Chapter 1287
Lilith: Give up!
"Mr. Kaworu Nagisa, I think we can talk now."
In the deepest isolation room of NERV headquarters, the lights were dimmed to a soft, warm yellow, creating a strange contrast with the cold metal walls around them. Cui Ming pulled out a chair and sat down, his movements as casual as if he were going to a date at a coffee shop. Opposite him, a silver-haired boy sat quietly in a specially made restraint chair, his hands bound by energy chains, yet he showed no signs of the distress of a prisoner.
Kaworu Nagisa is actually quite helpless.
He slightly raised his head, his red eyes gleaming with a light beyond human comprehension. As the Seventeenth Apostle, the Angel of Freedom, he possessed wisdom and emotions equal to humans, even a higher level of awareness—but this uniqueness, in his current situation, had become a lonely curse. He could sense the peaceful yet unshakeable aura emanating from Cui Ming; it wasn't arrogance, nor a threat, but simply a statement of fact: Now, we can talk.
My apostle teammates, one by one, how should I put it?
Images flashed through Kaworu's mind: the water angels clumsily wriggling on the shallows, the thunder angels mechanically repeating their attack patterns, and the fish angels that had been vaporized by a beam of light without even having a chance to put up a decent fight. They were powerful, pure, and possessed divinely bestowed AT fields, but when faced with truly intelligent life, they appeared so monotonous.
Anyway, Kaworu Nagisa has completely given up now.
He sighed softly, his silver hair swaying slightly with the movement. The mission of the Apostles was to return to Lilith, complete the Instrumentality Project, and restart the cycle of life—a grand goal that was theoretically lofty, but in practice, it was fraught with absurdity. His "brothers" were like pre-programmed machines, only knowing how to charge headlong towards the goal, completely lacking in flexibility, negotiation, or even the most basic tactical thinking.
My teammates are all idiots.
"It seems like non-apostles don't have much of a brain."
Kaworu finally spoke, his voice as clear as a mountain stream, tinged with a self-deprecating smile. This wasn't a complaint, but simply an objective observation. As the last apostle born, he inherited Adam's soul, but unexpectedly gained a human-like way of thinking—allowing him to understand the apostles' destiny while also recognizing their limitations.
"Mr. Cui Ming... I... have no other choice. The only Apostles we can communicate with normally now are Lilith and me."
His tone was calm, almost melancholic, as he uttered those words. Lilith, the Second Angel, was currently nailed to the lowest cross at the bottom of NERV, half-dead and slumbering. Strictly speaking, she couldn't "communicate" either; she merely existed passively as the source of all life. The only one truly capable of rational dialogue was Kaworu himself.
"indeed."
Choi Myung nodded, then sat down opposite Kaworu. He approached an Angel—a being capable of destroying human civilization—without any guards or activated defense protocols. This gesture itself was a signal—I understand you, therefore I am not afraid of you.
"Speaking of which, you apostles are really quite troublesome in this respect."
Cui Ming took a piece of candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth, the action as natural as chatting with an old friend. His gaze swept over the energy chains on the restraint chair, then over Zhu Xun's calm face, finally settling on the other's red eyes.
"."
Kaworu didn't know what to say, but that was the truth.
In the past, when there were no monsters or aliens, it wouldn't have been a big deal for the Angels to act this way.
Back then, humanity's most powerful weapons were useless against the Angels' AT fields. EVA technology was still immature, and the entire world trembled in the shadow of the Angels. Whether they were brainless or not, as long as the AT fields remained, the Angels were invincible. They didn't need tactics, they didn't need coordination; they only needed to advance towards Lilith, crushing everything in their path. But now, there are monsters.
That's different.
Kaworu's gaze involuntarily drifted to the monitor screen in the isolation room, where the replay of the previous battle still lingered—a colossal figure emerged from the deep sea, its silver-red body covered in wounds, then a beam of light, and the Fish Angel vanished. That wasn't the power of an Angel, nor an AT field, but another existence, another set of rules.
“Aliens, monsters, Ultraman,” Kaworu murmured, as if savoring some bitter truth, “your appearance has complicated the script of this world.”
Choi Myung chewed on his candy, making soft crunching sounds. "So, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Are you going to continue with that doomed completion plan, or find some other fun?"
Kaworu Nagisa was stunned. This was the first time he had heard someone use "fun" to describe the ultimate question concerning the survival of their race. But looking into Choi Myeong's calm eyes, he suddenly realized—in front of this person, perhaps there really were other options.
The air in the isolation room seemed to freeze for a moment as two inhuman beings stared at each other across a metal table, a kind of understanding that transcended species quietly taking shape.
"After all, Lilith has already started to give up."
Cui Ming wasn't referring to Lilith's original body, but rather to Lilith who had taken over a clone of Rei Ayanami's body. That was Lilith's consciousness.
In a secluded room on the lowest level of NERV headquarters, a girl who looks exactly like Rei Ayanami is curled up on the sofa, holding a bag of potato chips, her eyes fixed on the huge screen in front of her. The screen is playing a popular romance anime; the female protagonist is confessing her love to the male protagonist, and the background music is perfectly sentimental.
Lilith—or rather, the being who now calls herself "Li"—snacked a potato chip into her mouth, making a crunching sound. Her expression was indifferent, but her eyes were intently following the plot. When the male protagonist finally reciprocated the female protagonist's feelings, she tilted her head slightly, as if pondering some profound philosophical question.
"I don't understand," she murmured to herself, "Why hesitate for so long?"
As the Second Apostle, the source of life, and the mother goddess of all Lilin, Lilith should theoretically be slumbering on the cross, awaiting union with Adam to complete the Instrumentality Project. But an accident—perhaps an energy fluctuation leaked during one of Cui Ming's battles, or perhaps a prank by the world's consciousness itself—awakened a wisp of her consciousness, which inexplicably took over a spare clone of Rei Ayanami.
Then she completely abandoned her original mission.
"Complete? What's that? Can you eat it?" This was her only response to the mental link sent by SEELE. After that, no matter how the elders in the shadows called out, threatened, or pleaded, she ignored them. The clone's nervous system seemed to be malfunctioning, allowing her to experience a feeling she had never experienced before—emotion. (End of Chapter)