Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

As Nishitani Yuu retreated to the sidelines, Hinata Shoyo, like an orange ball with a spring, bounced and stepped onto the edge of the wooden floor.

"Lu Ren! I'm up here!"

Hinata's voice was very penetrating in the empty stadium. Lu Ren rubbed his ears and turned his gaze away from Kiyosawa Ayashi on the other side of the stands, landing on Hinata's excited eyes.

"Once you're on the court, behave yourself. Don't get dizzy before you even spike the ball." Lu Ren clapped his hands and moved his stance back half a step.

The current score is 7-6, with Aoba Johsai holding a slight lead. In Lu Ren's eyes, this is not just a score, but a stress test between two different versions of the system.

At the baseline of Aoba Castle West, Kindaichi Yutaro was holding a volleyball. His signature "leek head" swayed under the light, his eyes fixed on Kageyama. This psychological shadow left by the "dictatorship" in junior high school was gradually transforming into a numerical boost called "revenge" under Oikawa Tetsu's tactical deployment.

The referee whistle blows.

Kindaichi takes a running start and swings his arm. The volleyball traces a straight trajectory, with moderate power, but the landing point is cleverly chosen, directly targeting the boundary between Karasuno's positions one and six.

"mine."

Lu Ren took a step to the side, lowering his center of gravity. Instead of using a wide, sweeping motion to catch the ball, he subtly deflected the force with his wrists, making the ball feel like it had hit a sponge the moment it made contact with his arms.

"Nice, catch!" Daichi Sawamura shouted.

The ball flew steadily toward the net. Kageyama Tobio was already in position, and a second before his fingertips touched the ball, Hyuga Shoyo had already begun that lateral movement that defied biological instinct.

"Quick attack!" Oikawa Tetsu shouted from the other side of the net, his body reacting faster than his brain commanded.

Kageyama didn't look at Hinata, but he knew Hinata was there. With his hands clasped inward, the volleyball was launched at an almost crushing speed, heading straight for the highest point of Hinata's right hand.

Hyuga leaped, his body stretching out in the air, the afterimage of his right hand creating a soft whooshing sound.

"Thump!"

As the muffled thud was heard, the volleyball, which should have landed directly, deflected noticeably above the net.

Oikawa Toru.

Just as Hyuga made his move, he managed to extend a hand through the gap in the three-man block, thanks to his extreme familiarity with Kageyama's passing path.

The volleyball struck Oikawa Toru's fingertips and bounced high backward.

"One touch!" Oikawa landed, his toes barely touching the ground before he immediately took a step back, creating space for the attack.

Lu Ren's pupils contracted slightly. In that split second of the game, he witnessed Oikawa Tetsu's high-speed response as a "server." A normal person's first reaction to such an inhuman fast attack would be astonishment, but Oikawa Tetsu was calculating Hyuga's hitting frame rate.

"Good catch, Watari!" Oikawa shouted.

Aoki's libero, Watari Chikaji, made a diving save and calmly cushioned the ball near the byline. The ball's speed was controlled perfectly, giving Oikawa Toru just the right amount of time to get going again.

Oikawa jumped while running. His movement was extremely fluid, as if he was going to spike the ball directly into the open space in Karasuno's backfield.

But Lu Ren knew that this guy's specialty was this kind of "fake command".

"Middle!" Lu Ren shouted, while sliding his body to the left front.

With a flick of his wrist in mid-air, Oikawa sent the volleyball not forward, but to the side and back with a very short back pass.

Matsukawa was silent.

The middle blocker from Qingcheng was already waiting at the net. He used Oikawa's cover to launch a very subtle quick attack.

"Stop him!" Kageyama, Tanaka, and Tsukishima started moving almost simultaneously, forming an impenetrable wall of flesh in front of the net.

Matsukawa's spike was powerful, but Karasuno's three-man block displayed exceptional teamwork. The ball struck the arms of the three players with a heavy thud before landing vertically in Aoki's half of the court.

The referee blew his whistle, and the flag pointed towards Karasuno.

7: 7.

"Whew—" Tanaka landed and clenched his fist. "That was close. I almost got fooled by that pretty boy."

"There's too much misleading information in Oikawa Tetsu's movements. Don't stare at his eyes, focus on the ball's center of gravity," Lu Ren said as he walked over.

It's Karasuno's turn to serve.

Sawamura Daichi walked towards the service area, patted the volleyball in his hand, and his expression was as calm as a mountain. His serve didn't need fancy effects; as long as it disrupted the opponent's first pass, it was the most effective attack.

The ball was served, aimed deep into Qingcheng's backcourt.

Kindaichi took a step to receive the ball. Although the first pass was slightly off-center from the setter's position, Oikawa Toru only moved two steps and easily took control of the ball.

As Oikawa touched the ball, he glanced across the entire field out of the corner of his eye.

Iwaizumi Ichi.

That was his most compatible terminal device.

Oikawa delivered a long pass, heading straight for the backcourt. Iwaizumi took a running start from the back row, leaping into the air just outside the three-meter line. This kind of back-row attack is a routine tactic in Qingcheng's system, but its power should not be underestimated.

"Double-person net block!"

Hinata and Higashimine Asahi jumped at the same time. Hinata's jumping ability made up for his height, and the two of them formed a slope at the net opening.

"Touch!" Dong Fengxu shouted.

The volleyball was blocked and deflected, landing behind Karasuno.

Lu Ren was originally standing in the back row defensive position. When he saw the height and angle of the ball bouncing, several tactical modules flashed through his mind.

In the past, he would have steadily passed the ball to Kageyama, letting Kageyama organize the offense. But now, he is the core lubricant of the "Chimera" tactic.

Lu Ren knelt on one knee and raised his hands upwards.

This action is not a pass, but a setter's dribbling motion.

"Lu Ren passed the ball?" Oikawa Tetsu paused for a moment on the other side.

What surprised him even more was that Lu Ren's pass was not to the ace Higashi Mine Asahi, nor to the fast break player Hyuga, but to Kageyama Tobio.

The moment Kageyama saw Riku Ren toss the ball, he understood the kid's intention. Instead of standing still and waiting, he charged towards the net like a main attacker.

"The setter is going to spike the ball?" the spectators in the stands exclaimed.

Aoki's blocking rhythm was disrupted. Matsukawa and Hanamaki instinctively jumped after Kageyama. In their view, someone with Kageyama's personality would definitely go all out if given the chance to end the game himself.

Kageyama stretched his arms out in the air, as if he were about to smash a volleyball.

However, a millisecond before touching the ball, Kageyama's wrist suddenly loosened.

He didn't deduct it.

He passed the ball in mid-air, flicking it gently under his fingertips.

The volleyball flew over Matsukawa's shoulder and precisely to the other side.

Dongfeng Xu.

Karasuno's ace had been waiting in that position for a long time, facing a completely empty net.

"Drink!"

Dong Fengxu concentrated all his strength in his right hand, and the volleyball, like a heavy cannonball, slammed directly onto the floor of Qingcheng with a deafening bang.

7: 8.

The entire venue fell silent, then erupted in wild cheers from the Karasuno supporters.

Lu Ren stood up from the floor and dusted off his pants. He looked at Oikawa Toru's face across from him, a face that seemed to say "You're playing dirty tricks," and his lips twitched.

"This is called multi-core drive, Oikawa-senpai." Lu Ren's voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard clearly in front of the screen. "When there is more than one brain operating in the system, your predictions will cause logical overflow."

Oikawa Tetsu stared at Rikuren, then glanced at Kageyama. The fighting spirit in his eyes hadn't diminished; instead, it burned even brighter, as if a bucket of gasoline had been poured over it.

"Interesting, really interesting," Oikawa muttered to himself, turning his wrist.

The game continues.

Sawamura Daichi serves again. This time, Aoshiro's libero, Watari Chikaji, demonstrates national-level defensive skills. He anticipates Daichi's change in trajectory, takes a side slide, and heads the ball up with his chest.

"Nice catch!"

Oikawa Tetsu stood still under the ball. He didn't look at Rikuren again, nor did he observe Kageyama.

He completely immersed himself in the rhythm of the game.

Matsukawa is running.

Oikawa touched the ball with his fingers without hesitation, and with a quick, flat pass that was so fast that no one could see the trajectory, he sent it directly into Matsukawa's hand.

Matsukawa swung his arm quickly at the net, using a feint to deceive Hyuga's block and spike the ball into Karasuno's defensive gap.

8: 8.

The score remains close.

The two teams are like two high-speed precision instruments, searching for each other's weaknesses with every change of possession.

After landing, Oikawa Toru glanced back at the scoreboard, then turned to look at Karasuno's side.

"Is the version update complete?" Oikawa smiled, a smile that carried an undeniable sense of pressure. "Now, it's my turn as the system administrator to clear the cache."

Lu Ren felt the pressure coming at him. He knew that this was the sign that the "dungeon" had truly entered a high-difficulty phase.

"Kageyama, Hinata, Daichi-senpai," Lu Ren called out in a low voice, his eyes fixed on Oikawa's hands. "Don't let your guard down, that guy is about to 'overclock'."

The air on the court seemed to thicken, and the sound of each player's breathing could be clearly heard. Above the net, less than a meter wide, it wasn't just a battle of volleyball skills, but a fierce clash of two wills.

Lu Ren shook his hand and resumed his defensive stance.

The game isn't over yet; it's only just begun.

He could feel his heart racing, and that long-lost sense of dread he felt when facing a top-tier boss was spreading from his fingertips throughout his body.

"Come on, let's see whose system crashes first."

Lu Ren stared at the volleyball in Oikawa Tetsu's hand, his eyes flashing with an almost frantic calm under the light.

The next goal will be the real test.

The volleyball spun in Oikawa's hands, and the referee's whistle blew again, like a bolt of lightning shattering the silence.

The offensive rotation in western Aoba Castle has begun again.

Meanwhile, Karasuno's "Chimera" is baring its fangs, waiting for the next bite.

This showdown in Miyagi Prefecture truly reached a fever pitch at this moment.

No one will back down, and no one can back down.

Because behind it lies the only exit to the entire country.

Lu Ren took a deep breath, his lungs filling with slightly dry air. This feeling was so real that he felt it might be more captivating than any game.

"Kageyama, get ready, we're going to speed things up."

Kageyama Tobio didn't answer, only snorted coldly, but his eyes, fixed on the volleyball, had already given the best answer.

The game continues.