Affected by the appearance of the "Apostle", the once bustling metropolis has become dead silent. Many high-rise buildings have protective panels raised on their walls. Except for the traffic lights that are still operating, there is not a single person or car in the city.
Under such circumstances, a blue car speeding by with its shell mottled and even covered with tape seemed quite out of place.
"Yes, we have arrived. We will arrange a direct transport vehicle as soon as possible."
Misato Katsuragi said into the car phone while driving.
"[Okay, the specific location will be sent to your navigation system. Please be sure to protect the safety of Shinji Ikari-san.]" the young woman on the other side of the phone responded.
"Really, didn't you just call me back because you thought I was good at avoiding danger?" Misato Katsuragi replied, "I'm not bragging. We just teamed up with those guys to blast the apostles with N2, and we were all unscathed."
"[...The coordinates of the lift have been sent, please return as soon as possible.]" The woman on the other side of the communication seemed not to know how to respond. She said briefly and then cut off the communication.
"Ah, it's really unlucky. This car still has thirty-three months of loan repayment," Misato Katsuragi pointed at the navigation: "Can't you just make that shock wave disappear? It's clear that even the apostle's attack
All blocked."
"It can't be done." The boy, no, [Shinji Ikari] pressed the back of his empty hand: "The effect of the card I just used is, 'it can only be activated when the enemy launches an attack, so that attack
It was ineffective and the battle was forcibly ended'. Although the shock wave and electromagnetic shock were successfully eliminated, the hurricane that rolled up sand and damaged the car can only be said to be a 'natural phenomenon' and does not belong to an 'attack'."
"Hmm... The power of a qualified person is really easy to use..." Misato Katsuragi responded casually, and was suddenly startled: "Wait, so the attack just now was not actually launched by the 'apostle'?"
"If the target of the attack is judged to be the 'Apostle', we have probably been blown away," Shinji Ikari nodded: "The source of the attack just now is obviously the 'N2 missile' launched by the ground alliance forces. In terms of this attack alone,
The apostles are just as much 'victims' as we are."
"Hmm... um... I see." Misato Katsuragi patted the steering wheel: "I was quite envious of 'qualified people' at first, but now that I think about it, I may not be able to do this at all, just by adapting to the situation.
I don’t have the ability.”
"The abilities of qualified people are diverse. If Miss Misato is a qualified person, she will definitely have abilities that are suitable for you and do not require much use of your brain." Ikari Shinji responded.
"I heard it. You were secretly mocking me for being brainless." Misato Katsuragi freed up a hand to ruffle Shinji Ikari's hair.
"You are overthinking," Shinji Ikari blinked: "There is no need to be subtle when a younger brother mocks his older sister for being brainless."
"..." Katsuragi Misato was silent for two seconds: "So you didn't mock me for being brainless before?"
"Look, don't you have some brains?"
"You're not cute at all, you brat!"
——
NEVR Agency, Secret Entrance A-7.
On the surface, this was just an unremarkable tunnel maintenance area, but when Misato Katsuragi arrived by car, the wall behind it split to both sides, revealing a giant elevator that was entirely silver-gray.
The blue car drove in with a slight stumbling.
"[The gate is about to close, please be careful.]"
"[This tram is the C-22 underground train and will not stop until it reaches the C-33 area.]"
As the mechanical prompt sounded, the elevator vibrated slightly, and the blue car began to descend.
"Well, brother Shinji, do you know what your father does for a living?" Misato Katsuragi let go of the steering wheel and looked at the boy beside her.
"He works in an institution that studies qualified people. It seemed that it was originally called GEHIRN, the Institute of Human Evolution, but later it was renamed NERV, which is neurotic. Maybe the people in that institute studied too deeply and drove themselves crazy." Ikari
Shinji looked at the rising metal structure outside the car window and replied.
"..." Misato Katsuragi did not react immediately. After a moment of silence, she nodded: "Indeed."
This unexpected answer made Shinji Ikari couldn't help but turn his head to look at her.
"Children don't ask about personal privacy." Misato Katsuragi took out a green manual with "Extremely Confidential" printed on the cover from the car's glove box and handed it to him: "If there is anything you want to know, just read it.
, of course, it’s just an ordinary rule, the real secrets won’t be written on it.”
"Hmm." Shinji Ikari thought for a moment and did not continue to ask, but opened the manual.
[4.6 billion years ago, a huge space meteorite hit the primitive Earth. This impact was called the ‘First Impact’. 】
"Do you want to start with such an ancient thing?" Shinji Ikari turned his head and looked at Katsuragi Misato.
"Yeah, I think it's boring too. Is it necessary to raise that kind of thing to the 'extremely secret' level?" Misato Katsuragi seemed to be in a trance, and she answered casually with her hands on the back of her head.
Shinji Ikari blinked and continued reading the manual.
【Afterwards, human beings were born.】
"...?" Shinji Ikari flipped back through the manual to make sure he didn't skip any pages.
[Human beings are the first species born on the earth, and their common mother is Eve, the ‘Mother of Life’ who came to the earth with the meteorite. 】
[Human beings have been born with the original sins: pride, jealousy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Whenever the number of humans with one of the original sins exceeds six-sevenths of the total, Adam, who arrived on the earth at the same time as Eve,
(Adam) will wake up and activate the 'Planet Life Reset Program' 'Genesis' to wipe out all life on the earth, and then Eve will create life again.】
[Since 4.6 billion years ago, it is unknown how many times Genesis has been activated, but as we all know, the last time it was activated was September 13, 2000, which was the ‘Second Impact’. 】
[Although the 'Second Impact' caused violent movements of the earth's crust, frequent earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, and the world's total population dropped by more than half in less than a week, we can proudly claim that we have 'defeated God'. 】
[When Adam tried to cast 'Genesis', he was pierced by us with the 'Lance of Longinus' and sealed in the underground fortress of 'Third New Tokyo City' by 'NERV', formerly known as the 'Institute of Human Evolution'
'Care and study.]
[Through the analysis of the ‘Dead Sea Script’ that arrived simultaneously with Adam, it is known that when ‘Genesis’ fails to be cast, giant monsters named ‘Apostles’ will appear to assist Adam in starting the work again. 】
[The day the apostles succeed is when the third impact occurs and all life on earth is destroyed again. There will be no possibility of understanding or coexistence between humans and the apostles.]
[NERV was established to deal with the attacks of the apostles. We will use Adam as a model to create artificial apostles 'EVANGELION' to fight against them. The only ones who can drive Eva are those who gained some of Adam's characteristics in the second impact.
The qualified ones are you.】
【This world needs us more than ever.】
【Are you coming?】
"...It seems like nonsense, but I was a little excited after reading it." Shinji closed the book and commented.
"Right, they will definitely find a way to stimulate the fighting spirit and sense of belonging of qualified people, otherwise how can they compete with other organizations for people." Misato Katsuragi tilted her head and looked out the window: "Oh, it seems to be coming."
I always felt that her attitude was not quite right. She didn't look like someone who had just shattered someone else's world view...
Shinji Ikari raised his eyebrows and reopened the extremely secret manual.
"[The world-scale disaster that occurred on September 13, 2000 was caused by a massive meteorite reaching 10% of the speed of light that impacted the Antarctic continent. Because of its destructiveness and the destruction of the dinosaurs 46 million years ago, it is called '
The asteroid impact of the first impact was almost the same, so it was called the second impact.]"
"..." Shinji Ikari continued to flip through the manual, skipping a lot of meaningless content such as lamenting that the hymns of mankind are hymns of courage, and turned directly to the last page.
"[——To sum up, we humans are tenacious and have not become extinct like the dinosaurs. The 'qualified people' who have developed 'superpowers' as a blessing in disguise are the main force in rebuilding the earth and protecting the future of mankind. Please
Don’t hesitate to contribute your strength.]”
If the first one is 10 points, this 6 points cannot be more.
As for authenticity…
Whoosh whoosh-buzz!
Before Shinji could express his opinion, the mechanical walls around the elevator suddenly disappeared, revealing a huge underground cavity. At the same time, there were a large number of high-rise buildings around it that looked like stalactites "growing" on the "ceiling" where the elevator had just left.
"Welcome to the real 'Third New Tokyo City'," Misato Katsuragi said in a proud tone: "In order to cope with the 'Apostle' attack, this place is 6 kilometers above the ground and protected by a total of 24 layers of special protective panels.
It’s completely foolproof.”
Understand, what you see for the first time is true.
Shinji Ikari looked out the window and flipped through the manual several times, but he failed to see those "facts" again.
The so-called "qualified person" is really a mystery.
——
Underground City (Geo Front).
"Eh? That's weird. According to the diagram, we should have arrived a long time ago. Is this map expired?" Misato Katsuragi flipped through the facility map attached to the back of the manual, her voice a little crazy.
"You have just circled the same place three times, and now you are about to go back for the fourth time." Shinji Ikari grabbed Misato Katsuragi who was about to step into an elevator: "How about we find someone to pick you up?"
"Huh? If that guy Ritsuko Akagi comes to pick me up, I would rather get lost and die!" Misato Katsuragi said angrily.
How do you die because you get lost? And in such a large organization, you only have one person who can turn to someone who is like your old enemy?
"I think the sister who answered your call before is fine." Shinji suggested.
"Ibuki-chan? No, no, no, she was busy dealing with the apostle just now. It's against discipline to answer my call midway." Misato Katsuragi shook her head repeatedly.
Do you really not feel that your interpersonal relationships are problematic?
However, speaking of apostles...
Shinji Ikari recalled for a moment and found that even the legendary "N2", the most powerful weapon in the hands of mankind, after being hit in the face, only made the apostle stand in place. Maybe he would remain frozen there, maybe very soon.
Wake up quickly and attack again.
In this case, the thing called EVA should appear. However, this name is not mentioned in the "surface" manual. If you see it later, what level of surprise should you show?
Ka-chi-
At this time, the elevator door opened, and a lady wearing a blue bikini and short blond hair walked out of it.
Although Misato Katsuragi looks older, at least she is trying to act young. But not only does this person not dress up very much, she also has an old-fashioned hair style, big outdated earrings, a mole on the corner of her eye, and her figure is not well maintained. A series of
The points minus points were piled up, but if appearance and temperament had not raised the average score, I would have been completely outclassed.
"Captain Katsuragi, I've been waiting for you for half an hour," the blond sister said. Her voice and intonation were, as expected, the strong-female version: "Is it possible that you usually take this long to go from the bedroom to the bathroom?"
"I'm sorry, Dr. Akagi, I was looking for who stole my selfie, and I went the wrong way when I got angry." Misato Katsuragi replied with a gun and a stick.
"Oh," the sister known as Dr. Akagi didn't answer. She turned to look at Shinji Ikari: "Is this the child you picked up? It seems a little green."
"..." Shinji Ikari felt uncomfortable responding and said he was criticizing her appearance, so he remained silent.
"Anyway, the one chosen by Maxim's Book should be the most suitable candidate." Misato Katsuragi replied.
"It's the 'Maluduke Report'," Dr. Akagi shook his head slightly: "Forget it, come with me. The commander has ordered [Unit No. 1] to be unfrozen. We are just waiting for the driver to arrive."
Misato Katsuragi was about to say something when the radio in the corridor suddenly rang.
"[The apostles are about to wake up. All personnel have entered the first combat posture and are preparing to deal with ground battles. Repeat this——]"
"Let's go." Ritsuko Akagi turned and walked into the elevator: "It's time to prove that our research results are not a waste of budget."
"Isn't it a bit hasty? No other qualified person can activate it, right? I suspect it may require a specific 'super power' to work. What is the activation probability you calculated?" Misato Katsuragi followed with Shinji Ikari.
"I heard that you met the Earth Alliance using N2 to attack the apostles on the road?" Ritsuko Akagi suddenly started talking about something unrelated after starting the elevator.
"And you emerged unscathed from the aftermath of the most powerful weapon at humankind's disposal?" she continued.
"Yes..." Misato Katsuragi seemed to have thought of something and turned to look at Shinji Ikari.
"The qualified candidates who were inclined towards 'driving', 'control', and 'mechanical' all failed." Ritsuko Akagi took out a white coat from the pocket at her feet and put it on her body: "Does this prove that 'Unit-1'
'Sneaking your nose at guys who have 'no fighting ability'?"
"Shinji-kun once faced the attack of the apostle and escaped smoothly," Misato Katsuragi's eyes lit up: "So the probability of activation this time is..."
