Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

On a bench in the rest area, Lu Ren was slowly peeling a banana.

The game that had just ended felt more like a warm-up for him; he hadn't even broken a sweat. He took a bite of his banana, his gaze casually sweeping across the various corners of the stadium, searching for the next possible "fun."

Two small figures caught his attention from the direction of the entrance.

Hinata Shoyo and Yachi Hitoka were leaning against the doorframe, peeking out half their heads in unison, staring at the competition area inside. At first, everything seemed normal, but after a few seconds, their backs began to shake violently at a high frequency, like a low-spec computer experiencing screen tearing due to an overheated graphics card.

"Has this triggered some kind of fear aura?"

Lu Ren finished the banana in a few bites, casually threw the peel into the trash can, and strolled away with his hands in his pockets.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it wasn't just these two; most of Karasuno's team members—except for a few oblivious or expressionless individuals—were gathered here, their faces as solemn as if they had just checked their grades.

"What are you looking at? It's so lively." Lu Ren leaned his head close to Hyuga's head.

Hinata shrank back in fright, her finger trembling as she pointed into the arena: "That...that..."

Following the direction of the finger, Lu Ren raised an eyebrow.

On the other side of the net, a figure that stands out from the crowd—no, it should be said that a dinosaur stands out from the crowd—is standing in front of the net.

It was a guy in a green jersey, who looked a bit thin, but his height was simply unreasonable. Facing a triple block, he didn't even take a running start; he just stood there, casually swinging his arm as if he were grabbing potato chips from the top shelf of a supermarket.

The volleyball flew over the fingertips of the desperately jumping blocker and slammed heavily onto the baseline.

There were no fancy techniques, just pure, overwhelming dominance.

The referee blew the whistle, and the game ended. Kadokawa High School, where the giant played, won.

"It looks like it's two meters tall," Lu Ren commented, his tone as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "But its movements are as stiff as a robot that just came out of the factory without any lubrication. Its arm swings are not standard, and its core strength is utterly lacking."

He paused, then added, "It's a blank account where all attribute points were put into the 'Height' field as soon as the account was created, resulting in Agility and Skill being at their initial values."

"Two meters..." Hinata swallowed hard, tilting his head back as if the giant were already standing in front of him. "Even without technique, that height alone is terrifying!"

Sawamura Daichi walked over at this moment, clapped his hands, and drew everyone's attention back.

"Alright, don't discourage them." Captain Daichi's voice was calm and powerful, always acting as a stabilizing force at times like these. "That's our next opponent, Kadokawa Academy. If we win this match, we can advance past the first round of preliminaries and qualify for the representative selection tournament in October."

His gaze swept over everyone, his eyes burning: "What is our goal?"

"Marching across the nation!" everyone responded in unison, though Hinata's voice still trembled slightly.

"We must get past the first round of the preliminaries!"

"yes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, heavy footsteps came from the other end of the passage.

The Kadokawa High School team members happened to be leaving the field and were passing by here.

The giant whom Lu Ren called "Whiteboard Number"—Momozawa Yudai—emerged from under the door frame with his head down. As he passed by Hinata and Hitoka, his enormous shadow instantly enveloped the two of them.

Hinata froze, her eyes following Momozawa's movements, her neck tilted back at a dangerous angle.

The oppressive feeling only dissipated slightly after the other party had gone far away.

"Wow...it's so high..." Hinata murmured to himself, "Is this the world of two meters?"

Tadashi Yamaguchi quietly recited the figures: "Momozawa is 201cm, and Hinata is 162cm..."

"Round it up to 163cm!" Hinata instantly bristled, trying to protect her pitiful one-centimeter dignity.

Hotaru Tsukishima stood beside her, tilting her head down and adjusting her glasses, a signature sneer playing on her lips: "That's a 40cm difference. Even if you round it up to 163cm, the difference won't decrease."

"Stop talking, Tsukishima!" Hinata covered his ears, looking pained.

Seeing Hinata trembling, Yachi Hitoka tried to ease the tension. She racked her brains for a moment, then her eyes lit up: "Um... 40cm isn't actually that big! It's about... about the size of a Hello Kitty!"

The entire room fell silent for a second.

"Huh?" Tsukishima turned his head, looking at him like he was an alien. "What kind of comforting method is this? Are you saying that as long as Hinata has a Hello Kitty on his head, he can be protected from that giant?"

"No, no..." Renhua waved her hands frantically, "I just wanted to give an example..."

"I remember Pikachu's height was set to be 40cm," Tadashi Yamaguchi added seriously, clearly having been led astray.

"And then there's the succubus," Tsukishima suddenly threw out another obscure term, "that kind of creature that lives in the deep sea, and it's about 40cm long."

Hinata was still torn between Hello Kitty and Pikachu, but when she heard the name "Fujiwako" which sounded so imposing, her eyes instantly lit up.

"Fujiwa?! That sounds amazing!" Hinata clenched his fists, his face contorted with rage. "I really want to merge with Fujiwa! If we merged, I'd be two meters tall! I could block all of that giant's spikes!"

As he spoke, he made a bizarre "combined" pose, as if he had really transformed into some kind of deep-sea monster.

Lu Ren stood aside, watching the group veer the conversation from "height difference" to "magical creature encyclopedia," and couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Why not Pikachu?" Lu Ren interjected, casually pulling a mint from his pocket and popping it into his mouth. "Pikachu can generate electricity; 100,000 volts would paralyze that big guy. Isn't that more useful than simply increasing his height?"

"Oh right!" Hinata exclaimed, suddenly realizing, "Then I'll fuse with Pikachu!"

"Are you an idiot?" Kageyama Tobio finally couldn't take it anymore. He walked over with a dark face, grabbed Hinata's head, and said, "Whether you're wearing Hello Kitty, a whale, or Pikachu's hair, your height won't change! Stop daydreaming!"

Hinata cried out in pain as he was being pressed down: "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Kageyama, you violent maniac!"

Kageyama released his grip, his sharp eyes fixed on Hyuga: "You, are you really scared?"

"Who, who's afraid!" Hinata retorted, but his shifty eyes betrayed him. "I'm just... developing a tactical plan! Yes, a tactical plan!"

"That two-meter-tall guy is definitely a problem."

Lu Ren chewed the candy in his mouth, the crunching sound particularly clear in the corridor. He walked over to Hinata and gestured to show the height difference between them.

"40cm is indeed a despair-inducing hardware gap. In most online games, this kind of attribute suppression is basically synonymous with 'discouraging' players."

Hinata's shoulders slumped.

"But," Lu Ren changed the subject, a playful glint in his eyes, "if this game only looked at the stats on the panel, then there would be no need for player input. Just putting the numbers on the table and comparing whoever's higher wins—how boring would that be?"

He patted Hinata on the back, the force neither too light nor too heavy.

"If height determined everything, then there should be no short volleyball players in the world, nor should there be a libero position. Even volleyball itself would become a game exclusively for giraffes."

Lu Ren pointed to his head.

"That big guy is very tall, but he's a newbie. His movement, judgment, and experience are all flawed. In high-level games, bosses like that, with only a thick health bar, are usually used as punching bags for players to rack up combos and scores."

"Sandbag..." Hinata blinked, the fear in his eyes gradually being replaced by a light called "excitement".

"That's right, a huge, slow-moving, experience-boosting monster." Lu Ren curled his lips into a wicked smile befitting a "pro gamer." "As long as you're not intimidated by its intimidating appearance, you'll find that taking down this kind of boss is actually much more enjoyable than fighting those agile mobs."

Just then, a whistle sounded in the distance.

"Gather! Warm-up begins!" Daichi Sawamura's shout rang out.

"yes!"

Everyone quickly stopped joking and ran towards the court.

Hinata took a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped, turned back to look at Lu Ren, and shouted, "Lu Ren! I'm not afraid anymore! I'm going to farm that...that experience monster!"

After saying that, he rushed onto the field like a little spring with a motor.

"This guy is recovering pretty quickly." Lu Ren shook his head and followed slowly behind.

Kageyama walked to his side and whispered, "Were you trying to comfort him with what you just said?"

"Comfort? Don't disgust me." Lu Ren glanced at Ying Shan with disdain. "I'm just stating the facts. Besides, that big guy really has a lot of weaknesses, it's giving me OCD. I won't be able to sleep well tonight unless I beat him to a pulp."

Kageyama paused for a moment, then a stiff smile appeared on his lips: "That's true. Height alone is meaningless if you can't hit the ball."

The two walked onto the court side by side.

At that moment, the Kadokawa High School team members were also warming up on the field.

The giant named Yuta Hyazawa stood in front of the net, clumsily jumped, and smashed the ball.

"Bang!"

The ball hit the floor with a dull thud.

Although the movement was still uncoordinated, the hitting point was frighteningly high. For the average high school student, it was practically a wall of sighs.

A gasp of amazement rippled through the surrounding audience.

"Wow, it's so high..."

"How can we stop them?"

"Kasuno is in deep trouble this time. That short middle blocker is probably going to be humiliated."

Listening to these discussions, Lu Ren stood near the baseline and stretched his wrists and ankles.

"Hey, Tsukishima," he called out to the tall guy in front of him who was doing leg stretches.

Hotaru Tsukishima turned around: "What?"

"How do you plan to fill that 40cm gap?" Lu Ren asked.

Tsukishima adjusted his glasses, a cold glint reflecting off the lenses: "It can't be filled. The laws of physics are there."

"Oh?"

"However," Tsukishima straightened up, looking at the huge figure on the other side of the net, "if we can annoy him and throw a novice like him off balance, his height advantage will become a burden."

"Not bad, he has the potential to be a villain." Lu Ren nodded in satisfaction. "Then let's give this rookie BOSS a lesson called 'The Perils of Society'."

Warm-up complete.

Both sides lined up.

When Karasuno's group of "dwarfs" stood in front of Kadokawa's giants, the visual impact was truly breathtaking.

Yudai Momozawa looked down at Shoyo Hyuga, his eyes filled with a hint of bewilderment and natural disdain. In his eyes, this little guy, who wasn't even as tall as his chest, posed absolutely no threat.

Hinata tilted his head back; his neck was sore, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.

"Nice to meet you!!"

The roar was deafening.

Lu Ren stood in the back row, watching this scene, his fingers gently stroking the rough surface of the volleyball.

The game has begun.

Since the opposing team has used a physical cheat called "height," we have no choice but to use mods called "intelligence" and "speed."

Hopefully, that big guy's mental fortitude is as strong as his height.

Otherwise, she'll go home crying.