Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1578: Chapter 1576: Time to Lay the Cards on the Table

In the days that followed, Fang Zheng had a leisurely time with the three kids, but Gendo Ikari was not so relaxed. The United Nations repeatedly summoned him to the United Nations Headquarters to make reports and demanded explanations from Gendo Ikari. At the same time, organizations and institutions from various countries also began to gather information and clues about the ”Heavenly Dao Palace.”

In fact, the United Nations already had plans to seal NERV Headquarters, but SEELE’s infiltration was powerful enough that there’s been no change so far.

However, Fang Zheng knew that it wouldn’t be long before things would change.

Because he received a call from Misato Katsuragi.

”They’ve already decided on the Fifth Compatible, and you’re responsible for taking over.”

”Oh?”

Upon hearing Misato Katsuragi’s voice on the other end of the line, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow.

”What’s his name?”

”Nagisa Kaworu.”

”Heh heh.”

Hearing this name, Fang Zheng chuckled and then moved his eyes around.

”I see, First Lieutenant Katsuragi... By the way, if you have time, why not come with me to pick him up, how about it?”

”Me?”

Faced with Fang Zheng’s invitation, Misato Katsuragi was obviously a bit surprised. However, she thought for a moment, then nodded.

”Okay, it just so happens I’m free during this time.”

”Then I’ll come to pick you up.”

As he said this, Fang Zheng hung up the phone and then walked out of the room.

”Hey, little ones, nothing going on today, right? Come with me for a bit.”

”Nothing.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Shinji Ikari shook his head, while Rei Ayanami silently stood up; Asuka Langley turned her head curiously to look at Fang Zheng.

”But Fang Zheng, where are we going?”

In response to Asuka’s curious question, Fang Zheng merely smiled slightly.

”To meet someone.”

”???”

Although confused, the three of them still obediently followed Fang Zheng, got into a car, and left. They first picked up Misato Katsuragi, and then Fang Zheng stepped on the gas pedal and drove towards the outskirts of Tokyo-3.

”Hey.”

Sitting in the middle of the back seat, Asuka looked at Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari on her left and right, and finally reached out to pull on Shinji’s clothes.

”Why do you think Fang Zheng brought Misato along?”

”I don’t know...”

Shinji Ikari was still somewhat awkward with Misato Katsuragi, so in response to Asuka’s inquiry, he just shook his head.

”Do you think Fang Zheng and Misato might be secretly dating?”

Looking at Misato Katsuragi sitting in the front passenger seat, Asuka’s imagination ran wild.

”Is he planning to find a place where we can witness, and then propose to Misato... Ouch! First, why did you pinch me?”

”Sorry.”

Rei Ayanami silently retracted her hand.

”I didn’t mean to...”

”...Sigh... Fine, I’ll believe you didn’t mean to.”

Blowing on the back of her hand where she was pinched until it turned red, Asuka glared at Rei Ayanami without saying more.

And just at that moment, Fang Zheng spoke from the driver’s seat.

”Well, we’ve still got some time, so why don’t I give you a lecture?”

”A lecture?”

”That’s right.”

As he said this, Fang Zheng chuckled softly.

”A history lesson.”

”???”

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback, but before they could say anything more, Fang Zheng had already begun speaking to himself.

”This story starts a long, long time ago, back then, there were no humans on this Earth. It was just as we’ve discovered in the archaeological world, during that time, dinosaurs dominated this world... Well, if it weren’t for a small accident, maybe this world would have originally been conquered by intelligent dinosaurs. But unfortunately, these dinosaurs weren’t very lucky, because two unexpected guests arrived on this planet.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng looked at the sky ahead; in fact, through ”Ratziel,” he already knew everything that had happened in this world.

”In today’s terms, we could call them alien life, one was Adam and the other was Lilith.”

Upon hearing this, Misato Katsuragi’s face instantly changed. She turned her head and stared hard at Fang Zheng, but he seemed unaware and continued to speak.

”Adam and Lilith each represented two directions of life’s development, Adam represented the extreme of the individual, while Lilith represented the wisdom of the collective. As the saying goes, ’Two tigers cannot share one mountain,’ they fought for dominance in a great battle, and ultimately, Lilith defeated Adam and sealed him away. Their battle also led to the First Impact—and the extinction of the dinosaurs.”

Hearing this, Fang Zheng sighed a little. In fact, for humanity, the war with the Angels is technically an ”internal conflict,” because both Adam and Lilith were dispatched by the Goddess of Order. After all, like in scientific research, it’s impossible to go down a single path blindly, isn’t it? With Katori’s world, the Goddess of Order wanted to try converting chaotic creatures back into ordered beings, so she had the Star God seal the beasts’ powers and turn them into humans. Of course, we know the outcome: the Star God’s soul was not enough to maintain humanity’s existence, leading to re-beastification and the world’s end.

In this world, the Goddess of Order clearly wanted to see which order was more efficient between individual extremity and collective wisdom. The result was Adam’s defeat and Lilith’s victory.

”Afterwards, Adam’s body was sealed, and the other parts turned into fragments scattered around the world, falling into slumber. Lilith, on the other hand, created humans... as representative beings of collective wisdom. In fact, the story should have ended here.”

As he said this, Fang Zheng glanced at Misato Katsuragi beside him.

”Until the occurrence of the Second Impact.”

At the mention of ”Second Impact,” Misato Katsuragi’s expression changed slightly, and she forced herself to look out of the window. Shinji Ikari, however, seemed puzzled and couldn’t help but ask.

”But didn’t the teacher say the Second Impact was caused by a meteor strike?”

”Are you an idiot?”

Asuka immediately lectured Shinji Ikari.

”That was just a smoke screen, in fact, the truth is completely different... As an EVA pilot, you should at least know some of these things. Don’t you think so, First?”

”...”

In response to Asuka’s query, Rei Ayanami only nodded slightly, silently staring at Fang Zheng.

”That’s right, the Second Impact had nothing to do with a meteor, in fact, the First Impact wasn’t caused by a meteor that led to the dinosaurs’ extinction either... Alright, before that, I should tell you about an organization called SEELE.”

”SEELE?!”

Upon hearing this name, both Asuka and Shinji instantly perked up. The girl with the red ponytail had previously mentioned the existence of ”SEELE,” and now Fang Zheng brought up the name again, making them realize that Fang Zheng’s trip wasn’t just a picnic or sightseeing.

”Correct, before the Second Impact, the world’s order was not like this; at the time, SEELE, to put it simply, was just an underground religious organization, much like the Illuminati or similar groups. They held some nonsense written hundreds or thousands of years ago as their Holy Scripture and devoted their lives to it... In other words, it was just a cult hidden in the shadows.”

As he said this, Fang Zheng chuckled and looked at Shinji Ikari through the rearview mirror.

”Shinji, don’t think this has nothing to do with you. In fact, your mother was once funded by SEELE, which is why your father approached her.”

”Huh?!!”

Upon hearing this, Shinji was suddenly stunned.

”Mr. Fang Zheng, you say, you say my mother... she is that...”

”Of course, I’m not saying your mother is a bad person. Although in my opinion SEELE is a neurotic cult organization, at that time, on the surface, it appeared to be an entity similar to a public welfare foundation, sponsoring researchers who seemed promising, and your mother was funded by SEELE while she was doing research under Professor Fuyutsuki.”

”You mean Vice Commander Fuyutsuki?”

At this moment, Misato Katsuragi was also shocked. She had never imagined such a thing.

”As for Gendo Ikari... I don’t know what he was thinking, but at that time he connected with SEELE through your mother, Yui Ikari, which eventually led to them getting married and having children... and that would be you.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng glanced at Misato Katsuragi.

”First Lieutenant Katsuragi, perhaps you don’t know, but Gendo Ikari was also in your father’s... Professor Katsuragi’s investigation team at that time. And, just the day before Second Impact, Gendo Ikari left the team with all the investigation data. Or rather... Second Impact happened the day after Gendo Ikari left the investigation team.”

”You mean...”

Misato was no fool; she was just too young at the time. But now, after hearing Fang Zheng’s words, she seemed to realize something and clenched her fists tightly.

”That’s right, the Second Impact was not an accident, not even the ’accident’ as claimed in official documents.”

Fang Zheng once again turned the steering wheel.

”The fact is, SEELE’s chairman, Kiel Lorenz, deliberately lifted Adam’s seal through remote manipulation, triggering the Second Impact. Because as far as they are concerned, the so-called ’Human Instrumentality Project’, the Second Impact was necessary...”

”Bang!!!”

Before Fang Zheng finished speaking, Misato Katsuragi slammed her fist heavily onto the car window, shocking both Asuka and Shinji.

Fang Zheng simply glanced at her calmly.

”Don’t smash the window, if it’s broken you’ll have to pay for it.”

”...No worries, NERV’s operations department can reimburse it.”

”Alright, let me continue... as you all know, after the Second Impact, the original order and governments of the world almost collapsed. And SEELE, because they foresaw the Second Impact — well, they caused it themselves, had already deployed their personnel, and took advantage of the chaos following the Second Impact to secretly control the world.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng smirked.

”Simply put, you can think of SEELE as a virus; it has to weaken the host first before it can be effective. The world is now thoroughly infiltrated by the virus named SEELE, but fortunately, their stupid actions also brought a significant impact — the awakening of the Angels.”

”The Angels...?”

”Exactly, Angels are what remain of Adam, SEELE lifted Adam’s seal, so the Angels naturally awakened. They have always longed to reunite with Adam, which is why the Angels are fixated on attacking Tokyo-3 — because Adam’s body is in the NERV headquarters.”

”I see... that’s how it is...”

Asuka also frowned and started to ponder.

”That explains it; I was wondering why the Angels only attack Japan...”

”If humans are destroyed by Angels before the plan is implemented, then SEELE’s plan would be completely foiled. And that is precisely why they established NERV — to combat the Angels. Of course, on the surface, NERV was established solely to deal with the Angels, but the truth is much more than that. In fact, EVA is the key to the Human Instrumentality Project.”

”What exactly is the Human Instrumentality Project?”

Misato Katsuragi couldn’t help but ask.

”Not mentioning SEELE’s blatantly idiotic cult speeches, their purpose is simple, to create an artificial god.”

”Artificial... god?”

”That’s right, to fuse all humans into one, abandoning individual distinctions, merging into a whole, and ascending to the realm of the divine spirit... Of course, according to them, but in simpler terms - let’s all die together and ascend to become immortals.”

”That’s so disgusting! I refuse!”

As expected, Asuka was the first to reject it.

”Human Instrumentality, if I had to merge with that idiot Shinji, I’d rather die!”

”...”

Upon hearing this, Shinji’s expression became somewhat subtle, smiling bitterly not knowing what to say — he wasn’t dumb, knowing that if he said to Asuka ”Merging with you wouldn’t be bad,” she’d likely slap him.

”But... how do you know all this?”

Recovering from the shock, Misato Katsuragi looked at Fang Zheng cautiously.

”Who are you really?”

”Perhaps you’ve already guessed, well... I’m not interested in hiding behind mysterious words, I’ll just be straightforward, my apparent identity is someone from the League of Nations... and in fact, I am.”

”Huh?”

Faced with this unexpected answer, Misato Katsuragi’s jaw nearly dropped.

”What did you say?”

”I’m not lying. I am indeed someone within the League of Nations. In fact, perhaps you don’t know, ever since the Second Impact happened, there have been suspicions within the League of Nations about the Second Impact, investigating secretly without alarming SEELE, I am one of them, and not only that, I am also a person from the Heavenly Dao Palace... now do you understand?”

”Heavenly Dao Palace?”

Facing this answer, everyone was greatly surprised.

”What about that red ponytail girl...”

”Hmm... we do indeed know each other.”

Fang Zheng coughed to change the subject, looking at the stunned Misato Katsuragi.

”First Lieutenant Katsuragi, the reason I’m telling you this is because I need your help next.”

”My... help?”

”Yes.”

Fang Zheng nodded, looking ahead.

”But first, let’s deal with the final issue.”

Saying this, Fang Zheng suddenly hit the brakes and stopped. Only then did everyone realize that they had somehow arrived at the seaside, and there on the beach stood a boy in a white shirt, with his back to them.

”Who is...”

”He is the final Angel.”

Fang Zheng opened the car door.

”This is why I called you here, Rei, Asuka, Shinji. You are EVA pilots, your goal is to eliminate the Angels. But this Angel is a bit too difficult for you, so...”

Suddenly flames erupted, and the next moment, a knight clad in silver-white armor, wielding black and white twin swords, appeared before everyone.

”Mr. Fang Zheng?”

Seeing this, Shinji was speechless in surprise, while Asuka and Rei Ayanami also stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

Yet Fang Zheng remained unafraid, striding up to the boy’s back, lifting his Pitch Black Greatsword.

”Ready to embrace death, final messenger?”

”... Of course.”

Responding to Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the boy in white smiled, turning his head.

”I’ve been waiting for you all for a long time, Li Lin.”