Deep within NERV Headquarters, the door to the "guest room" prepared for him was tightly shut, guarded by security personnel twenty-four hours a day.
However, despite being in this environment of near-house arrest, Osiris' face showed no trace of worry or anxiety. He sat calmly at the table, relaxed, as if he were in his own study.
He was fully aware of the leverage he held. In this world, where most people believed that the sole objective was fighting the Angels and protecting humanity, the ability to effectively damage the Angels was the greatest safeguard and political correctness he could possess.
The Human Instrumentality Project of SEELE and Gendo Ikari was the core secret hidden beneath the iceberg, but above the surface, he, Osiris, was currently the hero who had repelled the Angel—at least in the eyes of ordinary NERV personnel and the outside world.
While his actions had certainly broken protocol and exceeded his authority, the results were undeniable. More importantly, he knew that the unique technology he displayed had already caused ripples outside NERV.
Other remaining human forces not fully integrated by NERV, and remnants of various national governments, would never stand by and allow NERV to monopolize a technology that could potentially change the tide of the Angel conflict and even influence the future world order.
They would inevitably exert pressure within the framework of the United Nations or through other channels. This subconsciously built an external shield for him, ensuring that even those within NERV who harbored doubts dared not easily resort to extreme measures against him.
Meanwhile, in the corridor of the Technical Development Department, Misato Katsuragi stopped Ritsuko Akagi, who was about to return to her lab. "Ritsuko, what's your take?"
Misato leaned against the cold metal wall, her voice carrying a hint of exhaustion and complexity. "Dr. Osiris." Ritsuko Akagi adjusted her glasses, her gaze behind the lenses calm and professional:
"From a technical standpoint, what he demonstrated is—very astonishing, and extremely dangerous. It's not any weapon system we know of; it's more like a—specialized cure, or perhaps a poison, targeted at the essential nature of the Angels' life. The principle is completely unknown."
"But he certainly helped us out, didn't he?" Misato sighed. "That kid, Shinji, his will to fight has increased quite a bit because of him. Many frontline personnel privately see him as a 'genius' who brought new hope."
"It's precisely this kind of 'genius' that requires more vigilance, Misato." Ritsuko's voice held little emotion.
"His background is far from as simple as it appears. If he can easily synthesize something like this, there's no guarantee he doesn't have something even more dangerous. The high-level review of him is necessary."
"I know—" Misato rubbed her temples. "It's just that, at a time like this, any force that can effectively counter the Angels is something we—cannot easily discard. And, there's no telling how many eyes outside are watching him and his technology."
Their conversation represented two general attitudes within NERV: one group saw the practical combat value and morale boost Osiris provided; the other, particularly technical officers aware of the complexity and potential risks of the technology, held deeper caution and skepticism.
Back in the isolation room, Osiris seemed unconcerned with the external disturbances.
He even proactively requested writing materials and a computer terminal disconnected from the external network from the guards, stating that he "needed to continue deducing the optimal design for the Catalytic Particles to avoid interrupting his thought process."
His requests were quickly fulfilled. The computer provided could indeed only access a strictly filtered, non-core database and computational resources within NERV's internal network.
Osiris was not surprised by this; in fact, he appeared quite satisfied.
For the next few days, he maintained an unusually regular routine. He spent most of his time leaning over his desk, occasionally writing a series of complex formulas and molecular structure diagrams on paper, or performing simulation calculations on the computer.
His focused expression, occasionally furrowed brow due to deep thought, perfectly fit the image of a scholar immersed in his research.
He quietly enjoyed the meals brought to him and cooperatively answered the routine questions.
His attitude was candid, and his logic was clear, as he repeatedly emphasized that the original intent of his action was to "verify the extreme application effect of purification technology on high-concentration living contaminants," and that he "understood the procedural inconvenience" he caused but "deemed it necessary."
However, beneath this calm exterior of dedicated research, a silent communication was taking place.
Osiris utilized this restricted computer to access NERV's internal network, his core objective being not merely to perceive the environment, but to connect with the "ghost" already dormant in the system's depths—the AI virus he had personally assembled and activated.
His operation was extremely cautious and deceptive. He did not attempt to directly access any sensitive areas, nor did he touch or browse the core data that the AI virus might have already stolen and cached—that would have been self-exposure.
Instead, all his network activities strictly revolved around "Catalytic Particle Research," involving large-scale queries of public material science databases, running complex particle interaction simulations, and generating seemingly plausible optimization algorithm iteration logs.
Amidst this massive amount of reasonable data access and computation, he meticulously wove new instructions.
These instructions were broken down into specific, seemingly random parameter sequences, mixed into the normal query requests and simulation output data streams, or encoded as boundary conditions for mathematical models that were abnormal yet within the acceptable margin of error.
This information, like invisible ink, was written on what appeared to be ordinary "academic manuscripts," flowing silently along the network data streams toward the dormant AI virus, which was constantly monitoring for specific patterns.
The core instruction he transmitted was clear and specific: maintain absolute silence, prioritize infiltration into deeper layers of the network, especially the information systems of the Central Dogma, expand the scope of intelligence gathering as much as possible, but do not transmit feedback yet; continue to lie in wait.
He did not demand immediate information, nor did he order the virus to perform any destructive or large-scale replication activities that might trigger an alarm.
He simply let out another length of fishing line from the spool, allowing the stealthy intruder in the digital world to advance one more step toward the darker and more dangerous abyss.
After completing this series of covert operations, Osiris continued his "research" as usual, occasionally frowning in thought and sometimes quickly jotting down notes.
No one knew that just moments ago, a dangerous instruction had been transmitted through the heavily guarded barrier.
He was like a chess master in a cage, able to direct an external piece through secret language. Although imprisoned, the killing move on the chessboard had been laid out silently.
He reveled in the subtle satisfaction of controlling the situation even under absolute surveillance, waiting for the moment when the deep-diving "fishing net" would reach the ultimate secret.