EVA: Shinji Ikari Returns from the Dragon Clan - Chapter 250 Chapter 248 The Disappearance of Little Ayanami Rei

the next day.

Some people fall asleep with hope, while others stay awake all night. In the headquarters office, Ritsuko Akagi typed the last character on the keyboard and then stretched. It was a morning when she should be full of energy, but the black coffee beside her was emitting bitter heat.

Ritsuko Akagi yawned.

After working overtime for so long, my body is sending out signals that it wants to rest.

But that was something Commander Ikari needed to worry about. Compared to that, Akagi Ritsuko was more concerned about other things.

Thinking back to her previous attempts on Ikari Gendou, she felt very gloomy.

Knew it……

Ritsuko Akagi subconsciously tightened the handle of the cup in her hand.

But, the last apostle is coming soon.

That day is very close.

Ritsuko Akagi's fingers were unconsciously stroking the coffee cup until she was startled by the sound of a door being pushed open, and she looked in the direction of the sound.

——It’s Katsuragi Misato.

After entering the office, Misato Katsuragi was not surprised to see Ritsuko Akagi still working overtime:“Have you been working so far?”

"Yes."

"How's the situation?"

"Unit-01 and Unit-02 are fine, but Unit-00 will need repairs for a long time."

She went back and had a good sleep.

Of course, the penguin PENPEN has been sent away and is temporarily placed in the Douki family. Asuka still has to be hospitalized, so she has nothing else to do except go to bed early. Katsuragi Misato recalled the deserted appearance of the apartment last night and sighed in her heart.

When will the battle with the apostles end?

This guy Ritsuko is really crazy. He is definitely going down a path of no return.

The two hadn't communicated for a long time.

They were best friends before, but now they are just like ordinary colleagues. They have no other interactions except work, and they only maintain superficial peace. Both sides know the reason and tacitly do not mention it.

"Even if it is repaired, it is doubtful whether Unit-00 can be put into combat again." Akagi Ritsuko said calmly in the tone of a scientific researcher: "The wound caused by the apostle has damaged important parts, and the performance of the unit will definitely drop significantly."

"We'll be lucky if we can repair it before the next apostle invasion."

All along, Unit-00 has been serving as a long-range support unit.

As long as they can neutralize the AT field of the apostles and provide long-range fire support, they will not have to devote most of their energy to deploying the AT field. However, if Unit-0 is locked by the apostles during the battle, the performance of the unit will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult to escape.

“…Next time?”

"how?"

Ritsuko Akagi suddenly said.

She casually handed over a document.

So Misato Katsuragi flipped through it casually, but after seeing the text on it, her sleepy mind seemed to be poured with a basin of cold water, and she was completely awake. This was a document from the Maru Duk Agency - it contained a photo and file information of a stranger, so strange that even if she searched her mind, she could not find any memory of this person.

"What is this?" she couldn't help asking.

Ritsuko Akagi said in a calm tone.

Nonsense, Katsuragi Misato secretly rolled her eyes. Of course she knew that the file recorded the new qualified person, and the so-called Maruduk Agency of the headquarters was doing this. But that's why she couldn't believe it. It's already the sixteenth apostle, how can it still find a new qualified person after so long?

Moreover, the qualified person means the mother of the new pilot... Thinking this in her mind, Misato Katsuragi carefully looked at the file again, the name, date of birth, family relationship... She first keenly noticed the facial features of the new qualified person.

Light silver grey with some grey hair.

He is very handsome, and this is the only word to describe him.

This unusual appearance made her frown. Albino? Or a clone? Katsuragi Misato was more inclined to the latter answer. She was not a fool. The appearance of this new qualified person was not right at first glance, and she could directly rule out the suspicion of normal humans. So, what was the purpose of this clone's sudden appearance?

...There must be some unknown secret behind this. So Katsuragi Misato continued to ask:

"A new qualified person... is there a new EVA machine for him to drive now?"

"That's the substitute?" She raised her eyebrows.

"should."

After listening to Ritsuko Akagi's answer.

Misato Katsuragi felt even more confused.

I won't say much about Unit-01, but Asuka's Unit-02 would definitely not be driven by a stranger. In other words, this new qualified person would at most be a replacement for Unit-00. Like Rei, they were both clones, and they were both pilots of Unit-00... Katsuragi Misato pondered over it, and always felt that the so-called secret was hidden in this inexplicable commonality - or maybe she was too prejudiced and saw conspiracy in everything she saw.

——Are people with albinism not allowed?

“…Hey, Ritsuko, is this guy a clone?”

"Yes."

Misato Katsuragi was stunned. This open attitude made her feel a little overwhelmed: "So, suddenly there is another qualified person, what's going on?"

"Who knows."

"..."

That's right, this kind of attitude that makes people angry is the friend she is familiar with, Akagi Ritsuko. Katsuragi Misato didn't want to continue asking, that would just be a waste of time. She looked through the file carefully again. But the information on it was quite blank, and she couldn't see anything at all.

There must be some secret.

"I'm going to go back and continue writing the battle report." Katsuragi Misato pouted and pretended to be indifferent. She closed the file and put it on the desk, leaving only the last sentence, "I have to visit Asuka and Rei in the afternoon."

She turned and left.

Although she is not as busy as Ritsuko Akagi, as the head of the Operations Department, she still has a lot of work to deal with after the battle. She doesn't have time to guess riddles now. Anyway, this new qualified person will definitely show up in the headquarters, so she can find out more about him then.

Looking at the office door that was closed again, Ritsuko Akagi gradually lowered her eyes.

Ayanami Rei... When she mentioned this girl, she remembered something that she had deliberately ignored until now. Before the afternoon, there were some things that needed to be dealt with in advance - Ayanami Rei and Unit 0 were dissolved into one, and before she came back from the gap between life and death, or disappeared completely, someone needed to replace her.

but.

It's just another empty puppet after all.

She also left the office.

After a while.

We arrived deep into the underground city.

It was not the laboratory that studied the blood of Shinji Ikari, but the place where clones were cultivated. The gate lit up green in the dark, and Ritsuko Akagi put away her ID card and stepped into the dim room. The naked body of the human girl was soaked in the LCL liquid. She stopped for a while and did not move forward.

In the culture tank.

It's the same girl's appearance.

Ritsuko Akagi stared at their beautiful appearance for a long time, and suddenly a feeling of acid rose in her stomach.

She walked slowly to the edge of the central operating table.

——This is a self-destruct sequence.

As long as the command is entered, the clones in the pool along with the DNA models used for cloning will be directly melted away. With a light press, the miracle that Fuyutsuki Kozo accidentally created will disappear, and no one in the world will be able to create the Ayanami series anymore... She placed her hand on the operating table and hesitated.

There is still a possibility.

Could it be that I am overthinking?

"..."

Ritsuko Akagi sighed, she knew she had not made up her mind yet.

(End of this chapter)