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

Chapter 181 Unit 3 Startup

On the outskirts of Tokyo Third, the previously desolate Matsushiro area was temporarily designated as a restricted zone.

Encircling barbed wire and high walls completely isolated this place from the outside world. Armed UN troops were stationed every three steps and every five steps, and the grim atmosphere almost made the air freeze.

This is the launch test site for EVA Unit-03. Inside the mobile command trailer, Ritsuko Akagi is issuing commands methodically.

Beside her, through the communication screen, Asuka, already dressed in her combat suit, was clearly visible, preparing to enter the insertion device.

"How are the preparations going, Asuka?"

Ritsuko pushed up her glasses and asked.

"Hmph, do I even need to ask about something so trivial?"

Asuka's voice came through the speaker, carrying her usual pride and confidence.
"It's just starting an experiment, don't treat me like that idiot Shinji."

Ritsuko smiled, watching as the staff slowly pushed the orange insertion plug into the black back of Unit 3.

The EVA was painted a deep dark blue, mixed with ominous black, and stood silently in the huge restraint frame, like a sleeping prehistoric behemoth.

……

Meanwhile, in a secluded corner of NERV headquarters...
Misato Katsuragi's cold gun barrel was pressed firmly against Ryoji Kaji's temple.

"Miri, greeting me like that is a bit too enthusiastic."

Kaji Ryoji said with a rather helpless expression.

"Don't give me that joking around, Kaji. I've looked up all the information about EVA, and all I found is that they are the final weapons against the Angels."

"I always thought that the Angels' target was the Third New Tokyo City, which is the NERV headquarters."

Until I remembered something…

Misato Katsuragi was furious upon seeing this.

"Oh?"

Kaji Ryoji raised an eyebrow with great interest.

"The time we transported Unit 2,"

Misato gritted her teeth, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between them.
"I initially thought the Fish Angels were here to attack Unit 2, but upon closer inspection, it doesn't make any sense!"

She paused, then pushed the gun forward a little further, the cold metal pressed against his skin.

"Considering your unusual behavior at the time... Jia Fu, although you are an absolute scumbag, you are definitely not the kind of coward who would run away at the last minute when it matters."

Therefore, there is only one reasonable explanation—the Angel's target at that time was not Unit 2 at all, but you!
Or rather, it's that thing you risked your life to bring back from Germany!

"Heh... I'm glad you said that, Misato."

Kaji chuckled softly, seemingly quite pleased with her praise.

"Cut the nonsense!"

Misato growled.
"Speak! What is NERV hiding? What is the true nature of EVA...?"

She was certain that this man knew something.

Kaji Ryoji's smile finally faded. He looked deeply at Misato, a complex and unfathomable emotion flashing in his eyes, which ultimately turned into a barely audible sigh.

"This is indeed a very difficult question to answer..."

at this time
"Woo-wu-wu-"

The piercing alarm shattered the sky, and red warning lights flashed wildly in every corner of the corridor.

It's the highest level of alert! The apostles are attacking!
Kaji Ryoji immediately spread his hands, revealing a helpless expression that said, "Look, it's not that I don't want to talk."

Misato Katsuragi bit her lower lip so hard that her gums almost bled.

She glared at Jia Zhi resentfully, but finally sheathed her pistol and turned to rush towards the central command center at top speed.

When she pushed open the door and rushed to the command console, the image displayed on the main screen stunned her.

That was the silhouette of an EVA unit, Unit-03, which had just been undergoing a startup test.

However, in the data stream jumping on one side of the screen, a line of blue identification code is as glaring as a venomous snake's beacon—analysis pattern: blue.

"Ritsuko! What on earth is going on?!"

Misato Katsuragi grabbed the communicator and hissed at the figure on the other end of the screen. The signal on the screen was unstable, mixed with crackling static.

Ritsuko's voice came intermittently: "...during the LCL injection process...it was corrupted by the Angel...it should be some kind of...parasitic Angel..."

"Parasitic type? There are apostles in this form?"

Misato Katsuragi's mind raced, and an even more terrifying question surged into her thoughts.

"What about the driver? How is the driver?"

Her response was a long silence.

That silence was colder and more desperate than any words.

EVA pilots are deeply connected to the body through a complex nervous system.

Now that Unit-03 has been parasitized by the Angel, it means that the pilot's mind, her soul, is likely being forcibly synchronized with that unknown and terrifying being.

What would happen to a fragile human being subjected to the vast and chaotic torrent of consciousness of an apostle? Nobody knows.

Misato Katsuragi's face instantly darkened, and her blood seemed to freeze.

Just as the command room fell into dead silence, Gendo Ikari's emotionless voice rang out.
"Unit Zero, sortie." ...

At the same time, evacuation alarms sounded throughout Academy City.

Shinji Ikari was being passively moved towards the underground shelter by the crowd.

Unit-01 remains sealed and frozen; he is now just an ordinary, unarmed middle school student, unable to do anything.

He looked up blankly and, through the gaps in the crowd, saw a blue and white Unit Zero being launched into the air by the launch system on the distant horizon.

In its target direction, another pitch-black EVA was slowly standing in an extremely eerie posture.

Why...why is EVA the adversary of Unit-00?
One question after another exploded in his mind.

Then, as if struck by lightning, all the clues connected in an instant.

Asuka took the day off this morning...

Kensuke casually mentioned that NERV was conducting a secret activation experiment for Unit-03 in Matsushiro today...

The delayed deployment of Unit 2... that pitch-black EVA... all of this points to a terrifying truth that he dares not and does not want to believe.

The pilot of Unit-03, which was identified as an Angel... was Asuka!
"Asuka..."

Shinji Ikari's lips trembled silently, and he stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

The next second, he turned around abruptly and, with all his might, rushed outwards against the flow of fleeing people.

He shoved aside one panicked passerby after another, stumbling through a cacophony of curses and gasps until he found a public phone booth and dialed NERV's internal communications.

"Miss Misato!"

The moment the call connected, he practically screamed it out.
"Is Asuka the pilot in Unit 3?!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, a brief silence that felt like an eternity.

"...That's right..."

Then, Misato Katsuragi's tired and sorrowful voice came through.

"Let me pilot Unit-01 into battle!"

Shinji Ikari took a deep breath and made his decision.

"No."

"Unit-01 is still under investigation and can't be done right now."

A cold yet familiar male voice suddenly interrupted the communication; it was Gendo Ikari.

Shinji Ikari slammed his fist against the glass of the phone booth with a dull thud.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. The image of Asuka's awkward yet expectant expression as she handed him the bento box, and the little bear band-aid on her finger, floated into his mind.

"call……"

He exhaled a long breath, and when he spoke again, his voice had regained its composure.

"In that case, let me pilot Unit 2!"

"No, Shinji..."

Misato Katsuragi hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
"Without Asuka, your synchronization rate with Unit-02 is too low, and we can't activate it like last time! Even if we force an attack, we're no match for the Angels..."

"can."

However, the next moment, Gendo Ikari's voice rang out again, overturning Misato's judgment.

……

When Shinji Ikari put on that familiar battle suit again and stepped into Unit-02's insertion plug.

The bright red LCL liquid slowly poured in, enveloping him, and the feeling was completely different from the last time.

He gripped the joystick and closed his eyes.

Scenes flashed by one after another.

Please, Unit 2.

That girl... that stubborn idiot, she's waiting for us to rescue her.

Please, let's go save Asuka together...

Inside the command center, Misato Katsuragi stared intently at the data on the screen.

"Plug connection, nerve reconnection, synchronization begins."

"Driver's pulse and breathing are normal... Synchronization rate... 15%, 12%, continuing to decline!"

An operator reported.

Misato Katsuragi sighed wearily. It still didn't work...

She was about to order Shinji to give up.

But in the next moment, something unexpected happened!

As if hearing the driver's prayer from the depths of his soul, the red giant that had been silent for so long suddenly flashed a sharp lightning bolt in its eyes!

On the main screen, the graph representing the synchronization rate stopped falling, and then... began to surge wildly upwards! 20%... 35%...!
(End of this chapter)