I participated in the development of EVA

"Ah."

Naoko Akagi entered the command code into the system.

Then the robotic arm in the laboratory picked up the insertion plug and injected it into the number one cockpit.

The object that this number one position is connected to is the brain of the test machine.

"Activate the connection circuit."

"The connection circuit is being activated... Strong pulse backflow is detected, all circuits are abnormal!"

Along with Naoko Akagi's broadcast voice came the howl of EVA, which Fumihiko Ikari had not heard for a long time.

"Hiss-"

At the same time, alarms sounded throughout the project team.

Ritsuko Akagi, who was sitting outside the control room, suddenly became panicked and wanted to rush into the control room to confirm the situation, but was blocked at the outer door by the metal door.

Among the three people in the control room, only Zhao Shuo panicked.

Ikari Fumihiko and Akagi Naoko looked calm, as if they didn't hear Eva's howl.

The two of them had experienced this kind of thing many times before.

Of course, the most important thing is that the two of them knew that the test machine's runaway this time would not pose a threat to the control room.

The two of them didn't even pay attention to the error messages and alarms and just chatted among themselves.

"Eva went berserk."

"Yeah, it's been a long time since I've encountered this situation."

Looking at the runaway test machine across the window, Naoko Akagi spoke again with a curious look on her face.

"Is there something that bypasses the brain and controls the body...the soul?"

The test machine's brain has been completely transformed by the Three Sages. Normally, the Three Sages system should have absolute control over the body in this situation. However... now the test machine is trying to dig the plug out of the flesh at the back of its neck with both hands.

Fumihiko Ikari was also curious about which one had greater control over the body, the soul or the brain.

"Test which side has higher authority when there is a conflict between the brain and the soul."

20:09:39

612. This is a denial

Naoko Akagi immediately edited a 'stop' command.

The Three Sages System received the command and the test machine stopped immediately... but after only a moment of silence, the body began to twitch.

He raised his hands tremblingly and clasped them at the back of his neck.

"It seems that... the soul has a higher degree of control over the body."

Hearing Naoko Akagi's conclusion, Fumihiko Ikari nodded.

"really."

After a pause, Ikari Fumihiko spoke again.

"Naoko, why do you think his soul is so resistant to the experimental monkey? Under normal circumstances, the experimental monkey should be devoured directly, right?"

Akagi Naoko thought for a moment before speaking again.

"It's probably because the monkey's life level is too low. Devouring it would do him no good but harm."

When Ikari Fumihiko heard this answer, an idea popped up in his mind.

He felt that the current situation was not that the test machine rejected the monkey, but rather that it denied the existence of the monkey.

Because according to the original story, all living things on Earth are descendants of Lilith, but according to the development of the plot, on the entire Earth... only humans have received Lilith's attention, and even a targeted completion plan has been specially developed, so he feels that the monkey is not being rejected now, but denied.

He did not express this speculation.

Akagi Naoko frowned and spoke again.

"Now things are a bit troublesome."

Fumihiko Ikari thought that Naoko Akagi meant that it was impossible to stop the test machine from going out of control, so he opened his mouth to reply.

"If you drain LCL, he will soon run out of energy. Well, if that doesn't work, send Unit-0 over to destroy him."

"That's not it."

Naoko Akagi expressed her own thoughts only after she denied Fumihiko Ikari's guess.

"I mean, monkeys can't cause swallowing. If we want to continue testing, we can only conduct human experiments."

Ikari Fumihiko was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

"Whether or not the devouring reaction can be triggered is actually not important. The only thing to do is to see if He reacts."

Naoko Akagi was a little annoyed.

“I looked at the problem too one-sidedly.”

After a pause, she added in a thankful tone.

"Luckily you're here, otherwise... my misjudgment would definitely cause some people to lose their lives."

Ikari Fumihiko was about to say something when Zhao Shuo couldn't help himself.

"Um, Minister Ikari... Can you guys talk about anything later? The most important thing right now is to get this big guy to stop."

Naoko Akagi entered an instruction.

The umbilical charging plug immediately detached from the test device, and the connection device lost power and was immediately disconnected.

The test machine stopped with both hands.

The alarm also stopped.

"The plug guard was compromised and the mechanism was jammed and unable to eject."

After hearing Naoko Akagi's report, Fumihiko Ikari glanced at Zhao Shuo.

"Assign someone to solve it."

"it is good."

Zhao Shuo took out his cell phone again and issued the order.

After arranging the rescue of the monkeys, Fumihiko Ikari and Naoko Akagi turned their attention back to the conclusion of this experiment.

"From the results, it seems that the barrier between dreams and reality suppressed Eva's devouring instinct."

When the monkey was connected through the dream virtual driving system, the test machine did not have any adverse reactions. However, when the monkey was connected to the actual machine, the test machine went out of control. This phenomenon was actually enough to prove Fumihiko Ikari's guess.

Akagi Naoko nodded.

“In fact, this phenomenon should be studied.”

"Study what?"

"Soul... the strong rejection reaction just now should be the best time to observe the soul."

Fumihiko Ikari really didn't expect that Naoko Akagi was so ambitious that she actually wanted to confirm the existence of the soul.

"Makes sense."

Naoko Akagi could hear the perfunctory tone in Ikari Fumihiko's words, but she didn't care because she thought that Ikari Fumihiko felt that current human technology was not enough to observe the soul.

But she wanted to give it a try.

After thinking about it, she sorted out the experimental data and sent it to the top management of NERV along with her own ideas.

The soul is so mysterious that humans possess it but understand very little about it.

She didn't know where to start, so she chose to let the NERV executives arrange the matter.

After finishing all these, she stood up from her seat and walked towards the laboratory.

When Ikari Fumihiko heard the noise and looked up, he saw this scene. He was stunned for a moment before he reacted.

The theory has been proven, and the next step is naturally human experiments, so Naoko Akagi is now preparing to change into rest clothes and log into the dream world for testing.

"Come back here!"

Naoko Akagi stopped.

"what happened?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Hasn't the theory been successfully proven? Of course, we are moving on to the next step."

"Theory is theory, and..."

At this point, Fumihiko Ikari paused, because in order to further verify the theory, human experiments had to be conducted.

If possible, he didn't want to use human lives to explore the way, but...

Now he has to make a choice.

Should we let others take the risk, or let Naoko Akagi, or Ritsuko Akagi take the risk.

He had never thought that "my life and the lives of those around me are lives, but the lives of others are not lives", but at this moment he made a decision after a struggle.

"Zhao Shuo, ask the higher-ups to arrange a death row inmate to conduct a virtual driving test first."

After a pause, he added with some concern.

"Just like last time, choose the kind of person who really deserves to die."

"Yes."

After Zhao Shuo responded, he went to report the matter to his superiors.

Ikari Fumihiko looked at Akagi Naoko with mixed feelings and asked.

"This is the second time. I am more relaxed now than the last time when I made this decision. I didn't struggle that much... If this continues, do you think I will become like Professor Yamaki one day? In order to get the data I want, I will push ordinary people onto the experimental table without any psychological burden?"

Naoko Akagi gave a straightforward answer to this question.

"will not."

Fumihiko Ikari was not so confident.

"hope so……"

Akagi Naoko wanted to say something, but Ikari Fumihiko waved his hand.

"I'm fine. Go out and comfort Ritsuko! The alarm just now must have scared her."

Naoko Akagi hesitated for only a moment before making her choice. She stayed with Fumihiko Ikari.

"Ritsuko, just let Zhao Shuo explain the situation. Compared to her... I am more worried about you."

"It's nothing for me. I just feel that my ability matches the power I hold."

"No, you've done a great job. No one else would do better than you if they were in this position."

Fumihiko Ikari just smiled and didn't take Naoko Akagi's comforting words seriously.

20:09:52

613. Failure of taking shortcuts

The two stood side by side in front of the window, looking at the site staff in the laboratory who used cutting tools to rescue experimental monkeys.

Ikari Fumihiko was silent for a moment and then mentioned Akagi Ritsuko again.

"Don't you want to go take a look over there?"

Naoko Akagi hesitated for a moment and then shook her head.

"There's no problem with her. Zhao Shuo has already gone to explain the situation to her."

"It's different. She's worried about your and my safety. She won't feel reassured unless she confirms it with her own eyes. You should go over there."

Seeing that Akagi Naoko was still reluctant to leave, Ikari Fumihiko added another sentence.

"I'm fine here, don't worry."