Why the Sudden Chaos?

The prototype for this simulation was a massive "Paradise" that appeared 23 years ago. It once hosted a three-month-long campaign where humans successfully eradicated all Demonic Beasts and discovered two mineral veins that didn't exist in the real world.
Xiao Bai and the others wouldn't have to experience the entire campaign. They only needed to temporarily "guest star" in a small team and complete a Demonic Beast eradication mission within a set time frame.
If they failed the mission, there would be a combat record showing how others had succeeded in reality.
Xiao Bai couldn't help but nod.
"This is quite well-designed. I t's far more engaging than the old method of just stuffing a bunch of Demonic Beasts into an empty room to fight you. It's both training and learning. They clearly put a lot of thought into this. No wonder it's getting strong promotion from Mecha Academy."
Once the final instructions finished, the scene before him changed again, transporting him to a dense tropical rainforest. The area was filled with intertwining vines that hung from the trees, weaving into spiderweb-like patterns.
The scenario had two rules, just like in reality—
Mass ive made everything here—plants, minerals, and Demonic Beasts—enormous. A single tree could tower over a hundred meters, making even a dozen-meter-tall mecha look as slender as a sapling. A shrubbery at the base of such a tree could easily conceal a mecha.
This neutral rule benefited humans by providing abundant resources, but it also made the Demonic Beasts particularly troublesome.
Ferocity was essentially a negative rule, making the Demonic Beasts more frenzied and bloodthirsty, extremely aggressive. Any encounter with this rule would start at a minimum hazard level of 3.
However, this rule also transformed cunning, stealthy, or well-camouflaged Demonic Beasts into "brainless brutes." By maintaining a solid front line and leveraging heavy firepower, it actually saved a lot of trouble in subsequent cleanup operations.
So, although the real-life campaign lasted a long time, it wasn't particularly difficult. The Defense Force advanced steadily, securing this resource-rich area with relative ease. It was precisely thanks to the resources obtained here that they were able to win the Third Invasion three years later.
As a well-known battle, Xiao Bai naturally knew about it. The prospect of personally experiencing such a legendary scene gradually excited him.
The other teammates chimed in with relieved tones:
"We actually got the Fertile Valley campaign? That was a rare, decisive victory back then! Easy fight, beautiful win."
"Phew~ Finally, some luck! They gave us a relatively simple scenario. Does this simulator have a win rate control? Does losing too much lower the difficulty?"
"It must. No kid cries every day. If the difficulty stayed that high, who could even play?"
"Still, don't get too complacent, guys. The Demonic Beasts here are still tricky, and the environment is complex."
"Yeah, and we're also trailing that Red-Name Bro from level 1-28... Alright, bros, I'll go scout ahead."
With that, the light mecha in position 3 took the lead, climbing up a nearby tree like an ant crawling up a stalk. Using its backpack thrusters, it hopped between dense branches, reporting over the comms:
"No enemy sightings, but visibility is severely obstructed and radar is performing poorly. However, at 32 degrees, there's a small hill about 5 kilometers away with better visibility. I'm heading there first to take a look."
"Alright, we'll follow behind you. Everyone, be careful of the vines—getting tangled will be a real headache."
The Investigator in Position 1 acknowledged the order and organized the remaining four mechs to follow.
The other three mechs immediately spread out, forming a standard formation.
"Don't!"
Xiao Bai wanted to warn them, but he realized that once he entered the scenario, his chat window had disappeared, perfectly simulating the conditions of actual combat.
A close-range combat mecha had even moved to a position in front of him, providing simple forward cover while clumsily and slowly clearing vines and shrubbery that obstructed the line of sight with its chainsaw sword.
But Xiao Bai didn't appreciate it. He abruptly accelerated, surging past the mecha and quickening his pace to chase the light recon mecha at the front.
"What the hell? Red-Name Bro, why are you suddenly acting so recklessly?" the student responsible for covering for Xiao Bai shouted over the voice channel.
"Why did he suddenly break formation? What's he doing?"
The Investigator, also encountering such an unresponsive individual for the first time, urgently added:
"Hurry and catch up to him! It's easy to get lost in this godforsaken place!"
"No! He's moving too fast. Why aren't my legs moving? Damn it! Are they tangled in the bushes?"
Amidst the confusion, the Light Mecha, already in the lead, pulled even further ahead.
After several more jet-propelled leaps, it landed on a branch of a tree on the small hill.
The view from here was indeed panoramic, revealing an endless sea of trees stretching as far as the eye could see.
Then, a maw filled with metallic fangs descended from the sky, materializing directly before it.
It was a 10-meter-long Giant Spider, every segmented limb gleaming with a cold, blade-like light. Hanging from a higher branch, its dozen compound eyes glowed dark red as it sized up the meal delivered to its jaws.
Before the Giant Spider, the Light Mecha was like a delicate moth, frozen in terror.
The student's mind went blank, forgetting even to resist or call for help, as he watched helplessly as two scythe-like mandibles emerged from the gaping maw, ready to devour its prey.
Suddenly, a sharp whistle tore through the air.
A high-velocity armor-piercing round, trailing a thin, red tracer like a shooting star, struck the Giant Spider's head squarely on the side.
Before the student's eyes, the grotesque head exploded in a dark green spray of blood, drenching his face and hair.
Three more rounds followed in quick succession, each striking the spider's massive body with surgical precision. They severed its critical joints, cleaving the behemoth's massive frame into three segments as cleanly as if sliced by a surgeon's blade.
The severed segments of the Demonic Beast plummeted into the undergrowth below, leaving only the severed tail still dangling from the tree trunk, swaying in the wind—a silent testament to the creature's former presence.
The student wasn't relieved to have escaped death. Instead, he stood frozen in place, petrified, until his teammates' shouts finally snapped him out of his daze.
"Lao Chen? Lao Chen! Are you still alive?"
"I... I... think so..."
The student, his tongue still trembling slightly, managed a reply and stammered:
"W-was that... Position 1, Big Bro? Thanks! Your marksmanship is... divine!"
He then heard the investigator answer awkwardly:
"Uh... it wasn't me. I couldn't even find your position..."

Chapter end