In a flash, it was April 12.
TES versus V5 would start right on time at 4:30 p.m.
Over these ten days, all the players trained hard.
Especially Knight.
Three days before the match, Luo Sheng stated it outright: this series would determine Knight's future market value.
Whether he'd be living the good life or scraping by all depended on how he performed here.
Knight was a smart guy.
Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to spin five or six girls around his finger.
What Luo Sheng said made it obvious TES planned to sell him for Summer Split.
Before that happened, he had to prove himself.
After all, his Spring Split games were dogshit—no matter who the opponent was, he couldn't beat them.
When Lin Fan got the notice, he said he understood.
Getting to rest—what's not to like?
Most importantly, Knight posed zero threat to him.
And don't be fooled by the "slacking"—Lin Fan's panel was already absurd.
He'd gained five more max-proficiency champions:
Akali, Malphite, Lucian, Fizz, and Renekton.
His champion pool expanded even further.
In Honor of Kings, he'd already reached 2400 points.
He'd picked up a sizable fanbase too.
Some of them even said in stream yesterday they'd come cheer at today's match.
Among League pros, that was basically one of a kind—having a whole group of Honor of Kings fans show up in person to support.
Unfortunately, the timing was bad.
Today Knight started, while Lin Fan sat on the bench.
Besides that, his Genshin Impact grind had reached level 33.
His TFT rating kept climbing too—he hit Challenger with 970 LP, rank #21.
The moment he reached his target, he immediately registered with the platform to enter Douyu's streamer qualifiers.
He also got recommended Apex Legends.
He picked it up quickly—especially Lifeline as the team's healer.
But he still wasn't fully familiar yet.
Sitting in the lounge, he watched Auntie Yu Shuang introduce both teams.
Knight, who hadn't been on camera for a long time, wore a faint smile.
You could tell he was confident today.
When the camera panned across him and he appeared in the broadcast, the chat instantly spammed like crazy.
"Bad luck!"
"Bad luck!"
"Yare—why aren't you starting Brother Infinite Borders?"
"Even with a revival life you can't mess around like this. How is Knight supposed to play against Rookie?"
"White Moon is as dogshit as ever. Changed his name, still dogshit. His tactics in matches are nonsense."
"How can you not put Brother Infinite Borders in?"
"Bad luck! Bad luck!"
At the venue, a small group of cute girls holding signs with Lin Fan and Yu Ji pictures couldn't help cursing out loud.
Why did TES's mid laner turn into some short, creepy little dude?
If the other handsome guys next to him weren't easy on the eyes, people might've thrown up.
When both teams sat at their stations, the director quietly cut the camera to the lounge.
Lin Fan sat calmly next to the water dispenser, picked up a cup, and took a sip.
"Yare—Brother Infinite Borders is literally sitting by the water dispenser. I'm so fucking done."
"His mentality still looks fine."
"Of course it's fine. You guys don't even understand what the club is doing. They're letting Knight regain some value so they can sell him."
"Holy shit, the guy above is a genius. You can tell that?"
"But if things look wrong, White Moon will probably sub Brother Infinite Borders in."
"A shit hand can still find work? The internet's getting weak."
TL: In case you forgot, Knight used to be called Golden Left Hand, for how good his mechanic skills were. Well, they were supposed to be good. Then he picked up too many ladies.
…
On stage, Rookie felt a bit regretful when he saw Knight starting.
In the regular season, he didn't get his win back.
He'd been itching to take it back in playoffs.
But TES actually put in Knight.
Playing Knight—what pressure was there?
Rookie narrowed his eyes, fully focused.
Caster desk.
Wawa said, "Knight is starting today. TES probably has a tactical plan. I checked his Korean server match history too—really clean. His form has been great lately."
Gugu added, "Right. As for Brother Infinite Borders, he has no match history at all these days…"
"But Brother Infinite Borders can't be judged with common sense. In the regular season he had no ranked record either, yet he still won eighteen MVPs."
When 957 said that, he couldn't help laughing.
Back when he played, he couldn't even imagine such a thing.
"Alright—both teams are ready. The match begins!"
…
Game 1 made it obvious: Tian and Knight looked disconnected.
Mid-jungle synergy: zero.
Mainly because Tian was used to being directed by Lin Fan, playing around mid.
Around seven or eight minutes, mid-jungle would link up, gank top or bot, or invade.
But Knight couldn't do it.
First, he couldn't get lane priority. That was fatal—it meant mid couldn't move.
And even when he could move, Knight chose to sit mid and farm.
With mid tempo dead, shotcalling could only fall on Mark.
But Mark's shotcalling was mediocre, and he hadn't been calling much recently. His thinking wasn't clear.
So TES felt like everyone was playing their own game.
Bot lane was winning pure lane, but mid-jungle couldn't support.
Instead, bot lane became the breakthrough point.
Rookie's Orianna repeatedly attacked bot, and with Karsa, they dove and took two kills. Mid lane took off.
Knight was already struggling against an Orianna with no kills.
Now he got shoved under turret and couldn't even move.
A little past nine minutes, Karsa's Hecarim kicked mid without reason, and with Orianna, they dove and killed him.
Then they turned and secured Rift Herald.
V5's mid-jungle tempo exploded.
By fifteen minutes, the kill score was 14–4.
The gold gap was already five thousand.
Rookie's Orianna farmed turret plates in mid—full value.
One QW and squishies lost their HP…
With a massive lead, V5 started Baron at twenty minutes.
TES wanted to contest, but with that gap they shattered on contact.
They simply couldn't take a teamfight.
With Baron buff, V5 broke all outer turrets, then used Hecarim–Orianna to crash into the base, wiped TES, and ended in one push.
The moment the game ended, a small camera shot caught it:
Knight and Tian both glanced at each other sideways.
Everything was said without words…
Backstage in the lounge, Luo Sheng looked conflicted and glanced at Lin Fan.
This game didn't just fail to raise Knight's value—he lost a whole chunk of it…
Do they put Lin Fan in?
Luo Sheng's head spun.
With that mid-jungle state and coordination, they'd absolutely get obliterated by Rookie and Karsa again.
Chat never stopped for a second.
"Hahaha, clown show."
"No mid carry, TES can't play, huh?"
"Now we're back to the regular season vibe. Mid-jungle reeks."
"All I can say is there's a pest."
"Swap or not? Hahaha. I'll just ask—White Moon, are you swapping or not?"
TL: White Moon is Luo Sheng the coach by the way.
…
Game 2, TES kept the same lineup and didn't sub Knight out.
But this time, Knight took Azir, and Tian took Viego.
The plan was clear: if mid-jungle can't create tempo, pick two scaling farmers and look for a mid-to-late teamfight opening.
Being able to play late-game scaling mids was indeed a plus.
Rookie, maybe because he'd gotten high off Game 1, locked in LeBlanc for Game 2.
Karsa picked Lee Sin.
Mid-jungle intensity maxed out—clearly they weren't letting Knight breathe.
At 5:30, LeBlanc hit level six and dove with Lee Sin!
After dying once, Azir couldn't stabilize at all.
Knight's face turned bright red.
"Tian, why aren't you coming? You only like being Lin Fan's dog, huh?"
That line in comms instantly froze the atmosphere, suffocatingly cold.
"What the hell is Knight saying?" Luo Sheng cursed out loud.
Lin Fan didn't react.
After all, everyone knew Knight's personality—he'd cursed teammates behind their backs plenty of times.
Tian endured it and didn't say a word.
But the fact he Smited away blue buff showed his mood wasn't as calm as he looked.
"Knight-ge, don't panic. I'm ahead. We can still play." JackeyLove hurriedly said.
If he didn't speak up, he was honestly worried Tian would slam a keyboard into someone's face.
In his heart, he also complained: Knight was like a kid… couldn't he read the room?
That was the spark that lit the whole game.
Knight's mental boom made his Azir mechanics warp.
Rookie seized the chances and solo-killed him twice.
Then he started "reading books"!
Every time Azir died, it was like four pages got flipped.
At twelve minutes, Azir's scoreline hit a ridiculous 0–6—an all-time war criminal performance.
LeBlanc was 7–0–2, fully taking off.
The moment JackeyLove showed, he turned into a corpse.
Now it wasn't just Knight tilting—JackeyLove was tilting too.
"Your mom's kiss, I'm about to turn red hot!"
But he knew swearing wouldn't change anything.
At fifteen minutes, LeBlanc went godlike, and Mejai's reached twenty stacks.
'Killing spree' didn't even do it justice.
Like Game 1, TES collapsed—and this time it was even worse.
Kill score: 3–21. Gold gap: 9,400.
And it was only eighteen minutes.
A complete slaughter.
V5 didn't even need Baron. They just pushed straight to the Nexus turrets.
Maybe out of respect for TES's face, they didn't end immediately. They recalled, reset, took Baron, then pushed again.
LeBlanc dove through the crowd and came out again, taking three kills.
V5 ended cleanly.
2–0. V5 held a three-match-point advantage.
Their fans screamed:
"Rookie! Rookie!"
The win conditions looked amazing. TES now had only one path left:
Reverse sweep.
And at that moment, TES fans holding signs roared at the top of their lungs:
"Put Brother Infinite Borders in! Fucking White Moon!"
Because they were near the caster desk, that furious shout got picked up by the microphone and broadcast live.
And instantly, chat turned into a wall of the same line:
"Shit, fucking White Moon—put Brother Infinite Borders in!"
Because that shout… really said what everyone was thinking.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup