Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Even the air in Tokyo is thick and sticky in the summer.

The gymnasium was filled with the sharp screech of sneakers rubbing against the floor, the smell of evaporating sweat mingling with the cool scent of Salonpas, creating the unique olfactory backdrop of a sports club. For Lu Ren, this was a high-difficulty dungeon, teeming with elite monsters called "National Powerhouses."

The warm-up ended, and the whistle cut off the noise.

Karasuno's first opponent is the home team, Fukutani Academy. Across the net, the creature with black and white hair that looks just like an owl—Kotaro Bokuto—is in a puzzlingly high state.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Bokuto raised his arms high and let out a meaningless roar at the ceiling. The setter standing next to him, Akaashi Kyoji, remained expressionless, skillfully ignoring the noise pollution from his ace, and simply scanned Karasuno's position with an excessively calm gaze.

The two sides lined up and shook hands.

Lu Ren felt that Akagi's palm was dry and strong, a texture honed by years of precise ball control. Akagi glanced at Lu Ren again, seemingly assessing why this lazy guy could exude an aura that was so incongruous with "passion".

Game start.

It's Akiki Konoha's turn to serve. The one serving is Akiki Konoha, who has a side-parted hairstyle and a rather shrewd appearance.

The whistle blows, the ball is tossed, and the arm is swung.

The ball trajectory is very straight, without that nauseatingly unpredictable feel; it's a solid overhand serve.

Lu Ren stood on the right side of the back row, his center of gravity lowered. After being ravaged by the "bandits" of the Sichuan team for half a month, this level of serve seemed as slow as a tutorial video played at 0.75x speed to him.

He adjusted his steps slightly and brought his arms together.

"Bang!"

The sensation of the ball hitting his forearm was clearly transmitted back to his brain. No complex calculations were needed; muscle memory automatically took over the process of releasing the force. The volleyball obediently drew a high arc and landed steadily on Kageyama Tobio's head.

"Great pass!" Daichi Sawamura shouted.

As Kageyama leaped, the instant his fingertips touched the ball, Tanaka Ryunosuke roared as he cut in from the left wing.

"Give me the ball—!!"

Kageyama delivered a precise pass, and Tanaka met it with a powerful dunk.

However, Xiaogu's net was constructed at an astonishing speed. His two arms converged at the net's opening like a city wall, blocking most of the angles of straight and diagonal shots.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, Tanaka's spike hit the blocker's hand and bounced into Fukudani's half of the court.

"One Touch!"

Fukutani's libero, Haruki Omi, reacted extremely quickly, leaping to cushion the ball.

"Red Reed!"

The ball flew towards the net. Without the slightest hesitation, Kyoji Akaashi raised his hands in front of his forehead and delivered a highly concealed back pass.

Target—Koutarou Mokuto on the right wing.

"The best throw! Red Reed!"

The wooden rabbit took a running start and leaped. Its explosive body stretched out in the air like a fully drawn bow. This was the pressure of one of the top five aces in the country; just that moment of airtime was enough to give the blocker a desperate illusion that they "couldn't stop it."

Ryunosuke Tanaka and Daichi Sawamura jumped with all their might to block the shot.

But Mutu opted for a powerful diagonal dunk.

With a swing of his arm, the air seemed to be torn apart.

"boom!"

The volleyball smashed through the gap in the block with an unreasonable force, heading straight for the back corner. The landing point was extremely tricky, near the angle between the sideline and the baseline.

The substitutes on the bench were ready to cheer.

Just then, a dark shadow slid past, skimming along the floor.

There were no unnecessary movements, no panicked attempts to save him. Lu Ren was like an NPC who knew the script in advance; he appeared on the only path a second before the wooden rabbit swung its arm.

Press your arms down, leap forward, and use your core strength to forcefully stabilize your center of gravity in mid-air.

The heavy cannon, spinning with terrifying force, slammed into his forearm.

pain.

It felt like the bone had been hit by a hammer.

But Lu Ren's expression remained completely unchanged. During his two-week vacation, he had been receiving powerful spikes from professional adult players. In comparison, although Mu Tu's shot was fierce, it wasn't enough to deform his arm.

"Bang!"

The ball was forcefully lifted up and bounced high towards the net.

The entire stadium seemed to fall silent for a moment.

Kyoji Akaashi, who was about to follow and protect her, stopped in his tracks. Bokuto froze as he landed, his golden eyes widening in surprise.

First encounter.

The first goal.

The killer move of the nation's top five aces was caught.

"Make amends!" Lu Ren rolled to his feet, dusted off his elbows, and said in a flat tone as if he were asking, "What are we having for dinner tonight?"

A fervent light ignited in Kageyama Tobio's eyes as he swiftly moved under the ball.

"Senior Xu!"

Dong Fengxu jumped up from the back row and leaped high into the air.

However, Fukuya's defensive system did not collapse because of that divine save. Yamato Saruhisa and Tatsuo Washio quickly closed in, building a tight wall in the path of Asahi Higashimine's spike.

"Snapped!"

Higashi Mineki's spike was blocked and landed inside Karasuno's territory.

The whistle blows, 0-1.

After landing, Dong Fengxu scratched his hair guiltily, his back looking smaller: "I'm sorry... Lu Ren caught it so well..."

For attackers, wasting a ball that they've worked so hard to save is a huge psychological burden.

"fine."

Lu Ren walked past Dong Fengxu, flexing his slightly numb wrists. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, "That last shot was for data collection. Now that we know the Boss's attack power, we can catch up with the next shot."

There was no blind consolation, only rational statements.

Dong Fengxu paused for a moment, then straightened his back.

On the other side of the net, Kyoji Akaashi narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze once again locking onto the seemingly lazy Karasuno support.

"Senior Bokuto," Akaashi whispered, "be careful of number 13."

"Ah!" Instead of being discouraged, Wood Rabbit excitedly slapped his thigh. "That guy is amazing! He connected it in a flash! I'm going to try again!"

The game continues.

Konoha Akiki serves again.

This time, Daichi Sawamura caught the ball steadily and sent it to the vicinity of the three-meter line.

Kageyama raised his hands.

"here!"

In the back center, Lu Ren's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable sense of demand.

approach.

Three steps.

Lu Ren's footsteps on the floor were dull and powerful. His thigh muscles, honed by rigorous training, tensed instantly, propelling his body into the air like a spring.

The field of vision suddenly opened up.

This is the first practical demonstration after the "version update".

Kageyama's pass stopped precisely at the highest point of his arm swing.

Facing the double block from Xiao Gu, Lu Ren neither chose to dodge nor opted for a light touch to send the ball out of bounds. Instead, he contracted his abdomen in mid-air, unleashing a powerful twisting force from his back muscles, and lashed the volleyball out like a whip.

This was no ordinary powerful dunk.

At the moment of contact with the ball, his palm made an extremely subtle wrapping motion, applying a strange sidespin to the ball. This was a "dirty trick" he learned from the setter who spoke fluent Sichuan dialect in the provincial team.

"Bang!"

The ball was extremely fast, heading straight for Fukutani's libero, Haruki Omi.

Haruki Omi made the right judgment, bringing his arms together to catch the ball. In his view, although the ball was heavy, its trajectory was very straight.

However, the moment the ball touched his arm, that strange spin erupted.

The volleyball, which should have bounced upwards, seemed to come alive, experiencing intense lateral friction on the contact surface and sliding directly to the side.

"Varied--?!"

Koji Haruki's pupils suddenly contracted.

The volleyball grazed his forearm and flew out, slamming hard onto the GG sign outside the court.

"Thump!"

The entire room fell silent.

Hinata Shoyo's mouth dropped open, while Tanaka Ryunosuke's eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

Is this still the same Lu Ren who only uses his brain to play basketball and has mediocre physical abilities?

The force with which he slammed the ball in just now was as if he were a completely different person!

"What kind of rotation is that..." Haruki Omi stared blankly at his arm. "It's not the left-handed kind of rotation, it's more like... a drill?"

Lu Ren landed and gently exhaled a breath of stale air.

"It feels alright," he muttered to himself, as if he had just completed a system calibration.

The score is 1-1.

It's Karasuno's turn to serve.

Lu Ren walked to the baseline with the ball. He patted the ball, feeling the texture of its surface.

Previously, his serves relied more on annoying placement and tactics. But now, with this "reconstructed" body, he has more aggressive options.

Throw the ball.

It is very high.

Run-up, jump.

Lu Ren's posture in the air was incredibly graceful. The improvement in his core strength gave him more time to stay in the air and observe his opponent's position.

Swing your arm.

"boom!"

The sound of the ball hitting the ground was even heavier than the previous spike.

The volleyball, like a cannonball, hurtled towards Yamato Saruhisa, the opposite hitter in Fukutani.

"I'll do it!"

Yamato Saruhisa didn't dare to be careless and lowered his center of gravity to catch the ball.

The ball slammed into his arm, the force of which made him lean back. Although he didn't catch it directly, the quality of the first pass was greatly reduced, and the ball flew directly towards the net.

"Sorry! The ball is heavy!" Sarutobi shouted.

With the ball not in place, Kyoji Akaashi was forced to adjust his pass.

"Senior Wood Rabbit!"

It's that most reliable point again.

Even with an inaccurate pass, Muto still displayed the qualities of a top-tier ace. He forcefully adjusted his footwork and jumped to meet the already formed three-man block.

"Don't even think about stopping me—!!"

The wooden rabbit roared and, through sheer brute force, managed to break through the net from above the blocker's fingertips.

The ball was saved.

but.

That annoying figure was standing in that spot again.

Lu Ren didn't even move. It was as if he had already calculated the only possible path for the wooden rabbit if the pass was inaccurate.

He steadily raised his arms.

"Bang!"

This time, the ball was perfectly deflected and gently sent to Kageyama's position.

"It's him again..." Akashi frowned.

Twice in a row.

This is definitely not a coincidence. This Karasuno number 7 has completely figured out Bokuto's attacking habits, or rather, his reaction speed is already able to keep up with this level of powerful attack.

Kageyama Tobio looked at the first pass, which was like a gift, and a sinister smile crept onto his lips.

No words are needed.

An orange lightning bolt had already ripped across the field.

Hyuga Shoyo jumped from three meters out, his speed so fast that Fukutani's blocker had no time to react.

"Whoosh!"

Kageyama's ball-toss was as fast as a bullet, yet it hovered precisely in front of Hyuga's palm.

"Weird Man's Quick Attack!"

Hyuga swung his arm and slammed the ball hard onto the floor of Fukudani.

No one can touch the ball.

Only the sound of the volleyball bouncing on the floor echoed in the ears of the somewhat dazed Akatsuya players.

2:1.

Lu Ren stood in the back row, watching Hinata and Kageyama, those two simple-minded creatures, excitedly high-five each other, and his lips twitched slightly.

"Really..."

He rubbed his slightly sore shoulders, his gaze sweeping over Kyoji Akaashi, whose expression was beginning to turn serious, and Kotaro Bokuto, who was in a state of shock.

"Since it's about leveling up," Lu Ren thought to himself, "then don't blame me for using the experience of a max-level character to bully people."

The game, titled "Tokyo Expedition," has only just begun loading.