"Failure always runs through life"—a lot of people froze when they saw that line.
At first glance it looked like pure chicken soup: the kind of thing meant to comfort people who haven't succeeded, so they feel better.
Then they realized it was Brother Infinite Borders who said it, and they got even more confused.
Didn't he just win the title yesterday? In what situation did he say that? They immediately clicked in to find out.
Damn it!
No wonder he's the league's most unexpected player—he failed an "open five," and still dropped a line like that.
RNG loses a match and doesn't say a damn thing…
Cultural literacy. Cultural gap.
This "chicken soup" actually soothed a lot of people. They quietly hit Follow on Weibo and became casual fans.
So Lin Fan's fanbase composition was extremely complex.
Intersecting yet separate.
And the more mixed your composition, the more loyal you become.
For example, if you play League and also play Naraka: Bladepoint, then you only need to stan Lin Fan—no need to find anyone else. Simple and convenient.
Or looks fans: they don't care about games at all. They just open the stream and stare at the face in the bottom-right, occasionally giggling like idiots…
Still, this Weibo post was positive. People were happy to comment.
"Hahaha, Brother Infinite Borders really is ridiculous."
"I was way too sleepy last night. I didn't sleep until 4:30. He was still streaming then—does anyone know what time he finally ended?"
"Five or six, I think? Around six he said goodbye and ended. I happened to get up to pee, saw he was still live, and clicked in immediately."
"Holy crap, Infinite Borders really is his true love. His schedule is usually super regular—ends before midnight. Even when he plays Goose Goose Duck with Doggo and the others, it's usually only until 12:30."
"Pulling an all-nighter is bad for health, isn't it? I'm kind of worried. May 10 is MSI—can his mental state hold?"
"Yeah. This is different from 'not training.' If your body is wrecked, how can your form hold? We were too excited after the title and didn't think about it."
"I can tell: the more you doubt him, the more he surprises you. Until he actually loses, I believe."
"We already said it: believe first, then doubt. I'm standing in front."
After the title, every forum basically belonged to Lin Fan.
Topics maxed out, Pig Farm getting mentioned nonstop, especially Infinite Borders.
Zhu Yuan sat in his office chair while Xiao Li opened the data.
Pig Farm's topic heat had surpassed Goose Factory—ranked above it. Infinite Borders even surged to #8 in the game rankings.
Before, it was always around 27 or 28.
Three million in marketing, and the result appeared.
Just one night.
"I never imagined a pro player could have this kind of power." Zhu Yuan shook his head as he read, surprised—but very satisfied.
Yesterday's three million was money well spent.
Of course, it needed the right trigger. A situation like yesterday's was once-in-a-blue-moon.
Winning the title plus the interview repeatedly mentioning "clocking out to grind Infinite Borders," building up expectations…
Seeing those topics in chat is what made Zhu Yuan catch it so sharply.
After all, he climbed to this position step by step—he had the ability.
But replicating it later would be hard.
8:47 a.m., Lin Fan got woken up by his alarm.
He ended stream at 6:17. He set a 2.5-hour timer for recruitment and troop training.
And to be honest, the all-nighter wasn't because he was greedy for gaming.
It was because he wanted to test the half-dozen Full-Energy Red Bulls he'd just gotten.
According to the system: short rest, then drink one can and you'd restore mental state to 100%, with no side effects—returning your body to peak condition.
Perfect timing. He took it out to test the effect.
He cracked it open and chugged a can.
The exhaustion vanished. His brows relaxed.
Full HP revive—felt like every cell in his body loosened up.
The system sometimes gave weird stuff for slacking tasks. Who knew it even had this kind of black tech?
But Red Bull does wake you up, and with system enhancement, results like this seemed normal.
At this state, he could pull two more all-nighters in a row, no problem.
He clenched his fists—full of energy.
He jumped out of bed, brushed his teeth, washed up, and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
At this hour it matched JackeyLove and the others' routine. The moment he walked in, he saw them in a circle, gnawing on bread.
"Brother Infinite Borders, you look so energetic. I left at 2 a.m. I saw comments saying you didn't log off until after six. How are you still in this good a state?" JackeyLove was curious.
He wasn't unfamiliar with all-nighters. He'd done plenty—his dad caught him before and forced him off.
He'd even told viewers he went to Xiao Gou's house to play mahjong—same vibe as Karsa said: go in at night, come out in the morning; go in in the morning, come out in the morning—people get worked to death.
Every all-nighter, his steps got floaty. He couldn't even walk straight—weak as hell.
He needed two full good sleeps to recover. Those two days, he couldn't do anything.
He only dared do that on vacation.
Pull an all-nighter during match days and the next day you'd eat skillshots nonstop. He seriously suspected this was how muscle memory formed—
you see a skill flying at you, and your conditioned response is to "catch it."
Damn it.
If you want a long pro career, never go to Xiao Gou's place.
That's why seeing Lin Fan in such good condition was shocking.
"That's because you're weak. Work out more. If you're fit, pulling an all-nighter isn't a big deal.
Look at you—can't even lift your hands. Carry something and you're out of breath. You've gained weight too—your face is turning oval."
After saying that, Lin Fan grabbed a beef bun from the auntie and also got a bowl of hot noodles.
JackeyLove's eyes went wide.
"Really?"
He touched his chin. He had gained some weight, sure, but was he that weak?
But Fan-ge's mental state really was great—and he did work out an hour at noon. It was convincing.
Maybe this afternoon he should train with Fan-ge?
"Fan-ge, bring me along this afternoon, okay?"
"Sure."
"Then I'm in too." Tian joined in.
Qingtian and Zoom quickly lowered their heads.
Working out had nothing to do with them.
They just wanted happy gaming and to be happy foodies.
Whether they gained weight or not—just don't touch the scale and it's fine.
Tian looked at Qingtian and Zoom with a bad grin.
"How about we do a happy sports meet? Everyone joins the workout."
Qingtian and Zoom's faces dropped instantly.
Their physiques—anything and they'd collapse, especially Qingtian.
"Within your limits. Just follow the coach's plan. It's fine."
When it comes to a gym, no club compares to TES.
All kinds of equipment, plus a dedicated trainer.
Unfortunately, everyone was lazy.
Before, maybe once or twice a week.
Later, once a month.
Training time was long—no energy left for fitness.
Later, Lin Fan went every noon for an hour, so the trainer wouldn't be idle all day.
Knight, listening to this friendly banter, couldn't sit still.
He stuffed two slices of bread into his mouth and left the cafeteria alone, heading to the training room.
Sure enough, everyone is a snob.
Now that Brother Infinite Borders is favored, nobody even talks to him…
Summer Split… Summer Split will make you regret it!
Everyone says Photic is esports Xiao Yan, but actually he is.
Knight believes that firmly!
He arrived at the training room, turned on his PC, logged into Korean solo queue, and started training.
He instantly locked Vladimir.
He wanted to leave his comfort zone—not picking Sylas and those types—and expand his champion pool.
Only then could he beat Lin Fan…
But at level three, Vladimir got tower-dived and solo-killed, instantly freezing Knight's smile.
Why is this champ so weak early?
How does Lin Fan get such ridiculous early results?
The final scoreboard was 0–8–1.
A top-tier war criminal performance.
Knight, who thought of himself as a genius, couldn't accept that gap.
He played two more games.
Game two was slightly better—1–7–3, still a criminal.
Game three was worse—0–11…
"This champion just doesn't suit me!"
Meanwhile Lin Fan was farming level fives like crazy.
After triple-awakening, the stability was finally secured.
Even if he flipped, battle losses stayed around 500+.
He'd also saved 2000+ reserve troops earlier, just to reduce recruitment time and not waste 10 stamina.
Power kept climbing.
Now he was at 3700+, rank 21.
Season 2 had a lot of returning veterans and grinder veterans.
Early progression isn't something newbies can compete with.
Even with whiteboard units, as long as you have tactics and early generals, you can still climb the leaderboard.
Like people in the alliance chat were discussing—Xuzhou up top was actually two returning groups.
Their rankings were always high. According to Tieba, they were alliance members.
Because the other two zones directly allied up.
The situation became 1400 vs 650. If Xuzhou is allied, they can add another 100 people.
Then the other side has double the headcount.
In that situation, Lin Fan's side was at a huge disadvantage.
He might be able to 1v7 or 1v8, but troop count is limited.
If he takes losses, he'll get worn down to death. And the other side isn't lacking big whales either.
So even though the server had only been open a day, the alliance was debating nonstop.
But per everyone's advice, in Season 2 it's better not to "go for conquest."
Even though there's no S3, after S2 ends, the S2 pack is Bow Zhuge Liang.
This card is amazing for internal affairs and also a Divine Arms utility unit.
Mainly because the tactic saves you one Anti-Plan, plus the stat line is excellent.
At whiteboard level 40, guides can hit 260 points. With stat bonuses and Protection, you can easily break 300—let alone full red.
It's the strongest Divine Arms utility unit.
The buffs let your main carry output explode.
The classic pairing is Da Qiao + Bow Zhuge Liang + Lu Meng.
The higher the level, the more terrifying. At level 50 it's absolute T0—1v2, 1v3, casual.
That's why everyone tells players not to go for conquest.
If you don't get conquest, you can't pull Zhuge Liang.
But S2 has tons of people. Newbie passion hasn't faded. A 3000-player server is normal, but conquest slots are only 380.
For many people, whether you go for conquest or not doesn't matter.
Partition card packs don't have Zhuge Liang either.
But many still get persuaded.
Of course, among those 380, maybe not even 30 will pull Zhuge Liang.
That's Pig Farm probability math.
Only money can break probability…
But there are lucky ones too.
One of Lin Fan's former teammates spent only 330,000 and still full-reded every general—far below average.
He even picked a fitting ID: Heavenly Chance Lucky King.
Lin Fan didn't join alliance debates, but viewers loved it.
They typed constantly.
"Alliance mini theater."
"If that's true, Brother Infinite Borders' season looks hard."
"Actually for an old player like him, stronger early conflict is more interesting."
"That's true, but doesn't the grind go max?"
"If you want details, go check this server's Tieba. I just looked—this server is literally 2v1. The north formed an alliance—double headcount pressing the south."
"To get conquest you'd need a powerhouse alliance. From what I see, Brother Infinite Borders' alliance isn't that strong."
"The Brave clan is strong, but even grouped up they can't beat double the people. Top lane will get targeted."
"Hahaha, but going for conquest is fun. One-man choke point. Merit points go brrrr."
Lin Fan saw that and thought about answering, but didn't.
His alliance teammates' lineups were low-tier, but he still needed to scout the other alliances.
At 12:00, he took three more level fives.
Power hit 4100, finally squeezing into top 20.
"See? This is what a top-tier player looks like. Even missing five or six hours, I still made top 20." Lin Fan bragged at the camera.
Chat instantly exploded.
Meanwhile, TES went to the Korean Consulate in Shanghai to submit visa applications.
Even though MSI was still about half a month away, preparing early wasn't rushing.
If materials failed, they still had time to apply.
"We understand—national honor above all. MSI is in Korea this year. We must let T1 win the title."
"Yes, yes, yes."
"Understood, understood…"
——
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup