Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

After that, the style of the competition changed drastically.

The satisfying "collapse of the army" scenario that Lu Ren had imagined did not materialize. Although we were temporarily in the lead, the opposing team's "irritable setter" and "orange-headed decoy" seemed to have suddenly received some kind of patch, and their coordination showed a bizarre exponential increase.

Kageyama Tobio stopped focusing on passing for the sake of speed and began to force himself to adapt to Hyuga's haphazard running. And Hyuga was practically a monster with a locked stamina bar; regardless of whether his previous runs were meaningful, he would still sprint to the net with all his might for the next ball.

"Bang!"

Another eccentric fast attack.

The ball hit Lu Ren's feet and bounced towards the ceiling.

Lu Ren looked down at the marks on the floor, his lips twitching. Just now, Lu Ren clearly saw the trajectory of that ball, and his brain issued the command "step back with your left foot and squat down," but his body was like someone who had just bought a cheap game controller, with a delay of 300 milliseconds.

"All you can do is watch, not respond. Are you a commentator on the sidelines?" Tsukishima Hotaru said coldly as she passed by Lu Ren.

"Shut up, I'm adjusting the delay." Lu Ren rubbed his numb forearm, but inwardly he was groaning.

Sawamura Daichi's "immovable as a mountain" defense is definitely not something you can learn by reading a couple of strategy books. It's muscle memory built up from thousands upon thousands of catches, a truly high defensive stat. Lu Ren, on the other hand, is like a level 1 alt with a global cheat code. He knows exactly what skill the boss is going to use, and even stands in the safe zone beforehand, but because his equipment is too bad, he still loses half his health to the aftershocks of the skill.

The score was very close.

18:16.

20:19.

Every time they managed to pull ahead, Kageyama and Hyuga would unleash their relentless fast breaks to close the gap. Although the failure rate was still high—sometimes Kageyama's pass went too high, sometimes Hyuga's swing missed—just one successful spike, with its near-instantaneous power spike, could severely demoralize the team.

To make matters worse, Ryunosuke Tanaka was also on fire. Once he got into the zone, he could still force the ball to come even when facing a three-man block. Lu Ren's pitiful receiving skills were a complete disaster when faced with such powerful spikes with strong spin.

"nice shot--!!"

Hyuga scored again. He landed and excitedly clenched his fist and shouted, but I noticed a hint of frustration in his expression.

Several times, when the strange man's fast attack ended and he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was not the empty floor, but Lu Ren's figure, which was already there like a ghost.

Although Lu Ren often catches the ball when it flies away or catches it as a tip shot, Lu Ren is "there".

For a spiker eager to score, nothing is more disgusting than thinking you've landed a sure-kill shot, only to open your eyes and find your opponent squatting at the landing spot with a constipated look on their face.

"Let me open my eyes, Kageyama!" Hinata shouted from in front of the net. "If I can see, I can avoid that guy!"

"Shut up! You idiot!" Kageyama yelled back, wiping his sweat. "Opening your eyes right now will only distract you! As long as the ball hasn't hit the ground, jump with all your might!"

Watching this scene, Lu Ren silently complained to himself: "Shonen manga protagonists are just so illogical. It's clearly a game that requires precise control, yet they insist on blind-playing. But it's also thanks to this setting that I wouldn't have made it this far."

"Match point." Hotaru's voice pulled me back to reality.

The score is 24-23.

We are leading by one point, but the other side has possession of the ball.

Kageyama serves.

This guy is now radiating murderous intent; just by standing at the bottom line, the oppressive feeling of being a "genius" is overwhelming.

"We absolutely must win this ball."

Kageyama takes a running start, jumps, and hits the ball.

The ball was extremely fast, heading straight for the bottom corner.

"Out of bounds!" Lu Ren shouted, relying on his judgment of the ball's trajectory.

Tadashi Yamaguchi had intended to dodge, but upon hearing Lu Ren's shout, he instinctively shrank his shoulders. The volleyball grazed his sleeve and slammed into the side of the court.

"Beep—!"

The whistle blew.

25:23.

competition is over.

The entire stadium fell silent instantly, with only heavy breathing remaining.

"We...we won?" Tadashi Yamaguchi seemed not to have reacted yet, staring blankly at the referee.

Lu Ren let out a long breath, feeling his knees buckle, and he slid down the wall. This wasn't a volleyball match; it was practically a half-hour QTE reaction test. My CPU was about to overheat, and my thigh muscles were on the verge of giving out.

"This game... is too hardcore..." Lu Ren looked up at the ceiling, his eyes filled with stars.

On the other side of the net, Hinata and Kageyama remained in the same position for a long time, motionless. They had lost. For these two ridiculously competitive guys, losing to a hastily assembled team was worse than death for them.

Daichi Sawamura stepped onto the stage.

According to the previous bet, if they lose, they cannot join the volleyball club.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Tanaka Ryunosuke didn't dare to speak loudly anymore, looking at the two first-year students with some worry.

"Um..." Hinata lowered his head, his voice trembling, "We..."

Sawamura Daichi's voice was deep, "Although you lost, what you just showed me really gave me a glimpse of the beginnings of a 'team'."

Kageyama suddenly raised his head.

"Volleyball is not a one-man sport." Sawamura looked at them. "As long as you remember that, the doors to the Karasuno Volleyball Club will never be closed to you."

"Does this count as... passing?" Tanaka asked in surprise.

"Well, I guess so." Sugawara Koji smiled and handed over the application form. "Welcome to the club, problem children."

A moving induction ceremony was taking place over there, the air thick with the smell of passion and sweat.

As for Lu Ren, all he could smell was the salty fish that made him feel almost completely exhausted.

"Give."

A bottle of mineral water was handed to me.

Lu Ren struggled to lift his eyelids and saw Qingze Yazhi looking down at him. She held a towel and water in her hand, her face bearing that familiar expression—seemingly disgusted but actually concerned.

"Thanks, nanny." Lu Ren took the water, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.

"You're the wet nurse, the whole family are wet nurses." Qingze Yazhi rolled her eyes at Lu Ren, then casually put a towel over his head. "You dodged that ball pretty well just now. I thought you were going to catch it with your face again."

"That's a tactical evasion." Lu Ren pulled off the towel and wiped the sweat from his face, feeling as if half of his soul had finally returned to its place.

Just then, a shadow fell over Lu Ren.

Lu Ren looked up and saw Kageyama Tobio standing in front of him.

This guy had just lost a game, and his face was sour, like someone owed him five million. But he didn't get angry, nor did he go to collect the team uniform that symbolized his starting position. Instead, he walked straight up to Lu Ren.

"What?" Lu Ren shrank back warily. "Although I beat you, my health bar is now empty. If you want a real fight, I'll call the police immediately."

Kageyama ignored Lu Ren's nonsense.

He stared intently at Lu Ren, his eyes, usually filled with arrogance and dictatorship, now brimming with a thirst for knowledge.

"How did you do that?"

"ha?"

"That fast break," Kageyama gritted his teeth, as if squeezing the words out from between them, "No matter how well Hinata and I coordinate, no matter how fast we are, you always manage to get to the ball's landing point before it even hits. My passing isn't the problem, Hinata's speed isn't the problem... So where exactly is the problem?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for everyone around him to hear.

The volleyball team members, who had been celebrating, all stopped in their tracks. Tanaka, Sugawara, and even Tsukishima all turned their gazes toward them.

In the previous game, everyone noticed something was off. That so-called "unstoppable" freak's fast break, despite his high scoring rate, always seemed powerless against Lu Ren, as if he was being "read out." If my catching skills hadn't been so terrible, that game would have been blown out long ago.

"Oh..." Lu Ren screwed the cap back on, a playful smile curving his lips. "You want my strategy guide?"

"Strategy guide?" Kageyama frowned.

"It's the walkthrough." Lu Ren pointed to his head. "In this game, there are no absolutely invincible skills, only bugs that haven't been discovered yet."

Everyone gathered around. Even Hinata came over, looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and nervousness.

"I want to know too!" Hinata shouted. "Why are you always there when I open my eyes?! It's terrifying!"

"Since you've asked so sincerely..."

Lu Ren leaned against the wall and slowly stood up. Although his legs were still shaking a little, that didn't stop him from showing off.

"It's actually quite simple. It's not that I can predict the future, nor is it that you guys aren't fast enough." Lu Ren pointed a finger at the bewildered Hyuga. "The problem lies with this kid."

"Me?" Hinata pointed to his nose. "But I jumped really fast! And I ran at full speed!"

"Your passing is indeed very strong, practically precision-guided." Lu Ren turned to look at Kageyama and rarely praised him, "In this level of dungeon, your ball-handling skills are truly SSR level."

Kageyama's expression softened slightly.

"However," Lu Ren changed the subject, "the final angle and landing point of the spike are always determined by the attacker. In other words, the one responsible for the final blow."

Lu Ren looked at Hinata and sighed.

"Shoyo, when you jump to spike the ball, your eyes are closed, right?"

Hinata paused for a moment, then nodded: "Because Kageyama said that as long as you get to the right position, the ball will be in your hands..."

"This is the biggest bug."

Lu Ren spread his hands and explained to everyone, "A normal attacker will observe the block in the air and adjust their wrist according to the opponent's position, whether to hit a straight or diagonal shot. This kind of on-the-spot adjustment is the most difficult for the defender to judge."

"But Xiangyang closed his eyes."

Lu Ren made a gesture of closing his eyes and swinging his arm.

"Because he can't see, he can't make any changes to the ball's trajectory in the air. His arm swing path depends entirely on his jump position and body orientation. In other words, as soon as Kageyama passes the ball, Hyuga's spike route is already 'locked in'."

The surroundings were deathly silent.

Sugawara Koshi's eyes widened, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"So that means..." Daichi Sawamura murmured, "By observing Hyuga's body orientation and arm movements when he jumps, we can be 100% certain where the ball will fly, because he himself doesn't change direction at all?"

"Bingo".

Lu Ren snapped his fingers. "For me, this is a physics problem where all variables are known. Although the solution process is quick, the answer is unique. I don't need to guess where he'll hit; I just need to see which way his palm is facing and then walk over and wait."

After Lu Ren finished speaking, he looked at Kageyama and Hinata, whose faces were pale.

"This is what's called a 'mechanism kill'." Lu Ren leaned back against the wall, looking at them with some pity. "Your fast attacks are indeed very fast, but until this bug is fixed, its trajectory is as clear as a truck on a highway in my eyes."

Kageyama Tobio stood frozen in place, his pupils dilating violently.

His prized finishing move, which he considered a flawless combination, actually contained such a fatal and elementary logical flaw.

Hinata stared wide-eyed at me, looking at her own hands and then at me, seemingly trying to process the enormous amount of information.

"So... it's because I had my eyes closed?" Hinata murmured to himself.

"But don't be discouraged." Lu Ren patted the dust off his pants. "To be able to use such a buggy move to this extent, you guys are pretty freakish. Just add a little patch... I mean, learn to open your eyes, and you'll be the most troublesome boss on this server."

After saying that, Lu Ren felt that his stamina bar was completely empty.

"Yazhi, help me up." Lu Ren reached out his hand to the girl next to him. "If we don't leave now, I'll have to reload my save file here."

Qingze Yazhi sighed helplessly and walked over to support Lu Ren's arm.

"They clearly won the game, but they're acting like they just got beaten up."

"That's what you call a 'Pyrrhic victory'." Lu Ren leaned most of his weight on her. "Let's go home. I want to eat meat. Lots of meat."

Behind them, in the stadium, Kageyama and Hinata were still standing in the same spot.

But Lu Ren knew that the seeds of competitiveness had been sown. The next time they met, that strange man's quick attack would likely be much harder to deal with.

After all, NPCs of this level will always evolve on their own in order to clear the game.