N-A-A 031 Kassel College Crisis Exercise
031 Kassel College Crisis Exercise
Lu Mingfei sat alone in the chair, staring blankly at Nuonuo's departing figure.
His experience in the EVA world taught him one thing—don't believe in good intentions that seem too good to be true, because there's always an ulterior motive behind them.
But Nono's smile just now didn't seem purposeful, Caesar's awkwardness just now didn't seem purposeful, and Zero's cookie... well, Zero's cookie definitely seemed purposeful.
Lu Mingfei felt a headache coming on, rubbed his temples, and looked towards the training ground.
Impact resistance training begins. Students stand in pairs, facing each other, pushing against each other with their hands to test the distance and angle at which they are knocked back. The purpose of the training is to let students experience how their bodies would react when knocked back by the overflowing force of the earth and the king of mountains.
Caesar and Chu Zihang were assigned to the same group.
The other groups on the field stopped automatically, and everyone looked at the two figures. Caesar's blond hair shone in the sunlight, while Chu Zihang's hair was as black as ink. The two stood face to face, only half a meter apart.
Caesar struck first, pushing both palms toward Chu Zihang's chest, causing Chu Zihang to take a half-step back.
Then Chu Zihang made his move, his strength was even greater, Caesar took a step back, the muscles under his tactical vest tensed, and he finally steadied himself.
Then swap, swap again, swap again.
Veins bulged on their foreheads, and their feet trampled deep holes in the grass. While the other groups had long since finished, they were still pushing, as if trying to push each other to the earth's core.
"Enough!" Schneider's voice came from the platform. "Are you trying to push the other side to China?"
When the break time arrived, the students gathered in twos and threes to drink water and replenish their energy, with whispers rising and falling among them.
"Over there with the referees, Nono just chatted with that S-rank person for a long time."
"I saw them, I saw them, the two of them were chatting and laughing."
"Wait, isn't Nono Caesar's girlfriend?"
"That's why there's a problem."
"Hey, look, did you see Zero? She's the one in the white dress, over by the medical team."
"She moved closer to Lu Mingfei again."
"No way...why?! Is there some kind of explanation for S-rank bloodlines?"
Zero appeared beside Lu Mingfei at some point, wearing a white medic's uniform with a prominent red cross on her chest. She handed him a bottle of water, its sides covered in fine droplets of condensation.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the bottle of water, then at Ling. A few strands of her light blonde hair were stuck to her forehead with sweat. She breathed softly, her voice pleasant. Her expression was as usual, expressionless. Her eyes were fixed on Lu Mingfei, a gaze that needed no explanation.
Even something as simple as her handing out water didn't require any reason.
"...Thank you." Lu Mingfei took the water.
"You're welcome." Zero nodded and then sat down next to Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei could feel at least a dozen gazes directed at him.
After about a minute of silence, Lu Mingfei felt that minute was longer than piloting Unit-03 in the Evangelion world.
"Don't you... need to go to the medical team?" he tried to break the silence.
"There are no wounded at the moment." Zero glanced at him.
"oh."
"What exactly was the task Lu Mingze gave you?"
"I'll take care of you."
"I told you he was already asleep. Now things have changed, and you don't need to do these things anymore."
It's quiet again.
Lu Mingfei discovered that the right way to get along with Ling was not to look for topics to talk about; she wasn't the kind of person who needed topics to fill the silence.
On the observation platform, Professor Guderian, his hands trembling with excitement, held the binoculars: "Do you see that? Do you see that? The S-class is actively integrating into the group! He's receiving supplies from the medic! That's team spirit!"
“Guderian,” Manstein interrupted him calmly, “he is simply being cared for by a private nanny.”
"Well, but it's a symbol!" Guderian's eyes sparkled. "His willingness to stand on the training field and accept help from his classmates shows that he's begun to trust the group!"
Schneider's voice came from the side: "Your S-rank knocked out two club leaders during the last Freedom Day, and now the whole school is watching him. I'll be thankful if he can just sit back and be an observer during this exercise."
"Schneider, you're too pessimistic!"
Manstein adjusted his glasses, a rare look of satisfaction on his face: "In any case, the exercise hasn't caused any major damage so far. Very good."
The whistle blew again, and the students got up from their rest and regrouped.
Formation maneuver training has begun, which is the core of the third phase—the basics of pincer movement. The participants are divided into two large groups to simulate encircling and attacking dragons.
On the observation platform, Guderian became excited again: "Pincer maneuver! This is one of the most classic tactics in the history of human warfare! By flanking and compressing the dragon's movement space, it forces it to expose its weaknesses. Of course, a real dragon king won't be so easily surrounded, but this training is crucial for cultivating students' teamwork!"
This is the attitude of "organizing everything in the face of crisis".
Lu Mingfei gripped the water bottle tightly. Misato, Ritsuko, Shinji, Rei Ayanami, Asuka… they were gone. They remained in a world that was ending.
And here, he watched another group of people doing similar things in a different way.
"Lu Mingfei?"
He snapped out of his daze and saw Guderian speaking into a megaphone and waving at him from the other side of the platform.
"Lu Mingfei, what do you think of the angle of this pincer movement? I discussed it with Professor Manstein, and I think 45 degrees is the optimal solution, but Professor Manstein said it should be dynamically adjusted according to the terrain. What do you think?"
Lu Mingfei glanced at the formation on the field, recalling the battlefield knowledge he had passively learned before.
"45 degrees is theoretically optimal," he said, "but your team has people of different fitness levels, and the specific battlefield conditions are constantly changing, which ultimately leads to different actual movement speeds. If you start at a fixed 45 degrees, the slower flank will reveal its intentions earlier. The starting angles of the two flanks should differ by five to eight degrees, and be adjusted flexibly according to the battlefield situation."
Guderian paused for a moment, then nodded frantically.
"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I meant! That's what I told Professor Manstein!"
Lu Mingfei watched the young men and women practicing together, then his gaze moved beyond the crowd to a more distant view. In the distance, the red-brick buildings of Kassel College, with the church spire at its highest point, gleamed in the sunlight.
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Further away lies the underground space of NERV headquarters, where a massive EVA lies dormant. Gendo Ikari stands on a high platform overlooking everything, while Shinji Ikari stands with his head down in the shadows of the corridor.
"Don't run away."
Don't run away.
Don't run away!
He saw Asuka's empty eyes, Rei Ayanami's pale skin, and Ryoji Kaji lying in a pool of blood.
He saw Lu Mingze say to him, "Brother, let me tell you the truth about the world."
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He looked ahead and saw these people running, falling, getting up, and running again.
Everything was so orderly and normal.