"This is your first battle. I think you know without further ado that this battle will definitely not be easy."

Looking at Rei Ayanami who was wearing a pilot's suit, Fang Zheng spoke with a serious expression. Logically speaking, the pre-war battle plan should be completed by Misato Katsuragi. But the problem was that Misato Katsuragi was not at the headquarters. Fang Zheng knew where she had gone without even thinking.

She must have gone to pick up the male lead according to the plan.

But then again, this should have been my job...

It seems that Ikari Gendō was really pissed off with himself, but Fang Zheng could just ignore such a small trick.

Such is the wisdom of mortals.

Of course, Fang Zheng could guess what Gendo Ikari was thinking. He probably thought Unit-0 was not going to be able to defeat the incoming third angel, Shuishui. This was normal, although according to many animation settings, prototypes were buggy and mass-produced units were garbage. But here, Unit-0 was really no good as a prototype.

According to Fang Zheng's test results on Unit-0 and Unit-01, in terms of "machine attributes" alone, Unit-0 has an average grade of only C, while Unit-01 is A. Of course, there must be a difference in the bonus of Unit-00's own incompleteness and Unit-01 being completed by Yui Ikari's soul, but even without considering these, Unit-00's current state is barely enough for actual combat.

So Ikari Gendo is probably just waiting for Unit 00 to attack, and then be blown up by Mizuki, and then let his son go up to show off.

The script is well written, but unfortunately whether I follow you or not depends on my mood.

Fang Zheng is still confident that Ayanami Rei can defeat Xiao Shuishui, because the most important combat element of EVA is the AT force field.

In fact, it can be seen from the animation that the basic fighting method of EVA is to neutralize the AT force field first, and then kill the apostles. So this is actually a battle between EVA and the apostles to compete with each other in the strength of the AT force field. If you are as powerful as Unit-01, you can directly smash the AT force field of the apostles into slag without getting hurt at all.

If that doesn't work, the apostles will beat him to death.

Of course, if we use martial arts novels as an analogy, then it means that both sides are actually competing with internal strength. Whoever has stronger internal strength is the most powerful, and all the boxing skills, weapons, hidden weapons and the like are useless.

Oh, it’s not completely useless. At least the positron cannon is still useful.

This fully demonstrates that no matter how high your martial arts skills are, you can be knocked down with one shot.

Fang Zheng was a little curious at this point. The threat and effectiveness of the positron cannon had been fully demonstrated during the fight against the pyramids. Logically, this thing should have been evolved into EVA's conventional weapons. Why was it just thrown away after use?

I really don't know what kind of crazy train of thought the person above has.

Forget it, we’ll talk about it when the time comes.

As for now...

"The United Nations Army is struggling in vain. It will probably be our turn soon. Li, are you ready?"

"yes."

"Very good, listen to me. Remember, your goal is to defeat the apostles. But our goal is not to defeat the apostles in one go. Remember the card game we played before?"

“…”

This time, Rei Ayanami didn't say anything, but just nodded silently.

"You know how many trump cards you have, but you don't know how many trump cards I have."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng pointed at Ayanami Rei and then at himself.

"Remember, probe, observe, defend, and counterattack. You don't need to think about defeating the enemy right away. You should remember that the enemy's goal is the Third New Tokyo City. As long as we prevent it from achieving its goal, our victory is half. Destroying the enemy is the other half."

That's right, Fang Zheng doesn't need to compete with Katsuragi Misato for the operational command.

Why? Because what he taught Rei Ayanami were more basic combat operations.

Although Misato Katsuragi is nominally the chief of operations, she is in charge of the overall situation.

For example, what goal should we achieve in this battle and what method should we use, and then give an order to tell Unit-01 where to go, Unit-00 where to go, and Unit-02 where to go.

Then what?

That's it.

It's that simple.

It's like playing StarCraft, I click the mouse and send the Viking to fight the dragon.

As for how the Vikings fight the dragon, it is not up to you as the player. They may choose to attack from a long distance or to engage in a close combat. It is the driver's own choice.

And this is Fang Zheng’s responsibility.

That’s right, what is Fang Zheng’s responsibility?

"Observation" and "education" of the driver!

Strictly speaking, the pilot's "combat education" is also his job.

To put it bluntly, Katsuragi Misato is responsible for issuing orders, while Fang Zheng is here to teach micro-management.

Therefore, Fang Zheng doesn’t care about Misato Katsuragi’s operational command at all. No matter how stupid the orders from your superiors are, I can win as long as I have the elites!

Of course, if it is a small-scale surprise attack, the tactic is still somewhat effective. However, in situations like Angels and EVAs, which are basically one-on-one battles, the effect of the tactic is quite limited. In the end, it still depends on the observation and micro-manipulation of the pilot to solve the problem, so Misato Katsuragi... is not very useful.

Even though Unit 00 is terrible, its pilot is still pretty awesome.

If Shinji Ikari relies on his mother to cheat, then Rei Ayanami relies on the power of Lilith in her body to cheat.

And she's even more powerful than Shinji Ikari. If Fang Zheng remembers correctly, when Kaworu Nagisa appeared at the end of the animation, Rei Ayanami actually used the AT force field herself!

Even though it took less than a second.

Although there has been no direct comparison, Fang Zheng is certain that, at present, Ayanami Rei is driving Unit-00, and even if her other abilities are C, her ability in terms of internal strength (AT field) is almost at A level!

That’s stable!

Haven’t you seen in martial arts novels that the most powerful masters all look half-dead, pale, vomiting blood while walking, and then they slap you in the face and send you flying thousands of miles away?

The bonus of internal force is above all else!

As for Xiao Shuishui...she's just an average B at the moment.

At this moment, the screen in the preparation room suddenly turned white, and at the same time, the whole room began to tremble slightly. Seeing this, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. It was obvious that the League of Nations had used N2 mines. Of course... it was useless.

"It looks like the National League has played its cards and is out."

Looking at Xiao Shui Shui who appeared on the screen again, Fang Zheng snorted softly.

"Li, prepare to attack. The order to attack should be issued soon."

"clear."

Sure enough, not long after Fang Zheng finished speaking, a voice came from the radio.

"Unit 0, prepare for attack."

When Fang Zheng returned to the combat command center, it was also bustling with activity.

"Unit 0 is activated, ready to attack!"

"Oh, it seems that those masters have left."

Fang Zheng greeted Ritsuko Akagi while looking at the empty stands in front of him. There was no one else there except for a few ashtrays filled with cigarette butts.

"Of course, from now on, the operation will be under the jurisdiction of NERV... How is the situation with the pilots?"

"no problem."

"very good."

Hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Ritsuko Akagi nodded.

"Unit 0... attack!"

Although Katsuragi Misato was not there, Ikari Gendō was the top person in charge, so as long as he had no objection, there would be no problem with the attack. Soon, the prepared Unit-0 was ejected directly and landed on the ground.

At this moment, Xiao Shuishui, who had just been hit by the N2 mine, also recovered and began to move towards the third New Tokyo City again.

"Li, the apostles are advancing, you must be ready for battle."

"clear."

After hearing what Ritsuko Akagi said, Rei Ayanami nodded, and then she made a reaction that surprised everyone - she actually picked up a gun and ran out of the Third New Tokyo City!

"What are you going to do, Rei?"

Seeing this, Akagi Ritsuko was also shocked, while Fang Zheng curled his lips.

"Is there any need to ask? We must block the enemy from entering New Tokyo-3, right?"

"Is it possible?"

As a scientist, Ritsuko Akagi's mind is completely focused on science. She doesn't quite understand such strategic and tactical issues, but she is not a fool and understands them immediately.

"But if it's outside the city, we won't be able to provide enough support..."

"Anyway, normal weapons can't penetrate the apostle's skin, right?"

“…”

Now Ritsuko Akagi was completely speechless.

At this time, Rei Ayanami had also arrived in the suburbs, and using the mountain as cover, she began to attack the apostles.

Just like in the anime, ordinary weapons are of no use to the apostles. But that's not the point. In fact, Ayanami Rei is fully implementing Fang Zheng's orders.

Observe, test, defend, and counterattack.

On the surface, it seemed that she was doing useless work, but in fact, while attacking, Ayanami Rei was also driving Unit 00 slowly towards the Apostle to determine the optimal distance for the AT positions to cancel each other out.

As expected, at the beginning, Xiao Shuishui didn't take Unit-00's attack seriously, but continued to move towards the Third New Tokyo City. But not long after, with Unit-00 successfully merging and breaking through the AT position of the Third Angel, the situation suddenly changed.

“Bang, bang, bang!!”

A series of attacks immediately caused explosions and bloodstains on the apostle's body. The apostle, sensing something was wrong, finally stopped and turned to stare at Unit 0. Then, his dark eyes suddenly shone brightly!

At the same time, Unit 00 also raised its right hand.

AT force field fully activated!

"boom!!!"

There was a flash of light, and the next moment, Unit 0 was engulfed by the explosion. Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but become nervous, except Fang Zheng, who still had his hands folded, looking calm.

Just kidding, it’s the law of animation that there’s smoke but no harm.

“Bang, bang, bang!!!”

Sure enough, before the smoke and dust cleared, a series of bullets shot out from the smoke and dust again, hitting the apostle's body. When the smoke and dust cleared, the unharmed Unit 0 appeared in front of everyone again.

"call……"

Seeing this, everyone was somewhat relieved. Although they all knew that EVA was the ultimate weapon against the Apostles, this was the first actual combat after all, and no one knew what the outcome would be. But from the current perspective... it seemed like there was really hope?

However, unlike others, although Gendo Ikari still maintained the standard posture at this moment, he was almost depressed to death deep down in his heart.

This is different from the script I imagined!

Although he had sent Unit-00 to attack at first, Ikari Gendō never thought that Unit-00 could defeat the Angel. Although he didn't know much about AT force field and soul, he knew that Unit-00 was just an unreliable and defective product. According to his thinking, Unit-00 would definitely be defeated by the Angel after it went into battle, and then he could let his son drive Unit-01 to show off.

But now it seems... that’s not the case at all!