Even after the players finished shaking hands and had already left the stage, you could still hear the crowd cheering.
For TES fans, this was absolutely worth celebrating.
Last year they couldn't even qualify for the regional gauntlet—they got eliminated directly by LNG.
Everyone was extremely disappointed.
Thankfully, Guo Hao came through. With operations and heavy investment, he brought in Tian and Zoom, and during the losing streak he also contacted Mark.
Then they discovered the true culprit behind losing was Knight. They subbed in Brother Infinite Borders, and fought all the way to the finals.
* * *
TES really needed this title—to prove this year's roster moves were a success!
And the reason the fans still hadn't left after the match ended was because they wanted to watch the post-game interview.
Lin Fan had already done an interview last time, so this time they brought Zoom over.
"Hello, audience friends. Welcome to the post-match interview. I'm your host Yu Shuang. Congratulations to TES for advancing to finals. We've invited TES top laner Zoom—say hello to everyone."
The camera panned slowly up from Yu Shuang's legs to Zoom.
You could tell the director knew exactly what people liked to see.
Auntie Yu Shuang wasn't the kind of beauty that stunned you at first glance, but the more you looked, the more you felt her charm and temperament.
Zoom lifted the mic. His chubby face broke into a smile—honest and thick, the kind of guy who clearly had no schemes. A straightforward man.
"Hello everyone, I'm TES top laner Zoom."
Maybe it was because he was facing the audience, or because of the huge camera—Zoom sounded a bit nervous and restrained.
"Zoom had bright performances in all three games today—especially the Jax in game one. Your split-pushing created huge pressure for RNG."
"And in the regular season, we noticed you never played Jax. Was this a pick you prepared specifically for Bin?"
"Uh… mainly the coach asked if I could do it, and Brother Infinite Borders said he could help me get an advantage. After hearing Brother Infinite Borders, I had confidence.
And that comp needed a top laner who could limit Fiora. Between Aatrox and Jax, I thought Jax was better, so we picked Jax."
Zoom held the mic, and his tone carried obvious admiration.
"Brother Infinite Borders said he could help you? No wonder you ganked top at level three!"
"Hahaha…" Zoom laughed awkwardly, a little embarrassed.
Chat scrolled like crazy.
"Bin's mistake is that Xiaohu didn't say he could help him."
"But today's match was classic. Xiaohu got taught on both sides—he's a clown."
"True. Brother Infinite Borders' Aftershock Lissandra stomped LeBlanc and even cut down a pentakill. Meanwhile 'Tiger Bro' played Aftershock Lissandra and got stomped by LeBlanc."
"This series was mainly mid gap. Bin actually played pretty well—he just got hard limited by Brother Infinite Borders."
"Zoom basically had double dads backing him. Brother Infinite Borders is Tian's big dad, and wherever big dad goes, Tian goes, so these three games were super comfy."
"Too bad for TheShy. If Weibo had a mid like Brother Infinite Borders, they wouldn't lose. Maybe Weibo would be the one in finals."
"Since your team is already gone, suggest the 'filial sons' stop talking."
"TES's Spring Split title is basically locked. V5's 'revive armor' got taken by him, RNG just got handled too. Both loser's bracket teams got sent down by him. Even if they crawl back up, what can they do as defeated opponents?"
"As for coming to this team, I feel lucky. My teammates are too strong. In top lane I just have to hold steady, and they'll stand up and carry me to wins…"
As Zoom said it, his mouth practically split into a grin. It wasn't hard to tell he meant it.
And Zoom really was an honest guy.
"G! 369 just cried himself to sleep in the bathroom!"
"If we had a big dad like Brother Infinite Borders last year, how could 369 have gotten flamed by Karsa?"
"I think 369 is fine. Not that exaggerated. He just needed a top-tier mid to lead him."
"Not gonna lie, with a mid this strong, even I could get carried to wins."
Yu Shuang covered her mouth and laughed.
Sure enough, the words of an honest man hit the hardest.
Even after getting eliminated, 369 was still taking another critical hit.
But Zoom genuinely had no other intentions—he was just expressing his luck.
"Hahaha, Zoom, you're being too humble. We've all seen your performance. Your Spring Split has been very good."
"Now there's only one last series left. Are you confident?"
"With Brother Infinite Borders here, I'm very confident. He'll lead us to victory."
Backstage, Knight's face darkened.
Then he immediately looked at JackeyLove.
But JackeyLove didn't react at all—he even leaned closer to Lin Fan.
There wasn't any discord.
Did JackeyLove's brain get flooded?
His "big brother" status is getting stolen like this, and he has no reaction?
TL: Tsk tsk tsk as if you were ever a big brother. Didn't they say you looked ugly and shrimpy
"Alright, thank you Zoom for the interview. We hope you perform even better in the next match."
After the interview, Zoom returned to the lounge. Everyone packed up their gear and boarded the bus back to base.
On the bus, Lin Fan demonstrated the "King training method" again.
He queued into Honor of Kings and picked Mi Yue.
At the same time, Ting An started streaming.
"I'm telling you, my Yuan Ge hard-stomps this bracket. 2400 points is nothing. That Mi Yue is a toy."
"I only need to slightly show my hand—that's already this bracket's limit…"
His viewers gave him plenty of face.
A flood of 666s filled the chat.
Clearly, these were his loyal little fans.
But a minute later, Yuan Ge got tower-dived and killed by Mi Yue, and his expression started changing.
"The enemy's got something… but not much. He stole a kill. After this, he has no chance."
Then he kept dying.
Within five minutes, he got killed six times. He was completely stunned—his opponent hit way too hard.
"2400… is Mi Yue really that strong?" Ting An muttered.
"I feel like it's a pro player. It has to be a pro player. He's beyond this bracket's limit. I can't do anything."
At that moment, the stream chat was insanely funny.
"That year, Ting An held his head in both hands, getting beaten so hard he didn't know how to fight back."
"That year, I talked big nonstop—then my arms got broken and I had no hands."
He was speechless.
You guys are too much.
I was just joking—why do you remember everything?
But that Mi Yue really was ridiculous.
Maxed-out details, and an extremely deep understanding of the hero.
And to be clear, Ting An's Yuan Ge was actually strong—he really wasn't weak.
So it had to be a pro player.
A match was over. Time to relax a bit.
At least nobody flamed him for getting beaten into this shape. Otherwise it would've felt even worse.
In the end, under that Mi Yue, Ting An's team didn't even last 12 minutes.
They got blown up quickly.
"I'm telling you, he's definitely a pro. If you don't believe me, let's check his ID."
He skipped the animation and went straight to the results screen.
Immediately clicked Mi Yue's avatar.
"Dine…"
His chat exploded.
"Holy crap, Brother Infinite Borders!"
"No wonder you got stomped. Even Yinuo isn't his match—he got destroyed with zero temper. You're a small streamer, it's normal."
"Definitely a pro—but a League pro. And at this time, it really is right after a match. He's probably on the team bus killing time."
"His skill is insane. Too bad he plays too many games. It's hard to catch him streaming Honor of Kings—you have to compete with fans from all his other games."
Seeing that ID, Ting An realized who he'd just fought.
After all, the buzz had been huge recently.
Multiple Weibo trends, and people even suggested TES should transfer him from the League division to the Honor of Kings division.
Even though Honor of Kings had a bigger audience, for TES, League was still the primary fame engine.
In the end, it was about match heat.
It was a good suggestion—but please stop suggesting it.
Soon, the news that Brother Infinite Borders played an Honor of Kings match spread out.
And it wasn't just any match—it was a bloodbath.
Especially since TES had just beaten RNG and advanced to finals, the heat was already high.
That also shot onto Weibo trending.
Post-match Honor of Kings relaxation…
As for League fans, they were used to it.
Brother Infinite Borders playing any game was normal.
Him playing League was the real headline.
Otherwise, duo queueing with JackeyLove wouldn't have hit trending and pulled a wave of viewers into the stream. That was rare.
"Isn't it time for Principal Wang to make a move?"
"I'm IG internal. Negotiations are basically done. After Spring Split, the Honor of Kings division will be built. Not only that, the League division will get reinvested too. We're going big!"
"Really? Really? This Spring Split was pure int. If Principal Wang invests, IG might actually dream back to S8."
"Top: Bin. Jungle: pick one. Mid: Brother Infinite Borders. Bot: JackeyLove plus Ming. I think IG resurrects."
"But Brother Infinite Borders is hilarious. Match ends and he immediately plays Honor of Kings."
"I seriously suspect Brother Infinite Borders' Vladimir was learned from practicing Mi Yue."
"No need to suspect—he admitted it. He said he practiced with Mi Yue."
"Hahahaha, is it possible Mi Yue was learned from Vladimir?"
"An honest guy, come bully him."
"If we're talking honest guy on TES, isn't that Zoom?"
"True. That's why when he speaks, it's fatal. 369 probably cried himself to sleep in JDG's bathroom."
"Brother Infinite Borders queued a second game. This time he stomped another pro, pulling out his main—Wu Zetian. Too insane!"
"If he wins a League title, I think it's necessary to go win an Honor of Kings title too…"
"Doesn't matter. Brother Infinite Borders will definitely stream tonight. It's still early."
"True. I'm going to camp the stream right now."
…
After more than an hour, the bus finally arrived at base.
Lin Fan ate something quick, then went to the training room, turned on the PC, and started streaming.
As always, his stream heat was terrifying.
Chat scrolled nonstop.
Lin Fan greeted everyone, then pinged people on WeChat to get online.
Mainly because tomorrow was the Douyu Cup finals, and today everyone was organizing a small group hangout.
Of course, that only happened if TES won. If they lost, it was automatically canceled…
"Are you here? Are you here? I'm telling you, I'm invincible at CF. You want to fight me? Can you handle it? I've got a trophy!" Gangzi shouted.
"That little flower vase of yours—don't bring it out. I'll beat you up," Xiao Gou snapped back as soon as he heard him talk tough.
"Come, come. Red-packet match—one kill, 1000 yuan!" Gangzi still wasn't scared. It sounded like he wouldn't log off unless he donated a few tens of thousands today.
"Ahem… you're all big streamers. I don't have that much. One kill for 100 is okay…" Lin Fan could only mumble softly after hearing Xiao Gou and Gangzi shouting so hard.
"Sure, sure—100 is fine." The moment Lin Fan said that, Gangzi seized the opening immediately. His wife was standing there with a knife—if he really played 1000 per kill with Xiao Gou, he'd be sleeping on the couch for a month.
"Then Brother Infinite Borders, we'll chill first and let Xiao Gou and Gangzi PK." Teacher Piao Duan said.
"Sure."
So Lin Fan created a room and pulled Teacher Piao in.
"Is tonight CF? I want to watch CS:GO."
"CS:GO isn't that different from CF. If you ask me, the fun part is opening cases. With Brother Infinite Borders' dog luck, you might actually open a bunch of factory-new stuff… if you hit a Dragon sniper—"
"Bullshit. If that happened, I'd just send money to Brother Infinite Borders and have him open cases for me. Fifty-fifty split!"
"But Teacher Piao 1v1ing Brother Infinite Borders—isn't that just asking to get abused?"
Transport Ship — 1v1 duel mode.
Teacher Piao stepped out and immediately got double-tapped in the head. He couldn't react at all.
"WAWAWAWAWA—"
"Bro, Brother Infinite Borders is like a ghost. This guy is ridiculous."
"No, I have to style on him." PDD threw a smoke grenade forward—then instantly dropped.
"Hahahaha, no way. Brother Infinite Borders is too strong. You can't fight him straight up. Let's wrap behind and shoot him in the ass."
After respawning, Teacher Piao didn't go out the front anymore.
He went through the tunnel instead.
If you can't win, and you still go front, isn't that just griefing?
He wanted to catch an opening and ambush.
So far he hadn't gotten a single kill—too embarrassing.
With three million-plus viewers in the room, at least he had to kill a few, right?
So he charged forward.
"Brother Infinite Borders definitely thinks I'm still hiding at home. I'll shoot his ass." As he spoke, PDD started jumping up.
The moment he jumped up, he saw the enemy character aiming a gun at him.
"Teacher Piao, I'm wearing headphones."
Seeing that, PDD completely lost it.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Both hands off the keyboard.
And at that moment, Lin Fan was honorable—he just aimed, and didn't fire.
"Damn, how are you that accurate?"
"Because you were clanking like crazy. If you're coming over, you should walk silently."
"Hahahahaha… too horrible, too horrible." Teacher Piao laughed so hard his whole face turned red.
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup