Chapter 178 This Is Also Within My Calculations

A few days later, NERV headquarters.

Ritsuko was inspecting EVA. Unit 02 and Unit 01 were not damaged, but Unit 00 suffered a lot of corrosion in the battle with the Rain Angel.

During the last battle, Unit 00 had not been inspected yet.

Although EVA is a biological weapon, it has many electronic components inside. In order to make it move successfully, it needs to be inspected regularly.

And any part of EVA is extremely expensive. Without the funds and support of SEELE, it can only be repaired with spare parts from the headquarters. Ritsuko can only maintain it carefully to prevent EVA from making any mistakes during the formal battle.

"Unit 01 and Unit 02 should remain as they are. Unit 00's special armor No. 236 needs to be replaced." Ritsuko looked at Unit 00 across the glass and gave an order.

At this time, the automatic door behind her opened, and Ian strode to her.

"Ms. Ritsuko, are you busy now?"

"I'm fine, Commander, do you have anything to ask me?"

"There's something I want to consult." Ian said, "NERV headquarters has a self-destruct system, right?"

"To avoid the worst, NERV did install a self-destruct system in the Final Dogma Zone." Ritsuko nodded.

"I want to dismantle that self-destruct system, so I hope you can help."

"Dismantle? Now?"

"Are there any difficulties?"

"This"

Ritsuko sighed. She probably knew why Ian wanted to dismantle the self-destruct system. After all, who would want to have an uncontrollable bomb in their base?

"That's right, Commander. The self-destruct system is the highest-level system in the entire NERV."

"It is the last insurance created to avoid the third impact. If we cannot prevent the apostles from reaching the final dogma zone, then MAGI will make its own judgment and activate the self-destruct system to physically destroy the final dogma zone, thereby having the possibility of avoiding the third impact."

"Because of this, it is very cumbersome and time-consuming to dismantle it. There are a total of 1,500 miniature N2 thunderbolts installed inside the final dogma zone. With our current manpower, it is conservatively estimated that it will take at least one month to completely dismantle all the N2 thunderbolts, and that is without taking care of other matters."

"What if the self-defense team helps?" Ian asked.

"The key is not the manpower, but the large equipment that can remove the insurance, and only a few experienced workers can operate that kind of equipment skillfully. Moreover, after the construction of the headquarters was completed, the construction team withdrew, leaving only a few spare machines for maintenance." Ritsuko answered truthfully.

Her mother participated in the construction of NERV headquarters. At that time, she was still very young and had a relatively detailed understanding of these aspects.

She was not exaggerating. The level of that security system was really high. It could not be activated with personal authority alone. The instruction was written in the underlying code of MAGI and was the "last hope".

If it was detected that someone was tampering with the security system, MAGI would sound an alarm and identify it as an act of aggression.

Just like the last time, when Ian and others invaded the final dogma zone, MAGI released phenolic resin to prevent the invasion. MAGI would definitely take various countermeasures when they dismantled the self-destruct system.

Even Ritsuko could not modify this logical behavior of MAGI in a short time.

In other words, if Ian insisted on dismantling the self-destruct system, he would need to cut off the power supply of MAGI, shut it down, and then start the dismantling work for a full month.

During this period, if the apostles attacked or other abnormal situations occurred, MAGI would not be able to respond.

Ritsuko Akagi told Ian the pros and cons, and explained the huge amount of time and manpower required to dismantle the self-destruct system.

"So I think there is no need to dismantle the self-destruct system at the moment." Ritsuko gave a summary: "Even if SEELE launches a cyber attack on the headquarters, we can use Protocol 666 to gain at least 72 hours, which is enough for us to cut off the power supply of the headquarters before MAGI is invaded."

Ian listened to Ritsuko's words, touched his chin and pondered for a while.

"Miss Ritsuko, you just said that only special large-scale equipment can dismantle the N2 thunderbolt, right? I hope you can take me to see the demonstration." Ian seemed very stubborn to dismantle the self-destruct system.

"Okay, then in ten minutes, please ask the commander to come to the final dogma area." Ritsuko had no choice but to make arrangements.

It can only be said that this is a layman.

The people above obviously don't understand, but they can come up with some strange ideas, such as "colorful black" and so on.

Ritsuko felt it necessary to spend ten minutes to make Ian realize how troublesome this would be, and how much investment and little return it would bring.

She gathered the workers, activated the maintenance locomotive that had not been started for a long time, and came to the final dogma area.

The ceiling of the final dogma area was very high, and all the N2 thunderbolts were installed in the mezzanine above the ceiling and sealed by separate alloy plates.

The workers drove the maintenance equipment to lift up the high tower crane wall.

Ritsuko shut down MAGI for half an hour and asked workers to manually align the tightened anchor bolts. A total of six alloy plates needed to be removed to see an N2 thunderstorm, and then the fuses and detonators also needed to be operated, which was very cumbersome. .

"Commander, you understand now." Ritsuko said: "Our current work should be to prepare for the next apostles and to guard against SEELE's attack."

"Well, please, Miss Ritsuko." Ian looked up at the high ceiling.

"Then I will go back and continue to repair Unit Zero now." Ritsuko Akagi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that she had finally convinced Ian, a layman.

"No, Miss Ritsuko, please go and rest for a few days." Ian said,

"Rest? Rest at this time?" Ritsuko asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Ian nodded: "I decided to have the NERV headquarters have a power outage for three days to dismantle all these N2 mines."

"Don't you understand this?" Ritsuko's blood pressure rose.

She really wanted to knock Ian on the head and ask him, does this bomb have any grudge against you?

But her good qualities allowed her to quickly suppress her emotions.

"Commander, at most one-tenth will be demolished in three days." Ritsuko Akagi reminded: "It can't be completely demolished."

"Don't worry, it can be dismantled." Ian smiled.

As everyone knows, when Ritsuko Akagi directed the workers to demonstrate, Hanji had already led the troops to transport the S2 mechanism to the final dogma area.

"Here we come!" Hanji was full of energy and pushed the cart forward.

Levi and others also came, wearing three-dimensional mobile devices.

With the equipment of NERV headquarters, it is no longer difficult to manufacture three-dimensional mobile devices. Hanji even upgraded the equipment. She tentatively added an inflatable backpack to the three-dimensional mobile device, so that it can be used even in places where buildings are not densely packed. , can also fly a small distance with the help of jets, and then eject the hook line.

She has also reformed the strength and structure of the hook rope, so that it can now be fixed to buildings more easily.

Hanji was very excited. This world is a huge treasure house, inexhaustible and delicious!

She didn't even want to go back. Apart from eating, drinking and having diarrhea every day, she just soaked in this crystal body.

After Hanji arrived, Ian took over the large equipment and explained its principles and operating procedures to his partners.

"Isn't this very simple? It's not very complicated either." Han Ji patted his chest: "We are a professional team."

"Then thank you for your hard work." Ian smiled: "I will also come to help."

With that said, they started working.

Ritsuko Akagi stared at what was happening in front of her in stunned silence. After confirming the evacuation of personnel and causing a power outage at the NERV headquarters, Ian used the S2 mechanism to create hundreds of crystallized pillars reaching the ceiling in the Final Dogma Zone. The appearance of the crystallized pillars was not smooth. But it's full of potholes.

Those crystal people used the unreasonable equipment around their waists to climb along the rough crystal trees.

Then, they picked up the electric drill in their hands and manually pointed it at the bolt. Sparks were flying from the drill.

Many crystallized people appeared in this space, and they were all able to skillfully use the equipment called "three-dimensional maneuvering device" to carry out operations.

Under their labor, the alloy plates were removed at extremely fast speeds and thrown to the ground.

"Why did I forget? The commander is not an ordinary person."

This time the two poles were reversed, and Ritsuko Akagi found that she had become the "layman".

He should have thought of it long ago. Ian was not an ordinary person, and the world he lived in was something Ritsuko had already heard about from Ryoji Kaji.

"Another universe seems interesting."

After a long absence, curiosity emerged in Ritsuko Akagi's heart.

Why did she embark on the path of scientific research in the first place?

Is it your mother’s influence since childhood?

Is it a step-by-step study?

Is it a responsibility arranged for her by society and her superiors?

No. None.

The reason why Ritsuko Akagi became a scholar and embarked on the academic path is simple because she wanted to understand the world and things she didn't know.

Her original curiosity drove her to become the current Dr. Akagi.

She doesn't find it boring to make EVA, study artificial intelligence MAGI, and analyze apostles. Instead, she enjoys the fun of gaining knowledge.

But after meeting that man and Ikari Yuantang, everything seemed to have changed. She forgot her original intention and was deceived by that guy in a simple way.

In fact, she is just an ignorant little girl when it comes to emotions.

Ritsuko, who concentrated on research, was a blank slate when it came to sexual relations, so he was so easily controlled by Ikari Gendo.

But now, she has once again found the "fun" she was pursuing.

I really want to know what kind of life the people there live, I really want to visit that completely unknown place, I really want to study this ability to crystallize and mimic the apostles.

There were so many things that she didn't understand. It would be too boring to lose her AT field and become a shapeless "water of life".

At this moment, she changed her mind.

During these three days, she did not go on vacation according to the schedule arranged by Ian, but stayed at Final Dogma to help with the dismantling of N2 thunderstorms.

She met a person from another world named Hanji. Although the language communication was not very smooth, the two of them had a good chat. She talked about EVA and Hanji talked about Titans. Both of them found what the other person said very interesting.

Within three days, Ian's team dismantled all 1,500 micro N2s, filled five large trucks, and handed them over to the Self-Defense Force to transport them outside the city.

They restarted MAGI. The program of the self-destruct system was retained in the MAGI system, but its entity had been dismantled.

Another week later, Ian received an encrypted message from Kaji Ryoji. After deciphering it, there was only one sentence.

"Be careful of JET ALONE and its subsidiary Japan Heavy Chemical Industry Community Company. SEELE has been moving there recently."

JET ALONE, referred to as JA, was a large nuclear-powered humanoid mechanical weapon manufactured in Japan before Asuka arrived in Japan.

After Unit-01 went berserk, JA's production company held a press conference with the intention of snatching NERV's funds and using JA to replace EVA and fight against the apostles.

But an accident occurred during the presentation. JA lost control and almost exploded. It was Misato Katsuragi who played the hero and "manually" turned off JA's power source.

In fact, that accident was planned by Gendo Ikari, with the purpose of suppressing JA's producer and allowing NERV to monopolize all sources of funds.

After this incident, JA disappeared.

"Does SEELE want to use JA to test?"

In the command room, Ritsuko and Misato discussed.

At the same time, an emergency report was sent by MAGI.

After the commander ordered the removal of the self-destruct system, an employee found something similar to a stain near the protein wall this morning.

The red alarm lit up on the big screen, which was the area where the stain was found.

Ritsuko frowned and quickly rushed to the simulation room with Misato.

"What's the situation?"

"The pollution alarm is issued on the A layer of Σ unit! The protein wall of the 68th pipeline is deteriorating! There is a fever phenomenon!"

"The 6th pipeline is also abnormal... The corroded part of the protein wall is proliferating at an explosive rate!"

Misato and Ritsuko were shocked when they heard this. Ritsuko made a prompt decision: "Immediately block the 6th pipeline!"

The staff on the scene immediately did so, but the feedback made everyone look ugly.

"It's useless... The corrosion is spreading along the wall and starting to erode more pipelines!"

Ritsuko said with a serious expression: "Prepare the laser and fire it at the same time as the corrosion invades."

Everyone was nervously waiting for the arrival of the unknown corrosion, and the laser successfully hit the corroded part... However, it was ineffective because an extremely familiar barrier intercepted all the lasers!

"AT force field?!" Misato widened her eyes, "How is this possible?"

At the moment when the AT force field appeared, MAGI gave an analysis report-the pattern was blue, and it was undoubtedly an apostle!

"Is this... the eleventh apostle?" Ritsuko was stunned. It was another apostle in a new form.

"I'll go inform the commander!" Misato said.

Ritsuko stayed in the laboratory to investigate the eleventh apostle. She was surprised to find that the apostle had begun to erode the artificial intelligence MAGI!

If MAGI was controlled by the eleventh apostle, it would be the end, which was equivalent to the entire base falling into its hands.

However, Ritsuko realized something else at this time.

The base's self-destruct system had been dismantled a few days ago.

Even if MAGI was controlled, what could it do now?

After careful thinking, she found that what MAGI could do was very limited. It was just an auxiliary system and could not attack humans through the computer screen.

"Is this also in your calculation, Commander?" Ritsuko Akagi let out a long breath.