Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

As they passed through the heavy double doors, the previously noisy queue instantly fell silent.

Lu Ren raised an eyebrow. If he didn't see the group of high school students in white tracksuits, and only looked at the setup of the venue, Lu Ren would have thought he had accidentally wandered into a professional league training base. Neat rows of industrial lights illuminated the high ceiling, making the floor shine so brightly that you could even see your reflection. The air was filled with a pleasant mixture of Salonpas scent and floor wax—the smell of a "strong team."

Is this the financial power of private schools?

In comparison, Karasuno's place is practically a dilapidated thatched hut in a beginner's village.

"The map textures, the lighting and rendering—the budget is burning!" Lu Ren muttered to himself.

At this moment, the players of Qingye City West were practicing their spiking. The muffled thuds of the spikes echoed throughout the room, each strike feeling like a blow to the heart. The synchronized rhythm demonstrated the team's exceptional discipline.

"gather!"

With the sound of a whistle, the "white-clad legion" that had been flying and darting around the field quickly stopped and lined up in front of the net like NPCs with pre-programmed routines.

Sawamura Daichi took a deep breath, straightened his collar, and led the Karasuno group forward.

"salute!"

"Nice to meet you!!"

Two rows of teenagers bowed deeply, their voices echoing in the empty gymnasium. Looking up, Lu Ren scanned the crowd opposite him. What did these guys eat to grow up like this? Their average height seemed a head taller than Karasuno's, and their eyes—not the casual, middle-aged men Lu Ren had encountered on the field, but the scrutinizing and intimidating gaze of competitors.

"Whether it's offense or defense, their average level is quite high." Daichi Sawamura's voice was a little tense as he stared at the players on the opposite side who were warming up. "Moreover, I heard that their blocking is one of the best in the prefecture."

Sugawara Koji stood to the side, his expression also somewhat grave: "They have no obvious weaknesses; each of them could be a starter in any other team. Is this the foundation of the top four in the prefecture...?"

The atmosphere within the team visibly became heavy. The suffocating feeling of being suppressed by the opponent's level even before the fight began was spreading rapidly.

Just then, a loud voice broke the silence.

"Hey! What's wrong with you two? Your expressions are so stiff!"

Ryunosuke Tanaka stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the two third-year students with a disappointed expression. "So what if they're strong? Whether it's blocking or defense, all we have to do is break through that so-called 'elite' defense, right?"

He suddenly slapped the back of the trembling little man next to him.

"Snapped!"

"We have Hyuga! This guy exists to break through their limits, right!" Tanaka grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, a testament to his unconditional trust in his "cheat code."

Hinata Shoyo, who had been curled up in a ball, staggered forward a step after being slapped, and the lifeless expression on his face relaxed slightly.

Sawamura and Sugawara exchanged a glance, and a relieved smile appeared on their faces.

"Tanaka is actually quite reliable in a pinch..." Sugawara remarked. "He's usually a bit of an idiot, but when he says something like that, it's a huge help."

However, flags are like that—they're always quick to be raised and quick to fall.

Tanaka, seemingly oblivious to Hyuga's deathly pale face, continued nonchalantly, "However, Hyuga's catching and defensive skills are absolutely terrible; he's a complete sieve. So—"

He gave a thumbs-up, pointing to himself and Senior Daichi: "Leave the remedial work to us! You just focus on charging forward!"

The light in Hinata's eyes brightened slightly.

"But!" Tanaka's tone shifted abruptly, his expression turning serious. His fierce face loomed closer, "Serving is on a rotation system, so you'll have to face it alone then. If you serve wrong, you'll be substituted off the court. Don't, don't make a mistake!"

Click.

Lu Ren seemed to hear the sound of a string called "reason" snapping.

Hinata's barely constructed psychological defenses were instantly shattered by Tanaka's words, "Don't make a mistake."

The immense pressure was like a five-fingered mountain, crushing the still immature monkey.

"Hey, Hinata?" Tanaka was still basking in his own self-satisfaction. "Why aren't you saying anything? Were you moved by your senpai's coolness?"

No one answered.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Tanaka looked around, and the orange head that was standing next to him just now had disappeared.

"Um..." Yamaguchi Tadashi weakly raised his hand and pointed to the end of the gymnasium entrance, "The moment Tanaka-senpai finished speaking, Hinata clutched his stomach and rushed out... He must have gone to the restroom."

Daichi Sawamura: "..."

Sugawara Takashi: "..."

Lu Ren sighed and looked away from the farce. The dungeon hadn't even started, and our main damage dealers had already disconnected due to a debuff.

While everyone was focused on Hinata's stomach problems, Lu Ren strolled a couple of steps toward the net.

In the crowd opposite me, Kindaichi, with his spiky hair, was staring at me with a complicated look, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitant to speak. Lu Ren, however, wasn't interested in this minor enemy; he was concerned with the legendary final boss.

I glanced around.

No.

Oikawa Tetsu, who always had a frivolous smile and was regarded as Kageyama's lifelong rival, was not in the starting lineup, nor even in the warm-up area.

Who are you looking for?

A deep voice came from the other side of the net.

Lu Ren looked up and saw a dark-skinned, muscular young man with a buzz cut staring at him. This was Iwaizumi Ichi, the vice-commander of Aoba Castle West, and also Oikawa Tetsu's "caretaker."

"Ah, it's nothing." Lu Ren put his hands in his pockets, adopting a nonchalant attitude. "It's just a bit of a pity that I didn't see that 'King.' After all, I specially prepared a 'gift' for him."

Iwaizumi frowned and looked Lu Ren up and down: "You...the other day at the Civic Gymnasium, you claimed to be a first-year student from Shiratorizawa?"

It seems Lu Ren's acting skills were indeed quite good that day; even this deputy commander remembered it.

"That was role-playing." Lu Ren shrugged, pointing to his black team uniform. "This is my true form. What, is that Oikawa Tetsu hiding because he's afraid of losing?"

"Don't be so arrogant." Iwaizumi Ichijin wasn't angry, he just said coldly, "That guy twisted his ankle again during practice a few days ago and is recovering now. If we let him play, he'll probably get too excited and aggravate his injury, so I held him back."

"A sprain?" Lu Ren raised an eyebrow. "That's a real shame... but for me, it was a great job."

Iwazumi was stunned for a moment, seemingly not following Lu Ren's train of thought.

"I mean, as an opponent, it's only natural to feel happy when you hear that the enemy's strongest fighter can't fight, right?" Lu Ren said matter-of-factly. "After all, I'm just a casual player who likes to win without effort, and I don't want to challenge the hell difficulty at this stage."

Iwazumi looked at Lu Ren, his lips twitching slightly, as if he had never seen anyone describe "cowardice" in such a refined and elegant way before.

"You bastard..." He shook his head, turned around and walked back to the group, "Although I don't know what kind of people you are, don't think that Qingcheng will lose just because Oikawa is gone."

"We'll see." Lu Ren smiled.

With the Boss's absence confirmed, Lu Ren felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. Although Qingcheng's overall strength remained formidable, without a commander capable of fully stacking buffs across the entire team, at least Wuye wouldn't face that despairing tactical crushing defeat.

A commotion arose behind me.

Looking back, Tanaka was dragging Hyuga back from the entrance of the passage.

The scene was absolutely horrific.

Hinata Shoyo slumped against Tanaka, his spine seemingly ripped away. His face was beyond pale; it was an eerie shade somewhere between bluish-purple and ashen, his eyes unfocused, and he kept muttering something like, "Serve... fault... seppuku..."

"What happened?" Lu Ren walked over and looked at the lifeless body. "Tanaka-senpai, did you take him on a roller coaster? Or was he just rescued from the ICU?"

Tanaka looked embarrassed and scratched his bald head: "I don't know either! I just said a couple of encouraging words, and this kid turned out like this! Hey! Hinata! Cheer up!"

He shook Hinata hard, and Hinata's head swung back and forth like a rattle, almost making him vomit.

"It's over." Kageyama Tobio stood to the side, his face dark as he wrote out the diagnosis. "This guy's CPU is fried."

Sawamura Daichi looked at Hyuga in this state and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. As the captain, he had to keep the team's morale up at this moment.

"Hinata."

Dadi stepped forward, trying to make his voice sound gentle and reliable. "Don't overthink it. Just play to your usual standard. If you make a mistake, everyone will help you fix it. Relax, take a deep breath..."

Hinata mechanically turned his head, staring at the ground with his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"Yes...yes! Daichi-senpai! I...I'm very relaxed! I'm not...at all nervous! Really!"

He was trembling all over as he said this, and his knees were clattering loudly.

"You're just being way too nervous!" Daichi's smile froze on her face; this textbook attempt at comforting her had clearly failed.

Just when the whole team was at a loss with this "ultimate decoy" that had crashed, Shimizu Kiyoko, who had been standing silently to the side, walked over.

As the manager of the volleyball team, Senior Jiezi is usually like a cool and aloof NPC, rarely participating in pre-match mobilization except for handing out water and keeping score.

She walked up to Hinata and stopped.

Hinata was still trembling like a sieve, completely unaware of the goddess's approach.

Kiyoko bent down slightly, reached out, and gently placed her hand on Hinata's shoulder.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

Hinata's trembling stopped abruptly. He slowly and stiffly raised his head to meet those clear eyes.

"Hinata."

Kiyoko's voice was soft and detached, but to Hinata's ears at that moment, it was probably no less than heavenly music.

I'm really looking forward to your performance.

After saying that, she withdrew her hand, turned around and walked back to the rest area, leaving behind only a graceful silhouette.

The entire room fell silent.

Lu Ren stood to the side, watching helplessly as Hyuga Shoyo's face went from deathly pale to bright red in an instant, and then—

"puff--!!!"

It was as if a pressure cooker had exploded, and a visible stream of steam shot out from the top of his head.

"Ah...ah...ah..." Hinata opened his mouth and uttered a string of incomprehensible syllables. His whole body was like a red-hot iron, falling straight backward.

"Hinata!!" Tanaka and Sugawara caught him in a flurry of activity.

"This is it, we're completely finished." Lu Ren covered his face, unable to bear the sight. "It was just the graphics card overheating, but now the motherboard is burned through."

For the innocent young man, Jiezi's direct attack was not a buff at all, but a powerful instant-death spell.

"Wow...that's amazing..." Hinata lay in Tanaka's arms, her eyes swirling like mosquito coils, muttering to herself, "Kiyoko-senpai...I'm looking forward to...her performance..."

"Looks like we'll have to restart it." Kageyama stepped forward, knuckles clenched, a "nuclear-kind" smile on his face. "Let me help him cool down physically."

"Stop! Kageyama! Someone will die!"

Seeing the chaotic scene, Lu Ren sighed and turned to look at the opposite field.

Iwaizumi was looking at us like we were idiots.

"Is this Karasuno...?" he probably thought.

Lu Ren shrugged.

That's right, this is Karasuno. A team composed of a simple-minded idiot, a hot-tempered genius, a cunning and sarcastic person, and a transmigrator who just wants to AFK.

The competition is about to begin.