Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1562: Chapter 1560: I’m Not Just Going to Kill You

Although Gendo Ikari and Fuyutsuki gritted their teeth with hatred at Fang Zheng’s arrival, the general NERV staff did not have much of a reaction, and quickly accepted it.

After all, they did indeed need such a department.

Watching the animation, Fang Zheng found it odd why there wasn’t a department dedicated to taking care of these pilots.

This was actually a very strange thing.

After all, unlike adults, neither Rei Ayanami nor Shinji Ikari, and even Asuka, were just minors. Logically, they should definitely be grouped together for specialized care and management.

But in the animation, these three pilots, Rei Ayanami managed herself, and Shinji Ikari and Asuka were simply left at Misato Katsuragi’s place without any oversight?

Come on, what is Misato Katsuragi’s job?

She’s NERV’s operations director, and you’re having her worry about a group of middle schoolers’ daily lives?

How is this any different from not handing soldiers to a platoon leader and letting the general manage them directly?

It’s just not a professional match.

Furthermore, in the animation, we also saw that if Shinji Ikari wasn’t personally given a call by Misato Katsuragi, he would’ve been arranged to live alone. And if Asuka didn’t follow Shinji Ikari, she would also have been arranged to live alone... Is NERV out of their mind? These three pilots, bearing the world and humanity’s fate, who aren’t even watched over twenty-four-seven, are left to manage themselves?

Come on, Rei Ayanami can burn her hand just making tea; someone like this in the kitchen could cause a bloodbath, right?

Moreover, the psychological resilience of adults and minors is inherently different.

In the movie version, Shinji Ikari and Asuka got into an argument, and Shinji almost strangled Asuka to death. Not even someone was there to watch over them; if something really happened, who would take responsibility?

Now, since Fang Zheng is here, naturally a special department is established to coordinate and look after the pilots. Others didn’t find this odd.

Since he is from SEELE, even if Gendo Ikari is one hundred and eighty degrees unwilling, he could only proceed with Fang Zheng’s employment procedures, and after formal onboarding, Fang Zheng finally witnessed NERV’s deepest secret—EVA.

”So this is EVA.”

Standing in front of the window, looking at Unit-00 and Unit-01, Fang Zheng rubbed his chin. He came relatively early in the timeline, strictly speaking, not long after NERV was truly established—this is why Fang Zheng could smoothly obtain this department. In the animation, Misato Katsuragi, as the operations director, only moved to Tokyo-3 a few days before the attack by the Third Apostle and currently Fang Zheng arrived much earlier than Misato Katsuragi.

At least he just learned from Ritsuko Akagi that the test for Rei Ayanami and Unit-00 will be conducted in a week.

If Fang Zheng guessed right, that’s the beginning of the Unit-00 rampage legend.

In fact, the rampage story of Unit-00 has always been regarded as a major mystery in the EVA series.

This is quite normal because Fang Zheng’s impression of Unit-00 has always been about not rampaging or being on the verge of rampage... In short, except during actual combat where it’s considered normal, Unit-00 always refuses to remain quiet during test phases.

Often it has to show its presence, making Rei Ayanami suffer.

There have always been several explanations for why Unit-00 so frequently rampages to trouble Rei Ayanami.

One of the theories suggests that the soul of Unit-00 comes from either Naoko Akagi or Lilith and therefore rejects Rei Ayanami. This explanation, in Fang Zheng’s view, doesn’t hold up. Because Yui Ikari’s soul is in Unit-01 due to her being liquefied during an experiment inside Unit-01, leading to her soul merging with it.

But Naoko Akagi committed suicide externally and not inside EVA. NERV’s scientific advancement hasn’t reached the level of transplanting a dead person’s soul into EVA. As for Lilith, it’s even more implausible; everyone knows Rei Ayanami’s soul uses Lilith’s. If Unit-00 was also Lilith, how could there be rejection?

Another theory suggests that Unit-00, as the original prototype, has various defects, and the prototype itself has significant issues. This theory builds on the basis of Unit-02, which itself is quite unique, notably Asuka feels her mother’s soul in Unit-02, but in fact, Asuka’s mother also committed suicide without dying anywhere associated with EVA.

But if this explanation holds, there’s a puzzling issue—assuming that Unit-02 is sheltered by Asuka’s mother’s soul, it should similarly resist outsiders boarding it strongly. In fact, when Rei Ayanami attempted to board Unit-01, she was directly rejected.

However, the reality is Unit-02 has always been stable, regardless of who boarded without issues, Asuka faced no issue, Nagisa Kaoru faced no issue, and even Makiha faced no issue—Shinji Ikari initially also entered the Unit-02’s insertion plug together with Asuka, yet no issue was triggered.

Only Rei Ayanami never boarded Unit-02, so couldn’t verify the last theory—that these machines themselves have no defect, but Rei Ayanami herself is mentally unstable, therefore easily provoking rampages and rejection reactions in any EVA she pilots.

Originally, there was almost a chance in the animation for Rei Ayanami to verify if this hypothesis was correct, but unfortunately, Asuka stubbornly refused to let Rei Ayanami board Unit-02, thus, driven by a spirit of scientific rigor, this most probable theory could only remain hypothetical.

If Rei Ayanami experiences a rampage reaction when piloting the ”anyone-can-pilot” Unit-02, then the theory would be verified as evidence.

Of course, on the surface, this hypothesis doesn’t seem to hold up, since Rei Ayanami doesn’t display much emotional fluctuation and doesn’t seem like someone who would go berserk. However, the facts have shown that Rei Ayanami has no desire for survival, and even several times has had suicidal thoughts. Even if such a person doesn’t have personality issues, there might be some unspeakable thoughts in their subconscious.

After all, charging directly with an N2 bomb for self-detonation and frequently fighting with tactics of mutual destruction—this is not something someone who appears calm could do.

But now, having seen Unit-00 up close, Fang Zheng has finally pinpointed where the legend of Unit-00’s berserk issue stems from.

Just like Hypothesis No. 2 previously guessed, as the first fully-formed prototype, Unit-00 has a flaw on the soul level.

It’s like a computer with a GHOST system installed. You can power it on and off without issues, but when you try to run a certain program, it might crash or blue screen due to missing system files.

Unit-01 obviously solved this problem with Yui Ikari herself alchemizing the necessary system files, as for Unit-02... Fang Zheng hasn’t seen it yet, so he can’t say for sure.

After this realization, Fang Zheng finally met the most popular character in this world.

”I am Rei Ayanami, nice to meet you.”

A voice as flat as snow, with pale hair and vivid red eyes, an indifferent face, quite similar to what Fang Zheng remembered.

”Hello, I’m Fang Zheng. As you might already know, from now on, I’m your pilot’s temporary guardian... currently, it’s just you.”

Fang Zheng greeted Rei Ayanami with a smile. He wasn’t surprised by her reaction; having watched the entire series, he knew exactly what Rei Ayanami’s personality was like.

”Can I call you Rei?”

”Yes.”

”Great, Rei. So, you probably already know, Katsuragi is in charge of battle arrangements, Dr. Akagi is responsible for your physical condition, and my primary task is to oversee your living and studying... though, at the moment, it’s just you.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng chuckled again. As he said, although Gendo Ikari agreed to let him join, Fang Zheng’s current authority is limited to the pilot’s personal life. When it comes to health or combat missions, he has no right to intervene.

In fact, Fang Zheng also wouldn’t intervene. If he wanted, he would have done it himself; is there any need to negotiate with these guys?

Of course not.

”Then, let’s go check out your home first.”

Even though he already knew the situation from the anime, once Fang Zheng saw Rei Ayanami’s home, he was speechless.

Does Gendo Ikari really care about Rei Ayanami?

Looking at this simple single room, Fang Zheng didn’t know what to say. The location was average, with poor lighting, and the surrounding environment wasn’t great. Inside, the layout was a complete mess. Not to mention, the room itself was very small, just the standard of an emergency shelter.

You could at least provide a studio apartment, but what’s the meaning of giving her a pigeonhole?

Of course, with Rei Ayanami’s personality, she certainly wouldn’t care about these things. Even if you gave her a shabby dorm room, she’d live in it. But the issue is, whether or not to demand is her personal issue; whether or not to give is your attitude.

Yuki Nagate is also cold and unworldly, but she lived in a luxury apartment, alright, with three rooms and a living room!

With Rei Ayanami’s attitude to live wherever placed, it’s certainly not because she found her former accommodation too luxurious and deliberately chose something shabby, but that this is how it was arranged from the start!

Gendo Ikari, you’re not even making an effort to pretend completely.

Recalling the scene in the movie where Rei Ayanami tells Gendo Ikari, ”I am not your puppet,” Fang Zheng thought, this isn’t even treating her like a puppet; ask those otakus, which display cabinet for figurines isn’t well-crafted? The wealthy ones even add LED lights.

This is like raising a stray dog.

”First and foremost, let’s change your living environment.”

Fang Zheng would be living here as well, but since the anime didn’t show everything, now that he was here in person, meticulously examining everything, Fang Zheng felt this place was too cramped for one person, let alone two, and three or more is simply unthinkable.

So Fang Zheng decisively picked up his phone.

”Excuse me, we need to change our house...”