After the interview ended, Lin Fan politely invited Auntie Yu Shuang to hotpot with them.
So many people were out already—going straight back to base without eating would feel wrong.
Especially after winning the TFT China championship.
That was a 1,000,000 prize pool—no small sum.
They had to celebrate.
Yu Shuang thought for a moment, then nodded.
As an official host, she had good relationships with pro players in private.
Most of the people here had been interviewed by her before.
Old acquaintances—no awkwardness.
So the whole crowd marched to a nearby Haidilao, ready to feast.
Of course, a big group makes big noise and draws attention.
And Haidilao is mostly young people—one glance and they recognized this "luxury squad."
After all, this group contained more than 70% of League's traffic.
Not to mention the current top star Lin Fan, plus JackeyLove, Uzi, and several major streamers.
Not recognizing them would be weird.
So people ran over for photos and autographs…
Honestly, as long as the attitude was good, Lin Fan would satisfy these small requests.
A photo doesn't cost anything.
But Yu Shuang, every time a female fan came over, would deliberately appear in the back-right of the frame.
You shouldn't have the heart to harm others, but you must have the caution to guard against others.
She'd been in the League circle for so long—she'd seen far too much.
Others weren't as convenient, but as a host, she was perfectly suited.
TL:
Yu Shuang is strategically photobombing to protect Lin Fan's reputation.
The meaning: By deliberately appearing in the background of photos between Lin Fan and female fans, she's acting as a witness/chaperone. This serves several purposes:
Prevents false accusations - If a female fan later tried to claim something inappropriate happened or manipulate the photo/situation, Yu Shuang's presence in the photo proves nothing sketchy occurred
Discourages inappropriate behavior - Her visible presence makes it clear this is a public, professional interaction, not a private moment
Protects against scandal - In Chinese entertainment/esports culture, even innocent photos with female fans can be twisted into dating rumors or worse
_______
Those who got photos excitedly posted them online to show off.
"Just-won champion Tu Bro is celebrating with everyone at Haidilao. He's so handsome in person and super warm—never refuses photos. He's nothing like the cold persona on stream. /heart/ /heart/ /heart/"
"I'm officially in love! I suggest we call him HandsomeTuBro instead. He's ridiculously handsome, but his fashion is super bad. Classic two-dimensional nerd trait—if it's wearable, it's fine; doesn't matter if it looks good."
…
Other girls looked on with envy, drooling.
"Ahhhh which Haidilao? Can I rush over now?"
"This face could totally survive in the entertainment industry."
"It's over—Tu Bro's outfit… does he not realize he's actually that handsome?"
"Three straight 'Chickens' and he goes to Haidilao to celebrate."
"LMAO, I just left and Tu Bro arrived right after. No fate—I missed the photo!"
Of course, there were also some inappropriate comments.
"SKT really is a three-time world champion team. 3–0 sending G2 home easily. That's strong-team heritage—TES's traffic team can't compare."
"So unfortunate. MSI isn't even finished. Trophy isn't in hand yet and they're already cocky. Dine got one small achievement and got praised so hard his tail is in the sky. He really thinks he's a game genius."
Those comments made some casual readers instantly develop a negative feeling toward TES—and a weird feeling toward Lin Fan.
Talent is talent, but not training? What is that?
Geniuses are rare, and most people can't relate.
But "hard work" is always the mainstream value.
People naturally respect hard-working players.
Of course, Lin Fan had plenty of fans too.
Seeing him attacked, they jumped out to rebut immediately.
Is the current record not good?
Spring Split champion.
Rumble Stage first seed.
And Tu Bro's performance—counting the rematch games, he played 19 games and took 17 MVPs.
Does that not prove anything?
Semis hadn't even started and so many people were already singing doom—they couldn't tolerate it.
One line: if you want to watch with subjective predictions, then get lost.
Super aggressive.
So people immediately labeled them: "GSL 2.0," "Tu Bro Cult." Brainwashed, can't tell right from wrong, all "dipped in sauce."
But online arguing didn't last long.
Because tomorrow was TES versus EG.
A BO5…
Donkey or horse, bring it out and let's see.
See whether they win easily or not.
If it looks even slightly ugly—if they even drop one game—TES should get ready to receive everyone's anger.
The haters had already been waiting forever.
They'd pinned their accounts to the stream, eager, fists clenched.
May 28.
Second semifinal.
TES vs EG, fighting for the last MSI finals ticket.
For this match, the winner was basically predetermined.
No matter how absurd TES was, they wouldn't lose this.
People were watching mainly for the process.
Especially since SKT beat G2 cleanly—three games under two hours.
That's what a strong team's tactical discipline looks like.
TES playing an even weaker EG should be easier and simpler.
If any problem appeared at all, domestic public opinion would explode.
But the haters didn't get the scene they wanted.
Because the strength gap was too big to imagine.
Everything was one-sided.
In that moment, the haters who had jumped out earlier went silent.
The supporters dominated the forums and Tieba.
"Tu-haters, speak! Say loudly—how was Tu Bro's performance?"
"Well… sorry. Tu Bro just doesn't train and still crushes every mid."
"LMAO, I just realized something: EG in that massive deficit still lasted 16 minutes—how did SKT not even last 16 back then?"
"I knew someone would say that, but honestly… true."
Across these three games, Lin Fan's domination felt despairing.
Haters could only curse internally:
"This bastard doesn't train—why can he keep this level?"
"Jojopyun learned nothing from groups to rumble. Zero improvement."
"We can only hope the finals save us…"
A few people tried "speaking up against the tide," but they got shut down instantly.
"So what if they beat EG? So what if they beat SKT later? With Dine's training attitude, he's doomed to fall off."
"Thanks for the comedy from people still spouting! Three games isn't proof?"
"They were saying it at five wins, saying it at ten wins, and Tu Bro is still invincible!"
"Pros have their own training methods. Just because Tu Bro is different doesn't mean you can deny him."
"I'll say it again: believe first, then question. When TES is winning nonstop, I can't even find words to attack them."
Game One.
TES only needed 23 minutes.
And that was still the longest of the three games!
That alone showed how one-sided it was.
In this game, Lin Fan pulled out a "new champion" for the first time—Yasuo—showing his hidden reserves again.
At this MSI, Yasuo's pick rate was actually high.
But wins were rare and win rate was low.
The champion is flashy but has low margin for error, slow scaling, and needs a massive advantage to dominate.
Lin Fan's Yasuo wasn't like Caps' Yasuo.
Every second he was thinking about how to solo kill his lane.
The moment Jojopyun arrived in lane, his mind went blank and his scalp tingled.
How do I play this?
How do I stabilize lane, then carry mid-late and help the team win?
It was wishful thinking.
At level 2 he got shoved back to tower.
The moment the wave crashed, Tian came for a tower dive and killed him.
No resistance.
TES mid-jungle played a pure "bind" style.
Mid lane was 2v1.
And Jojopyun couldn't even win 1v1—let alone 2v1.
After that dive, the humiliation phase began.
No Flash—every time they caught him, it was a life.
First solo kill, then mid outer turret, then map-wide slaughter.
Yasuo only needs one teammate knock-up and he can enter from a thousand miles away.
A Yasuo with a full item lead, fed to the sky—plus three teammates who can provide knock-ups.
Just imagining it is terrifying.
Once someone gets popped up, Yasuo appears instantly.
Landing crit—800+ damage—one life gone.
EG even sent three people to hunt him—only to get two of them killed instead!
Three versus one, and you get counter-killed—do you even know how to play?
People couldn't find words.
The skill gap was too big.
No suspense.
So the gold lead grew insanely fast—under 15 minutes it was already 8,000, and kept accelerating.
At 20 minutes, Baron was secured, and TES grouped to push.
After a short tug-of-war, Tian found the angle—Jarvan EQ combo in, instantly knocking up two.
Yasuo ult followed—easy double kill.
The gap was too huge.
EG had no ability to resist and got crushed.
At 23 minutes, it ended.
Lin Fan's stats were absurd: 17 kills.
"On a killing spree" wasn't even exaggeration.
Game Two.
You could tell EG put in effort.
They wanted to get revenge—at minimum, don't lose this ugly.
Even if eliminated, at least win one game!
Show some North American pride.
After all, they used to be a "major region," and now they keep getting Worlds slots stripped away…
That's embarrassing.
And Europe's Worlds results have been getting better and better.
Even optimistic NA fans can't laugh anymore.
But the truth is—they're just not talented at the game.
Their whole league can't find a few locals.
That alone tells you the state of NA.
Otherwise Doublelift wouldn't have said it:
"Everyone here is trash."
An aging ADC dominating NA for years—what does that tell you?
But unfortunately, Game Two Lin Fan pulled out mid Kalista.
No need to say more—this champion is easy for stomping weak opponents.
And it had just been buffed, making lane even easier.
Riot had to buff it—otherwise Kalista should've been deleted and reworked.
Nerfed and nerfed, with no bot lane presence.
Jojopyun picked Azir this game.
SKT's coaching staff watched and wore "as expected" expressions.
This champion was clearly practiced to counter Azir on stage…
Domestic viewers had a weird feeling too.
Damn, isn't this TheShy's favorite top lane pick at S11? The classic "ranged into melee."
Is Tu Bro getting addicted too?
Not practicing real mid champs, but practicing Kalista? Hard to accept.
People had bias against Kalista off-role.
But Lin Fan played a queen-level performance.
And those voices died down fast.
Level 2 solo kill—exactly like that earlier solo queue game.
Push wave under tower, find angle, stack spears—once Azir is full of spears, E pops and the kill is easy.
The weakness was clear too: once targeted, it's easy to die.
So Lin Fan died twice this game.
But his final stats were still beautiful: 9–2–7, leading TES to win game two.
And with double AD, towers melted fast.
The game ended in just over 18 minutes.
MVP still went to Lin Fan—perfect stats, perfect output.
"The gap between a first seed and another first seed is sometimes bigger than the gap between humans and dogs."
"TES's form is too good. I have no idea where those 'worries' came from."
After two stomps, the public narrative flipped completely.
With games one and two, EG were already numb, murdered into blurred awareness, and their mechanics visibly collapsed.
By game three, their resistance dropped two more levels.
Now it wasn't just mid solo kills—top and bot also exploded.
Triple-lane snowball is even scarier than double-lane snowball.
In under ten minutes, all three outer turrets were gone.
TES grouped and shoved mid immediately.
The tempo was insanely fast.
So game three was the shortest of the BO5.
16:47, game ended.
Lin Fan's Syndra stats weren't as crazy as before, but he still went godlike.
Three straight MVPs.
Three games, no mid-break, under one hour total.
It took less time than Lin Fan's TFT championship run…
"Damn… looks like it's normal that Tu Bro needs more effort for TFT!"
"For Tu Bro, League really is simpler."
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup