Chapter 1346
Insect Acid? Apostle, you're finished!
Beep beep beep beep!!!
A piercing alarm ripped apart the peaceful afternoon at NERV headquarters. Red warning lights began spinning wildly, turning the entire corridor crimson. Operators' distorted shouts blared over the loudspeaker, amplified and echoing between the walls.
"The apostles are attacking!!!! The apostles are attacking!!!!"
"..."
In the command center, a technician who was organizing documents stopped, looked up at the large screen, then silently lowered his head and continued working. In the corridor, several employees stopped, listened to the announcement, exchanged glances, shrugged, and went back to their posts. In the canteen, people eating didn't even stop, though someone muttered, "Here we go again," before continuing to shovel food into their bowls.
"..."*N
Upon hearing the news of the apostles' attack...
Everyone was quite calm.
No one ran in panic, no one screamed and ran for cover, and no one clutched their communicator, pale-faced, demanding more details. The entire NERV headquarters operated like a well-run machine; everyone went to their posts methodically, their movements as calm as if they were conducting a routine fire drill. Even the young operators, usually the most easily flustered, merely yawned, slowly put on their headsets, and began adjusting the monitoring equipment.
Mainly because I've seen too many monsters...
The apostles are really not enough...
In the past, when the Angels attacked, the overwhelming sense of oppression, the absolute terror brought by the AT field, and the despair of humanity being as insignificant as ants before them plunged the entire Third New Tokyo City into panic. But now? Everyone has witnessed the brute force of Gomora, the eeriness of the Mazars, the cunning of the extradimensional beings, and those monsters descended from the depths of space, even more unreasonable than the Angels. Compared to them, the Angels, while still dangerous, have lost that unknown, indescribable aura of terror.
"Which unlucky fellow has come this time?" An old technician leaned back in his chair, his tone as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "Hopefully, he won't be chopped into pieces by Mr. Choi again; it's a real hassle to clean up."
"Who knows?" the person next to him replied without looking up. "Anyway, the result will be the same."
On the large screen in the command center, the light representing the apostle was approaching, but the whole room was filled with an eerie, languid atmosphere, as if it were not an enemy about to bring destruction, but a lamb willingly walking into the tiger's mouth.
An apostle? Nothing special.
And at this moment...
Cui Ming was already sitting in Balja.
The purple heavy mech rumbled low on its launch track, hydraulic levers slowly propelling it into the launch bay. Cui Ming gripped the control sticks, his eyes sharp as if staring at a corpse. The launch bay door slid open overhead, revealing a somber sky. Balga's thrusters spewed scorching flames as its massive body soared into the air, hurtling towards the direction of the strongest Apostle signal. He waited not for support, not for coordination, not even for the cover of N2 bombs; he charged forward alone.
Cui Ming is a man of action, and his speed of action is terrifying!
The Ninth Apostle, Rain Angel, lay sprawled on the mountainside outside the Third Neo-Tokyo City, its body covered in dark green armor, its eight long legs deeply embedded in the rock, and its compound eyes on its abdomen gleaming with an eerie light. It was preparing its next wave of acid attacks, intending to melt the human city before it into ruins, when a purple mech descended from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground in front of it, kicking up clouds of dust and debris.
The compound eyes on the Rain Angel's abdomen all turned sharply towards Bulga, their pupils contracting violently. Clearly, they hadn't expected humans to send something like this to their doorstep. What's going on?
A hint of disdain flashed in the rain angel's compound eyes as its eight long legs scraped against the rock, creating a grating sound. It didn't care what it was; anything organic or inorganic in its path would be dissolved in acid. Its abdominal muscles contracted sharply, and its compound eyes lit up, accumulating a terrifying liquid capable of instantly corroding even steel.
Let me show you what I'm made of!
Then, the Rain Angel sprayed acid directly at Bulga.
A jet of dark green water shot out from the compound eyes on the Rain Angel's abdomen, carrying a pungent stench and corrosive white smoke, lunging straight at Balga like a venomous python. Wherever the acid passed, the ground was instantly melted into deep trenches, the rocks sizzled and screamed, and even the air was scorched and distorted.
But... the Rain Angel doesn't know...
This time, it stirred up a hornet's nest...
In the operations room, Misato, Rin, Asuka, and Zeppelin stared at the large screen, watching helplessly as acid sprayed onto Varga's armor. All four of them simultaneously slapped their faces, producing a series of dull thuds.
broken!
That idiot rain angel did the worst thing ever!
Insects, plus acid! They're going to die!
Inside the cockpit of the Balga, Cui Ming stared at the dark green liquid splattered on the armor on the screen, then glanced at the spider-like face of the Rain Angel on the external monitor. His expression shifted from calm to grim, then to rage. His pupils contracted sharply, and a terrifying killing intent erupted from within him, causing even the Balga's sensors to frantically alarm.
Cui Ming's anger was already at its peak!
After all, Cui Ming's old adversaries were a group of Star Guides from the Earth Defense Forces, and their main cannon fodder consisted of giant ants and their acid attacks!
When those damned things swarmed in, the entire sky was filled with the buzzing of their flapping wings, a dark, moving cloud. Each one was several meters long, their carapace hard enough to stop bullets, and most disgusting of all was the green acid they spewed from their mouths—it corroded metal, dissolved flesh, and could even melt holes in concrete. Cui Ming had fought them on countless battlefields, and half of the hideous, corrosive scars on his body were left by those insects. His hatred for this combination was etched into his very bones.
Insect-like creatures plus acid!
That was the thing he loathed, hated, and most wanted to eradicate. The Star Guide's ant army had left him with such a deep shadow that the sight of any similar creature would instinctively trigger a killing frenzy. And now, this so-called apostle before him had eight long legs, a carapace, and could even spray acid—wasn't it just a giant version of the Star Guide's ants?!
Rain Angel is dancing on Cui Ming's most sensitive spots!
Inside the cockpit, Cui Ming stared at the spider-like apostle on the screen, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints, veins bulging on his hands gripping the control stick. Varga's sensors emitted piercing alarms, indicating his armor was being corroded by acid, but he paid no heed. Only one thought remained in his mind—tear it apart, crush it, reduce this insect, along with its acid, to atomic-level dust! (End of Chapter)