For preview purposes only; final product may differ
Author: Yi Xiu Luo
Translator: Xuannie
Galaxy Legends was one of the latest trending PVP games. With its strategic gameplay as well as solo and team battle features, the game was an instant favourite among young people everywhere. The game took the Yanshan University campus by storm after a successful marketing campaign and garnered nearly as many players as the old classic, Soulless OL. Ling Meng, who had got into gaming in his first year in university, earned himself a lowly place among the celebrity gamers in Galaxy Legends for being an amazing and characterful player. It was a pity that the reason behind his popularity wasn’t his great gaming skills.
These were some of the comments people left on the player ranking board about Lemon:
“Lemon has been stuck in limbo, alternating between the God and Diamond tiers for ages. He’s famous for his caustic wit. Players who suffer defeat at his hands are blessed with ‘Lemon Daddy’s Sendoff” ever since the public beta stage. None has escaped his tender, loving care.”
“To persevere is to prevail. Lemon’s unchanging tradition of mocking the players he’s crushed has led to a change of hearts. Droves of players who detested him now adore him. Thus, the community of antis of Lemon Daddy was born. Some players have even resorted to losing a battle deliberately so that they could be blessed with Lemon’s final parting words.”
Personally, Ling Meng did not care that it was his sharp tongue that got him his place among the other big-shot gamers. In fact, he had casually joined an anti group dedicated to him. Watching members create memes out of the stuff he had said and spam the group with said memes became a source of daily entertainment for him besides gaming. Today, like any other day, Lemon the Sharp-tongued logged onto Galaxy Legends.
[System]The Federation emerged victorious after a fierce battle!
[Federation]Lemon: remember how I look as I leave u in the dust. That's the trail u gotta follow to catch up to me.
[Empire]GuestA: LOL! Received item [Lemon Daddy’s Sendoff]. Screenshot saved for posterity!
That was the message that greeted Ling Meng’s roommate when he got back to their room. He was well aware of Ling Meng’s strong personality. The gamers on Galaxy Legends, on the other hand, continued to confound him.
“Your opponents must be the only gamers who are happy to be losers.”
Ling Meng decided to take that as a compliment. He waited for the next match to start. As a part of his daily quest, he only had to win three battles to be entitled to a reward. With a clear ding, the PVP screen loaded. Mangosteen’s ID stared him in the face.
“Get lost. You got matched with Mangod?” Ling Meng’s roommate said excitedly as he got closer. He had been staring at Ling Meng’s monitor all this while. “Are you serious? How did this happen?”
Mangosteen, who had been bestowed the title “Mangod” by fans who found his actual username tediously long, was a top live streamer who signed a deal with the live-streaming platform, Doumao. Having won himself a horde of male fans with his fantastic gaming skills and another horde of female fans with his mesmerising voice, Mangosteen had a position on the celebrity ranking board that was unshakeable. The God tier, the top player tier in Galaxy Legends, only had five hundred places. Below that was the Diamond tier, which was where Ling Meng’s name was usually found. Players referred to the feat of moving from the Diamond tier to the God tier as “attaining godhood”. Ling Meng was a top player in the Diamond tier. When the odds were in his favour, he would breeze through a couple of victories, all the way to godhood. However, the God tier was filled with skilled players. All it took was a couple more battles before he was demoted to the Diamond tier again. Mangosteen, on the other hand, often ranked top thirty in the China server. Honestly, the odds of them being matched for a battle were very low.
“Beats me. Maybe he hasn’t played much this season.” Ling Meng puffed out his cheeks, looking like a hamster with peanuts hidden in its cheeks. Ling Meng’s roommate was of the firm belief that between Ling Meng and Mangosteen, the former would make the better live streamer. He would get so animated while he was gaming that they could make a whole set of stickers based on the facial expressions he made.
The system randomly selected a location, and Ling Meng ended up in Empire territory. He sent the occasional fleet of spaceships to bother Mangosteen, but they didn’t call him Mangod for no reason. Mangosteen appeared to have read Ling Meng’s mind. He had a shield ready and blocked Ling Meng’s units outside. Then, he attacked Ling Meng’s minecart with a stealth unit. With his resource supply disrupted, Ling Meng’s progress slowed to a snail’s pace. He decided to wing it and sold off everything to buy more units. This was what Mangosteen had been waiting for. His mothership sneaked to the rear of Ling Meng’s forces and finished the opponent off.
The battle ended with Mangosteen’s breezy victory. As the huge icon for defeat appeared on the black and white screen, Ling Meng’s roommate, who had witnessed the entire battle, snickered. “Let’s see you keep up your smug act! You’re about to lose your Lemon Daddy title.”
“This is hardly a big deal.” Ling Meng was unfazed. “I was up against a top player. I’m just a nobody. It makes perfect sense that I should lose the match. It’s hardly embarrassing.”
“A nobody? You? Are you sure about that?”
“Of course. I know who he is. You think he knows who I am?”
The system notification popped up then.
[System]The Empire emerged victorious after a fierce battle!
As usual, Ling Meng pressed the “Enter” key to switch to the chat window.
[Federation]Lemon: you’re too OP uwu
“Oh my god.” Once again, Ling Meng’s roommate found himself stupefied by Ling Meng’s lack of shame. “How are you so calm saying that?”
“Come on, Mangod’s not going to bother remembering a nobody like me.”
There was a loud slam as the door swung open and hit the wall. One of Ling Meng’s classmates, who stayed in the room right across from Ling Meng’s, burst into the room. He slumped against the door and started laughing like a man gone mad.
“What drugs are you on?” Ling Meng scoffed.
The guy simply pointed at Ling Meng and snickered.
“You’re too OP uwu!”
Ling Meng froze in shock.
“Didn’t anyone tell you? Mangod live-streamed the battle.”
Ling Meng was flabbergasted. A few seconds passed. He wailed, dashed out of the room and barged into the room across the corridor. His classmate was watching Mangosteen’s live stream, alongside tens of thousands of online viewers. In fact, the live stream looked set to hit 100,000 views. Now that the match had ended, the live stream screen was loading. In the meantime, everyone was posting danmu. The same string of words scrolled across the screen:
“You’re too OP uwu”
“You’re too OP uwu”
“You’re too OP uwu”
Ling Meng was seized by a sudden, intense desire to strangle the oh so mighty Mangod. Why the hell was a God tier player live streaming a 1V1 battle against a Diamond tier player? Was there a point in doing that?
The Mangosteen VS Lemon video went viral the next day. Ling Meng couldn’t help himself from checking it out on the video-streaming platform Bilibili. Mangosteen sure had some crazy fans. They started fanboying and fangirling and filling the screen with danmu as soon as he started talking.
“Sorry, guys. I’ve been busy with school and hardly played any qualifying matches. I know I’m a few weeks late on the live stream I promised you. Since I’ve got time today, I’ll live stream a daily 1V1. Hope you don’t mind the player tier.”
Ling Meng wanted to punch someone. Sure, the Diamond tier was no God tier, but it was still the second highest tier in the game. Most players had not even reached that tier. What a snob!
There was a brief moment spent in waiting before his adorable avatar appeared on the battle screen.
“Here’s my opponent for Round 1…”
Ling Meng swore Mangosteen paused momentarily before letting out a soft laugh. He had his headset on—he could almost feel Mangosteen’s imaginary breath brushing his ear. He shivered. The viewers started flooding the screen with danmu again.
“Yoooooooo Lemon Daddy!!!!”
“Congrats! You got matched with Lemon Daddy!”
“I know they’re both real people, so why does it feel like some kind of RP crossover?”
“I guess their gaming style’s so diff, it’s like they’re playing two completely diff games /shrug.”
“Am I the only one praying that Lemon comes out on top this time? I wanna know what he’ll say to Mangod if he wins.”
“Hoping that he comes out on top ‘this time’ implies that he’s been bottoming all this while.”
What the hell were they going on about? The minds of the viewers watching Mangosteen’s live stream were downright filthy. It made sense though. Like celebrity, like fan.
However, Mangosteen didn’t comment on Lemon, instead getting into the zone as soon as the match started.
“When it comes to daily 1V1, both parties tend to want to end the battle as soon as possible. I bet my opponent’s going to launch an attack at the start of the battle.”
Ling Meng watched as Mangosteen set up a shield with a few smooth clicks and upgraded the skill, Stealth, on the tech skill tree.
“The rate at which he’s deploying units suggests that he doesn’t have sufficient resources left to build anti-stealth radar. Players of this level shouldn’t be making such amateur mistakes. There’s a possibility that he’s set an ambush for me in the mining sector and is waiting for me to take the bait. Let’s see if that’s the case.”
A minute later, Mangosteen destroyed Lemon’s minecart without losing a single HP.
“Maybe it was a gift,” Mangod surmised.
The screen was flooded with “LOL” and “LMAO”.
“Does being in the proximity of Lemon the Sharp-tongued grant u a debuff that deals sarcasm?”
“The Mangod I know would never say that!”
“Might be a measly minecart but it’s the thought that counts.”
Mangosteen appeared unaffected by the comments. “He could choose to retreat to a defensive position and draw out the battle, but a 1V1 isn’t worth all that effort. He’ll probably launch an all-out offensive.”
He deployed a scout and—bingo. Lemon was dismantling all his buildings save his base and dockyard and spending all the resources he got in return on building his forces. In hindsight, Lemon had done everything that Mangosteen had said he would like a good soldier following orders. It was as if Lemon was the one who had live streamed his game instead.
Mangosteen placed all his units at the frontline and explained, “Players like this tend to go on the offensive and usually prefer to launch frontal assaults.”
Once again, the screen was flooded with comments, this time gushing over how amazing Mangosteen was.
“Are u saying players like u prefer to penetrate from the rear?”
Mangosteen didn’t deny the statement. In fact, he did the exact opposite. “Depends on who I’m penetrating.”
The viewers filled the screen with suggestive exclamations like “Oooooh”.
Ling Meng was right. Trashy celebrities attracted trashy fans. Live streamers like Mangosteen were rotten apples spoiling the Galaxy Legends community.
Ling Meng watched as Mangosteen successfully predicted and thwarted his act of desperation while deploying his mothership and sending it to the rear of Ling Meng’s forces so that they ended up being surrounded. He crushed Ling Meng without breaking a sweat. There could not be an easier victory. The danmu on the screen sung Mangosteen’s praises while viewers bombarded Mangosteen with gifts.
“A complete massacre as always. Mangod has no mercy.”
“Lemon Daddy gon call the cops on you!”
“Hello, sir, I'd like to report a hate crime.”
“I wanna know what Lemon Daddy’s feeling right now.”
“Achievement unlocked: received [Lemon Daddy’s Ass on a Silver Platter].”
Ling Meng heard Mangosteen’s voice ringing through his headset as his Empire base was blown to smithereens. “Honestly, those who manage to reach the Diamond tier are all decent players. He just wasn’t performing at his best.”
Ling Meng scoffed at the insincere attempt to explain his loss.
“Looking forward to Lemon Daddy’s last words.”
“I don’t think he does that often? He usually runs asap whenever he loses.”
“The guy’s made too many enemies. Probably doesn’t want a taste of his own medicine.”
“I'm more interested in Mangod’s parting message.”
“Mangod, plz avenge those of us who’ve been constantly mocked by Lemon!”
“Yes! Do it for me!”
“+10086!”
Danmu filled the screen once more, warning of the upcoming. The next moment, Ling Meng saw the parting message he deeply regretted leaving.
[Federation]Lemon: you’re too OP uwu
Mangosteen seemed surprised by this message. He paused for a second, then burst out in laughter.
Ling Meng didn’t have to keep watching to know what happened next. With a heavy heart, he closed the window.
Ling Meng went viral overnight. Galaxy Legends players would post the exact same comments on his social media posts—“You’re too OP uwu”.
His helpful reply to a newbie’s question on the forum spawned a comment thread spanning over a hundred nested comments that all went—“You’re too OP uwu”.
While lurking in the anti group dedicated to him, he saw the same meme posted and reposted countless times—“You’re too OP uwu”.
Even while lurking on the university forum, he found himself subjected to ridicule in comments that went—“You’re too OP uwu”.
Ling Meng was bombarded with that phrase wherever he went. He had done nothing to Mangosteen. The guy hadn’t begrudged him anything either—he had simply thrashed Ling Meng through sheer skill. To be honest, Ling Meng was the idiot who didn’t think before he spoke, and he couldn’t blame Mangosteen for the backlash. He could only suffer the consequences of his actions in silence.
In the next couple of days, Ling Meng’s roommate would hear Ling Meng singing loudly on the balcony in the middle of the night. “The night is cold, I stand in the snow…”
It took a few days before things got better. Some continued to post that same comment under his social media posts and those comments would inevitably start trending online, but fortunately, Ling Meng had learned to ignore them.
Soon, it was the last day of the season. Ling Meng just needed to win one more battle to reach godhood and earn a medal for the season. Unfortunately, he got randomly matched with Mangosteen again. He must be cursed. Wasn’t Mangosteen one of the top players in the game? What was he doing in the Diamond tier? Did he enjoy thrashing players who were not as skilled as he was?
There was one thing he must find out before the battle started.
[Federation]Lemon: are u streaming rn?
[Empire]Mangosteen: make a guess
Ling Meng sulked and gave his screen the finger. It didn’t matter that Mangosteen wouldn’t be able to see it. It was the thought that counted. He ended up suffering yet another humiliating defeat, walking right into the trap Mangosteen had laid for him, because he had been too desperate to win. As they said, when you try to have everything, you end up with nothing.
This time, the cool and aloof Mangosteen who hardly spoke in-game broke character and left Ling Meng with a parting message.
[Empire]Mangosteen: too OP for you
A furious Ling Meng swept his keyboard off the table and sent it crashing to the ground.
People started commenting on social media and forums again, this time, with a modified version of Ling Meng’s final words—“Too OP for you”.
Ling Meng was bombarded with the same phrase all day. He could hear it in his head as he read his advanced math textbook. As the current season came to an end, Ling Meng sadly remained in the Diamond tier and he didn’t get a medal either. Of course, he blamed it all on Mangosteen.