Since the loss of the first machine and the return of Aeolia himself, Ikarigendo's job has become more like a simple Lilith warehouse keeper. Therefore, CC only needs to say hello to Aeolia, and he can struttingly lead An Qi down from the staff passage, and he no longer has to be sneaky like a thief like before.
This is the final dogma of An Qi's first time coming to the NERV underground. Except for "wow" and "so big", she probably couldn't think of any suitable words to express her shock. It was also the first time Lilith had seen it for her. It was a huge white humanoid fixed on a cross. Less than half of her body was missing, and it looked as soft as it would melt at any time.
"This strange thing is Lilith?" An Qi noticed CC's strange eyes, "What's wrong, is there something wrong?"
"No, it shouldn't be like this." CC showed an expression of disbelief, slowly shaking his head from side to side, "She refused to answer me, and she shouldn't look like she would collapse at any time, this is not... this is not simple. …”
"'Isn't this almost the same as Ed?' I guess you want to say this?" A magnetic voice came from the shadows in the corner, and An Qi posed vigilantly to face the direction of the voice, "I suggest you hurry up Go back and maybe see him one last time instead of wasting time here."
Nagisa Xun walked out of the darkness with an indifferent smile, took off the Bluetooth headset and put it in his pocket, by the way, put both hands in his pocket. He was still wearing the white shirt that seemed to have never been changed, and his red eyes shone with joy.
CC reached out to stop An Qi who was eager to try, took a deep breath, and said in the most sincere voice she could show, "Please give me an explanation."
"What to explain? Why am I here?" Zhu Xun smiled helplessly, "I don't want to follow my instinct to destroy Li Lin, and I can't bear to see my compatriots being lured out and killed one by one, so I closed my eyes and plugged my ears. , Hiding underground, shouldn't it be difficult to understand?"
"Booby?" CC noticed a key word, but now is not the time to struggle with this, "What I want to ask is how do you know Ed's current situation, do you know what happened to Lilith, and how can I save him? Please? You tell me."
"Why should I pay attention to your request? Or do you think I am some kind of character who is responsible for explaining the settings?" Nagisa Kaoru walked to the edge of the pool full of LCL, looking up at the soon-to-be-lost body Lilith, "You know, he's an outsider."
CC and An Qi looked at each other and nodded silently.
"He is different from you, the fake that was made, and different from Lilith's children on Earth. He is not of the same species as Li Lin at all, so his soul... can't fit into Li Lin's body." Zhu Xun Zhuan Turning around and looking at CC, "I remember there was an NT named Tifa on the moon, that's what he should be like."
An Qi looked ignorant and did not understand what Zhu Xun was saying, but CC showed an expression of sudden realization: "He should rely on the AT force field completely derived from himself to maintain his existence, instead of inheriting the fragments from Li Lin... Defective."
"Yes, the defective product, it's a very accurate description from your mouth." Zhu Xun smiled sarcastically, "When he came here, he probably gave up everything other than his memory, but Li Lin's fragments did that to him. A strong and independent soul can't help it maintain a human posture, so Lilith thought of a way."
CC finally understood what the entity of intimacy she first smelled on Ed was. She was just a puppet that Lilith squeezed out to experience life, not Lilith's incarnation. That would be too flattering for her. On the contrary, he is. Thinking of this, her body couldn't help but start to shake slightly, as if standing a little unstable, An Qi quickly supported her when she saw the situation was wrong.
"Look at your appearance, do you understand?" Zhu Xun raised the corner of his mouth happily, "As a toy created by Lilith, it is normal to be close to her creator."
"Lilith gave..." CC swallowed and said in a trembling voice, "Did you give him your body?"
"I've said it before, he's an apostle, a true apostle, from body to soul." Zhu Xun raised his arm and pointed at Lilith's corpse, "She separated one-third of her own flesh and blood— This is what you call the AT force field - used to complete Ed, and the strength of his anti-AT stance is now greater than two-thirds Lilith, so it can't maintain its form."
"Wait, no, there's something wrong." CC did a quick mental calculation, trying in vain to refute Nagisa Kaoru's theory, "Ed is only in his twenties this year, Lilith should have been killed by Aeolia long ago when he came here. Controlled with the Longinus gun, won't the body be found without so much?"
"That's the irony of the story." Nagisa sneered, "They took Lilith's fruit of life with their own hands, so it sounds reasonable that one-third of Lilith's body disintegrates on its own, doesn't it? ? That's why you have to create a replacement for Lilith before she completely collapses, isn't it?"
CC heard the words and stood there in a daze, looking like he couldn't let go.
"Hey, what are you doing in a daze?" An Qi CC's face twisted hard, and the latter cried out in pain and knocked An Qi's hand off, "It's a big question of who are you and Eddie? What's there to worry about? Can't you two study slowly in bed after you go back? Obviously there are more important things now, right?"
"...Ah! I'm sorry." CC suddenly woke up, staggered his eyes and didn't dare to look into An Qi's eyes, the volume was so low that he couldn't hear, "...and...that...that is...uh...thank you."
"When you come here with Ed every once in a while, he must be so excited that his heart will melt? Uh, it doesn't seem very auspicious to say it now." An Qi shook her hair and didn't want this, and returned her attention to Zhu Xun. "Let me ask if this Lilith is here, how do you say it, using herself to help Eddie continue? At least I think it looks like this."
"Very keen insight, or intuition?" Zhu Xun's pupils were slightly opened, "You are right, because of the reasons I mentioned earlier, Lilith and him have always had some kind of connection before, and what you see in front of you is right. It's Lilith's choice. It's a pity that he grows too fast, and two-thirds of Lilith won't help, what she's doing is meaningless, and both will eventually lose their form."
"Isn't there any way?" An Qi asked loudly, "And why are you gloating? Do you have a grudge with Ed? Are you so happy when he has an accident?"
"You guys can't understand." Nagisa Xun smiled and shook his head, "I have almost the exact same script with him, just like Yui and Lilith. I look at him like I look at myself in the mirror, so I am genuinely delighted that he was freed before he faced a bitter choice. There might be a way to 'save him', who knows, but it doesn't seem to me to be 'save him'. "
"You bastard!" An Qi clenched her fists angrily, "Then don't blame me for torture!"
"Angie!" CC desperately grabbed her arm to keep the blond girl from messing around, "He's an apostle, an apostle! Don't be impulsive!"
"But...!" An Qi gritted her teeth and shook off CC's hand, "What qualifications do you have to make decisions for Ed!"
"Of course I don't have the qualifications to decide his life, and I don't even have the qualifications to decide myself. I think I still have this little freedom, right?" Zhu Xun laughed at himself, raised his neck and looked at the cross, " What's more, there is not enough time, it's over."
Accompanied by his falling voice, Lilith's fragile AT force field was finally unable to support her huge body, disintegrating into a pool of orange liquid without warning, leaving only a lonely Longinus gun still nailed. bare cross.
Nagisa Kaoru raised his arm and waved it randomly, and a cloud of orange liquid that looked no different from other LCLs floated and flew in front of him. He stared at the liquid, his red eyes full of inexplicable meanings.
"... It's over?" The pale CC's body softened, and An Qi hugged him quickly, so he didn't slump on the ground, "I'm going back now...Is it too late to see him?"
"You can take Lilith back to be his companion, her soul is still here." Zhu Xun gestured to the liquid flying in front of him with his eyes, "but I recommend you kill him directly, after all, no one is more serious than you. Understand the pain of living forever. You only know how to painlessly kill a NT living in Lilith's bodily fluids. If you don't know how, you can ask her."
"Shut up! Ed just melted and didn't die!" An Qi roared, hugging CC who was so weak that he couldn't stand still, "I will definitely find a way to restore him, even if he dies I will Find a way to keep him alive!"
"It's fine for you, the fake one in your arms, it's a great response, you don't know how happy she is at this moment, if she feels happy." Zhu Xun turned a blind eye to An Qi's shouting, and continued to admire the suspension. Lilith in his hand, "By the way, Ikariyuantang is considered unemployed? Then he can spend more time with Wei's son. Let me give this place to me."
…
"Uncle Ed, can I talk to someone about you? I just need to... just can't handle it alone sometimes." Minerva asked cautiously, "She's a female NT friend of mine, I promise her Definitely not going to say it."
Ed knew she was talking about Pru without asking, and agreed without a second thought.
Although the child doesn't seem to be very smart, from the fact that she can perfectly distinguish the timing of calling Minerva and calling Audrey, she knows that as an NT, there is a lot of cleverness and strength, but it's just that People are more innocent. To be honest, all the NTs Ed has come into contact with in his life are smart, and he has never seen any more savvy and stupid NTs.
"Then Uncle Ed, if... I mean if." Minerva paused, "If you were really neutralized by yourself, would you still live at home? Can I still talk to you?"
"There is a high probability that there will be no problem in communication between NTs, just like we are now." 'High probability' is a scientific way of describing it, and it is definitely not a lie. "As for where to live... It will probably live in the refrigerator, as long as you don't think it's scary. , and won't accidentally drink me when I wake up in the middle of the night to find a drink."
Minerva couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Okay, let's stop talking." Ed leaned forward in the passenger seat and opened the door on the side of the driver's seat with the hand that was still available. "I have something to do here, I'll talk about it later."
After Minerva said goodbye obediently, Ed closed the chat room.
Lola Mian sat down in the driver's seat, leaning on Ed's shoulder without saying a word. After all, embarrassing things happened to Ed and Aeolia, and they didn't choose to follow up, but the result can be read from Lola's face without asking.
"I'm sorry," Laura repeated feebly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, why do you apologize?" Seeing that Laura was still frustrated, Ed tried to ease the atmosphere, "Uh, I'm actually quite satisfied."
"What are you talking about!" Lola bounced off him like an electric shock, her face flushed red, "Ah, no, I... I'm sorry, Ed, it was you who was hurt, but I A look of hopelessness."
"Anyway, people outside can't see the inside of the car, and it doesn't matter if you don't have any prospects, but you can't always comfort me unilaterally." Ed said with a smile, "Just thinking that I won't be able to talk to you in the future makes me feel a little lonely. ."
"Is there really no way?" Laura leaned on his shoulder again and closed her eyes in pain, "I can't bear such a future."
"I can only hope that Aeolia will live longer." Ed put his hand on the lap of the person beside him, and patted it like a child, "He is the smartest among the rest, and he is the smartest in this field. He also has the highest attainments, and we can only hope that he will make breakthroughs in theory.”
"By the way, λ-drive!" Lola suddenly stood up excitedly, and after just a second, lowered her head weakly, "It's useless, you are so smart, you must have thought of it from the beginning."
"It's okay, really, don't force yourself." Ed said softly, "It's normal for the plot to take a turn. Although this turning point is a bit... big, but I'm still alive, right? There is always hope in life. "
"Don't use such irresponsible words to perfunctory me!" Laura choked with tears in her eyes, "I... we... we simply—"
"I'm sorry." Ed interrupted Laura apologetically, "It's getting late, I have to go home, someone needs me more."
"I'm sorry." Laura wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes as if waking up from a dream, "Yeah, I can't be too selfish."
"I'm sorry," Ed could only say. "She needs me now."
He could feel as if some familiar and kind existence was struggling to support him from afar, but his efforts would not last long, and he probably didn't have much time left. And when he went out, the sad and helpless expression of Lux that he had inadvertently glimpsed still clearly appeared in front of his eyes at this moment.
Like he said to Lola, he was wishful thinking that Lux needed him right now.
When he was taken home by Lola, Angie and CC hadn't returned as a matter of course, and Minerva had been instructed by him to stay in the room honestly. He went straight to the second floor and opened the door of Lux's room, only to see her in pajamas sitting on the bed hugging her knees, her head buried deep between the two strands, her beautiful pink hair covering her face.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Lux raised her head with a surprised expression: "I thought you would... be back later."
"Isn't it agreed to discuss in detail after coming back?" Ed sat down by the bed, "I'll be back as soon as the matter is over."
"How's it going?" Lux turned her head sideways, playing with the hairpin unconsciously, "Is there any good news?"
"There's nothing Aeolia can do, my time, no, we're running out of time." Ed folded his still-strength hand over hers, "Even if I disintegrate , we should be able to talk in your changer form, but what if you can't? Thinking of this, I was so frightened that I didn't dare to tell Minerva."
This is the last chance. Turn yourself in. Are you going to spend the rest of your life with endless regrets? But for some reason, when he spoke, it became: "Minerva came back when you went out, go and accompany her."
"You're more important now." Ed said firmly, taking out his phone and shaking it, "This time we'll turn it off, I'm fed up with the eight o'clock shit."
Really is the last chance, Ed has reached out to you. Are you even worse than a kid like Camus? You are Siegel Klein's daughter! Courage, just a little bit of courage, just take a half-step here and hold his outstretched hand, and I can—
"Ed, I-"
"Kun's posture は ~ Servant is like て い る ~ the same world を 見 て る, Jun が い る 事 っ て ~"
"It's CC's call." She lowered her gaze and saw the caller ID, it was over, and it was like this again, she should have known, "Maybe I found a solution to the problem, maybe I found there was no way to tell you the last In a word, it should be a very important thing. I really don't mind, let's deal with it first, since you have more important things."
Please, even once, say no, say no, say no!
Ed was silent for a moment, pressed a button on the phone, and the music stopped abruptly: "No."