At 7:30 a.m., under Luo Sheng's "kind" wake-up calls, all the players got up and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
One glance and you could tell: the players were full of energy. They'd clearly rested up and were ready to go all out today.
But when Luo Sheng looked at Lin Fan and saw his tightly furrowed brows, his heart skipped a beat.
In a match this important, mid lane's impact goes without saying. If something went wrong, it would be a disaster.
He hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, Lin Fan?"
The others' attention was also pulled over by Luo Sheng's question.
"Today's early progression! We land at 11 a.m. At 4:30 we're going on stage. In between, one game drags forever and I can't even touch my phone. If they'd let us bring phones on stage, that would be perfect."
"Brothers, we need to finish the afternoon match fast. Best case, wrap it up before seven."
"…?"
Watching Lin Fan fiddling with his phone back and forth, Luo Sheng didn't know what to say.
At least he was still thinking about Infinite Borders—then finals definitely wouldn't pressure him.
After breakfast, everyone began warm-up.
Three hours of practice before the match was perfect timing. After that, they could eat lunch, rest a bit, then take the bus to the arena.
No rush. Arrive, wait a little, then prep for the series.
Today, Lin Fan still turned on stream.
Not for anything else—just for the fans still grinding Infinite Borders.
But League fans were genuinely stunned.
Big bro, you've got finals this afternoon.
And you're streaming Infinite Borders in the morning—what are you doing?
A bad feeling crept up their spines.
"Let's go! Brother Infinite Borders returns to his true heart."
"This landing is kind of rough. There aren't many level-five tiles nearby."
"Pull, pull!"
The most important thing in Season 2 is drawing cards.
First, the must-hits: Ghost Lu Bu, Big Guo Jia, and Big Lu Su.
Because very few people play Pang Tong Shu infantry now, you only need Pang Tong—no need for full red.
All these draws are to serve Conquest season.
Five teams in the main city—three core teams are built up slowly across seasons.
Lin Fan finished handling some small things, rubbed his hands, and prepared to draw.
He remembered his first time playing: S2 Conquest pack, first pull was Ghost Lu Bu, then he used it to start early progression right away.
Logically, his luck was even better now. First pull should hit for sure.
Last time, if he remembered right, he got five five-stars in twenty pulls. Today, in twenty pulls he should get six or seven, at least.
He opened the pack and started pulling.
The first pull flashed red!
Chat spammed question marks nonstop.
What the hell—first pull and it's already a five-star?
All they could do was pray the first five-star was trash.
But no matter how trash, it would still be useful…
Guo Jia!
Guo Jia was alright. Wei Intelligence isn't usually built, mainly because Big Dog works better in other comps.
Like Dog Blade—an essential merit-points tool for free-to-play players.
But now there's "Long War," so Wei Intelligence still has a chance to appear in the five main-city teams. Even without full red, it can still be a T1+ comp.
No time to care—keep pulling.
The next three pulls were empty.
Then the fifth pull flashed red again.
It's in!
The highest-value general in the pack: Ghost Lu Bu!
People say his IQ is low, but with a 3.01 stat line, instant-cast AoE tactics, plus reducing enemy output—he's the strongest physical DPS in Infinite Borders. No card can replace him.
Even that "reworked Yuan Shao" that everyone hyped up is just a lower-tier substitute.
Seeing that card, Lin Fan started punching the air and yelling "YES!" like that meme video.
He said it—his pull rate is high.
Pure luck!
"Okay, I'm convinced. Brother Infinite Borders has never lost at drawing cards."
"Two reds in five pulls, both core cards: Ghost Lu Bu and Big Guo. What's next? Is he about to full-red instantly?"
Of course, something that absurd didn't happen.
But the remaining fifteen pulls were still insane.
He pulled every five-star in the S1 Conquest pack—and on top of that, two more copies of Ghost Lu Bu.
This card draw was unbelievably smooth: in twenty pulls, two red Ghost Lu Bu!
Looking at his remaining 180k jade, once "All Under Heaven" opens, pulling three more Ghost Lu Bu copies should be possible, right?
And maybe pull Diao Chan a million times into red too…
At least Lin Fan thought it was likely.
If it didn't happen, he'd just swipe and keep pulling.
NetEase, you wouldn't want everyone to know your rates are horrifyingly low, right?
"Damn—dog luck!"
At that moment, the sky broadcasted that Brave Guanguan pulled Lu Bu.
Lin Fan instinctively complained.
He completely forgot he'd just pulled three copies himself.
This behavior triggered instant outrage!
"Jealous drool is pouring out."
"Brother Infinite Borders' god hand is ridiculous. Are game companies camping his stream and secretly turning up his rates right before he pulls?"
"Yeah, I'm more and more convinced that's what's happening."
"If it's really dog luck, go open CS:GO cases. See if you can hit. If you can, I'll admit it."
"Ahem. After watching today's card pulls, I can only say my perspective was too small. If Brother Infinite Borders opens cases for me, we'll split 80–20. No, 90–10. Brother Infinite Borders gets nine, I get one."
"Seriously. Same game, and the difference between players is like the difference between humans and dogs!"
"My pulls are so bad even dogs shake their heads."
Good news makes you energetic.
Since he pulled two red Ghost Lu Bu, how could he not use it for early progression?
When he posts the battle reports, people will see "two reds" and realize he pulled three Lu Bu copies in twenty pulls.
That kind of luck—who can compare?
In Infinite Borders, whether you're rich or not, people love comparing luck.
Monthly-card players pretend to be free-to-play—it happens all the time, just to hide how much they spent compared to their card pool depth.
If a monthly-card account pulls this much, it feels like "pure luck."
With Ghost Lu Bu, early progression becomes comfortable.
Season 2 is literal dimensionality reduction.
And with Zhang Ji dropping down, Ghost Lu Bu + Zhang Ji + Sun Quan is straight slaughter once you build it.
But Lin Fan still preferred Zhen Luo.
Not for anything else—she has a skin, and stockings. Why stare at an old man?
His tempo control was solid—step by step.
He used Zhu Jun to crash level fives, and once he could farm level fives, he could immediately start hitting threes.
Then once the main city hit level four, he was at 6.5-cost. Open Command Hall, and once he had a Vanguard, he could use Sun Yu to transition.
Opening four would be smooth.
He was a high-skill player. After reading guides for a few days, his onboarding speed was fast.
He had a sense for the correct tempo.
Unfortunately, the happy gaming time ended quickly.
Luo Sheng quietly came up behind Lin Fan, patted his shoulder, signaling it was time to go to the arena.
Lin Fan could only say bye to the viewers and end stream.
But after that detour, TES fans were anxious.
Not training was one thing, but streaming early progression right before finals? That's next-level crazy.
Sometimes they really couldn't understand what Brother Infinite Borders was thinking.
They could only hope his form stayed great, and that this little interruption didn't change anything.
And White Moon too—why allow this? It was time to show coach authority.
By the time TES arrived, there was still an hour until match start.
Since it was Spring Split finals, the league also organized a small fan activity.
Players would interact with fans.
A host and a cameraman recorded it, so before the match began, they could keep the stream lively and heat things up.
Luo Sheng actually protested—this did nothing good for players, and it could even create accidents.
After all, it was finals.
He could only watch from the side, ready to rush in if anything felt off.
But the league wasn't stupid. They didn't bring everyone up—fans were selected by lottery.
Unexpectedly, more fans asked for photos with Lin Fan than JackeyLove.
Over these two months, Lin Fan's performance was too convincing. Plus out-of-game fan growth—his fan count wasn't less than JackeyLove's. It might even be more.
After photos, they followed staff into the arena.
Down below, the host started interviewing fans.
"I'm Brother Infinite Borders' fan. Today's finals, so I came on-site to support him."
"Then what made you like Brother Infinite Borders?"
"Brother Infinite Borders' hot drops are insane. What stuck with me most was at Hydro Dam—he picked up a gun and instantly sprayed three people down, then got 17 kills and took first place. That totally hit my vibe! After that I became a fan. He's so handsome…"
"Huh?" The host looked completely lost.
She understood every word individually, but together it made no sense.
What is she talking about?
How is this related to League at all?
She forced a professional awkward smile.
"Hahaha… believe in Brother Infinite Borders…"
Hearing that, stream chat exploded.
"Is the host dizzy or not?"
"This fan is too real. I'm not a League fan."
"This is maximum entertainment. The most unexpected pro in the league is Brother Infinite Borders—and the most unexpected fanbase is Brother Infinite Borders' fanbase."
"North, south, east, west—no matter what game you play, as long as you support Brother Infinite Borders, we're brothers."
The host quickly found the next fan.
"I like how Brother Infinite Borders grinds Infinite Borders every day, and he loves teaching us how to play. Streamers like him are rare now."
"Honor of Kings—because that game worships strong players. Brother Infinite Borders stomps pros every game, and the heroes he uses are ones I like too, so I went and followed his stream."
…
Now not only was the host dizzy—everyone watching the stream started suspecting they were in the wrong broadcast.
Three or four interviews in a row, and they were all from other games.
Where did the League fans go?
"I'm not his game fan… I'm a looks fan. Good-looking is justice!"
Nobody knew what the host had endured in those three minutes, but her eyes looked as dead as the reporter who interviewed Refund Bro back then.
And people's ears recalled that classic quote:
"rnm, refund!"
Thankfully, after that, it got normal again, and the host slowly recovered.
Now she understood:
Ask JackeyLove fans.
If someone is holding a Dine sign, stay far away—you never know what they'll say.
Still, this segment did liven up the stream a lot. Viewership jumped by millions. Chat spam was dense.
And the arena itself was packed—heads everywhere.
After all, both teams were "operations teams" with massive fanbases, top of the league.
Plus it was Spring Split finals, plus the winners' bracket storyline—attention was maxed out.
The caster lineup was also luxurious:
The golden duo plus Principal Guan.
A full hype squad: some for hype, some for heavy casting, and the king of caster curses.
The three were old partners. As soon as they arrived, they started warming up the venue.
The lights dimmed. The big screen flashed.
Both teams' logos appeared on the displays.
Then the camera switched to the player booths.
Luo Xin was ready.
"Please welcome TES: top Zoom, jungle Tian, mid Dine, ADC JackeyLove, support Mark, coach Crescent!"
"Please welcome RNG: top Bin, jungle Wei, mid Xiaohu, AD GALA, support Ming, coach Tabe!"
Under Luo Xin's introduction, both teams filed into the prep rooms and began setting up equipment.
Cheers erupted.
After waiting so long, finals were finally about to start.
"Not gonna lie, this matchup is interesting. Can RNG seize this chance?"
"Brother Infinite Borders streamed Infinite Borders this morning. He clearly doesn't care about the match at all. I think RNG has a chance."
"Yeah, I think so too…"
"You guys are overthinking. With Brother Infinite Borders' form, he can beat two Xiaohus."
"He never trained before. Still beat Xiaohu. Now he's just maintaining the same routine. Why would Xiaohu suddenly beat him? You guys are weird."
"Yeah. As long as TES hasn't lost yet, I'll keep believing in Brother Infinite Borders."
"Didn't we say it earlier? For Brother Infinite Borders: believe first, then doubt."
Before the match even began, the crowd was already arguing.
Under Luo Xin's cue, the camera switched to the caster desk.
When you watch enough cringe poses, you get used to it. It even becomes kind of entertaining—because you've never seen or tried them before.
At least it wasn't like before, where you wanted to switch channels immediately.
"Both teams are preparing. I know everyone has been waiting a long time. And before the match, both sides have something to say," Miller adjusted his glasses and spoke.
Old viewers knew exactly what that meant.
The finals segment you can't miss:
Pre-match trash talk!
What kind of lines would these two teams cook up?
After all, they already fought once before finals.
By now, they definitely had a lot to say.
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup