Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

10: 10.

The numbers on the scoreboard were like two nails, firmly embedded in the nerves of both teams.

Sugawara's introduction did indeed blur Karasuno's offensive focus. Kageyama, Sugawara, and Rikujin constantly intertwined on the field, each touch of the ball potentially leading to a completely new play. In the stands, the cheers for Otokoma subsided somewhat; this completely irrational "multi-core drive" caused a brief stagnation in Otokoma's defensive formation, which was originally heavily reliant on logical anticipation.

Moyan stood at the net, his fingers nervously scratching his knee. His CPU was burning hot. Lu Ren's foul just now, going out of bounds, didn't just score a point; it also pierced a hole called "Unknown" in Yinju's defensive wall.

"Grinding, you're sweating a lot," Kuroo Tetsuro whispered a reminder during a break in the grinding.

"Hmm," Mo Yan responded, but his gaze never left Lu Ren.

In his view, Lu Ren was a much more troublesome pawn than Hyuga. Hyuga acted purely on instinct, powerful yet predictable. Lu Ren, on the other hand, was breaking down the volleyball court into various numerical values ​​and mechanisms, and was using a near-self-destructive method—by increasing variables on the court, he was forcibly raising the physical exertion of both sides.

The whistle blew.

Lu Ren continued serving.

This time, instead of a powerful spike, he opted for a short ball with sidespin. The ball grazed the net and flew straight towards the corner of the net.

Hisense reacted extremely quickly, saving the ball with a sliding step.

"pretty!"

As he ran to the ball, his peripheral vision swept over Karasuno's half of the court. Despite the support of the "Chimera System," Karasuno's defensive weaknesses remained. This was due to the void left by the forced removal of Hyuga from the offensive end.

With a flick of his finger, the ball flew towards Yamamoto Tiger.

Yamamoto leaped on the left wing, facing a double block from Kageyama and Sawamura. Instead of forcing the attack, he mimicked Lu Ren's earlier move and hit a long drop shot.

The target remains Hyuga Shoyo.

Hinata had just retreated from the middle lane and hadn't even regained her footing when she fell to the ground again.

boom.

The ball was saved, but Hinata had lost his balance and rolled around on the floor.

"Counterattack!" Kageyama shouted.

But when he looked at Hinata, Hinata had just propped himself up. The anti-virus program was running exceptionally smoothly: whenever there was an opportunity, it would let Hinata touch the ball, preventing him from taking a running start and forcing him to lie on the ground watching others jump.

Kageyama was forced to pass the ball to Higashimine Asahi in the back row.

Dongfeng's powerful spike was caught steadily by Ye Jiuwei.

The tug-of-war has begun again.

This feeling is terrible, like you're playing a very difficult action game where you have high attack power, but your opponent can always use endless control skills to prevent you from unleashing your ultimate move.

Hinata stood on the court, his chest heaving. He hadn't jumped to spike in four consecutive rallies. For someone yearning to fly, the smell of sweat on the court was more bitter than any poison.

"Kageyama..." Hinata looked at Kageyama, his voice a little hoarse.

Kageyama ignored him, only staring at the opposite side. He was also struggling with his own internal conflict.

As the setter, he naturally knew the optimal solution was to pass to Lu Ren or Dongfeng, because they had height and strength, and could chip away at the score in this attrition battle. Pass to Hyuga? A short guy who hadn't even gotten a running start or stabilized his center of gravity? That would be practically handing the points to Otoko.

However, Hinata's eyes were glowing.

That light reminded Kageyama of the scene in the Civic Gymnasium, in that dilapidated gymnasium in Karasuno, where this idiot kept crashing into the wall and falling to the floor, yet his eyes remained fixed on the ball.

On the next ball, Otoko's attack was saved by Yu Nishiya at the last second.

The volleyball bounced high and landed near the three-meter line.

Hinata received another defensive pass; his knee had slammed hard into the floor while trying to save the ball. He had just stood up and was less than two meters from the net.

At this distance, it's simply impossible to launch a fast attack.

Kuroo Tetsuro was already guarding the middle lane, and Kenma was also staring at Kageyama's fingers.

"There's no chance anymore," Moyan thought to himself.

Kageyama Tobio moved under the ball.

His mind flashed back to Lu Ren's words before the match: "If the system is locked, then restart it. In a way that the opponent never expected."

Kageyama's fingers touched the volleyball.

He didn't pursue extreme speed as usual, nor did he strive for that precise arc that could stop him in mid-air.

He made a move that went against his genius intuition.

He pushed the ball into the air.

It was pushed very high.

very high.

The volleyball traced an exaggerated parabola under the stadium's enormous overhead lights.

The entire audience was stunned.

"That shot..." Oikawa Toru suddenly stood up in the stands. "What is Kageyama Tobio doing? Did he make a mistake?"

Kuroo Tetsuro was also taken aback. The ball was too slow, so slow that Nekoma's block even had time to adjust his position twice.

But Hinata Shoyo didn't freeze.

The moment he saw the ball, the almost suffocating anxiety he felt from being ground and compressed vanished. In its place came a sense of familiarity and warmth.

Before joining Karasuno, how did Hinata train in that volleyball club where he was the only boy?

The soccer and basketball club friends he'd dragged along to make up the numbers had absolutely no idea how to execute fast breaks. All they could do was toss the ball high in the air and yell, "Hinata, it's your turn!"

That kind of ball has no speed, no angle, only height.

In order to handle that kind of ball, Hyuga honed his most primal and powerful skills.

He began to back away.

They retreated in large strides.

His gaze was fixed on the orange dot of light that was slowly falling through the air.

"What is he doing?" Yamamoto Taketora exclaimed.

Hyuga retreated to near the baseline, and then accelerated.

His footsteps pounded heavily on the floor, making a dull thud. Each step seemed to crush all the pent-up frustration he had accumulated.

"Thump!"

That was the sound of the floor groaning.

Hinata Shoyo rose up from the ground.

This is not a short jump for a fast break, but a full, unreserved "thump" jump.

His body stretched out in the air, like a fully drawn bow.

Grin looked up at Hinata. In his calculations, Hinata should be here, or there, but definitely not this high up.

Because Kageyama passed a high ball, Hyuga had ample time to find a take-off point.

Because Kageyama passed a high ball, Hyuga was able to observe all the details of Otokoma's block.

Kuroo Tetsuro and Inuoka Kaname desperately jumped to block.

But in Hinata's current perspective, Otoko's proud iron wall suddenly seemed rather short.

"I saw it."

Hinata swung his arm at the highest point.

They didn't use speed to create a time difference, nor did they use feints to shake off their opponent.

He was directly above the Sound Horse's net, using pure physical height to complete a dive bombing run.

boom!

The volleyball pierced through Kuroo's fingertips and slammed hard onto Otokoma's court.

The dust on the floor seemed to be shaken up by the ball.

11: 10.

Dead silence.

A deathly silence fell over the entire Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium for three seconds.

Then came a tidal wave of gasps.

"How is this possible..." Mo Yan stood in front of the net, his eyes wide with shock.

His system malfunctioned.

He had calculated everything perfectly: Hyuga's stamina, Kageyama's passing habits, and Karasuno's tactical approach. But he hadn't anticipated that in the most modern tactical battle, Kageyama Tobio would throw out the most primitive "bad ball."

Hinata Shoyo, however, turned this "bad ball" into a top-tier killing move.

Lu Ren whistled from the sidelines.

After landing, Hyuga was still trembling slightly. It was a reaction of extreme excitement.

"Kageyama! That ball! One more time!" Hinata shouted, his eyes shining brightly.

Kageyama Tobio looked at his hands, his expression still sour, but a hint of smugness in his eyes.

"It's so noisy. They only spread it because they think you're too useless." Kageyama turned his head away, not looking at Hinata, but he couldn't help but laugh.

In the stands.

Qingze Yazhi excitedly crushed the water bottle in her hand: "Xiao Xiangyang is flying! Lu Ren! Look!"

Lu Jianguo even mounted the camera directly on the railing, muttering, "Great shot! That's a really clear shot. This is our son's teammate; that jump is amazing!"

On the other side of Otoko.

Coach Nekomata's originally smiling face turned a little serious, but he immediately revealed that sly smile again.

"This is really interesting." Coach Nekomata stroked his chin. "Grinding, running into a problem, huh?"

Grinding did not answer. He looked down at his palm, then glanced at Kageyama and Hinata opposite him.

His brain was frantically reorganizing data.

That last shot shattered Nekoma's defensive logic. Nekoma's defense is based on "wear and tear" and "restriction." They entangle their opponents like a spider web, slowly suffocating them until they die.

But Hyuga's jump just now tore the spider web apart.

"Mojin, stop spacing out." Kuroo walked over and ruffled Mojin's hair vigorously. "You haven't lost yet. It's just a high ball, right? We've seen it before."

"It's different, Kuro." Momo's voice was soft. "That high ball was Kageyama's absolute trust in Hinata. This kind of trust... cannot be measured by data."

Lu Ren stood on the right flank, watching Mo Yan's expression.

He knew that the CPU being ground was no longer simply overloaded; a logical loop had appeared.

"Hey, Moyan," Lu Ren said through the net, his tone carrying a hint of the teasing characteristic of someone who enjoys having fun, "Are you wondering why this kind of unscientific playing style can score?"

Grinding ink looked at him.

"Because volleyball isn't an RPG, nor is it a tower defense game." Lu Ren pointed to his chest, then to Hinata, "There's a hidden attribute in this game called 'Emotional Fluctuation.' Just when you think you've locked down all of the boss's skills, the boss often goes straight into the second phase and then finishes you off with a basic attack."

Mo Yan pursed his lips and didn't say anything, but his clenched fist showed that he had no intention of admitting defeat.

The game continues.

Karasuno's demeanor has completely changed.

If the previous "Chimera System" turned Karasuno into a multi-headed monster, then Hyuga's "Back to Basics" slam dunk just now was like giving this monster wings.

It's time for Otoko's serve again.

Hisense took a deep breath. Instead of sending the pass to Hinata, he sent it to the gap in Sawamura Daichi's defense.

Sawamura accepted it steadily.

"I'll do it!" Sugawara shouted.

He was swaying in the front row, while Kageyama was cutting in from the back.

Nekoma's defense remained tight, but their movements showed a noticeable increase in hesitation. While guarding against fast breaks, they had to divert some of their attention to Hyuga's "high ball" that could appear at any moment.

This hesitation is exactly the "system delay" that Lu Ren wanted.

Sugawara touched the ball with his fingers; he neither passed it high nor initiated a fast break.

He pushed the ball towards Lu Ren.

Lu Ren jumped from the right wing.

Lu Ren calmly observed Kuroo Tetsuro's solo interception from the air.

"here."

Instead of spiked the ball, he flicked it lightly with his fingertips.

Drop ball.

The volleyball deftly passed over Kuroo's palm and landed in front of the mortar and pestle.

He gritted his teeth and made a save, and although he managed to get the ball back, the first pass was already in disarray.

"It's a mess! Fill in!" Ye Jiuwei shouted.

Soundhorse was thrown into chaos.

This kind of chaos was almost never seen in this composed team in previous matches.

Lu Ren landed, looked at the flustered Yin Ju, and silently calculated in his mind:

"Step 1: Deconstruct the logic. Done."

"Step two, implanting chaos, is underway."

He looked up at the score on the big screen.

12: 10.

Karasuno leads by two points.

In the second round of this "battle of the junkyard," the scales began to tip in favor of these unreasonable crows.

Meanwhile, the most crucial processor in the SoundKing is undergoing the most intense "version update" impact of its career.

"Come on, grind it up," Lu Ren muttered to himself. "Let me see how long your computing power can last in the face of absolute chaos."