The current NERV has just officially started operations, and there is no situation where every EVA needs to be overturned and overhauled at any time, so the funds are still sufficient.

Fang Zheng certainly had no psychological barriers to spending NERV's money. Unlike that idiot Katsuragi Misato who had to take out a 30-year loan for her own car, he simply submitted a report for a "business car" and earned another car from NERV - Fang Zheng's reasons were also sufficient.

I always have to pick up and drop off the drivers to and from school, and as their manager, I also work as a teacher in their school, so naturally I need a means of transportation.

As for the room - NERV spent a day and finally found a high-rise apartment that satisfied Fang Zheng. It had four bedrooms and a living room, plus an open kitchen and a balcony. The geographical environment was much better than the place that looked like a slum where Rei Ayanami originally lived.

Ikari Gendo and Fuyutsuki were furious at Fang Zheng's rude behavior of asking for money, but they had no choice but to fully cooperate as the order from SEELE came down, and the other party's reasons were very sufficient.

Didn't you say that the EVA pilots are responsible for driving the EVA and protecting the world? Then isn't it natural to treat them better?

What else can I do?

Just give it with a pinch of your nose. Anyway, no matter how much money this department spends, it is still not enough to repair a corner collision of EVA. So just approve it.

"Well, that's more like it."

Looking at the warm and peaceful apartment in front of him, Fang Zheng finally nodded in satisfaction. The small shabby room before was completely a prison. This is where people live.

"So, Li, which room will you stay in? As for the specific layout... I'll just make it for you first. If you need anything, come back and I'll tell you."

"yes."

Rei just nodded in response to Fang Zheng's words - unlike most people who always bring a lot of luggage when moving, Ayanami Rei had nothing except a few sets of clothes and textbooks, and moved in directly with just her luggage.

Not bad.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation are the basics, but in Japan, people usually wear school uniforms, so there is no need to buy clothes. The place to live has been settled, and the official car has been approved, so the next step is...

"You must be hungry after a long day... Li, is there anything you want to eat?"

"No."

Li shook her head, but soon added another sentence.

"I don't like fish and meat."

"Eating only vegetarian food is not good for your health. Do you eat vegetarian meat?"

"Mock meat?"

Hearing this, Li's expressionless face also revealed a hint of doubt.

"What is that?"

"It's meat made from soy products. It tastes just like meat, and you don't have to worry about gaining weight... Um... You're not planning on losing weight, are you?"

As he spoke, Fang Zheng once again looked at Rei Ayanami in front of him. Although in the animation Rei Ayanami simply didn't like eating fish and meat, reality is not animation after all. Who knows why Rei Ayanami doesn't like eating fish and meat... Maybe it's simply to lose weight?

"But if I don't eat meat, I won't be able to get enough nutrition... Forget it, then let's take a step back and try eggs, okay?"

"Can."

"good."

Having said that, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.

"Then let's go buy groceries now."

The apartment Fang Zheng chose had a good location, with easy access to all directions, and there were naturally convenience stores and shops nearby. So he took Rei Ayanami downstairs and went to a nearby convenience store to do some shopping, after all, they had just moved in. Although NERV could take care of the furniture and decoration, he still had to buy the pots, pans, and daily necessities himself.

At the moment, Ayanami Rei still looked like an indifferent puppet as she did at the beginning. She followed Fang Zheng and did nothing but push the shopping cart. Occasionally, Fang Zheng would ask her if she wanted to buy this or that, but she would just nod or remain silent. Fang Zheng didn't care about this. After all, the first rampage hadn't even started yet. If he remembered correctly, the second replica probably hadn't woken up for too long.

So take your time, there's plenty of time anyway.

After the big shopping spree, Fang Zheng took Rei Ayanami back to the apartment and cooked a meal.

It must be said that for Rei Ayanami, this way of eating is still very novel. She had only eaten with Ikari Gendo before, but at that time, the two of them just ate simply, just like having a working lunch in the cafeteria, serving the food, eating, and then it was over.

But it's different here.

"When washing rice, rinse it twice and add less water at the end, so it will be more fragrant."

"When you pick vegetables over there, be careful not to break the leaves."

That's right, after returning to the apartment, Fang Zheng unceremoniously began to order Ayanami Rei to wash vegetables and cook with him. Of course, considering that Ayanami had a history of scalding her hands while making tea, he was not stupid enough to let Ayanami do it right away. Instead, he was responsible for the preliminary preparatory work such as bathing and washing rice.

Rei Ayanami did not hesitate to follow through on this and carried it out as an order. Although she was still a little unfamiliar with it, she was quite serious about it.

Fang Zheng's men were also quick, and soon three meals and one soup, three vegetarian dishes and one meat dish were ready. Although Ayanami Rei clearly stated that she didn't like fish and meat, Fang Zheng still argued with her. According to Fang Zheng's experience, if a child says that they don't like something, it must be because it's not delicious. If it's delicious, nothing else matters!

At least that's how the little girls at home are!

But Fang Zheng was not so stubborn as to challenge the fish, after all, he himself did not like eating fish... Well, it was not a question of whether it tasted good or not, but that there were too many fish bones, Fang Zheng did not like eating fish with many bones. Of course, if it was only large bones, it was not unacceptable.

In comparison, he prefers to eat fish heads.

The chopped pepper fish head tastes pretty good.

For Rei Ayanami, this was the first time she had seen this way of eating, so she couldn't help but be a little curious - especially when she saw Fang Zheng smilingly picking up the scrambled eggs with tomatoes and pouring all the soup into the rice.

"This is……?"

Seeing this, Rei Ayanami also showed a hint of surprise. Although Japan also has the habit of beating raw eggs into rice, Rei Ayanami has never seen it this way.

"Rice soaked in vegetable soup is the best. It tastes really good. You should try it too."

Fang Zheng stirred the rice in the bowl and said something to Rei Ayanami. Although people often say on the Internet that soaking rice in vegetable soup is bad for the stomach, in Fang Zheng's opinion, adding a little vegetable soup will not have much impact, and the taste of the vegetable soup will penetrate into the rice and make it taste better.

Especially for dishes like scrambled eggs with tomatoes, the vegetable soup is sour and sweet. Add a little bit of it to the rice and stir it. Add to that the aroma of the rice itself, and it will really whet your appetite!

After that, Ayanami Rei followed Fang Zheng's example and poured some vegetable soup into the rice. She didn't make any comment on it, nor did she get all excited after taking a bite - well, Fang Zheng had never been to a food show after all, and the skills he had were only from years of cooking with little girls. He didn't have the ability to make food delicious.

But at least Rei Ayanami finished her meal.

After finishing the meal, Fang Zheng and Ayanami Rei washed the dishes together, and then...

"What am I going to do?"

"Well...from now on, you have to learn to meditate."

"meditation?"

"Well, it's a special mind control technology. You should know that driving an EVA requires the driver to have a stable mind. Meditation can help you stabilize your mind..."

There was another half sentence that Fang Zheng didn’t say, which was - there was still a soul.

That's right, after spending a day with Rei Ayanami, Fang Zheng has almost seen through the truth behind Ayanami's rampage.

Part of the reason lies with Unit-0, because Unit-0 itself is incomplete. The other part of the reason lies with Rei Ayanami herself.

A person is made up of three elements: heart, soul, and body. Ayanami Rei's body is a copy of Ikari Yui, and her soul comes from Lilith, so the last question arises.

Where is her heart?

The answer is – no.

This is why Rei Ayanami was like a robot in the early stages.

Generally speaking, after a person is born, the heart, soul, and body grow together. The growth of the body drives the growth of the mind, and the growth of the mind transforms into the tenacity of the soul.

Of course, this is the magic department's statement. In terms of the science department, Ayanami Rei lacks self-awareness, and her soul and body are all assembled from outside, so their operation is very unstable.

It is normal for the driver, who is already unstable and the EVA, to run wild every day.

In fact, this point is very obvious in the animation. Every time Ayanami Rei and Ikari Shinji have a "spiritual communication", what she says most is "Who am I? Where am I? What do I want to do?" This gives people a feeling of confusion and bewilderment as if they have nowhere to go. This is the reason.

Why is Rei Ayanami so confused?

The reason is very simple, because neither the body nor the soul belongs to her!

She is like a rootless duckweed and a treeless root. She does not belong to her body, nor to her soul. This inevitably makes Rei Ayanami ask three philosophical questions.

If we follow the mainstream routine of Japanese animation, we should use subtle influence to let Rei Ayanami gradually feel herself, just like in the animation, she didn't care about anything at the beginning, but later she was willing to sacrifice herself for Shinji Ikari. This is a kind of growth.

But... now that I have Fang Zheng, why do I need such an awkward and time-consuming growth model?

He is not that little brat Shinji Ikari, he is God!

Of course, Fang Zheng apparently taught Rei Ayanami that meditation is a technique to control one's own spirit, but in fact, it is often used by spellcasters from the main world. After all, there are many soul-related spells in the main world, and mages themselves will occasionally have their souls leave their bodies. Meditation can help mages consolidate their spirit and will, and at the same time integrate and master the soul.

Fang Zheng was not worried about whether it would be useful. Although Rei Ayanami possessed Lilith's soul, Lilith's soul had no will and could be said to be given for free.

To put it in the words of martial arts novels, Ayanami Rei gained Lilith's sixty years of power as soon as she awakened, but unfortunately she didn't know the formula and didn't know how to use this power. What Fang Zheng had to do was to make up for this lack, let Ayanami Rei gradually digest Lilith's soul power, and then use this power to control Ikari Yui's body in turn.

In this way, the originally separated body, soul and self will be merged again.

The facts were just as Fang Zheng expected. In the following week, Rei Ayanami underwent very obvious changes.

Perhaps because she felt and mastered the power in meditation, Ayanami Rei's self-awareness began to become clearer. From the beginning, she just remained silent when Fang Zheng advised her to eat meat, to now being able to clearly say "I don't want to eat" is an improvement. Not only that, even other people in NERV noticed that Ayanami Rei had changed.

In the past, she would just follow their orders like a robot, but now, she would often raise her own questions and ideas.

This surprised many staff members, and they also had a higher opinion of Fang Zheng. After all, the staff members of NERV also knew about EVA. Even if they didn't say it, they would still feel uneasy deep down in their hearts to let someone with a weird personality drive EVA. Now seeing that the girl who always looked uninterested in everyone on weekdays has become more approachable so quickly, they are also quite relieved.

But even though Ikari Gendo saw it, it hurt him deeply!

You use my funds, live in a nice house, buy a nice car, and live with my woman!

What made Ikari Gendō even more heartbroken was that now Rei Ayanami obviously preferred to be with Fang Zheng instead of him! Just like after the special inspection, Ikari Gendō subconsciously invited Rei Ayanami to have dinner together. Ikari Gendō thought Rei Ayanami would definitely agree, but Rei Ayanami actually said, "Second Lieutenant Fang Zheng has prepared lunch, and I want to go home."

Then just left!

Ikari Gendō was so angry that he almost had a heart attack!

Ikari Gendo couldn't understand why Ayanami Rei was so rude to everyone else but so close to Fang Zheng?

Of course he couldn't understand. The reason why Ayanami Rei was close to Fang Zheng was that Fang Zheng intervened in and managed her life, so of course she had to obey his orders.

On the other hand, Fang Zheng possesses the Seal of Order.

That’s right, just like Chtholly and others in the previous world, Fang Zheng also felt the breath of the order coordinates from Rei Ayanami’s body.

So Lilith’s identity can be confirmed.

In that world, the coordinates sent by the Goddess of Order were the Star Gods, so in this world, the Goddess of Order sent Lilith as the coordinates.

Just like the fragments of the star god's soul were taken away to make the golden fairy, the soul of Lilith in this world was also stuffed into Rei Ayanami's body.

Order coordinates and order imprints attract each other, so it is normal for Rei Ayanami to be close to Fang Zheng.

A week passed like this.

Finally, for Ayanami Rei - the fateful day has arrived.

The first start-up test of Unit 0 is about to begin.