Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

As the whistle blew, Lu Ren walked to the baseline service area.

He twirled the volleyball in his hand; its texture was rough and realistic. The spotlight overhead was blinding, reminding him of the dazzling lighting effects deliberately designed to increase difficulty in games. Since conventional methods were unlikely to break through the defenses of the high-level NPCs in western Qingye City, he would have to utilize the map mechanics.

"Hoo..." Lu Ren adjusted his breathing and took a step back.

Throw the ball and swing your arm.

Instead of pursuing extreme speed, he blasted the ball straight toward the ceiling.

The volleyball, spinning wildly, darted into the light strip and vanished from sight in an instant, then plummeted like a meteorite with the force of gravity.

"Wow, that serve is so powerful no matter how many times I see it." Oikawa Tetsu looked up at the ball that crashed down from the halo of light, his tone as relaxed as if he were commenting on the weather. "But this kind of trick that uses visual interference becomes meaningless once people get used to the landing point."

Before he finished speaking, Iwaizumi had already calmed down. He completely ignored the blinding light and stared intently at the trajectory of the ball after it left the circle of light.

"I'll do it."

Two short and powerful words.

Iwaizumi's arms were firmly raised, and as the ball made contact, his knees slightly bent to absorb the force. The seemingly powerful ceiling serve bounced gently and landed precisely at the setter's position.

"Tch, are you trying to see if this guy can handle it or not?" Lu Ren clicked his tongue and quickly rushed back onto the court to defend.

The first pass was perfect, and Oikawa Tetsu flicked his fingers without hesitation. The volleyball was drawn out in a straight arc, and Hanamaki Takahiro on the left wing had already jumped.

"Bang!"

The smash wasn't heavy, but the angle was tricky.

Hinata Shoyo reacted quickly, taking a step to reach out and catch the ball. However, he clearly overestimated his arm control; the volleyball struck his wrist bone, abruptly changing its trajectory and sending it veering off the court.

"Oh no!" Hinata exclaimed.

The ball was about to hit the ground.

A figure slid across the floor. Lu Ren was like a fish pulled from the water, his entire body fully extended. As his body slammed against the floor with a dull thud, he hooked the ball up with one hand at the extreme limit.

The volleyball soared high into the air, wobbled over the net, and landed in the backcourt of Aoba Castle West.

"Chance ball!" Watari shouted, easily passing the ball to Oikawa Toru.

Lu Ren scrambled to his feet, his knees burning with pain. He looked up and saw Oikawa Toru's infuriatingly smiling face.

Oikawa Tetsu even had time to observe Karasuno's blocking formation, his gaze flickering between Hyuga and Tsukishima before he flicked his wrist outward and pushed the ball to Iwaizumi Hajime, who was already poised to attack.

"One more point!"

With a roar, Iwaizumi swung his arm, forcefully hitting the ball out of bounds against a double block from Daichi and Tsukishima. The volleyball bounced towards the stands.

The whistle blows, and Aoba Castle West scores.

Lu Ren dusted off his jersey, walked over to Hinata, and launched into his sarcastic mode without any mercy: "Hinata, is your catching skill still stuck in the beginner tutorial? That ball had such a wide hitbox, and you still managed to land a critical hit—against one of our own."

Hinata shrank back, looking guilty. "I'm so sorry! The ball suddenly..."

"Alright, apologizing now is useless; the lost health bar can't be recovered." Lu Ren interrupted him, patting the kid on the back. "Let's win this round first. Don't let that king laugh too happily; it's an eyesore."

"Yes!!" Hinata nodded vigorously, his eyes refocusing.

The score widened. It was Kindaichi's turn to serve from Aoba Johsai.

Just before the whistle blew to serve, Oikawa Tetsu walked past Kindaichi and whispered something while covering his mouth. Kindaichi paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically, a calculating glint in his eyes.

"What kind of weird tactics are they using now..." Lu Ren narrowed his eyes, instinctively sensing the danger.

Kindaichi throws the ball and jumps serve.

The ball wasn't particularly fast, but its landing point was very awkward—it landed right at the junction of Karasuno's front and back lines.

In that instant, Karasuno's formation began to spin like gears. Kageyama Tobio was preparing to move up from the back row to organize an attack, while Higashimine Asahi, who was responsible for receiving the first pass, was moving laterally to cover the position.

Their movement paths strangely overlapped at that moment.

"You're in my way!" Kageyama instinctively stepped aside to avoid it.

"I'll do it!" Dong Fengxu's view was blocked for a moment, and his movements were a beat slower.

In that fraction of a second of hesitation, the volleyball struck Dong Fengxu's outside arm and bounced out of bounds with a "thud".

"Sorry! I didn't see it clearly!" Dong Fengxu scratched his hair in frustration.

"It's okay, next ball!" Daichi Sawamura encouraged loudly.

However, the nightmare repeated itself.

Kindaichi served again, and the landing point was almost exactly the same as the previous ball.

Kageyama made another run forward, and Higashimine Asahi covered for him again. That awkward feeling, like being stuck in rush hour traffic, returned; the two almost collided, and the ball went out of bounds once more.

Points were lost continuously.

Lu Ren stood aside, his mind racing with data, and instantly saw through the trickery.

"I see..." He looked at Oikawa Tetsu on the other side of the net, who was giving Kindaichi a thumbs up.

This was no coincidence. Oikawa Tetsu exploited the running route that Kageyama, as a setter, had to make, deliberately allowing Kindaichi to aim at that point of intersection when serving. It's like using the monster's pathfinding AI in a game to create a positioning bug.

"Using blind spots and path conflicts caused by the runners' movements to score points." Lu Ren gritted his teeth and mentally labeled Oikawa Tetsuya with a new tag: "Oikawa Tetsuya, your level of cunning is just as good as mine, or even more advanced."

The third goal.

Having tasted the sweetness of that spot, Kindaichi still had his sights set on it.

"Don't even think about succeeding!"

This time, Dongfeng Xu did not hesitate. He roared and used his physical advantage to force his way through the movement path, and before Yingshan could make his run, he steadily cushioned the ball.

"Nice catch!"

The ball went too high.

Although Tobio Kageyama was initially outmaneuvered, his ability to adjust is exceptional. He quickly found his position and, just before the volleyball landed, precisely pushed it to the left with both hands.

"Senior Daichi!"

Sawamura Daichi had already taken his run-up, and facing a single block, he calmly hit a straight shot.

"Bang!"

The volleyball landed, and Karasuno finally stopped the bleeding.

Rotation.

Lu Ren watched as Oikawa Tetsu slowly walked to the front row and couldn't help but sigh, "It's exhausting. Now that he's in the front row, we still have to guard against his second attack."

Karasuno's half, Hanamaki Takahiro serves.

Sawamura Daichi made an accurate judgment, turning sideways to deliver the first pass to the net.

Kageyama Tokio jumped.

At this moment, Lu Ren shouted for the ball on the right and made a fake back-row attack. Hyuga in the front row also began to move laterally to create space.

But a flicker of anxiety flashed in Kageyama's eyes. The repeated targeting of his positioning had left him seething with anger. This anger made him want to retaliate immediately.

He flipped his wrist in mid-air, not passing the ball, but choosing a second attack!

"You're too naive, Xiao Feixiong."

A large hand suddenly appeared at the entrance of the net, like a trap that had been waiting there all along.

Oikawa Tetsu was not fooled by any bait at all; he saw through Kageyama's eagerness to get revenge.

"Thump!"

The volleyball was blocked solidly by Oikawa Toru and landed right at Kageyama's feet.

Although Lu Ren rushed over to save the ball immediately, the distance was too far, and he could only watch helplessly as the ball landed.

"There's no ball easier to block than a second-attack from a flustered setter." Oikawa Toru looked down at Kageyama across the net, his tone laced with undisguised sarcasm. "What are you trying to prove? That you can do it too?"

Kageyama clenched his fists, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

The score continued to widen.

Aoba Josai Hanamaki continues serving.

This time, the ball was served towards the back corner.

With a loud shout, Nishitani Yu performed a beautiful diving roll, raising the ball high into the air.

"nice shot!"

The ball flew towards the net. However, because the return of this ball went slightly into the net, Kageyama's position was not good.

Just then, Lu Ren made a move.

Instead of making a quick run to attack as usual, he slowly, even somewhat lazily, walked to the setter position.

Kageyama paused for a moment, then stopped. He understood Lu Ren's look—"I'll take this ball."

Oikawa Tetsu, Iwaizumi Hajime, and Kindaichi, the three blockers from Aoba Castle West, quickly assembled at the net. Their nerves were on edge; accustomed to Karasuno's unreasonable, high-speed attacks, their muscles were in a state of readiness to explode at any moment.

However, Lu Ren stood in front of the net, his hands hanging at his sides, watching the volleyball fall.

One second. Two seconds.

He didn't jump.

He didn't even bend his knees.

The whole scene seemed to suddenly transform from an intense action game into a leisurely farming simulator.

With his back to the direction of the attack, he subtly made a hand gesture to Dong Fengxu.

Dong Fengxu understood immediately and began his running start.

"What is he doing?" Oikawa Tetsu asked, his brow furrowed.

Just as the volleyball landed in front of his forehead, Lu Rencai slowly raised his hand. The movement was as gentle as if he were stroking a cat.

"call……"

Lu Ren touched the ball with his fingers and then gently flicked his wrist.

The volleyball was given away.

It wasn't a bullet-like pass that tore through the air, nor a precise, quick dribble. This ball, with an eerie slow pace, drifted high towards the left wing.

Slow. Too slow.

It's like an old man in the countryside casually tossing a ball in his yard on a summer afternoon.

The Aoba Johsai blockers were misled by the momentum of the previous fast pace, and the moment they saw the ball fly out, their bodies instinctively took position and jumped.

The three men blocked the net, making it completely airtight.

But... the ball is still floating in the sky.

When Oikawa Tetsu and his teammates jumped to their highest point and began to fall due to gravity, the slowly moving volleyball had just reached the hitting point.

At that moment, Dong Fengxu had just jumped.

"This is..." Oikawa Tetsu's pupils contracted, but his body began to fall limply.

At this very moment, in Dong Fengxu's view, the once impossibly high net wall was collapsing. Before him lay an unobstructed expanse of open space, and the volleyball that seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

"This feeling..."

Dong Fengxu took a deep breath, swung his arm, and smashed the ball!

"boom!!"

With no one defending it, the volleyball slammed heavily onto the floor of Aoba Castle West and bounced towards the ceiling.

The entire stadium was silent for a second, then erupted into a huge cheer.

This is a completely illogical attack. In an era where everyone pursues speed, extreme slowness creates a fatal time difference.

Lu Ren stood still, maintaining his ball-holding posture, a slight smile playing on his lips as he looked at the ball landing, as if he had just completed a perfect puzzle.

Oikawa Tetsu landed, somewhat clumsily regaining his balance. He turned his head and stared intently at the guy with the "I was just hitting him casually" expression on his face.

"Using our habitual thinking to create an artificial time difference...?" Oikawa Tetsu wiped the sweat from his chin, his eyes becoming more serious than ever before.

"Lu Ren... this guy is really impossible to figure out."