Ultraman grunts? Call me Space Policeman outside!

"It seems you're one of them too."

After successfully eliminating the Angels with their wisdom, the command room erupted in cheers. At that moment, Gendo Ikari looked at Albert and confirmed that this guy was also someone who did not belong to this world, the criminal that Natsuki had mentioned.

"As expected of Commander Ikari, he finally realized what's happening." Albert heard his voice, walked towards the platform, and said in a slightly teasing tone.

"Hmph." Gendo Ikari was still a little annoyed that this guy had exposed his secrets earlier, but now that his wish had been fulfilled, he no longer cared about it.

"And what is the purpose of all this?" he asked.

Everyone's actions are driven by a goal.

Just like how he would do anything to see his wife again.

He wanted to know the man's purpose.

“What I’m pursuing… is actually very simple.” Albert looked up at Gendo Ikari, his expression relieved. “Freedom.”

"Everything I've done is for freedom."

He wanted to break free from the shackles of fate, to live for himself, and no longer be a mindless puppet.

He has now seen hope.

He was determined to fight with everything he had to grasp this hope, even if it meant being shattered to pieces.

“Freedom… huh…” Gendo Ikari pondered the meaning of those two words.

This is not what he seeks, nor can he understand a person's pursuit of freedom.

However, he also knew that a person is only truly alive when they are pursuing something.

"The base problem is solved. Shinji, Rei, Asuka, you can come back now." Misato Katsuragi breathed a sigh of relief and said to the three pilots waiting outside through the communication system.

"Understood." *3

Chapter 137 Angels

The next day, early in the morning.

"Run, Shinji!" Natsuki's voice rang in my ears.

"Okay!" Shinji gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.

After one battle after another against the Angels, most of the citizens of Third New Tokyo City have left, with only a small number of people whose whereabouts are unknown remaining.

The streets of the modern city were unusually empty. The once bustling shops were now all closed, and Shinji was the only person on the entire street.

Running on the road in a white t-shirt soaked with sweat to improve physical fitness.

The enemies that follow will likely not be just one again. To face the intense battles to come, he will need a strong physique and a firm will.

"Wait...that person..." As Shinji ran to a crossroads, he suddenly noticed a boy in the middle of the crossroads wearing the same white shirt as him.

With silver-gray hair, red eyes similar to Rei Ayanami, and a handsome face, he has a slender and somewhat thin figure, but his posture is very upright, giving him a mysterious aura.

Kaworu Nagisa, the Fifth Child, the Seventeenth Angel, the Angel of Freedom

For some reason, Shinji felt that this person looked somewhat familiar the moment he saw him.

It was as if I had seen him somewhere before. If I had seen a boy with such a unique hair color before, he should have left a deep impression on me.

It's strange...

"Um..." Shinji continued running towards the crossroads, preparing to greet the other person.

But the other person's figure disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It was like an illusion.

"It's gone... Am I just hallucinating from exhaustion?" Shinji stopped, wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked around at the streets at the intersection, saying in confusion.

"Don't worry, you won't hallucinate even if you're exhausted," Xia Shu said, her cross-legged figure floating beside him with her arms crossed.

Then look in a certain direction.

He scratched his chin and said, "Trying to be mysterious in front of me, it seems I really don't know if experience counts."

Shinji, give chase!

Natsuki pointed him in the right direction, and Shinji immediately nodded, looking towards the rooftop of an apartment building.

Old Den gave him vision.

Shinji strode toward the apartment building. Climbing the external stairs step by step was obviously too slow, so he stepped onto an abandoned truck on the side of the street and jumped straight up.

"Thud." It landed on a white air conditioner outdoor unit, then grabbed the balcony railing and continued to leap upwards.

The movements were continuous and fluid, and the thirty-story building was quickly climbed to the top.

We arrived at the empty rooftop.

There are also several clothes racks here, with white sheets hanging on them, some of which are scattered on the ground.

"There!" Shinji's feet touched the rooftop and he immediately spotted the gray-haired figure.

"Damn it... he actually tried to run away!" Just as Shinji was about to call out to him, he saw the gray-haired boy give him a mysterious smile, stand on the edge of the rooftop, and leap up towards the next building, jumping onto the rooftop of another apartment building.

His movements were fluid and graceful, as if he were playing a game of cat and mouse with him.

They jumped one after another, running further and further between rooftops.

"Shinji, speed up!"

"We can't let them look down on us!" Natsuki raised an eyebrow at the other's leisurely demeanor and immediately directed Shinji to continue the chase.

Old Dennis gave him speed.

Shinji watched the figure running further and further away between the rooftops, then bent down slightly and assumed a starting position.

Gradually, the legs and feet exert force.

A shallow crater appeared where he stood, and Shinji shot out like a bullet. The wind pressure from his high-speed movement directly blew away the sheets that had been left on the rooftop.

The city scenery flashed by, and Shinji caught up with the gray-haired boy at an extremely fast speed.

The opponent was jumping between rooftops, which was no different from Shinji flying in a straight line.

"Gotcha!" On the rooftop of a shopping mall, Shinji grabbed the hem of the gray-haired boy's clothes.

Slowly raising his head, he saw the mysterious smile on the other person's face.

"They've been caught."

"As expected, you're very capable." The gray-haired boy praised Shinji with a smile.

Hearing the gray-haired boy say this, Shinji loosened his grip on the boy's clothes, somewhat surprised.

This person seems quite easy to talk to.

"Thank you." Shinji smiled and nodded, then extended his hand to him. "I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

"My name is Shinji Ikari. What's yours?"

The gray-haired boy seemed a little uncomfortable with Shinji's enthusiasm, but he still smiled and shook hands with him.

"Like you, I am also an EVA pilot."

"May I call you Shinji?"

Whether it's his appearance or his voice, after getting to know Kaworu, you can feel a gentle breeze; he is a kind person.

"Of course." Shinji nodded, his expression showing no embarrassment but rather the joy of making a new friend.

"EVA pilot...you're from the US branch, the pilot of Unit 3?" Then he realized who the other person was.

They had previously discussed the boy in front of them in the headquarters office.

Kaworu Nagisa smiled and nodded.

Just as he was about to say something, he was suddenly frozen in place by what Shinji said next.

"Then... you are the seventeenth Angel, the Angel of Freedom?" Shinji asked tentatively.

A man-made apostle, a free angel, possessing a human form and part of Adam's soul.

"Huh?" Kaworu was taken aback, looking somewhat surprised.

He originally intended to keep this identity a secret from the other party.

But to my surprise, it was exposed immediately.

His expression quickly recovered from surprise: "Yes."

Just as you guessed.

"You...you've really changed a lot, Shinji," Kaworu said mysteriously.

He seems to know more than anyone else.

"Did this gentleman tell you?" He looked up at Natsuki, who was sitting cross-legged on Shinji's head, and asked with a smile still on his lips.

Natsuki: "......"

This guy can actually see himself.

He silently drifted to the side, straightened the collar of his floral shirt, and forced a serious expression.

He said, "I guess so, but we have special channels for obtaining information."

Kaworu looked at Natsuki and quickly realized that the being before him was unparalleled in the entire universe in terms of the level of life.

He then glanced at Tokyo-3, where some buildings were still under reconstruction, the blue sea, Misato Katsuragi just waking up in her apartment, Asuka fast asleep, and Gendo Ikari and Yui Ikari snuggling together in another apartment...

"This world is truly unpredictable," he said.

Finally, his gaze fell upon Shinji Ikari, looking at the boy whose heart had become burning with passion.

"But...it's a good thing."

Kaworu Nagisa smiled happily.

Hearing his cryptic words.

Xia Shu gradually frowned. This guy's behavior... it's kind of like that of a time traveler, isn't it?