Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

Outside the stadium after the game, the noise gradually subsided, and the air was filled with the smell of Salonpas spray and sweat.

The Karasuno team was packing their gear and preparing to board the bus back to school. Although they hadn't been able to determine a winner immediately, the intense offensive and defensive battles they had just fought had left everyone feeling like characters in a low-health state, completely drained of energy.

"Hey, you idiot, your catching form on that last ball was absolutely terrible." Kageyama Tobio slung the towel over his shoulder, looking at Hinata with disgust. "Besides catching the ball with your face, is 'ouch' all you can do to catch it?"

Hinata Shoyo was pulling down his knee pads when he heard this and immediately exploded: "What do you mean 'ouch'?! I went by instinct! Instinct, you know?! And at least the ball was up there!"

"That's called luck-based judgment." Lu Ren slung his backpack over his shoulder, unscrewed the mineral water bottle, and took a swig. "Hyuga's CPU is single-core and single-threaded. Once the 'spiking' program runs, the 'receiving' program will be forcibly shut down. His brain capacity is probably only about the size of a floppy disk."

"What's a floppy disk?" Hinata asked, looking completely bewildered.

"It's one of those antique storage devices that can't store more than a few pictures." Lu Ren pointed to his head, then casually pointed to Kageyama. "Of course, this single-celled organism that only knows how to drink milk isn't much better; at most, it can hold two floppy disks."

"Huh? You want to fight, Lu Ren!" Kageyama crushed the empty milk carton.

Tanaka Ryunosuke and Nishitani Yu were laughing so hard they were doubled over. The two even started imitating Hinata's contorted catching motion, making exaggerated "Ouch—" sounds.

"Speaking of which..." Yuanshita Riki was counting heads when he suddenly pushed up his glasses and casually dropped a bombshell, "You guys, have you finished your summer homework? It seems like it's due when you get back."

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

Tanaka and Nishitani's laughter stopped abruptly. The two froze on the spot as if they had been petrified, their faces turning from rosy to deathly pale, and then to ashen, all within a visible speed.

"Aaaaaah! I don't want to hear it! That's for the next version!" Tanaka covered his head and ran away.

"My notebook... I think I used it to prop up the table leg..." Nishiya's eyes darted around.

Amidst the wailing and howling, Hinata suddenly let out a strange cry and began frantically rummaging through his bag.

"Oh no! My lunchbox! My lunchbox is gone!" Hinata shook the bag upside down, and only a few crumbs of compressed biscuits fell out.

"Is being forgetful a talent?" Hotaru Tsukishima sneered from the side.

Lu Ren frowned, his gaze sweeping across the crowd: "Strange, where's Ya Zhi? She was just here a moment ago."

"Shimizu-senpai said she was going to the gym to check if she had left anything behind, and Kiyosawa seems to have gone with her." Sugawara Takashi pointed in the direction of the gym. "They've been there for a while now."

"It shouldn't take this long to pick up trash at the refresh point." Lu Ren tossed his backpack to Yuan Xiali. "I'll go check it out and also help Hinata find his 'dropped items'."

"Me too! My lunchbox!" Hinata hurriedly followed.

……

At this moment, in the corner of the corridor by the side entrance of the stadium.

Kiyoko Shimizu held a water bottle in her hand, staring blankly at the two boys blocking her way. The two were wearing team uniforms from another school, with dazzling blond hair, and looked like the kind of low-class players who liked to send "taunting" emojis in random matches.

"Don't be so cold, beautiful manager." One of the tall, blond guys approached with a grin, twirling his phone in his hand. "I just want your phone number. We're all in the volleyball team, just trying to get to know each other."

"Yeah, and this cutie too." Another shorter boy turned his gaze to Kiyosawa Aya, who was hiding behind Shimizu. "Are you Karasuno's new manager? You look really young, like a middle school student. It's not too much to ask for your contact information, is it?"

Kiyosawa Yashige clutched the hem of Shimizu Kiyoko's clothes, her fingers turning slightly white. Although she had a carefree personality, instinctive fear still prevailed when faced with this strange man who clearly harbored malice.

"Please move aside." Kiyoko Shimizu's voice was cold as she tried to get around the two of them.

"Don't rush off." The tall man reached out and blocked their way, his arm braced against the wall, forming a menacing encirclement. "You can't leave without your number. Anyway, your bus hasn't left yet, let's chat."

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps approached.

"Excuse me... could you move aside?"

Hinata Shoyo rushed over and slammed on the brakes when he saw what was happening. Although his legs were trembling—after all, the two people looked much taller and stronger than him, and their delinquent aura reminded him of villains in horror movies—he still gritted his teeth and squeezed between the two, standing in front of Shimizu and Aya.

"Oh? Who's this? An elementary school student?" The tall, blond-haired guy looked down at Hyuga and sneered, "Is Karasuno out of people? Sending a shorty to rescue the damsel in distress?"

Hinata swallowed hard and said loudly, "We're going back! Please don't bother our manager!"

"Huh? Harassment? We're having an 'exchange'." The short guy shoved Hyuga's shoulder. "Get lost, brat."

Hinata stumbled slightly after being pushed, but refused to move.

Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and firmly pressed down on Hinata's shoulder.

Immediately afterwards, he placed his other hand on the shoulder of the tall, blond man with an extremely natural gesture.

"Exchange? I'd like to enter this instance too."

Lu Ren's voice was steady, revealing no emotional fluctuations. But his usually half-open, dead-fish eyes were now wide open, their pupils radiating a chilling aura.

It wasn't the kind of "I'm going to beat you to a pulp" rage you see in shonen manga, but rather a cold scrutiny, more like looking at a "dead NPC" or "trash waiting to be recycled."

"Who are you?" The tall, blond-haired man shrugged, trying to shake off Lu Ren's hand, but found that the other man's fingers were gripping his collarbone like iron clamps.

"I'm the power leveler for these two 'accounts'." Lu Ren's lips curled into a completely unsmiling smile, and he increased the pressure on the other person, causing them to gasp in pain. "Since you're so eager to exchange phone numbers, why don't you exchange them with me? I'm also quite good at 'communication'."

"Ouch! Ouch! Let go!" The tall man's face changed.

Lu Ren ignored his shouts, turned to look at Hinata and the two girls behind him, and instantly switched back to his usual lazy tone: "Hinata, take the two beauties back to the team. The following plot is not suitable for children and will contain gory censored words."

"But Lu Ren-senpai..." Hinata said with some worry.

"That's an order." Lu Ren's gaze swept over Ya Zhi. "Take them away. Don't distract me."

As Qingze Yazhi watched Lu Ren's retreating figure, her previously panicked heartbeat inexplicably calmed down. She was all too familiar with that look—it was always that look in Lu Ren's eyes whenever he was about to unleash a red-name attack on newbies in the game, or to relentlessly attack trolls on the forums until they deleted their accounts.

"Let's go, Hinata." Yazhi tugged at Hinata's sleeve. "Staying here will only cause him trouble."

Watching the three leave the corridor, Lu Ren released his grip, slowly took out his phone from his pocket, and turned on the recording function.

"Alright, everyone else, leave."

Lu Ren leaned against the wall, looking at the two blond-haired men in front of him who were rubbing their shoulders and had fierce expressions, with a hint of mockery in his eyes.

"Now, let's have a serious talk about 'attempted sexual harassment' and 'inter-school bullying.' I suggest you all be more serious about your attitude right now, otherwise things will get ugly when your coaches and dean of students come over later."

……

Next to the bus.

Hinata ran back with Shimizu and Yazhi, panting as she recounted what had happened.

"What?! Those two bastards dared to touch Senior Jiezi and Sister Yazhi?!"

Tanaka Ryunosuke went berserk instantly, his clothes almost bursting from his muscles. If it weren't for Yoshino Riki holding onto his belt tightly, he would have already rushed out to kill people.

Nishitani Yu jumped up, shouting, "Unforgivable! That's a provocation against the guardian deities of Karasuno! I'm going to give them a taste of 'Rotating Lightning'!"

"Calm down!" Daichi Sawamura shouted, his face dark, though his fists were clenched so tightly they cracked. "Didn't Lu Ren go to handle it? We need to trust our teammates."

"But even though Lu Ren has a sharp tongue, is he really good at fighting?" Sugawara asked with some concern. "There are two of them on the other side."

"that……"

Suddenly, Qingze Yazhi, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

"Actually... I'm more worried about the mental health of those two people than their mental health."

Everyone was taken aback: "Huh?"

Yazhi scratched her cheek, her expression somewhat strange: "You might not know this, but there was a thug who tried to isolate Lu Ren and even stole his limited-edition figurine. Lu Ren didn't retaliate at the time."

"So what did he do?" Hinata asked curiously.

"He spent a week memorizing all the public security regulations and laws protecting minors in the neighborhood where that thug lived. Then he followed that thug every day, and if the thug committed even the slightest violation—such as littering cigarette butts, spitting on the ground, or not using a crosswalk—he would immediately call the police or report it to the community."

Ya-zhi paused, a hint of reverence for the past in her eyes.

"He also wrote a 5,000-word letter of accusation, along with photos and video evidence, and sent it to the thug's school, parents, and even posted it on the community bulletin board. In the end, the thug was taken away by the police while crying, begging Lu Ren to let him go. Lu Ren said at the time: 'Everything I did was legal and compliant; I just took advantage of a loophole in the system rules.'"

After hearing this, a cold sweat broke out on the backs of the Karasuno group.

Tanaka and Nishiya exchanged a glance and silently swallowed back the words they had just wanted to say.

This isn't a player, this is practically an officially appointed titled Douluo!

Just then, the stadium doors opened.

Lu Ren came out.

He walked at a leisurely pace, his hands in his pockets. Behind him followed a large group of people.

The two blond-haired men were now following behind dejectedly, like two defeated roosters. Beside them stood a middle-aged man, sweating profusely, with a whistle around his neck; he appeared to be the opposing school's coach or teacher.

Lu Ren stopped in front of the bus, turned to the side, and snapped his fingers.

"Alright, begin your performance."

The two blond-haired men trembled, then walked in unison to Shimizu Kiyoko and Kiyosawa Yashiro, bowing deeply at a ninety-degree angle, their heads almost hitting the ground.

"We're so sorry! We were blind to your greatness! We were so rude! Please forgive us!"

Their voices were loud and clear, and perfectly synchronized, clearly indicating that they had been "trained".

The middle-aged teacher, looking embarrassed, stepped forward and repeatedly apologized to Daichi Sawamura and Coach Ukai: "We are truly sorry. It was our poor discipline that caused trouble for your students. We will definitely punish them severely when we get back, make them write self-criticisms, record demerits, and show absolutely no leniency!"

Kiyoko Shimizu paused for a moment, then nodded somewhat flusteredly, "N-nothing..."

Ya Zhi hid behind Lu Ren and muttered softly, "I knew it would turn out like this."

The turmoil subsided in an extremely bizarre way.

The atmosphere on the bus back was somewhat awkward.

Everyone looked at Lu Ren, who was sitting in the back row with his eyes closed, with a hint of awe in their eyes.

"Hey, Lu Ren." Ya Zhi, sitting next to him, couldn't help but nudge his arm. "How did you do that? Why was that teacher so scared?"

The ears of everyone in the front row immediately perked up.

Lu Ren opened his eyes and yawned: "It's simple. If you can't win in PVP, just switch to a political approach. That's called 'labeling first, then choosing sides'."

Speak like a human.

"I didn't bring up any personal grudges like 'harassing girls' with them. Even if this gets blown up, at most an apology will suffice." Lu Ren pushed up his non-existent glasses, his tone indifferent. "I told the teacher who came directly that these two students not only harassed students from other schools in public, but also allegedly made insulting remarks, undermining the sportsmanship of the regional league. I've already recorded it. If it's not dealt with seriously, I'll send the video to the Sendai Daily with the headline, 'High School Volleyball Team Members Bully After Match: Where is the Sportsmanship?'"

The carriage was deathly silent.

"For a school, a student's moral failings are a minor matter, but damage to the school's reputation is a major one." Lu Ren shrugged and pulled a game console out of his bag. "I just pulled two max-level accounts—'Public Opinion' and 'School Reputation'—into the team, and that teacher will naturally know what to choose. That's called leveraging power, understand, newbies?"

Ryunosuke Tanaka swallowed hard and whispered to Nishiya, "Ryunosuke, never make Rikuren angry again... I think he's even scarier than Daichi-senpai."

Nishitani nodded frantically: "Agreed. Daichi-senpai's attacks are physical, this guy's are true damage!"

Lu Ren ignored the whispers around him and looked down at the game loading screen.

"However..." he suddenly said in a low voice, so soft that only Ya Zhi beside him could hear, "daring to touch my support, it's already merciful of me not to make them quit the game immediately."

Ya-Chih paused for a moment, then blushed slightly, turned her head to look at the fleeting scenery outside the window, and couldn't help but smile.

"Fool."

The bus drove towards Karasuno High School in the afterglow of the setting sun, and the carriage quickly returned to its usual noisy state. Only this time, when everyone looked at the figure playing games in the corner, their eyes held less teasing and more of a firm belief that "we absolutely cannot mess with him."