Ultraman: It turns out this is the easy mode.

Rokubungi Gendo lay on the hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages, only his fingers still able to move with difficulty. He struggled to turn to his side and pulled an encrypted communicator from under his pillow—his secret communication channel with Lilith. He gritted his teeth, his fingers trembling as he pressed a number and brought the communicator to his ear.

“Lilith! Lilith! Answer me! I am Rokubungi Gendo!” His voice was hoarse like a broken bellows, each word tearing at the wounds on his face. “I need your help! That guy named Choi Myung is destroying everything! Our plan! The Instrumentality Project! Have you forgotten?!”

There was a long silence on the other end of the communicator, so long that Rokubungi Gendo thought the line had been cut. Then he heard a series of crisp, crackling sounds, like someone chewing potato chips.

"No way." Lilith's voice drifted over lazily, with the background noise of a television. "I'm busy, don't bother me."

Rokufennig Gendo nearly crushed the communicator: "Lilith! Have you forgotten?! You are the Second Angel! You are the Source of Life! How could you bow down to a human?!"

"Lower your head?" Lilith scoffed, grabbing another handful of potato chips and stuffing them into her mouth. "I'm just being pragmatic. That guy Cui Ming even shredded the angels to pieces and pulverized the extradimensional beings. You want me to go and cause him trouble? Sextans, has your brain been stung by a wasp?"

Rokufen Gigendo was struck dumb, his voice cracking: "You...you're afraid of him?! You're the Second Apostle!"

“Yes, I’m scared.” Lilith admitted frankly, her tone as relaxed as if she were on vacation. “So I choose to live. Don’t bother me anymore, just focus on recovering. I heard you’ve been having a lot of bad luck lately, getting chased by dogs, stung by bees, and hit by a car? Hahaha, serves you right.”

Rokubungi Gendo's eyes widened suddenly, and he wanted to say something, but the communicator was already busy—Lilith had hung up unilaterally.

He lay frozen on the hospital bed, the communicator still clutched in his hand, his knuckles white. Even his last trump card had betrayed him. There was no place for him left in this world.

In her apartment in a corner of the city, Lilith tossed her communicator to the corner of the sofa, settled into a more comfortable position under the blanket, and continued watching the television screen. Her human body was comfortably enjoying it all: hot cocoa, potato chips, soap operas, and the aroma of food filling the air. This was the life she had fought so hard for—peaceful, tranquil, and full of life—a million times better than being sealed in that cold, damp, empty underground cavern.

After all, Lilith, the Second Apostle, knew very well what Cui Ming really was.

The TM is a light person who can darken the surroundings even in broad daylight!
That's how she sees it.

She didn't want to sacrifice her hard-won human body for the sake of Rokufen Gigendo's lousy plan.

She's doing quite well now, living in a human body.

Lilith grabbed the remote and turned the volume up three notches, then reached for a handful of potato chips from the coffee table and stuffed them into her mouth, crunching away. Only an idiot would go back to work; she hadn't even finished watching this episode yet.

After ending the call, Lilith immediately contacted Cui Ming.

She grabbed another communicator from the corner of the sofa. It was the private line Cui Ming had given her before, and only the two of them knew the number. She skillfully pressed the buttons and held the communicator to her ear. The soap opera was still blaring in the background, but she had lost all interest in watching it.

"Hello, it's me." Lilith's voice became serious, and her lazy tone was much less pronounced. "Rokubungi Gendo just contacted me. That idiot wants me to help him. He said he wants to deal with you, take back control of NERV, and get the Human Instrumentality Project back on track."

Cui Ming's calm voice came from the other end of the communicator, as if he were handling some routine business: "What did he say?" "What else could he say? The same old thing, like you're a threat to humanity, the plan can't be interrupted, and I should use the power of the Apostles to suppress you." Lilith curled her lip and turned down the TV volume. "I refused, and he was so angry he almost vomited blood. But I don't think he'll give up. He'll probably still find a way to cause trouble."

Cui Ming was silent for a few seconds, then let out a soft, ambiguous laugh.

“Understood, well done.” His voice remained calm, but Lilith keenly caught a hint of danger. “The fact that he still has the energy to contact you means he’s too idle. I originally planned to let him lie down for a while longer, but now it seems I need to do something drastic.”

Lilith raised an eyebrow and put the bag of chips aside: "What do you want to do? That guy has multiple fractures all over his body, he needs help even to turn over, how else can you torment him?"

Choi Myung didn't answer immediately. The sound of pages turning could be heard from the other end of the communicator, as if someone was checking some files. After a while, his voice came again, with a hint of amusement: "You remember those agents who were in charge of rescuing Sextant before? The group that SEELE sent to NERV headquarters to try and take him back."

Lilith paused for a moment, then realized what she meant, a knowing smile playing on her lips: "Ah, those poor bastards, they got a beating from the Kiras brothers and are still locked up in NERV's detention cells. What, you want to use them?"

“They are quite good.” Cui Ming’s voice was as calm as if he were discussing the weather, but the chill in his words made Lilith, the Second Apostle, shiver. “Doesn’t Rokufen Gigen Hall want to see the people of SEELE? Doesn’t it want to regain control? Then I will grant his wish and let him have a good meeting with his ‘colleagues’.”

Lilith blinked, suddenly understanding Cui Ming's plan, and couldn't help but laugh out loud: "You're really ruthless. Those agents hate him now, after all, they were captured because they went to rescue him. If they were to face each other..."

“They’ll be very enthusiastic.” Cui Ming interrupted her, a cold smile in his voice. “Doesn’t Liufen Yiyuantang like to scheme? Doesn’t it like to use others as pawns? Then let them taste what it’s like to be ‘taken care of’ by their own people. I’ll arrange for them to stay in the same ward, with 24-hour close ‘protection’.”

Lilith imagined the scene—Rokubungi Gendo, his entire body wrapped in bandages, locked in the same room with a group of SEELE agents, their faces bruised and swollen, brimming with resentment. Those agents wouldn't be kind to him; they'd vent all the anger they'd suffered at the Kiras brothers' hands on this culprit.

“Cui Ming…” Lilith shook her head, her tone tinged with admiration, “You are truly terrifying.”

"Thank you for the compliment," Cui Ming replied casually. "Go back to watching your drama. I'll contact you again if anything comes up."

Communication is interrupted.

Lilith put down the communicator, stared at the black screen for a few seconds, then grabbed her potato chips again and turned up the TV volume. She suddenly realized that what that idiot Rokubungi Gendo was about to face might be far worse than getting whipped by Gomora's tail.

Deep within NERV headquarters, Choi Myung put down his communicator, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. He looked up and ordered the guards standing at the door, "Go, 'invite' those SEELE agents we captured earlier out, change them into clean clothes, give them a stretcher, and take them to the ward at Rokubun-gigen-do. Tell them..."

He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Just tell them the organization sent someone to visit him, so they can have a good 'catch-up'."

The guard paused for a moment, then stood at attention, saluted, and quickly turned and left.

Cui Ming leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the gloomy sky outside the window, his expression calm as if he were waiting for a good show to begin. (End of Chapter)