Very quickly.
After Lin Fan and Ke Jie finished their second game, the result unsurprisingly climbed straight onto the trending searches.
Brother Infinite Borders Defeats Ke Jie!
With blazing-hot popularity and rapidly refreshing discussions, it was obvious—the entire internet had been detonated.
After all, the one who lost this game was Ke Jie himself! Even with handicaps, being able to win carried a completely different meaning.
And given Ke Jie's status, it was impossible that he was just playing around with Brother Infinite Borders.
Which meant only one thing—Brother Infinite Borders genuinely had skill.
No wonder he could cut through everything in Teamfight Tactics, starting from small livestream platform tournaments, all the way to the China qualifiers, and then powerfully taking the global championship.
With a Go foundation like that, as Brother Infinite Borders himself put it—once you understand one board game, you understand them all.
After all, they're all board games… no big difference—bullshit!
What does Go have to do with Teamfight Tactics at all?
But when it comes to Brother Infinite Borders, slapping the word "absurd" on him is never wrong.
After all, this was Ke Jie!
For normal people, even getting a three- or four-stone handicap would still end in defeat.
Ke Jie only gave two stones…
That level was genuinely frightening.
Especially because people's preconceived notion was that he was a League of Legends pro, skilled in completely different games.
Then suddenly pulling out a nontrivial level of Go—how could anyone not be shocked?
In reality… winning only after giving two stones would still get you completely crushed in professional tournaments.
It wasn't truly that strong.
But with so many halos stacked on him, it naturally looked extraordinary.
Most people believed that mastering a single profession was already incredibly difficult—where would anyone find the energy to do other things?
That was why the discussion and hype were terrifyingly high.
"Putting everything else aside, Brother Infinite Borders is absolutely the number one content king in the League!"
"So insane. Everything that happened today is absolutely history-worthy!"
"I don't know about anything else, but I know this—Brother Infinite Borders is extremely smart. You can't play Go without brains."
"My mom asked me why I was kneeling while watching the stream. I told her I was scared stupid by Dine. With this level of chaos creation, any pro player would have to bow."
"I don't believe it. If Trash Hand got exposed today for cheating on someone, he'd definitely steal the #1 trending spot instantly."
…
"No need, really no need to obsessively flame Knight. Why not just punch him directly? Keep this up and I won't be able to hold back anymore. The quality of netizens this year really needs to drop."
Lin Fan's other friends were already dumbfounded.
"No wonder Brother Infinite Borders doesn't like playing with us anymore. Playing with us too much might make him dumb! This is brutal—but honestly, it's cool as hell."
"God, that's not right. It's not that he doesn't like playing with us—he just doesn't like playing with you. He's afraid JackeyLove will misunderstand."
"Get lost. When I duo-queued with Brother Infinite Borders, K-god, you didn't even know where you were. Don't try to stir shit."
"I still remember that Heimerdinger game—two words: invincible. Pure invincible. In bot lane, it felt like you could leash a random dog and still win."
The moment Xiao Gou said that, he realized something was off.
But the livestream chat had already exploded in laughter.
Regardless, the interaction between these two ADCs was genuinely entertaining.
For now, it was just trash talk—but if their form stayed peak, they could really clash on the professional stage.
At the same time, they felt something strange toward Lin Fan.
Before, they thought Lin Fan being good at other games was nothing special—any pro player could do well in other games if they practiced.
But after today, the gap felt more like the difference between humans and dogs.
This was Go…
Some people practiced from childhood until death and still couldn't pass the ranking exam.
That alone showed how difficult it was—purely talent-based. Hard work alone couldn't change much.
After this, they wouldn't even dare speak loudly when gaming with Brother Infinite Borders.
"He's amazing. I really think Brother Infinite Borders is incredible," Jaguar said with a smile on stream.
"This Go strength is conservatively at professional second dan—maybe even higher."
"While being a professional athlete, maintaining this level in Go—he must've put in a lot of effort behind the scenes."
"Training Go alone is extremely boring."
When Ke Jie said this, many people froze mid-typing.
Because some suddenly remembered something Lin Fan had said on stream not long ago.
"I've never used a grid notebook…"
Growing up in an orphanage.
Honestly, not going astray was already impressive.
Let alone mastering so many skills.
No wonder Brother Infinite Borders had this level yet never tried for professional ranking—maybe Go was just a way to pass time and keep his thoughts from spiraling.
The thought alone broke hearts.
Especially for the viewer who first brought it up.
Just when they'd nearly forgotten, it resurfaced.
They planned to bring small gifts and trinkets tomorrow and spend a day playing with kids.
"Don't cry, Brother Infinite Borders. From now on, we're your family!"
"It's still an environment issue. If he weren't an orphan, with proper training he might've become a second Jaguar…"
"Then we wouldn't have the Brother Infinite Borders who saved TES. I think the current version is way more interesting."
Naturally, Zhan Ying saw these comments too.
Her expression turned strange.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan ended his match with Ke Jie, greeted the audience, and went offline.
Playing against Zhan Ying had been relatively easy.
There was barely any difficulty—he could calculate what she wanted to do almost every move.
So it felt relaxed.
But playing against Ke Jie was completely different.
Jaguar truly lived up to his reputation as a powerhouse.
The pressure from the opening was immense—every move required frantic calculation.
One mistake, and Lin Fan would be met with a storm of punishment.
The mental consumption was absurdly high—more exhausting than playing a full BO5.
But losing after a hundred moves didn't drain everything.
The real killer was the second game.
A top-tier clash—calculating from start to finish until utterly exhausted.
The only good news was that the effort paid off.
Winning meant it wasn't wasted.
…
June 22.
Guo Hao received a call from headquarters early in the morning.
"Hahaha, honestly I didn't expect this either. Lin Fan really brings us surprises every day."
"Alright, alright, I understand all that. The club definitely won't mistreat him—he's very satisfied too."
"Okay, okay."
After hanging up, wrinkles formed at the corners of Guo Hao's eyes from smiling.
He'd just arrived at the club and already received praise from headquarters.
The hype from Lin Fan beating Ke Jie was simply massive.
As a result, TES merchandise sales skyrocketed.
A ton of people bought products and even left messages asking TES to raise Lin Fan's salary.
More sales meant chain reactions—stocks would likely surge again in the next couple days.
Two words—massive profit!
Who would've thought that such a small esports investment…
After all, just over one hundred million a year was nothing for the TES parent company.
Keeping up with the times was essential—even for investments.
While no salary raise yet, bonuses were issued.
After all, the club had started with four consecutive wins—worth celebrating.
…
Guo Hao thought for a moment.
There was a match today anyway—he'd go say a few words early, keep morale high.
"We're very satisfied with the club's five-game win streak. The company will directly issue 20,000 yuan bonuses to each person. Keep it up. If you break the streak record, the rewards will only increase."
Guo Hao addressed everyone in the training room.
Everyone was happy hearing about rewards.
"Manager is the best!"
"Haha, thank headquarters instead. I don't have the money—just a wage slave myself."
"So perform well today. Don't let bonuses turn joy into tragedy by breaking the streak."
He kept it brief.
TES had to travel to Suzhou to face LNG.
Time was tight.
Even though Shanghai to Suzhou was close, TES base to LNG's home still took over two and a half hours.
If they ate lunch first, they'd be rushed.
So during the ride, Lin Fan casually played two games of Honor of Kings.
A-Shui watched with great interest.
"Fan-ge, you picked Master Luban. You're not planning to play Plane, are you? If you mid with Plane, you'll stay mid too long. Bot pressure will be huge."
"How would that be pressure? I farm Plane—you just don't int. I wasn't planning to play Plane, but since you mentioned it, I could consider it. I'm pretty good at Plane."
"Left hand or right hand?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "You can't use left hand, right?"
"So I recommend using your right hand."
Ever since knowing Knight's nickname was 'Left Hand,' it really was hard to look at the word the same way.
But thinking about it like that oddly improved one's health.
Honestly, Left Hand made great contributions.
"Alright, stop messing around. LNG feels strong. Last season we stepped on them to advance, but this season they've evolved. Don't let them get revenge. We're on a streak—and the timing is sensitive, you know what I mean," Luo Sheng said.
Everyone understood.
Lin Fan had gone a bit wild these past two days.
First Naraka Bladepoint—two championships.
Then dominating Go.
What should've been a regular season match had turned into a focal point.
If TES lost… the aftermath was unimaginable.
So this match had to be won.
But the direction of the first game instantly shoved Lin Fan into the spotlight.
TES and LNG battled for 34 minutes.
In the crucial teamfight, JackeyLove's aggressive positioning got caught by Nami's bubble.
Even though Lin Fan's Syndra dealt massive damage later—killing Gnar and Nami—the situation was already unsalvageable.
As teammates fell, Lin Fan's Syndra was finally cleaned up by Light's Zeri auto attack.
LNG, with three people, pushed straight and ended the game.
Even with a dazzling 9–2–7 scoreline, Lin Fan was still labeled the culprit.
Lin Fan's nine-game Syndra win streak was officially ended.
Meanwhile, Doinb, who won the game, jumped up excitedly when TES's base exploded.
Even though his own KDA was negative, they still won Game 1.
They had a chance to take big points today.
This proved TES wasn't invincible.
Watching teams finally relaxed—TES's undefeated aura was broken.
And the haters who'd been waiting seized the opportunity instantly.
This was the perfect chance.
"LMAO, Dine loves showing off. Didn't train properly before, now he's paying for it!"
"It's starting—it's starting. The losing streak begins now!"
"So what if he beat Ke Jie in Go? So what if he got double championships in Naraka Bladepoint? Don't forget—Brother Infinite Borders is ultimately a League pro. If he can't win pro matches, it's all a joke."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup