Quechao never expected that a single simple five-stack game would blow up into such a huge controversy.
The supervisor had already made it clear: if he was caught cheating, his stream channel would be banned!
In the past, cheating meant the account got banned. Nobody knew, and you could just swap to a new account.
Wasn't that the "unspoken rule" for streamers?
At worst, the officials would casually post a ban notice. The account was gone, but you could still stream.
This time, though, he got caught—and if his stream channel got banned, he'd be finished.
That's not fair!
In a panic, he rushed to Weibo and posted a long "little essay," openly and indirectly accusing Lin Fan: he couldn't win the gunfight so he framed him for cheating.
Then, using big-streamer connections, he pressured Huya officials into forcing him to "admit" cheating, otherwise they'd ban his channel.
He even implied that, behind the scenes, some kind of deal with Tencent had already been made—turning him into a scapegoat…
* * *
Weibo was already hot, and since he was one of the parties involved, the moment he posted, spectators looking for entertainment noticed it instantly.
They swarmed the comments.
"Are you confessing or not? Just tell me—are you confessing or not? This little essay is already incoherent and delirious. You're only one step away from writing the four words 'I cheated' outright."
"I'm Quechao's loyal fan. I've watched him for years. He definitely has skill. I believe what he says. Dine is disgusting. Why can't it be that he's just bad? Why frame someone for cheating? And then use connections to get their channel banned?"
"I thought only the entertainment industry had brain-dead fans. Didn't expect streamers have so many too. Isn't this essay basically a self-explosion? Huya says if you cheated they'll ban your channel, so you panicked."
"There's video evidence. Nothing to argue. Brother Infinite Borders says he cheated and I believe it. After reading this essay, I believe it even more."
"The video has already been reported to CF officials. Just wait for the official notice. I watched Brother Infinite Borders' replay—Quechao is 100% cheating. Wallhack plus bullet tracking. Shooting before seeing anyone—he's the first."
"If he had that kind of prediction, he'd be playing pro. Teams would fight to sign him. Why be a tiny streamer?"
"Esports has turned into a fandom circle too. Disgusting. You're framing an honest person. Even if officials post a notice, I'll still believe it's a fabricated charge!"
"If Quechao was cheating in the last round, how did the other side snipe him? Explain that."
"Northern stage: if you've got cheats, come on up. CF's environment is already ruined. Time to switch to other shooters. VALORANT is a good fit."
TL: CF is Cross Fire
"I'll always stand with Brother Infinite Borders. From the video and the analysis, he called it instantly. He explained the last round too—he knew the opponent had wallhack, so he deliberately waited."
"Everyone knows Brother Infinite Borders' reactions. He's had a lot of insane moments in pro play. I believe him."
"Brother Infinite Borders plays Honor of Kings so well—I believe him!"
"PUBG fans here to support!"
"Weebs believe Brother Infinite Borders. As long as he plays Genshin, we're brothers!"
"Infinite Borders players—his character is definitely trustworthy!"
"Apex absolutely rejects cheats!"
"Heroes Evolved is all about competition—Brother Infinite Borders can't be wrong."
…
In just one hour, this Weibo post had over nine thousand comments.
More than 95% were supporting Lin Fan.
The remaining 5% were mostly trolls, with only a small fraction being Quechao's fans.
Seeing the public opinion completely against him,
Quechao could only panic.
He'd hoped the public opinion war would let him use "power pressure" to suppress himself—
but the comments were all believing Brother Infinite Borders.
What kind of charm does this guy even have?
Just some League player—where did all these fans come from, and why do so many people believe him?
Now he was truly flustered and didn't know what to do.
* * *
TES base.
Knight lay on the bed scrolling his phone.
Seeing the trending topic, he watched with schadenfreude.
He kept scrolling, hoping to find someone setting the tempo.
Half an hour later—everything was supporting Lin Fan.
So angry that he threw his phone.
Smack—his screen shattered.
"Damn… I just replaced this iPhone 13. How is it this fragile?"
"Seriously, what did Lin Fan feed everyone? The whole team circles around him."
Thinking about how he used to be the absolute core, and now he was being marginalized—at this pace, after Spring Split he'd be kicked out for sure—his chest tightened.
"Summer Split… Summer Split. I'll make you all regret it!"
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—don't bully the poor youth!
What he was experiencing now was just like Xiao Yan.
Knight instantly self-inserted.
His mood improved.
Starting tomorrow, he'd train like crazy!
In two months, he'd definitely take it all back. He could do it…
But watching Quechao get surrounded like that also made him feel a strange kinship.
Like he was seeing his bullied self.
He had to stand up and uphold justice.
He picked up the phone with the shattered screen, logged into his Weibo alt, and typed:
"Playing well means you're cheating?"
He hit Send, and finally felt less suffocated.
He tossed the phone onto the desk.
"Hiss—"
Knight grimaced and looked at his thumb.
Blood was clearly visible.
He hadn't expected the shattered screen to cut him.
He sucked in air, baring his teeth.
When you're unlucky, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth.
That saying really was true.
A huge controversy, and the momentum went completely one-sided—90%+ believing Lin Fan.
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
He lay there half the night, unable to sleep, until 6 a.m., when he finally dozed off.
But before 8 a.m., he jolted awake.
He had to go train in the training room—or he'd lose another two months' salary.
The club would love to see that happen.
So he forced himself out of bed, sleepy, and rushed to the training room.
The moment he entered, he saw Lin Fan interacting with viewers.
"We'll definitely try our best today. I think their strength is very strong. Getting an advancement slot will be difficult."
"We'll do our best. There's a chance, but not a big one."
Douyu officials had adjusted the schedule. The Douyu Cup finals would start at 6 p.m. tonight, on time.
Since they were selecting the top two, the finals rules were different from semifinals.
Reach 15 points and you're champion.
Second place would be the highest point total among the remaining seven players.
So you needed to maximize placements. Even without first, you still had a chance to represent Douyu.
Of course, plenty of viewers were still asking about yesterday's cheating incident.
Lin Fan didn't explain anything.
He'd already submitted all the evidence. Now it was just waiting for the official notice.
Logically, with this much noise, the notice would probably come today.
Him repeating "he cheated" ten thousand times wasn't as convincing as a single official announcement.
"This morning let's do some co-op. Anyone want to play Don't Starve Together? I haven't played in a while and I kinda miss it."
The moment he said that, chat exploded.
Everyone wanted to interact with Lin Fan, and this co-op survival game was perfect for it.
And once you started, it could be ten days, half a month.
If you got in, you'd basically become a long-term teammate.
Just imagining playing games with Brother Infinite Borders felt like a dream.
"Me me me me!"
"Make a room, make a room—we'll join!"
Lin Fan opened WeGame. Don't Starve Together really was more fun with more people. Playing solo and surviving was just lonely and not that entertaining.
With people, you could do anything.
"We'll only enable two mods: Geometric Placement and Epic Health Bar.
No other mods. Four players should be good. I'll start first. Once things stabilize, I'll let you guys in, okay?"
As he spoke, Lin Fan quickly set the basics and started the game.
The viewers immediately found the room.
But it had a password, so they could only wait outside.
Lin Fan instantly picked Wilson. The moment he spawned, he began collecting resources.
"Come on. How could I die on day one? I'm high-skill, alright? If I wasn't bored playing solo, I could casually survive 500–600 days."
"I'm bringing people in so when I'm chilling, I can interact."
"Look, there's no grass on the green biome where we spawned. That means this is a Grass Gekko world."
"If you want grass, just head toward the yellow savanna. There'll definitely be plenty."
As he spoke, he walked to the yellow savanna.
In no time, he found more than ten tufts of grass.
"Damn—does Brother Infinite Borders really play every game? Even the Don't Starve world type, he can classify it so clearly?"
"Not gonna lie, I feel like Brother Infinite Borders plays everything except League."
"I've camped this stream for two months and I can confirm. So far, only JackeyLove can get Brother Infinite Borders to play League."
"Hahaha, I've seen Tian ask five or six times. He got rejected every time."
"Big bro only loves JackeyLove."
"Get out! You gay freaks get out. Esports doesn't do CP shipping. Look at Crisp and Lwx—they don't interact anymore. It's because you CP fans are insane."
Meanwhile, Lin Fan had already collected tons of materials and even made a trap.
"Traps have technique. If you put it at a rabbit hole, it's hard to catch. But if you put it nearby, then use the mechanic—run back and scare the rabbit—it's easy to catch."
He demonstrated.
Instant rabbit catch!
"Huh?"
"What the hell, I always just waited. How is it this easy?"
"Because I'm leaving the grassland soon. If you're prepping for the magic book later, catch four rabbits first. But I suggest newbies don't bother—come back later."
"Because you don't need the magic book early, and it just eats inventory slots."
As he spoke, he casually caught four rabbits.
He only explored about half the map on day one,
yet already had a massive pile of resources.
"This start doesn't look like a newbie at all…"
"You still think Brother Infinite Borders can't play Don't Starve? He's high-skill!"
"If a high-skill player is leading, we definitely need some newbies on the team. I think I'm perfect!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm perfect too… total newbie, I just bought the game."
As they played, it quickly became day two.
They went into caves—good luck, they ran into a Bunnyman village.
"Nice luck. We can demolish Bunnyman houses and use them as a food supply for the base."
After exiting, he walked toward the pond area and saw an Eye Bone stuck in the ground.
"See? Good things happen on day two. I even found an Eye Bone! Now Chester can follow me. That's huge. You can always trust Chester—nine inventory slots!"
"???"
"I told you Brother Infinite Borders has problems. He's insanely lucky in every game."
"Too ridiculous. Just wandering around, finds Bunnymen, then finds an Eye Bone while scouting?"
"You can tell you're new. If you follow the road speed-up, it's easy to find."
Under Lin Fan's nonstop efficient play, everyone watched with fascination.
For base-building survival games, it really tickled people's DNA.
By day ten, they finally started building.
After exploring everything and finding the most central spot, he started the base.
First, he dug a nine-grid. One tile was the Shadow Manipulator to unlock tech. Then the fire pit and chests—neatly arranged in a row.
Everything was clean and orderly—looked genuinely beautiful.
Finally, he placed the Ice Box and Crock Pots.
Six Crock Pots were about enough.
After finishing it all, two hours of the morning had passed.
Lin Fan rolled his slightly stiff neck.
"Done. Base is basically set. Now I can let viewers in to play together…"
"Brother Infinite Borders is insane. CF officials already posted the announcement—Quechao got hammered to death! Wallhack plus aim!"
"My god. Are top players really this crazy? The instant they fire, they can tell the other side is cheating?"
"I listened to Brother Infinite Borders' explanation. It boils down to two words: confidence. His reactions are absolutely unmatched, and the other guy shot faster than him—so it's instantly confirmed."
"If it was anyone else they probably wouldn't dare. Only Brother Infinite Borders is this outrageous."
A lot of people who came for drama went to Weibo to comment.
Cheaters in competitive online games have no future.
In any online competitive game, cheaters are universally hated.
Huya moved fast too.
The moment the notice came out, they banned Quechao's stream channel immediately.
Justice ban.
Everyone applauded.
Then they realized something else—Brother Infinite Borders can even beat cheaters.
Damn it, that's way too insane!
"Are there no CFPL teams trying to poach Brother Infinite Borders?"
"At minimum, EDG is already preparing!"
"WE's money is on the way!"
"Nobody compete with Bai Sha!"
"KZ isn't convinced—they're trying to stick a foot in too."
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup