They traveled through time at the same time, but the villainous scientist

Chapter 172 Humans are also Apostles, so it's reasonable for them to use the AT position, right?
Experiment day.

The entire NERV German Third Branch was shrouded in an atmosphere of extreme tension.

Inside the main control room, on a huge holographic screen, the silver-white EVA Unit-04 stood silently on the hangar's restraint frame, its body connected by countless thick cables and pipes like a spider web.

Its chest cavity was opened, exposing its red core, like a scarlet heart pulsating with destructive desires, slowly rotating within it and radiating an ominous aura.

Zhang Qi stood at the very front of the control panel, with Colonel Klaus behind him and a group of unsuspecting biological experts from various countries.

Their faces were flushed, their eyes gleaming with the fanatical light of witnessing history, completely unaware that they were standing on a one-way train to hell.

"Doctor, everything is ready."

Colonel Klaus's voice remained as steady as ever, devoid of any emotion.

Zhang Qi nodded, his gaze calmly sweeping over the data on the screen.

After studying SEELE's solution for the past few days, it couldn't be clearer.

They did not truly complete a perfect reverse engineering of the S2 mechanism; at least not this one. Instead, they took a completely different approach and embarked on a path that was entirely opposite.

The essence of the S2 organization is to draw on nearly infinite energy through the quantum dimension of the Dirac Sea, and then transform it through the biological cellular structure of the Angels into bio-kinetic energy that drives the EVA body.

This process requires a stable and continuous energy output.

SEELE, on the other hand, cleverly cut out the "transformation" and "constraint" process in the second half, retaining only the "absorption" process in the first half.

They transformed a sophisticated energy source into an uncontrollable energy release device.

To give an analogy, it's like the difference between a hydrogen bomb and a controlled nuclear fusion reactor.

Both utilize the principle of nuclear fusion, but the former is a destructive weapon that releases all energy instantly, while the latter is an energy source that requires more advanced technology for continuous control.

SEELE's approach was to mimic the impact process and directly detonate the S2 mechanism, turning the fusion reactor into a nuclear bomb.

Unfortunately, after Zhang Qi's "optimization" over the past few days, he had already completely dismantled all the visible detonators.

He not only investigated all the data traps and logical vulnerabilities pre-set by SEELE, but also quietly implanted three independent backup security schemes into the core control program.

Once triggered, any one of them can sever the connection to the Dirac Sea within a trillionth of a second, forcibly terminating the energy absorption of the S2 mechanism.

In theory, unless SEELE can conjure an army out of thin air and storm this place, their plan for today is doomed to fail.

"Start the experiment."

Zhang Qi calmly issued the order.

With the command given, a massive surge of current began to flow into Unit 4.

On the screen, the core of Unit 4 emitted light, and all the data began to rise steadily.

"Core energy output is stable at 15%..."

"Life support system is functioning normally..."

"Neural connectivity synchronization rate is normal..."

Everything seemed so perfect that the experts wore relieved and excited smiles.

However, just five minutes into the experiment, when all the data curves were as flat as a straight line, a sudden change occurred!
"Warning! Warning! The S2 mechanism's energy output is experiencing an abnormal increase! It's exceeding the critical threshold!"

The piercing buzzing sound instantly shattered the tranquility of the control room, and all the green data streams were stained blood-red in an instant!

In the center of the screen, the scarlet heart began to beat violently and irregularly, like a wild beast about to break free of its cage!

"what happened?!"

"God! The data is out of control! Quick! Stop the experiment immediately!"

"Impossible! Our calculations are perfect! How could this happen!"

The entire control room was in complete chaos.

"Quiet."

Amidst the chaos, a voice, calm to the point of being almost icy, rang out.

Zhang Qi slowly turned around and walked calmly toward the control panel.

"Activate Emergency Plan No. 1, cut off the A-7 energy supply, and forcibly inject coolant."

"The backup system takes over core monitoring and provides real-time feedback on energy fluctuation frequency, with an error rate not exceeding 0.01%."

"Everyone, execute this immediately!" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority.

The panicked researchers below seemed to have found their pillar of support and immediately began to follow his instructions.

However, just as the gates to cut off the energy supply were about to close—

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Several muffled gunshots, accompanied by the slight hiss of the silencers, suddenly exploded in the control room!

The researchers who were carrying out Zhang Qi's orders suddenly shuddered, bursts of blood erupted from their chests, stared in disbelief at their hands, and then collapsed helplessly onto the control panel.

Blood stained the cold instruments.

Dead silence.

Absolute silence.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden and extremely bloody scene.

Colonel Klaus von Heydrich lowered his pistol and slowly stood up.

A team of fully armed special forces soldiers stormed into the control room, their dark gun barrels pointed at every living person inside.

Upon seeing this, the experts from various countries were completely stunned, their minds went blank, and they were utterly unable to comprehend what was happening before their eyes.

Zhang Qi slowly straightened up, his gaze passing over the chaotic crowd and calmly landing on Klaus von Heydrich's rock-hard face.

"I see... Are you also from SEELE?"

His tone was not a question, but a statement.

"We are simply clearing some unnecessary obstacles for human evolution, Dr. Zhang Qi."

Colonel Klaus's lips curled into a cruel smile, as if he were admiring an interesting work of art.

“SEELE? What’s that?”

"What are you doing?! Stop S2! If this continues, we'll all die!"

An elderly German professor with white hair finally snapped out of his shock and pointed at Klaus angrily.

He didn't finish his words.

"boom!"

Colonel Klaus raised his pistol expressionlessly and fired a shot that struck the old professor precisely between the eyebrows.

Red and white matter splattered, and the old professor's body fell backward, crashing heavily to the ground, his eyes still holding the last traces of anger and confusion.

"Of course I know that."

Klaus nonchalantly blew away the smoke from the muzzle of his gun, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire room. Everyone was so frightened that they fell silent, even their breathing stopped.

The only sound in the entire space was the piercing alarm of the S2 machine going out of control, like a dirge for this massacre.

"You are very intelligent, Dr. Zhang Qi." (Ke)
Rolls finally fixed his gaze on Zhang Qi again, his eyes filled with a morbid admiration.

Unfortunately, intelligent people in this world often don't live long.

As he spoke, he raised the gun in his hand again, the dark muzzle pointing directly at Zhang Qi's forehead.

Without another word, Klaus decisively pulled the trigger.

The bullet spun as it left the barrel, whistling with death, tearing through the air and hurtling straight toward Zhang Qi's face.

Time seemed to be slowed down infinitely at this moment.

Just as the deadly bullet was about to touch Zhang Qi's skin, a warm and resolute orange light, not belonging to this dimension, suddenly unfolded in front of him!

The light quickly coalesced into a perfect, semi-transparent force field composed of countless tiny hexagons.

Ding!
A crisp sound, like metal striking stone.

The high-speed spinning bullet seemed to have struck an invisible wall of sighs, stopping abruptly less than a centimeter from Zhang Qi's brow. Its kinetic energy was instantly absorbed, and it fell helplessly to the ground.

"AT Field?!"

(End of this chapter)