Chapter 1341
Sextant: I'm still alive
The next day, Rokubungi Gendo successfully appeared in the command room as a normal person.
He was dressed in his crisp commander's uniform, trying to maintain his usual composure, his hands behind his back, standing beside the sand table, his face bearing that usual somber expression. But as he strode toward the conference table, all eyes in the room fell on his lower body.
However, people noticed that he walked strangely, especially his legs, which seemed to be straight.
His left leg was stiff at an odd angle, the knee unbent, as if a wooden stick had been inserted directly into his trouser leg. With each step, that leg thrust straight forward, then slammed heavily onto the ground with a dull thud, like someone hammering a stake into a conference room. His right leg could still bend somewhat, but combined with the stiffness of his left leg, his gait was uneven, with each step a jarring, halting movement, like a newly assembled puppet whose joints hadn't even been lubricated.
Misato Katsuragi was the first to break down, her shoulders trembling. She quickly lowered her head, pretending to study the documents in her hands, but laughter still escaped through her fingers. Maya Ibuki's eyes widened, she pushed up her glasses, repeatedly confirming that she wasn't seeing things, then quickly shifted her gaze to the ceiling, her cheeks flushed red. Ritsuko Akagi crossed her arms, her lips twitching a few times, before finally turning to face the large screen, her back trembling.
Cui Ming sat in the main seat, holding a thermos in his hand. His gaze lingered on Rokubun Yiyuantang's stiff leg for two seconds before he casually looked away and said indifferently, "Commander, please sit down."
Rokubungi Gendo gritted his teeth and slowly moved to the chair, trying to sit down with an elegant posture. But his stiff left leg couldn't bend at all, and he could only sit down straight like a stick, finally slamming heavily onto the chair, making the chair legs scrape the floor with a grating sound.
"..."
A deathly silence fell over the conference room, then erupted in a fit of violent coughing—everyone was desperately trying to suppress their laughter.
Rokubungi Gendo's face turned a deep purplish-red. He gripped the handrail tightly, his nails digging into the leather, and forced out a sentence through clenched teeth: "...What are you looking at! This is the latest...field rehabilitation therapy!"
Rokubungi Gendo sat at the conference table, his stiff left leg stretched out at an odd angle under the table, knee completely unbent, standing there like a wooden stick. He tried to prop himself up with his hands on the table, but the movement looked particularly comical due to the stiffness of his leg. He took a deep breath, and the gloomy expression on his face returned, as if he had forcibly suppressed all the laughter that had followed him.
He started picking a fight.
Rokubun Gigendo's gaze swept over everyone in the conference room, finally settling on Choi Myung. The acting commander was leaning back in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand, his eyes as calm as if he were watching a boring play. This composure made Rokubun Gigendo's anger surge. He slammed his hand on the table, making his water glass tremble.
"Cui Ming!" His voice was hoarse and shrill, carrying a deliberately exaggerated air of authority. "I hope you have some self-awareness! You know you're just the acting commander! You know perfectly well who this position truly belongs to!"
He began to give orders.
Rokubungi Gendo straightened his back—though the stiffness in his legs made the straightening motion look more like a twitch—he stretched out his uninjured hand, pointed to a spot on the sand table, and said with unwavering force: “First Company, immediately move to the Third District! Second Company, seal off all exits! No one is to act without my direct orders! Also, send all of yesterday’s combat reports to my office; I want to review them personally!”
The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.
Then Rokubungigendo discovered...
Nobody listens to him! The communications soldier sat at the console, his fingers flying across the keyboard, but the data stream on the screen was all reports to Cui Ming; he didn't even glance at Rokubungi Gendo. The operations staff surrounded the sand table, their fingers slid across the electronic map, discussing fire deployment and evacuation routes, as if the impassioned orders from just moments before were merely noise from the ventilation system. Even the water carrier walked right past him, placed the cup in front of Cui Ming, and turned away without a single glance at Rokubungi Gendo.
Rokubungi Gendo's hand hovered in mid-air, his finger pointing at the sand table trembling. He opened his mouth, wanting to repeat the order, but something seemed to be blocking his throat, and he couldn't make a sound. He turned to look at Fuyutsuki, his longtime deputy standing behind Choi Myung, who expressionlessly pushed up his glasses, then silently lowered his head to continue recording Choi Myung's instructions.
“You…” Rokubungi Gendo’s voice trailed off, trembling with disbelief, “Did you hear me? I am the Commander… I am the Commander of NERV…”
No one answered him.
Cui Ming finally put down his pen, raised his eyelids to glance at him, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at an expired piece of furniture. Then Cui Ming turned his head and calmly ordered the communications soldier, "Continue."
The conference room resumed its efficient operation, with the sounds of keyboard clicks, hushed discussions, and data reports mingling together to create a perfect working scene. At the edge of this scene, Rokufennig Gendo sat upright, his left leg stiffly stretched out under the table, like a forgotten wooden stake, standing alone outside the clamor.
Rokubungi Gendo knew he had to find another way...
These people are no longer his subordinates!
He sat at the conference table, watching Choi Myung issue orders, watching those faces that had once bowed down to him now pledge allegiance to another. Hatred spread through his heart like venom. But he didn't show it on his face, just sat silently until the meeting ended, until everyone left, until Choi Myung walked past him without even glancing at him.
Back in the ward, Rokubungi Gendo closed the door and pulled an encrypted communication terminal from under the mattress. This was a backup plan he had laid years ago, unknown even to Fuyutsuki. He turned on the device, and the screen lit up with a ghostly blue light.
Since we can't take back NERV openly, we'll try to do it from the shadows.
He remembered that there was a separate, secret laboratory on the seventh underground level of NERV, where some information that even Cui Ming had never touched was stored—records of the extraction of Apostle souls, raw data about the Lilith Core, and some other things that could be used for trade.
Rokubungi Gendo grinned, revealing a sinister smile. He intended to sell the information to anyone willing to pay, or use it to create chaos that Cui Ming couldn't control.
But as he tried to stand up, his stiff left leg betrayed him again. He fell forward, his forehead slamming heavily against the bedside table with a thud.
"...Damn it."
He lay sprawled on the ground, his communication terminal rolled to the corner of the wall, the screen still lit, reflecting his disheveled face.
This body, modified by a battlefield medic, is incapable of even the most basic stealth maneuvering. (End of Chapter)