraka matches, but I didn't know there was overtime content!"
"Same. I watched the replay this morning, but once you know the result, it's hard to get that live feeling. Seeing the Weibo and Tieba discussions, I feel out of place and don't know how to join."
"Yeah. What's Brother Infinite Borders streaming this morning? How about two more games of Go?"
"Necessary. He only played one game."
"I came from Zhan Ying's stream. I've been squatting here since last night. I heard Brother Infinite Borders streams early—can you play Zhan Ying again tonight?"
"Yeah yeah. Review it. That would be interesting."
"Complete stomp Zhan Ying—tonight. Strongly suggest an all-out offensive."
Lin Fan glanced at chat. He didn't expect it to all be about last night's Go.
But honestly, wasn't Naraka beautiful?
Today was finals. Shouldn't they be talking about whether he could win?
"Zhan Ying? That was the one who played me yesterday…"
"Honestly, yesterday I played casually. I'm not that strong. It was purely that the opponent wasn't good. I'm telling you—just that contact I played, that pit, a lot of people in chat saw it at a glance. She didn't see it. My evaluation: not good."
Watching videos was fine.
He clicked the first video.
"Chirp chirp chirp~ little flying stick is coming!"
"Hahahaha. Not bad—this cute act has something."
"Zhan Ying is a name?"
"It's actually her name… not an ID. I didn't expect that. The surname Zhan is rare, and she's a girl, and she used 'Eagle' as her name."
"And she's pro 2-dan."
"Then if there's a chance, we can play another game." Lin Fan thought of his own level—it matched nicely. Hidden dragon meets hidden phoenix.
"But today there's probably no chance. Naraka finals is high intensity. If I don't win, I won't be in the mood. If I win, I have to take everyone out to eat. No time. Once it ends, I log off."
He answered chat, and just then Dai Laoliu entered voice.
"Dai, you're up early today."
"Of course. If I don't prep early for finals, how can I repay you for carrying us into finals yesterday? Practice a bit, find the feel."
"Yeah, I slept well. Today will definitely have a good result," Yaya laughed.
"Then let's do two warm-ups."
They logged in and started in a custom room to spar.
Meanwhile, Zhan Ying was still lying in bed rolling her eyes at her phone.
"Hmph. What do you mean the opponent wasn't good? It's that the opponent was careless!"
"But my little fan really is my online spokesperson."
"Since he has that idea, that's basically one-sided consent. When I stream, someone will mention it. I'll pretend to reluctantly agree and play him again—except this time I'll be super serious! Let everyone see my true level!"
Zhan Ying threw a punch in bed… and flung her phone out again.
"Brother Fan, I'll call you the number one in Naraka duels. Too strong. You have zero openings. I can't even bait a parry out," Yaya sighed.
"It's really unbelievable. Three or four months ago I could casually beat you—one life for your five or six lives, no problem. Now it's reversed. Brother Fan, one life casually beats my eight or nine. Your improvement is too fast," Dai Laoliu nodded hard in agreement.
Geniuses really were hard to understand.
"But Brother Infinite Borders… do you really not train League?" Dai Laoliu asked.
The moment that came up, League fans in chat pricked up their ears.
"How could that be? I'm a pro player, of course I train. Otherwise how would I maintain my form?"
"???"
Question marks flooded chat.
If you changed your identity to Naraka pro, then yes—you are training hard.
"Actually, the essence of any game is the same. Don't look at me practicing weapons in Naraka. I'm actually integrating the whole idea of games, looking for similarities.
Look—Canaan's two instant steps aren't like Akali's ultimate? When I use them, I think about whether to escape or go in."
"You say I'm talking nonsense?"
"Little haters—bring your IDs to court. Not a single one of you can run!"
Someone typed:
[Watching Brother Infinite Borders seriously spout nonsense, I don't know why, but I can't even laugh… because I feel like it might actually be true.]
"Mm… I also think Brother Infinite Borders might be right. That's terrifying—integrating all games to strengthen his League laning, and also not falling behind in other games."
"Are you kidding? You believe this? Go has nothing to do with games—how do you integrate it?"
"It's a meme. You can't even tell?"
…
After seven or eight rounds in the practice room, their hands warmed up.
With solo finals coming, Lin Fan specifically went to play two solo games.
No surprises—two straight Immortal Glory wins.
Ranked intensity was just too average.
"I feel like my form is maxed… I should have this championship locked!"
He planted the flag before finals even began.
"You think I look confident, but if you were in my position, you'd understand why I have this confidence."
Soon, Lin Fan finished lunch and sat waiting for the official tournament notice.
This time he didn't do pre-match mini-games.
He closed his eyes to rest.
That was his signature action.
Everyone seeing it knew—he was finding form. Clearly, he was getting serious.
At 1:30 p.m., NetEase officials sent the invite on time, asking Lin Fan to enter the match room.
After fierce selection, solo finals had only thirty players left.
And among those thirty, there were twenty-one pros.
A full pro brawl.
In everyone's eyes, the strongest contenders were Baoda's Hfly, OC's Xiang Yu, and Weibo's Little Spider.
The champion would likely come from those three.
As for Brother Infinite Borders winning, comedy watchers wanted it.
Most others didn't.
If pros couldn't win and an outsider took the title, that would be absurd.
It would mean the competitive scene was weak—that all the strong ones went pro in other games.
That was more absurd than the game shutting down.
But things never go the way you want.
The more you fear something, the more it comes.
Little Spider, who fans had pinned hopes on, landed and killed two people, then ran head-on into Lin Fan's Canaan.
With no full charge in state and no one else nearby, he got chased to death—donating an elimination point, and even gifting the two corpses on the ground as dowry.
A huge feed: purple armor, purple katana.
The match state instantly felt off.
Little Spider had two eliminations, but his placement was low. That meant only two points—no chance to compete.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan basically just went looking for fights.
The fewer players remained, the bigger Lin Fan's advantage.
Because he never feared 1v1s.
As the player count dropped, Lin Fan already had five eliminations—current war god of the lobby.
"Brother Infinite Borders is in insane form. He's been killing nonstop. Almost nobody can trade more than a few moves with him."
"So clean…"
"There are only four players left. If he finds the right entry timing, Brother Infinite Borders has a huge chance to take the win."
Before Korgi even finished, Canaan dashed straight into the fire mage's face!
Brother Infinite Borders, why aren't you playing the script?
Isn't Canaan supposed to rat late-game and steal the win?
You're actively seeking fights…
That's too absurd.
Then something even crazier happened.
Lin Fan's pressure was too great. The fire mage planned to hold ultimate for the final stage, but got forced to pop it early.
Even after using ultimate, he still got chased the whole way by grappling hook…
The two remaining players tried to join, but two rats ran into each other and started hacking face-to-face.
In the end, the fire mage still died under Lin Fan's blade.
Then Lin Fan turned around and 1v2'd for another two points.
Game One: eight eliminations and first place.
"Brother Infinite Borders… his confidence is justified."
"Game one: 22.6 points. Second place Xiang Yu only has 11.4. That's a huge gap."
"His opening was unexpected. Little Spider's luck was bad. Without him, Brother Infinite Borders plays incredibly aggressively."
The official Eternal Calamity stream exploded.
"What? Commentary bias much?"
"Little Spider was eliminated by Brother Infinite Borders. How is that bad luck?"
"Pros getting crushed in solo queue."
"At least they can comfort themselves knowing even a professional 2-dan Go player lost to him."
"Zhan Ying: Thanks a lot."
"League trash get out!"
"He hasn't even won yet. Stop acting like he already did."
Amid the chaos, game two began.
This time, the top-ranked pros reached the final circle.
It looked like the pros would dominate.
But again, reality disappointed the fans.
Lin Fan's Canaan delivered textbook-level play.
Kiting, ult engagements, kill steals.
He forcefully wiped out three players in the final circle.
Corrupted by Dark Tides, he missed Immortal Glory—but with eight kills, he still earned 18.8 points.
Combined total: 41.4 points. A fifteen-point lead.
Three games remained.
As long as he maintained ten points per game, the championship was secured.
And Lin Fan didn't disappoint.
Game three: 15.6 points.
Game four: 21.4 points.
Game five: 16.1 points.
A thirty-four point lead over Xiang Yu.
Elite Cup Champion—decisively.
"Hahaha, he really won!"
"That makes two world championships and two league championships!"
"What about trio queue?"
"I think there's a real chance."
"Trio is different. I don't think it's likely."
"They said the same about solo."
"Waiting for the slap."
As expected, trio queue began.
At the same time—V5 vs JDG.
Many watched Elite Cup on PC, LPL on phone.
Surprisingly enjoyable.
"Brother Infinite Borders dodges Titan's grab—charge! Golden greatsword shaves off half the Titan's HP!"
"Rookie's Azir flash shove—Knight gets pushed back and deleted!"
Typing was hard.
"Damn, I missed such a classic line."
Switching to PC, he typed:
"Beating Knight is simple—never let him think you're weak."
The chat exploded in agreement.
Knight was known for crushing weaker opponents.
Against tougher ones, he struggled.
Rookie, even with age, was still a former number-one mid.
On-screen, Tianhai was pulling teammates.
"Holy crap, Brother Infinite Borders is insane! One-versus-three triple kill!"
Korgi shouted in disbelief.
Lin Fan's Titan grabbed two, wiped them, reverted to monk, and clutched the fight.
The most spectacular moment of the Elite Cup.
With massive kill points and gear, Immortal Glory was secured.
This pace felt wrong.
Could he really win two championships today?
In game two, they were ambushed early and forced into soul-return.
People relaxed.
But then Lin Fan's Titan carried again.
Two consecutive double grabs—two team wipes.
Gear restored.
Enemies tried to return—killed again.
Kill points skyrocketed.
As V5 beat JDG in game one, Lin Fan secured Immortal Glory again.
No one doubted TOP's championship chances now.
Dai Laoliu and Yaya grinned ear to ear.
Lin Fan's Tianhai was absurd.
Third game: 61.2 points.
Insane.
Three games locked the championship.
The largest point gap in Elite Cup history.
Other teams could only fight for second.
People remembered Lin Fan's earlier words:
"I've already booked the championship."
Not arrogance—pure strength.
"Congratulations to TOP! With 234.7 points, they win the inaugural Elite Cup!"
"And Brother Infinite Borders sets a record—solo and trio double champion in the same event!"
Meanwhile, V5 vs JDG concluded.
V5 won 2–1.
Yagao subbed in for game two to tie it up.
But in game three, mid-jungle synergy took over.
Karsa and Rookie established an unstoppable tempo.
With radar in hand, Karsa was a nightmare.
Kanavi was caught everywhere.
JDG collapsed without jungle rhythm and was steamrolled.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup