Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

In the height of summer in Saitama Prefecture, the air is filled with the tireless chirping of cicadas and the rubbery smell of asphalt roads baked by the sun.

When the bus in Karasuno came to a stop, the air pressure was a bit low. Professor Takeda stood by the door, adjusting his glasses; the lenses gleamed in the sunlight, making one's eyes water.

"Before the representative selection tournament in October, this is probably our last chance for large-scale cross-server communication." Takeda didn't use any fancy emotional words, his tone was firm, "Including this time, we only have two chances at most. If we can't produce decent evolution data here, the ticket to Miyagi Prefecture will basically be out of our reach."

"clear!"

A group of people were shouting deafeningly, but Lu Ren yawned and casually pulled down his collar. He glanced at the calendar on his phone; October was the day of the final battle for the server-wide open beta. Every minute now was indeed burning through game time.

As soon as we entered the stadium, a familiar smell mixed with sweat and floor wax hit us. Before everyone could even stand still, a gray-white figure rushed into view.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Yue! Come here and practice your spikes with me! I'm in top form today!" Kotaro Mokuto waved his arms like a whale who had just topped up his account.

In the past, Hotaru Tsukishima would have given her a disdainful look that said "Spare me" before gracefully retreating to a corner where the light didn't reach.

But today, Tsukishima simply stopped, lowered his head, and remained silent for half a second, his tone as calm as if he were reading an instruction manual: "Okay, nice to meet you."

The air froze instantly.

Kageyama Tobio was bending down to tie his shoelaces when he heard this, his hand trembled, and he tore the shoelaces into a knot. He looked up at Tsukishima, his eyes full of suspicion: "Lu Ren, has this guy been infected by some strange virus? Or is he actually an NPC disguised as Tsukishima?"

Lu Ren narrowed his eyes, stroking his chin in thought: "The possibility of being 'possessed' cannot be ruled out. How about we go to a nearby shrine and ask a master to perform a ritual? This level of politeness goes beyond the basic logic of Tsukishima Hotaru's character."

Bokuto was also stumped. He scratched the back of his head and looked to Akaashi Kyōji for help: "Akaashi, did Tsuki just smile at me? It wasn't obvious, but I felt a chill down my spine."

Akaashi replied expressionlessly, "He just wants to get stronger, Bokuto-senpai. Please put away your baseless paranoia."

Tsukishima ignored the group's antics; the sound of Coach Ukai tapping on the blackboard before they set off echoed in his mind.

"Blocking isn't about brute force. What Lu Ren taught you is psychological warfare, dirty tricks. But if you want to survive in the direct confrontation, the most important thing is 'time'." Wu Yang pointed to the clock icon on the tactics board, "As long as you seize the opportunity, even an elementary school student can shut down Tanaka's spike in the net."

Tanaka, who was caught in the crossfire for no reason, let out a protesting wail from the side, but no one paid any attention to him.

"Among this year's high school students, Kuroo Tetsuro is definitely a top-tier (T0) level student who has maxed out the 'Timing' attribute."

Tsukishima looked towards another court. Kuroo Tetsuro was standing in front of the net, his posture relaxed as if he were strolling in his own backyard. On the other side, the two-meter-tall Lev was jumping up with a strange cry, his long arm swinging out in a blur of motion, looking incredibly powerful.

Black Tail didn't jump immediately; he waited.

Just as Lev was about to release the ball, Kuroki appeared precisely on the ball's path, like a spring compressed to its limit.

"Bang!"

The ball bounced straight down and landed near Lev's feet.

Kuro landed, his hair perfectly styled. Noticing Tsukishima's gaze, he beckoned with a provocative finger: "Hey, Tsukishima, how long are you going to keep giving me that voyeuristic look? If you want to learn, the tuition is very expensive."

Tsukishima withdrew his gaze, his voice indifferent: "Sorry to bother you."

Despite saying that, he still walked towards the area where Kuroo was.

Seeing this, Lu Ren slowly followed.

"What are you doing here?" Tsukishima glanced at him sideways. "Didn't you say your current physical condition was only enough to maintain your basic living allowance?"

"As the chief architect of this team, I need to gather some raw material on 'adaptive blocking'," Lu Ren said, cracking his knuckles. "And, I've recently come up with a killer move, and I plan to find a sucker to do a stress test. It'll be absolutely amazing when it's used; it'll burn down the opponent's firewall."

Kuroki grinned like a fox: "Oh? Karasuno's 'brain' is going to get involved personally? Then let's all come together, it's the same whether we're herding one sheep or a flock."

The practice session on the field has begun.

Lu Ren didn't attempt any fancy spikes. He positioned himself as a "patch fixer." On the court, he constantly received and passed the ball, his eyes always fixed on Heiwei's ankles and fingertips.

He was dissecting the motion frames of the black tail.

"If you just want to practice these basic skills, there's no need to come all the way here," Tsukishima said, sounding somewhat agitated after a failed block.

"That's not right." Lu Ren smoothly sent a powerful spike to the setter's position, saying without turning his head, "Only when you're training 'newbies' can you see the system's most basic error messages. Don't we just happen to have a natural testing ground here?"

Five pairs of eyes turned to Lev.

Lev was stunned, pointing to his own nose: "A newbie? Me? I'm the future ace of Soundhorse!"

Lu Ren walked over and patted Lev's high shoulders, his tone strangely gentle, as if he were coaxing Little Red Riding Hood's wolf grandmother: "Don't misunderstand, Lev. Although you're currently a novice with only stats and no logic, in terms of ball control and static attributes, you're simply a work of art born for volleyball. This height, this flexibility, tsk tsk, it's practically code written by God himself."

Lev blushed deeply at the praise and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Am I really that good? Hehe, actually I think so too."

Lu Ren turned his head and muttered to himself, "Oikawa Tetsu's 'pyramid scheme' encouragement method is really hard to learn. The effort required to speak against one's conscience is much greater than running laps."

Keiji Akaashi, standing nearby, astutely caught the key phrase: "Who is Toru Oikawa?"

"A setter from Miyagi Prefecture," Lu Ren shrugged. "He's an impeccable dictator in tactical organization and squeezing the potential out of his teammates, and also a very charismatic leader. If Kageyama is a sophisticated computer, then that guy is a top-tier hacker who can run an old computer with supercomputing performance."

Akaashi's eyes flickered: "Sounds like an opponent I'd really like to meet."

The practice continued until it got dark.

The stadium lights shone on the floor, reflecting a cold, hard texture. Lu Ren sat on a bench, gulping down water. His mind raced, rapidly reconstructing every detail of Heiwei's block.

That's "adaptive blocking." It doesn't rely on anticipation, but rather on extreme reaction and timing to block the ball the instant it leaves the net.

This technique demands extremely high levels of nerve reflexes, but once mastered, it becomes a nightmare for all attackers.

Over the next few days, Karasuno's old, generic machine began a frantic system upgrade.

Hiding in a corner of the gymnasium, Tadashi Yamaguchi tossed the ball, ran up, and hit it again and again. The sides of his palms were rubbed red, but the trajectory of his shots became increasingly unpredictable. The "jump float" shot, which suddenly dropped and wobbled erratically as it crossed the net, had finally become a consistent skill, instead of being a matter of chance.

On the other side, Kageyama and Hinata's field looked like they were conducting some kind of dangerous physical experiment.

"Slow down the ball speed a little more!"

"The ball didn't stay at its highest point long enough for me to catch it!"

Hinata frantically adjusted his posture in mid-air, while Kageyama's pass seemed to defy the laws of physics. That kind of pass, with its reverse spin and the instantaneous "braking" effect upon reaching the attacker, was gradually becoming more refined.

That was the final piece of the puzzle for the new-style monster fast attack.

Tsukishima's blocking skills were beginning to show promise. He no longer blindly pursued "suppressing" his opponents, but instead learned, as Lu Ren had said, to guide the opponent's attacks into the pocket formation set up by Nishiya and Daichi through subtle angle adjustments.

Lu Ren and Ying Shan would always hide in an empty half of the court, whispering and discussing something. Occasionally, a dull thud would be heard, the power of which was astonishing, yet it carried a certain unnatural rhythm.

Until the last afternoon of the training camp.

The entire Karasuno team stood on the field, facing a mixed team consisting of Fubuki and Otoko.

"All troops, attack! Mode activated!" Lu Ren stood in the back row and gave the order in a low voice.

At that moment, Karasuno's half of the field seemed to be doubled.

Hinata was running, Tanaka was cutting in, Higashimine was jumping from the back row, and even Tsukishima was making a fake spike at the net.

Multi-core processors are simultaneously overloaded.

The opposing team's blockers were momentarily stunned.

The ball traced a perfect arc on Kageyama's fingertips, but instead of passing to Hyuga or Toumine, it landed precisely in the hands of Lu Ren, who was cutting in from the flank.

"Bang!"

The sound of the ball hitting the floor was crisp and clear, like an announcement.

The "Chimera" attack mode has been successfully integrated.

Lu Ren landed, looking at the lingering vibrations on his palm, and a genuine smile finally appeared on his lips.

Version update complete.

The Karasuno of today is no longer the ragtag army that relied solely on "weirdo-style fast attacks" to steal wins. They are a multi-tactical, highly dynamic, and undefinable...monster.

"Next," Lu Ren looked into the distance, towards Gongcheng Prefecture, "it's time to go back and reap the experience points from those veteran powerhouses."