EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan - Chapter 232 Chapter 230 Cat and Ritsuko Akagi

Headquarters.

At noon.

While Shinji Ikari was visiting his eldest daughter in the hospital, Ritsuko Akagi was on the phone in the office.

The ashtray on the table was filled with cigarette butts. At this time, the office was filled with white smoke, like a fairyland on earth. Akagi Ritsuko smoked a lot. Since she picked up this bad habit again, drinking black coffee could no longer relieve the pressure in her heart.

The cat lived to be a teenager.

She was originally raised by Ritsuko Akagi when she was in junior high school, but later she joined NERV and was busy with work, so she had to be fostered by her grandmother. Since her parents were not around for a long time since she was a child, she has the best relationship with her grandmother.

"It disappeared without a trace. It's so old, where could it go?" the old man said sadly on the phone. "It couldn't even eat a few bites recently. Could it be that it felt it was going to die of old age and went out to find a quiet place to wait for death?"

"Well, probably. Cats have a lifespan, too."

She consoled him:

"Don't be sad, Grandma."

After she calmed down a little and told her granddaughter not to worry so much, the grandmother started to care about the common problems in every family."Ritsuko, are you still busy during the New Year? Do you plan to come back?"

"Well, I will go back if I have time." Akagi Ritsuko hesitated when she said this, but continued: "After all, I haven't visited my mother's grave for three years. If I go back, I will call you, grandma."

Grave sweeping... cat...

She had been using work as an excuse and had not been back to visit the grave. Ritsuko Akagi thought of her mother and the disappearance of her cat, so she sat in her office chair in a daze for a long time. Not only did Kaji, her friend, leave, but her favorite pet also left.

During the New Year...

I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on until that day, Akagi Ritsuko laughed at herself. If the human completion plan goes smoothly, perhaps before the New Year, all humans will return to their most primitive state. She got up and left the office, and went to the temporary laboratory, trying to find another solution for Shinji's blood.

After more than ten minutes, the little white mouse was thrown into the incinerator again.

The experiment still had no results.

Ritsuko Akagi looked at the liquid in the newly extracted syringe.

Do you want to continue the experiment?Or should I go back to the office and rest for a while and wait for the drivers to come for training?If Asuka is hospitalized, only Shinji and Ayanami Rei will come for training. Now Shinji should still be visiting in the hospital, and only Ayanami Rei is in the headquarters... Thinking of that girl, Ritsuko Akagi paused and she turned to go deep into the underground city.

The hidden secrets are naturally not limited to the existence of the apostle in the Central Dogma District.

Ritsuko Akagi turned left and right and soon came to a place where she needed to swipe a permission card to enter. She verified her permission, heard the gate beep and walked in.

There isn't much light here.

With the help of dim light, you can see a large area of ​​culture tanks.

Because within the range of vision, there are several bodies of the same shape soaked in LCL liquid.

Looking around, the culture tanks were filled with densely packed bodies of girls. There was no telling how many there were, and their facial features and body lines were exactly the same, as if they were carved from the same mold.

If Shinji Ikari came, he would be able to recognize who the owner of the body was by the body shape even without looking at the face.

…Ayanami Rei.

Just as Shinji Ikari had guessed in the past, in a hidden place in the underground city, there are countless clones of Rei Ayanami.

The clones in this pool can be said to be the most confidential of the secrets of the headquarters, but the clones in these pools are nothing more than dead objects. Just like the EVA bodies without control systems, the clones without souls are just pure flesh, without even consciousness, and cannot move.

Even if they are locked in a culture tank, it is impossible for them to suddenly open their red eyes, agape mouths, and then bang their heads against the glass to try to get out and infect humans... That is probably the development routine of zombie movies.

in this world.

It can be said that biology meets the mysticism.

Soul... She couldn't help but think of the unknown gene that had corrupted Shinji.

If... just if, if the blood corroded by the unknown genes was copied and thrown into this pool in large quantities, I'm afraid that in a short while, you would see a bunch of strange monsters with scales and bone spurs appear in the culture tank. They would completely occupy the bodies of the Ayanami series of clones, just like the corroded mice in the laboratory. However, in the absence of a soul, could the blood still exert its ferocious genetic instincts and make these monsters move and fight?Shaking her head, Ritsuko Akagi gave up this horrible idea.

It's like a Pandora's box.

She came here just on a whim, to confirm some hesitation in her heart.

...Ikari Yui.

Wife of Gendo Ikari who died unexpectedly in an experimental accident.

This is what Ritsuko Akagi hesitated about. To this day, she still couldn't figure out whether this man named Ikari Gendō had faded away from this relationship... Don't get me wrong, she naturally felt that Ikari Gendō must love his deceased wife. If there was really no love at all, Ritsuko Akagi herself didn't believe it. But people always have to look forward. Does this man have the idea of ​​moving on from the past and falling in love with a woman other than his deceased wife?

Now, the one accompanying Shinji-kun is the second Ayanami Rei.

As for the first Ayanami Rei, she died in an accident four or five years ago. Yes, an accident. Even Akagi Ritsuko didn't know the exact cause of death. She only knew that she died shortly before her mother's accidental death. And if the second Ayanami Rei also died, the third one would be activated.

Because Rei Ayanami has only one soul.

That is the existence called Lilith.

The human body.

Therefore, other clones would not have self-awareness unless they died. The clones in the large cultivation tanks in front of him were just spare bodies for Rei Ayanami.

Ritsuko Akagi checked the operation of the culture tank and left after confirming that there was no problem.

Today's training went on as usual.

Without the presence of the eldest lady, he and Rei Ayanami were naturally a little closer. The boy and the girl were chatting, and the girl occasionally smiled faintly. Akagi Ritsuko looked at the two of them and couldn't help but feel a little dazed. From a distance, Shinji looked like a younger version of Commander Ikari. If he wore glasses and a commander's uniform, he would look even more like him.

perhaps.

I probably brought Shinji and Asuka together because of their similarities.

However, the person standing next to him at this moment was not Asuka with long golden hair, but Ayanami Rei. Thinking of Ikari Shinji's deep affection for Ayanami Rei, Akagi Ritsuko felt even more depressed.

But Ritsuko Akagi is still hesitating.

"Ms. Ritsuko?"

"nothing."

After answering Shinji Ikari's question about her daze, Ritsuko Akagi quickly started her daily training. Without Asuka, who usually yelled and had fun during training, today's training was just mediocre and ended quickly.

Misato Katsuragi approached Shinji Ikari and walked away as if she wanted to whisper something.

The two seemed to have something to discuss.

Ritsuko Akagi noticed this situation keenly.She certainly knew that Misato Katsuragi had "not given up her evil intentions" and had always wanted to know the truth of everything - from this point of view, perhaps when Katsuragi and Kaji were together in college, they were "birds of a feather flock together". It is just unknown how much the missing Kaji told Katsuragi.

but.

Akagi Ritsuko frowned. How should I put it? In her opinion, this was a matter between adults and these children should not be involved. Besides, there was less than a month left, so it would be too late even if the truth was known.

So far, the fifteenth apostle has been annihilated.

According to the plan.

There are only two apostles left.

(End of this chapter)