After all four EVAs fell into the dark shadow of the Night Angel, there was a dead silence in the battle hall where the whole process was played, and everyone was stunned.

Misato slowly withdrew her gaze from the big screen with a frightened face, as if she had lost all her strength in an instant, and she felt that everything around her was collapsing and falling, and there was an endless dark abyss under her. She staggered two steps forward, leaning limply on the podium—if she didn't do that, she would have collapsed to the ground.

I don't know how long it took, the whole battle hall was still heard, Misato finally gradually recovered from the initial pain and shock, she is a strong and rational woman, she knows that self-pity in this bad situation is the most pointless behavior, the priority is to rescue the four drivers as soon as possible, and the rescue mission needs her as the backbone.

Ritsuko walked up to Misato and gently placed her hand on the latter's shoulder: "Misato ......"

"I'm fine." Misato took a deep breath and slowly raised her head, her eyes full of iron will—she had to save everyone.

After swallowing four EVAs, the Night Angel finally returned to calm, and the shadow of the Night Angel floated calmly above the city, and below it was a terrifying sea of black shadows, looking down on the third new Tokyo city in the air, the sea of black shadows was like a huge and terrifying black hole, and the cities within its range had completely disappeared.

A white helicopter with NERV printed on the front hovered over the Sea of Shadows, Misato sat in front of the open hatch, the whistling air currents in the sky curled her long hair high, she looked at the Sea of Shadows below with concern for a while, and turned back to ask Hinata Makoto beside her, "How is it?" Can I receive a signal from four EVAs here? ”

Hinata Makoto raised his head from his notebook and shook it regretfully: "I'm sorry, I still can't detect any EVA signals." ”

A look of disappointment and pain flashed across Misato's face, but she immediately overshadowed it. Hinata Makoto was silent for a while, and suddenly said: "The loss this time is too great, the loss of four EVA units at one time, and the power to protect this world has been wiped out." ”

Misato continued to look down at the sea of dark shadows below, as if she wanted to see through the bottomless darkness with her naked eyes, find the location of Li Xiao's four people, and suppress the intense emotions like an ocean in the depths of her beautiful eyes: "I don't care about EVA and the world at all, I just want the four of them to come back safely." ”

On the other side, in the battle hall, Ritsuko and her younger sister Maya Ibuki are trying to analyze the life structure of the apostle. Looking at the charts on the screen about the analysis of the apostles in all aspects, Ritsuko was a little incredulous: "The information of the apostles is really exactly the same as what Xiao said......

Maya Ibuki sighed emotionally: "Katsuragi Sansa must be in pain now, is there any progress on the search and rescue team's side?" ”

Ritsuko: "The search and rescue team pulled out the umbilical cables of the four EVAs from the shadows, but the front section is all gone. ”

Maya Ibuki had a worried expression, "Doesn't that mean that all four EVAs have lost their energy supply?" ”

Ritsuko: "Don't worry about it for the time being, although there are not many built-in power supplies, as long as the driver does not operate the EVA indiscriminately and only maintains a minimum life support state, it can still last for about 16 hours." ”

Maya Ibuki's face became a little gloomy: "Sixteen hours, I don't have time to do anything." ”

……………………

Fourteen hours had passed since the four EVAs had fallen into the sea of shadows, and the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the sky was getting darker.

In order to facilitate the observation of the Apostle's movements and the implementation of the rescue plan, Misato ordered a temporary command post to be set up on a high platform outdoors, just on the edge of the Sea of Shadows, at this time she was holding a high-powered telescope to closely monitor the Apostle's every move, but after swallowing the four EVAs, the Apostle seemed to be dormant, just floating quietly above the Sea of Shadows, and there was no action.

Not far behind Misato, Hinata Makoto and Shigeru Aoba were operating the computer in front of them.

Shigeru Aoba: "The joint **** has completed the siege of the apostles. ”

Misato put down the binoculars: "What about the shadows?" ”

Hinata Makoto: "Motionless, it stops expanding after a diameter of more than six hundred meters." ”

At this time, Ritsuko and Maya Ibuki came over, and when Misato saw Ritsuko, she immediately opened her mouth anxiously and asked, "Is there any progress on your side?" ”

Ritsuko: "I have roughly figured out the life structure of the apostle, and indeed as Xiao said, that black shadow is the true body of the apostle, with a diameter of 680 meters and a thickness of about 3 nanometers. As for the sphere in the sky, it will disappear as long as the ontological imaginary circuit is closed, and it is the true shadow of the apostle. Speaking of this, Ritsuko sighed lightly with emotion. Everything is exactly the same as Xiao said. ”

Misato: "What about the rescue plan?" ”

Ritsuko didn't say it directly, but walked up to Misato and whispered with a serious expression, "I was just about to talk to you about the rescue plan, just you and me." With that, Ritsuko turned and walked away.

Misato frowned slightly in confusion and followed.

The two of them came to a secluded place, and Misato looked around to make sure there was no one: "Can you talk now?" ”

Ritsuko stopped, turned around and stroked the eyes on the bridge of her nose: "EVA forced rescue plan, this is the only feasible rescue plan I can think of now, put all the existing 992 N2 bombs into the center of the Apostle, concentrate the explosion energy, and destroy the Apostle and the Sea of Dirac together." ”

Misato couldn't believe her ears, her eyes widened: "You also deserve to be called a battle plan?" And, what if you do this, what about four EVAs? What will happen to Akatsuki and Shinji? ”

Ritsuko's expression was calm and scary: "EVA recovery is the highest priority in combat, even if the body is seriously damaged, it doesn't matter. At this time...... The life or death of the driver will not be asked. ”

"Smack!"

Misato raised her hand and slapped Ritsuko in the face, Ritsuko's glasses fell to the ground with a "click", and then, Misato angrily grabbed Ritsuko's collar and asked, "Why do you and Commander Ikari value EVA so much?" What the hell is EVA! ”

Ritsuko also looked angry: "The information given to you is all written." ”

Misato's eyes were like knives: "Lie!" ”

Misato and Ritsuko, the two stared at each other with eyes on each other, and they confronted each other for a long time, and finally Misato slowly let go of Ritsuko's collar. Ritsuko was silent for a while, and her voice softened a lot: "Misato, please trust me...... I took full command of the rescue operation. With that, Ritsuko bent down to pick up her glasses, passed by Misato, and walked away.

Misato stayed where she was, standing there in silence for a long time, obscure terms like "Second Impact", "Human Completion Project", and "Adam" lingering in her mind, and she realized to her horror that there were more secrets of NERV that she didn't know.

……………………

At this time, in the depths of the endless void, Li Xiao finally woke up......