Chapter 1988: The City of Demonic Mist in the Dead World (3)

—2015.5.1—
NERV headquarters.
chi chi-
A platform lift with only a simple guardrail is steadily rising in the purple light, and there is a slight mechanical friction sound directly below.
And the sparks between Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi, who were standing side by side, almost became real.
"Someone stole my vacation selfie from my computer and scribbled on it. As head of information security at NERV headquarters, do you have any clues?"
"That's just one of the titles. My main job is in the technology development department. If you need it, I can ask [MAGI] to check it out for you."
"That's great. When the time comes, let it help you to find out who the lip print pattern on the 'accidentally' printed on it came from, and then you can kick that little thief out of the headquarters."
"MAGI needs to deal with a lot of processes at the same time, and now is wartime, things that have nothing to do with NERV and Eva may be delayed, it should not exceed a hundred years."
Ikari Shinji stood behind them, looking around while flipping through the extremely secret manual, pretending not to understand what they were saying.
After encountering Ritsuko Akagi, although he didn't get lost again, he walked through some twisty and dark areas, which didn't look like a formal passage at all. I don't know if he wanted to give Katsuragi Misato a disgrace or the place to go is very confidential.
For example, at the moment, the opposite side of the purple-red curtain wall next to it is all liquid, so they may be rising from the bottom of a huge swimming pool to the water surface, and those who can use such a huge swimming pool, in addition to "artificial apostle" Eva, also can be what?
"I'm not afraid to tell you, I've already thought about the torture after catching that little thief."
"Abusive lynching is prepared within NERV."
Miri Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi were still holding guns and carrying sticks, and mocking each other vaguely. On the opposite side of the curtain wall that Shinji Ikari thought was a "swimming pool", a huge blue-purple palm slowly emerged, and it seemed that he was about to grab this lift. ladder.
Well, not just modeled after the apostles, Eva is alive like the apostles, and may even have a will of her own.
So how do you "drive" it yourself?
Shinji Ikari shook his head slightly, looked down at the manual and raised his eyes again, the giant hand that was about to grab the glass curtain wall just now disappeared.
squeak-whee-
The elevator stopped, the door opened, and it was pitch black outside. Only the faint light attached to the elevator illuminated the metal floor slightly, but Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi walked out without hesitation.
It has been confirmed that this time I went to the destination to take the maintenance channel, and I was suppressed all the way, just to give myself a "surprise" when the lights were suddenly turned on.
Ikari Shinji followed the two out of the elevator.
If you don't give face at all, it may be a little troublesome. You can consider cooperating. Speaking of which, how do you make the expression "shocked"?
With a click, as the elevator doors closed, the mysterious place became invisible.
It took a long time to turn off the lights. Would you like to say something like "It's so dark, so narrow, so scary"...
click.
Without waiting for Shinji Ikari to make any flamboyant performances, with a light sound, this "mysterious place" suddenly became brightly lit.
Appearing in front of him was a huge girl's face that looked at least ten meters tall.
"...This, this?" Even without deliberately acting, Shinji Ikari knew that the expression on his face was definitely "shocked" and "shocked".
She has short light blue hair and red eyes, and her appearance is quite cute. Her whole body is soaked in the purple-red pool water, only her neck and a little shoulder are exposed, but her eyes are completely out of focus, and she seems to be in a trance.
At this moment, affected by the sudden turn on of the light, those huge red eyes blinked and began to slowly turn to observe the three people "in front" of her.
What about the "real" manual? Come out and explain!
After Ikari Shinji was surprised, he quickly started flipping through the "Extremely Secret" manual, but unfortunately, the content on it was still the "Antarctic Meteorite" edition.
"Don't look it up, it's not in the manual," Akagi Ritsuko said, "This is made by humans, the ultimate universal humanoid weapon, android, 'EVANGELION'."
I know! But the manual doesn't say it's a "human form" of this level!
"This 'No. 1 machine' was made under extremely classified conditions and is the last trump card of our human race," said Ritsuko Akagi.
Humans who made the last trump card like this should perish sooner rather than later!
The huge blue-haired girl blinked again, her eyes turning to Ikari Shinji.
She's not a machine, she's alive, she even has a certain level of curiosity.
Shinji Ikari closed his eyes tightly and then reopened them, but the scene in front of him was still a huge girl, which did not disappear like the "real manual".
So she is real?
"...This is my father's job?" Ikari Shinji asked with a bit of contempt.
"[Yes]."
As Ikari Shinji's familiar but unfamiliar male voice sounded, a middle-aged man appeared in the observation window quite high from the ground above the huge girl's head.
He has a Chinese character face, unkempt black hair, brown goggles, and a moustache on his chin.
"[Long time no see]," the man said.
The huge blue-haired girl looked up, as if she wanted to see the source of the sound, but was unsuccessful because of the angle.
"...Father." Ikari Shinji raised his head and glanced at the man, then turned to look at the huge girl in front of him, not wanting to meet him.
This is his father, Ikari Yuantang. The original purpose of his trip was to meet his father who he hadn't seen for three years and ask him why he wanted to divorce his mother, but now it seems that it can't be more reasonable.
"[Hmph...]" Ikari Gendo didn't care about Ikari Shinji's reaction, and continued: "[Attack.]"
"Direct attack?" Katsuragi Miri was surprised: "At the beginning, Ayanami and No. 0 were synchronized for 7 months. I thought that today I just brought Shinji-kun to see the 'No. 1' and test drive it. If it can be made simple The action is even better, isn't it a bit difficult to fight the apostle directly? He is just a child who has never been on the battlefield!"
"Well...it's not impossible." Akagi Ritsuko said.
"Today's appointment is to start the experiment! It hasn't even started yet!" Katsuragi Miri turned her head and glared at her.
"After the startup is successful, we will arrange for him to fight the virtual target," Akagi Ritsuko's expression remained unchanged: "It doesn't seem to be a problem to replace the virtual target with a real apostle. You know, Eva is not a car, a plane, a ship, it relies entirely on Mind and conscious control, as long as the kid can fight."
"With Shinji-kun's character and physique, he must be the one who was beaten at school!"
The huge blue-haired girl blinked twice and turned her gaze back to Shinji Ikari.
Usually I only play others' shares, but there's no need to talk about it now...
"Father," Ikari Shinji interrupted the discussion between the two elder sisters and looked at Ikari Gendo: "Why did you ask me to come?"
"[You already have a number in your heart, don't you?]" the man responded.
"You want me to 'drive' this..." Ikari Shinji looked at the giant girl and thought for two seconds, but couldn't find a suitable title: "Fighting with an apostle?"
"[That's right.]" Ikariyuantang responded.
"I don't want it! If I had known that this was the case, I would not have come!" Ikari Shinji raised his head and shouted angrily.
"[You are called because I need you.]" The voice from the radio showed no emotion.
"Why did you choose me?"
"[Because others can't do it.]"
Ikari Shinji looked down at the giant blue-haired girl.
She was still looking at herself with ruby ​​eyes, expressionless, as if she would accept if he decided to "drive."
"I can't do it either!"
"Driving" a huge girl and fighting "Apostles" or something...
"Never seen, never heard of such a thing! How could it be possible!"
"[I will teach you.]" Ikariyuantang continued.
Father teaches son how to drive giant maiden...
"How can you do this!" Ikari Shinji said angrily: "I can't do it! How can I 'drive' this guy!"
We have only just met, and we haven't gotten to know each other very much yet!
"[Do you want to do it in the end! Go back if you don't!]" Ikari Gentang finally got angry.
"you-"
Boom!
Before Shinji Ikari opened his mouth, a huge explosion sounded from above, and at the same time the entire venue began to tremble.
"[It seems that guy has found this place.]" Ikari Gentang said in a deep voice.
Boom! Boom!
The second and third explosions occurred one after another, and the listening distance was getting closer and closer.
The huge blue girl slowly turned her eyes and looked around, as if wondering where the explosion was coming from, but she still didn't show any expression.
"[The first floor, the No. 8 armor plate is damaged.]" There was a mechanical announcement.
"Shinji-kun, there is no time left." Ritsuko Akagi said.
"Go drive." Katsuragi Misato also said.
"No," Ikari Shinji looked at the giant girl who was still moving her eyes in front of her: "It shouldn't be like this."
"[Winter Moon,]" Ikari Yuantang turned behind him: "[Wake up [Zero].]"
"[Can she still fight?]" An old male voice responded.
"[She's not dead again.]" Ikari Yuantang responded coldly.
After a brief silence, there was a call from Ikarigendo. He did not turn off the speaker here, and seemed to be talking to Shinji specially.
"【zero】."
【Yes? 】
"[Your substitute is useless, you come to fight.]"
【Yes. 】
"...!?"
Ikari Shinji was still struggling to communicate with the giant girl as soon as possible, but his father's conversation with a certain girl named "Zero" caught his attention, not because he said he was useless, but... to respond to himself The father's is the huge blue-haired girl in front of him.
After two soft "yes", the image of the giant blue-haired girl disappeared in the blink of an eye of Ikari Shinji, replaced by a super-giant giant wrapped in purple armor, whose entire head was roughly triangular in shape. The helmet is tightly wrapped, and the eye sockets are two diamond-shaped "headlights" that are impossible to see.
Who would refuse to drive this thing! Is it too late to regret it now?
"Replace the built-in system of the first machine with the template of 'Zero' and restart!" "Send her weapons and equipment as soon as possible!" "Load the life support system in advance!" "Be optimistic about her, don't let her act on her own!"
But at this time, there was no one to care about Ikari Shinji who was standing by the pool, Ritsuko Akagi and Misato Katsuragi each ran away and gave orders.
Really... the vision is getting more and more serious. Fortunately, his "superpower" is not a vision. Ikari Shinji touched the back of his left hand with his right hand.
As a special ability that "qualified people" will have, Shinji Ikari has something similar to "cards". Whenever he "enters the battle", there will be an extra one on his left hand that only he can see. Silver-white arc-shaped longboard. A stack of cards with brown swirls on the back will appear at the clip in front of the longboard. Every 60 seconds, he can draw a card from it, and the maximum number of cards in his hand is 6. If it has not been used. , you will not be able to draw new cards, and the obtained effects and cards that have been drawn will disappear after the battle.
The types of these cards are roughly divided into orange "monster cards", green "magic cards" and red "trap cards". Judging from the cards he has used so far, the trap cards are the strongest, but they need to be "covered" in advance , magic cards, etc., can cause some special effects, do not need to cover, and the most useless is the monster card, this kind of card seems to be able to summon monsters out of thin air to listen to their own orders, but no matter how you place it, you can't summon it, you can Saying they were drawn equals hand -1.
At present, it seems that driving this giant robot called "Eva" is a very important supplement to his ability. The main reason why he could only run away before was that there was no occasion where cards could be used stably.
After riding Eva, even if it can't move at all, and only provides itself with defense, it should be enough to beat the apostle with magic cards and trap cards—probably.
ka ka ka-
At this moment, the gate on the other side of the pool opened, and three medical staff rushed in pushing a stretcher.
It was a blue-haired girl who was exactly the same as the "giant girl" before, wearing a white tights, but her body was many times smaller than her, and her body was bandaged all over her body, and she was even covered with tape. one eye.
Is she "Zero"? But the attitude of the father and the others seemed to be wrong... Ikari Shinji stared at her familiar and unfamiliar face, unable to look away for a while.
"..." Glancing at Shinji with one eye, the girl named "Zero" turned over and sat up and was about to go to the ground.
"Wait?" "Oh my little aunt, you can slow down." "Let us help you, don't do it yourself." The doctor and nurse pushing the cart hurriedly stopped her.
Her injury doesn't seem to have healed, but why is she acting recklessly?
Ikari Shinji glanced at the first machine, which maintained the shape of a "giant robot", and then looked at her.
Could it be that this "zero" has no self-consciousness as a human being at all?
Boom!
He was about to talk to the girl when a louder explosion came from the direction of the roof, and all the people present were slumped. Zero", as well as three doctors and nurses are all within the envelope.
laugh-
Perhaps this meant that he was attacked, and the longboard and cards that only Shinji Ikari could see appeared.
Get a shield or wind—
[Giant shield guardian, attack: 100, defense: 2600]
You bastard, it's too late, the inside guard said! Ikari Shinji took the card as a living horse doctor.
Whoa! boom! Dangdang-!
As seen once before, the giant hand of the first machine stretched out from the pool, blocking the "attack" for everyone in the affected area.
"..." Ikari Shinji glanced at Ikari Gendo in the high place during his busy schedule, and found that he was very villain-like and raised the corner of his mouth.
Whatever he was thinking was absolutely wrong.