On the surface, everything was silent and still.
The battle with the Sixth Apostle wasn’t ntioned by anyone, it was as if everyone had silently agreed to ignore it. But beneath this eerie calm was a surging undercurrent of madness.
SEELE, NERV, the United Nations—almost every organization seed to have gone mad, throwing all their intelligence resources into finding that mysterious red-haired girl.
This was especially true for SEELE.
"The appointed ti hasn’t yet co, yet such a blunder has occurred!"
In the dark space, stone slabs flashing with scarlet numbers showed no expression, but their angry tone demonstrated how agitated they were.
"Ikari, who exactly is that girl?"
"I want the answer to that question as much as everyone present does."
Sitting in his chair, Gendo Ikari folded his hands, speaking expressionlessly.
"I think we’re all aware that there is no such ntion in the scheduled apocalypse record......"
"The Dead Sea Scrolls’ docuntation is definitive!"
But at this mont, a sharp voice rang out.
"We must erase all obstructions, Gendo Ikari, you must understand, if that girl is found by others, then NERV will be aningless!"
"I understand."
Gendo Ikari certainly understood that if the League of Nations or any other organization made contact with that red-haired girl, it would an that NERV was no longer the only force capable of defeating the Apostles. For everyone else, this might be good news, but for NERV, it was certainly not.
Although SEELE and NERV had considered whether that girl might be part of so other force or organization, truthfully, they were now doubtful if this was true. Because the power displayed by that girl far exceeded what SEELE and NERV could comprehend.
Gendo Ikari had even consulted Ritsuko Akagi, whose sole opinion was that—she was definitely not human, or even sothing an Apostle could achieve.
Then who exactly is that girl?
What kind of organization is behind her?
No one knew.
"However, NERV’s current task is to eliminate the Apostles."
Gendo Ikari calmly pointed out the problem; other organizations might drop everything to find that girl, but NERV couldn’t. NERV was, after all, a military institution against the Apostles and couldn’t dedicate all its energy to this.
"I understand, SEELE will take full responsibility for this matter; you just need to do your job."
At this mont, another cold and composed voice spoke.
"Gendo Ikari, do not forget your mission."
As these words fell, light returned, turning the dark space bright white. The black stone slabs that were floating here vanished without a trace.
"It seems the old n are getting anxious."
Fuyutsuki, arms behind his back, spoke softly, and Gendo Ikari nodded. They well understood why SEELE was so anxious. After all, SEELE had been covertly controlling the world all this ti, even considering themselves the supre rulers in the darkness. But now, they were startled to find that in this dark shadow, there was an even more mysterious organization, and even before they revealed themselves, SEELE was completely unaware of such a force’s existence!
This is terrifying, right?
All along, I thought I was the final boss, and now you tell I’m just a mid-level boss?
This can be really damning, I tell you!
Thus, SEELE was now like it had gone insane, deploying all its resources and energy to find clues about that red-haired girl and figure out what kind of existence that mysterious force was. As the saying goes, ’the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’, everyone wants to be the oriole, and no one wants to be the mantis, right?
"I never thought a girl could cause such a commotion."
Sitting in the chair, Misato Katsuragi couldn’t help but remark. As NERV’s operations director, she felt the aftermath of this incident more than anyone. In the past, cooperation with other units and departnts was often smooth, but now there’s been so delay; so have even privately said, "Even without EVA, soone else will eliminate those Apostles, so why should we give NERV any leeway?"
"She’s not an ordinary girl."
Ritsuko Akagi spoke while tapping on the keyboard in front of her.
"Being able to directly kill an Apostle without relying on any machinery... Well, I even doubt if she’s human."
"Could she be an alien then?"
"It’s not impossible, after all, even Apostles exist, right?"
As she spoke, Ritsuko Akagi removed her glasses.
"But luckily, we’ve solved at least one issue."
"Issue?"
"Indeed."
At this point, Ritsuko Akagi tapped the return key several tis, and data sheets appeared before her.
"Do you rember the sudden mysterious barrier during the confrontation with the Fifth Apostle?"
"Of course... you’ve found the reason?"
"Yes."
As she spoke, Ritsuko Akagi’s expression beca increasingly grave.
"Although the data is slightly different, judging from the ford state, the shield that appeared in front of Unit-00 and the shield created by the red ponytail girl to block the attack of the Sixth Apostle... at least from the spatial data, belong to a very similar type."
"So what you an is..."
Misato Katsuragi is not stupid, she imdiately understood Ritsuko Akagi’s implication.
"That’s right, it seems our Her Royal Highness has been paying attention to us for a while now. Fortunately... she doesn’t seem to be planning to be our enemy."
"Yes... that is the only good news at the mont."
Misato Katsuragi sighed, then picked up her coffee cup again. As she said, this is the only good news for now.
Misato Katsuragi knows exactly how dire the situation at NERV is.
As the saying goes, "the highest tree catches the wind," NERV, as the only military organization against the apostles, possesses great power, but on the other hand, this also makes them disliked.
Setting aside face, relationships, organizations, forces, and all that fluff, there’s one practical point that is enough to turn other organizations against NERV.
That is money!
Maintaining and repairing EVA requires huge sums of money; even a major operation by Unit-01 incurs costs that could bankrupt a small country!
It’s only been over a decade since the Second Impact, and now everywhere is in need of money, yet EVA’s repairs are the most expensive. Various countries have long had grievances about this, but the problem is only EVA can defeat the apostles, so even if they are unhappy, they can only grudgingly foot the bill.
But with NERV getting the money, other places are naturally left empty. There’s even been a situation where the construction of EVA caused a small country financial difficulties, leading to the starvation death of tens of thousands — in this situation, who would show NERV a kind face?
But previously, they had no choice but to put up with it, as NERV concerns the future of humanity.
But now...
The situation has changed!
The appearance of the red ponytail has given other organizations a glimr of hope. To be blunt, even if they treat the red ponytail girl as a queen and offer her the best treatnt in the world, it would probably cost less than a tenth of EVA’s major repair bills!
What use is EVA?
The money spent is less, and it can still block the apostles... isn’t this much better than the current chaotic, superficial stuff? Besides, EVA is just a rechargeable toy, many couldn’t care less about it; if not for EVA being the only thing able to break through the apostle’s AT field, they would have started dissing it long ago!
Oh, it’s never too late.
Fang Zheng doesn’t care about NERV’s chaos.
Even though he fights the apostles to protect humanity, position-wise, Fang Zheng and NERV are naturally adversarial. After defeating the apostles, his first move is to turn back and deal with Gendo Ikari. So he doesn’t have any qualms about causing trouble for NERV, and Fang Zheng’s position doesn’t require him to worry about this; Ritsuko Akagi can pull her hair out over the data, Misato Katsuragi can stew about complaints from the publicity departnt and above, while for himself...
He just needs to manage these kids properly.
"Alright! Start another lap!!"
Looking at the panting figures running ahead, Fang Zheng pressed the stopwatch, then shouted loudly. Hearing Fang Zheng’s voice, Asuka, Rei Ayanami, and Shinji Ikari bit their lips and continued running forward.
Since Asuka ca to Japan, she was quickly thrown into Spartan training by Fang Zheng. Initially, Asuka was reluctant, but Fang Zheng was not new to dealing with these tsundere little girls. Shana was much more tsundere than Asuka, yet she was obedient after being dealt with by him, so for Asuka, Fang Zheng chose the simplest and most straightforward thod — break her will!
Facts proved that Fang Zheng’s approach was effective; after so "friendly exchanges" between the two, Asuka obediently lowered her head.
Actually, Fang Zheng finds Asuka quite similar to Touma; that is, on the surface, she carries a grumpy deanor as if the whole world owes her money and should stay away, but if you ignore her, she sulks alone in the corner...
So, dealing with such people, you can’t just appease them. The more you appease them, the more they exploit it. You have to drive them to act, as long as she feels "it’s not that I want to do this, it’s you forcing to, I’m not doing this willingly," then the rest becos much easier.
The phrase "saying no with the mouth, but being honest otherwise" exactly describes this type of person.
"Alright! Stop!!"
With Fang Zheng’s order, the three in the final sprint quickly stopped, and then Asuka grabbed the water bottle next to her, looked proudly at the other two and made a V gesture.
"Hahaha, I’m first yet again! First Compatible, Third Compatible, neither of you stands a chance!"
"Huff... huff..."
Facing Asuka’s remarks, Rei Ayanami remained silent, while Shinji Ikari helplessly smiled and shook his head.
"I really don’t understand, where do you get the energy to still run so fast at the end..."
"It’s because I, Miss Great, have extraordinary talent."
"Alright, rest for five minutes, then start the combat adaptation training."
At this mont, Fang Zheng walked over, casually picking up so weapons — utilizing weapons for combat training is one of the mandatory courses for these kids every day. Judging by the current situation, except for the freak like the Fifth Apostle, other apostles are basically dealt with using close combat.
So weapons training is naturally essential.
But...
"Asuka, are you sure you don’t want to change weapons?"
Looking at Asuka proudly twirling the long spear in her hand, Fang Zheng sighed helplessly.
"Of course, it’s so cool, why change?"
"Because... never mind, as long as you like it."
What more could Fang Zheng say?
Nothing has gone wrong yet... let her fiddle with it.
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