"I'm not planning to withdraw."
"I know what everyone is worried about, but I think Teamfight Tactics won't affect MSI at all. If anything, it'll help me adapt to high-intensity competition."
Facing the chat that had already started fighting, Lin Fan gave a direct response.
"I'm different from other pro players. The way I find form depends on how relaxed I am. If my nerves stay stretched tight and my brain is completely locked into League of Legends, it actually backfires."
"So my training method is completely different. You often see me 'slacking off,' but in reality, I've been quietly working hard."
"This MSI stretch has already pulled my string to the limit. I have to find a way to relax, so my life isn't nothing but matches."
"So I'm not withdrawing. I'm going to participate with everything I have and see how far I can go."
Lin Fan's words rang in every viewer's ears.
The tapping speed on phones slowed down.
League fans' faces drooped immediately.
Tu Bro really makes people love and hate him.
You call him unprofessional—he plays random games all day, wasting his talent—yet he keeps winning, and his personal performance is absurd.
In Spring Split, his average solo kills were as high as 3.8—just a hair away from 4.
That means he's basically solo-killing every match.
It shows terrifying lane fundamentals.
Add a bottomless champion pool—he used eighteen champions across Spring Split.
No one can even analyze where his ceiling is.
How could a player like this not be addictive?
Of course people can't help but become fans.
Earlier matches, fine—do whatever you want.
But now it's MSI, only the last two BO5s remain. Win those and TES lifts the MSI trophy!
It's not Worlds, but it's still the second most prestigious title of the year—real honor.
Even if you only had half a day, shouldn't you train properly?
And he had a full day and a half—yet he still wanted to go to the TFT China finals.
That's insane.
Normal players understand trade-offs, but Tu Bro was clearly not normal.
League fans didn't even know what to say.
The words were typed in the input box, but they couldn't press send.
Meanwhile, fans of other games applauded wildly—especially TFT fans.
"Work is work, but games are our life!"
"Beautiful—Tu Bro finally made the correct choice."
"They said it already: in Tu Bro's heart, League is probably the lowest priority. If not for the money, why would he sit on stage and play?"
"So I suggest Tu Bro make his hobby his profession. Start an Infinite Borders studio—by his popularity, building a team for a million a year is easy."
"Right! Even if League salaries are tens of millions, they don't make me happy. Still, before that, I suggest winning Worlds first."
"Yeah—otherwise when we praise Tu Bro, people clap back: what titles does he have? What skins? And our Infinite Borders Bro Cult will have nothing to say."
Honestly, the stream chat was full of talent—what they said was weird but hilarious. Sometimes Lin Fan could stare at chat and laugh all day without doing anything.
When League fans heard the answer, and saw the lively atmosphere, they couldn't accept it.
Some even ran to Tieba to make posts.
Basically: Tu Bro is too inflated, he'll eventually fall hard, and only then will he recognize his true level—by then it'll be too late.
Maybe MSI gets won, but Worlds becomes self-inflicted disaster.
They even cursed him with the "S8 RNG" script—win everything pre-Worlds, then get knocked out in quarters at Worlds.
The curse was vicious, and you could feel their anger.
Mainly because Lin Fan felt like he didn't take League seriously—like he was half-lying flat.
It looked exactly like that "Tang Clan mid" back then!
The "wasted talent" storyline still haunted people.
So gifted, yet refusing to work—painful to watch, angering, disappointing in a "I want you to be better" way.
Of course, Lin Fan understood those arguments.
He knew people wanted an "attitude."
But he couldn't exactly say:
I have a system. The more time I spend on League, the more my level stagnates. I need to slack off and get rewarded to become stronger.
Right now, his stat page had reached a level normal people couldn't imagine.
Host: Lin Fan.
Profession: League of Legends Pro Player.
Passive Buffs: Game sense +45%, Mechanics +45%, Farming +15%, Reaction +55%.
Champion Pool: Mid champions max proficiency ✓, Shaco (100%), Renekton (100%)… Kalista (100%), Blitzcrank (100%)…
In later "slacking" rewards, he got a position-targeted champion unlock.
He targeted mid lane directly and cleared the entire mid champion pool.
Meta mids, off-meta mids—everything was effortless now.
And he had started expanding into other roles too.
The mid Renekton he just played proved it: pulling out a non-mainstream mid can produce insane results.
After thinking, Lin Fan spoke again:
"I just want to know how far an ordinary player can go through effort."
"For this tournament, I started from zero and climbed to Challenger to earn a slot."
"Then in the Douyu Cup I barely made it through, and later won the championship—those are acknowledgements of my work."
"The opportunity in front of me might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I don't want to give it up."
"I know it's selfish, so I'm extremely grateful to my teammates for always supporting me."
JackeyLove appeared behind Lin Fan at some point.
"Fan-ge joining TFT isn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. We discussed it seriously as a team. His application was approved by coach and manager."
"And we're planning to go onsite tomorrow to cheer for Fan-ge."
"These days the string has been pulled too tight. Proper rest is also good."
"Because now he doesn't just represent himself—he represents TES."
Chat exploded.
"What is this weird CP vibe?"
TL: CP is Couple Pairing vibe. So they're implying JackeyLove and Lin Fan could be boyfriends for real XD
"Holy crap, JackeyLove!"
"You're really spoiling him!"
"Wait, doesn't JackeyLove have a girlfriend?"
"But Tu Bro's team status really is high. Would anyone else ever get approved?"
"Or maybe White Moon and Guo Hao thought Tu Bro would be one-and-done and didn't care, but then he somehow fought all the way into China finals."
"Facts! Now it's awkward—can't stop, can't continue."
Since Lin Fan had responded, he didn't keep discussing it.
Instead, he found Uzi and the others and played some happy Goose Goose Duck.
That game is addictive—two or three rounds and over an hour vanished.
Seeing the time, it was about time to sleep, so he prepared to say goodbye and end stream.
But then Uzi suddenly asked, "Big Hammer, I heard you're going to the match tomorrow?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Then I'm going to the venue to cheer. With a god present, your luck is maxed. Don't end up missing top six."
"Damn it! Xiao Zao is going too? Then K-God has to go!"
"If so, why don't we all go together? Any issues?"
"I'm down. I'm not streaming tomorrow anyway."
"Then none of us stream!"
"Shen Chao, what about you?"
"Official didn't invite me. If I have no casting duty and I'm a TFT streamer, of course I'll watch. Otherwise you guys won't even understand what you're seeing."
"Nonsense. My TFT understanding is at least Masters level. One look and I know the comp."
Gangzi—burned to ash and still only his mouth remained—of course he had to rebut.
Everyone was used to it.
But listening to all of them, you could tell tomorrow's TFT finals would be interesting.
First: the entire TES roster would go cheer.
Then: a bunch of retired and semi-retired legends would show up too.
This was a top-tier cheering squad—just moving a little would shake the League scene.
Just imagining it was exciting.
It made everyone look forward to tomorrow's TFT venue shots.
Some League fans even forgot why they came into the stream in the first place.
Not long after, the news climbed into trending, instantly maxing out hype for tomorrow's TFT finals.
After all, the finalists' individual popularity wasn't high.
Without Lin Fan, nobody would watch.
Honestly, if Lin Fan wasn't there, people wouldn't even know the tournament was already in its third year.
As for who won the first two… no one knew.
Every set update reshuffles the player base.
If you're not interested, you stop paying attention.
The organizers were smart and immediately posted another official news update—giving everyone a place to comment and argue.
"Tu Bro advanced as first seed in semifinals, so finals should finally be high pressure for him, right?"
"Hard to say. But Korol is strong. I think he can qualify. Annihilation and Liluo got beaten into shutdown mode by Tu Bro. I'm putting a question mark."
"After all these games, does anyone still think Tu Bro got here by luck?"
"Anyway, I'm hyped for tomorrow."
"Is TES really all going? Are they not playing MSI?"
"No way, right?"
TES fans saw this and started worrying.
If TES lost, at least everyone tried.
But if they started messing around before it was over and then lost…
They'd get flamed for months.
The only salvation would be winning Worlds.
May 27.
SKT vs G2 started at 4 PM as scheduled.
But compared to usual, the audience watching was almost cut in half.
Because many people went to the TFT finals stream next door instead.
Not to cheer Lin Fan—
but to flame him.
In the official broadcast, before the match began, cameras specifically showed the crowd.
The center seats were extremely eye-catching.
First was Mark holding a sign.
Then Zoom waving flags and shouting.
JackeyLove sat cold-faced.
Tian looked like he was thinking about something.
Next to them were Uzi, Smlz, Shen Chao…
All holding signs with IDs and even Lin Fan's photo.
Honestly, it looked kind of cringey.
And it was called "the most luxurious cheering squad."
That proved JackeyLove wasn't lying—TES really did come to cheer Tu Bro.
For clickbait accounts, this shot was free headlines.
"TES attends TFT finals as a team—will they miss MSI trophy?"
"Confidence or arrogance? TES relaxes collectively the day before MSI."
Those titles alone made UC traffic spike rapidly.
So many people clicked in.
Because the hottest domestic team right now was TES.
Stars aside—results are king.
As the top MSI title contender, every little movement gets watched.
Especially with the tournament near the end, everyone is extremely sensitive to any sign.
"Damn, are they this reckless because it's domestic? No need to fly overseas."
"There are only three days left. Why not wait until MSI ends?"
"TES hasn't lost yet. Your accusations have no logic."
"Spring champions—are you mad?"
"MSI isn't even over yet. Why are you jumping out so early?"
Some flamed, some defended. Results and facts always attract both sides.
But online noise didn't affect the tournament schedule at all.
At 4:30, under Yu Shuang's hosting, the eight finalists walked out one by one from the player tunnel.
Honestly, compared to the others, Lin Fan and Korol were the most eye-catching.
Fair-skinned, tall, lean—clean and handsome.
All eight sat down at their stations and waited for the match to begin.
And when Lin Fan appeared, the venue screams didn't stop.
"Tu Bro! Tu Bro!"
No exaggeration—over 80% of today's crowd came for Lin Fan.
5 PM.
As the referee typed "go" in the room, the TFT China finals officially began!
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup