"Hurry!

Come on!!

Hurry, hurry, hurry!! ”

"Woo ——!"

Finally, the first machine, which was hiding motionless behind EVA Zero, pulled the trigger again and fired a second positive electron cannon.

I saw an extremely dazzling stream of light directly shatter the Sixth Apostle's high-energy particle beam, and accurately hit the center of its S2 mechanism.

"Whew......"

The Sixth Apostle, who looked like a metal object, let out a beastly roar inside, once again tightly receiving the main body that had changed into attack mode, but then there was a soft "poof" sound from its core, and then a stream of bloody blood gushed out from the jade-like S2 mechanism.

"Boom ......"

The Sixth Apostle finally lost the ability to levitate, and fell into a pool of blood of its own making, and the blood flowed through the deep hole opened by its drill bit into the 22 layers of armor, and all the way to the newly penetrated underground city, giving the Nerv base directly below the hole a baptism of blood.

And these are not the concerns of Shinji Ikari, who has confirmed the complete silence of the Sixth Apostle, who is manipulating the first machine with a high-frequency vibrating particle knife to pry open the back of the neck of the already badly burned machine zero, that is, the armor that can be fatal to the "giant".

After the armor covering the back of the neck is removed, it is inserted into the EVA from here, and the driving bolt at the triangle of the two large ribs in the chest and abdomen near the core of the EVA automatically pops out and begins to expel the LCL inside.

The first machine pulled the pilot's bolt out of the back of the neck of the zero and carefully laid it flat on the ground, so that the hatch was in a position where it could stand on the ground and open it.

Then, before Shinji Ikari left the first machine, Chu Xuan, who was wearing a space warfare pilot's suit, had already quickly run to the door of the cockbolt and pulled the emergency opening wrench hard.

Seeing this scene, Shinji Ikari paused for no reason. After that, although he still chose to go out from the pilot's bolt in the first machine to check on Rei Ayanami's situation, his pace unconsciously slowed down a little and he didn't rush over at the first moment.

"Leigh. Are you okay! ”

After Chu Xuan opened the hatch with a fairly high surface temperature, he immediately poked his upper body into the driver's bolt. This scenario...... Suddenly, it seemed to be back to the time when the zero machine started the experiment and went berserk, but this time Chu Xuan's hands were well protected by the space warfare driving suit, and the reflective glasses on the bridge of his nose did not fall to the ground.

"Great...... You're safe. ”

Rei Ayanami, who was weakly slumped in the driver's seat, barely raised her head, her eyes swept over Chu Xuan's hands, body, and face, and then looked at Chu Xuan's glasses with red eyes that seemed to carry a little gentle emotion, and stretched out her trembling arms to him with difficulty.

This blue-haired girl, who was extremely indifferent to her life and death, always pretended to be Chu Xuan's safety in her heart. Just now, she also took the initiative to throw out Chu Xuan, who was about to use the "trump card" that she wanted to hide until the end, in order to keep her promise to her, and endured the bombardment of high-energy particle beams alone.

"The important thing is that you're okay."

Chu Xuan, whose glasses were reflective, grabbed Rei Ayana's outstretched hand without hesitation and dragged her directly from the driver's seat into his arms. gave her a strong hug, but the expressionless Ayanami Li could only hang her hands at a loss, and said to him in a somewhat gloomy tone:

"I'm sorry...... At this time, I don't know what to do in response to you. ”

"Just smile."

Suddenly, on the outside of the driver's bolt. In the gap behind Chu Xuan, the gentle smiling face of the black cat appeared.

Her voice was still a little out of breath, it seemed that she immediately ran to the side of the first machine after the Sixth Apostle was defeated, and finally succeeded in snatching Chu Xuan's key line at this critical moment.

The last sentence is a joke, and the black cat just happened to hear this famous line from Rei Ayana. So I reflexively said the classic answer.

- It's like that, it's that, everyone knows that they shouldn't step on it, but when they see it, they want to step on it.

"Yes."

Rei Ayanami blinked her eyes, which had become as beautiful as rubies at some point, and gently curled the corners of her mouth as the black cat looked like at this time.

“……”

And behind Ayanami Li, the corners of Chu Xuan's mouth also curved slightly upwards at the same time, but it was a pity that no one witnessed the change in his expression—including himself.

After seeing Rei Ayabaami's smile, the black cat's face completely relaxed, as if it had let go of the last bit of worry.

She shrank her head back from the side of the hatch, straightened up and clapped her hands, and said to Ayanami Li and Chu Xuan in a tone that was rarely full of hearty feeling:

"Alright, the parameds will probably be here soon, so you two don't want to be sticky here.

If you have anything to say, wait until you get home and talk slowly—back to our home. ”

Speaking of this, the black cat showed a smile that could sparkle even in the dark night, and Rei Ayana, who was carried out of the driver's bolt by the expressionless Chu Xuan, also tried to respond to the black cat with the same smile, but what she showed was still that faint smile.

However, she does not need to be anxious about this, because as long as a human animal successfully takes the most critical first step, it will naturally take the second and third steps...... And began to try to run, and that's how all human beings grew up.

"W-That...... Everyone's alright, right? It's really great......"

At this time, Shinji Ikari, who had been quietly watching Chu Xuan and the two beautiful girls from a few steps away, finally mustered up the courage to make his voice, and his smile unconsciously revealed a little timidity, as if he wanted to join a small group that he had longed for for a long time, but he was afraid of being rejected.

Looking at Shinji Ikari with a timid face but a look of anticipation in his eyes, Chu Xuan carefully put the blue-haired girl in the crook of his arm on the ground and handed it over to the black cat to support, while he strode in front of the young man, pressed his hands firmly and forcefully on his thin shoulders, and said to him in a rather solemn tone:

"Well done, Shinji."

"Ah......h

Although it is only a brief and even humble praise, there is no flowery rhetoric at all, let alone flowers and applause...... and beautiful women, but it still made Shinji Ikari's brain go blank in an instant.

His eyes widened, staring blankly at Chu Xuan's reflective poker face with glasses, and he didn't know how to react for a while, but Chu Xuan didn't care, his hands pressed his shoulders, and then he returned to Ayanami Rei and the black cat, and once again copied the blue-haired girl who couldn't walk independently with the posture of a princess.

"Are you all alright——!

The ambulance squad is coming! ”

Not far away, Misato Katsuragi was waving to Chu Xuan and them while running, just now the black cat was actually in the same place as Misato Katsuragi and the others to pay attention to the results of the battle, but the black cat, which is a new human with an enhanced adjustment type, arrived not a short time earlier than her, and it can be seen from here that on the surface, it seems that Chu Xuan and Ayanami Rei's black cat is running so fast.

"Chu Xuan, how is Li now? Is the situation serious? ”

Misato Katsuragi stumbled over on the concrete floor covered with rubble and cracks, and first cared about Rei Ayana, who was driving the Zero machine to carry a beam of high-energy particles, but of course Shinji Ikari wouldn't eat Rei Ayanami's vinegar because of this, after all, it was the other party who protected him.

"It's mainly mental exhaustion, and there is also a certain degree of dehydration, but in general it's just a mild heat stroke."

Chu Xuan answered Misato Katsuragi's question as he put Rei Ayana, whose face was even paler than usual, on the stretcher of the medical team.

This good news finally calmed Misato Katagi, and then she turned around and walked straight to Shinji Ikari, and said very solemnly to Shinji Ikari who seemed to have a premonition and began to become a little shy:

"Shinji, thank you.

You saved everyone, you saved the city. ”