Persona: Devil Summoner

"Yahoo, it's great to have a generous master!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 22 The Social Nature of Honey Bees

If you look through the ideology and morality textbook, you will find this sentence: Humans are social animals.

But biologists will tell you that human sociality is fake. There are many creatures that are truly social. Representative examples include ants, bees, naked mole rats, etc.

Bees are creatures with a strict social division of labor. There is a queen bee who is responsible for nurturing offspring, drones who are responsible for giving birth to offspring with the queen bee, and worker bees who take care of all other work.

It can be said that the way of life of bees is to ensure the good life of a very small number of individuals, and to drive a large number of low-level laborers. In the end, these very few individuals will in turn nourish the entire bee colony, and finally achieve common prosperity for the entire group.

From this perspective, humans are only one step away from true sociality: mutual support and common prosperity.

Walking in this huge beehive, Jiang Tianwei was already prepared for the endless stream of [Shadow] attacks.

In fact, almost all games are like this. Before fighting the final boss, there is often a very long maze accompanied by a lot of monsters. Moreover, when it comes to bees in real life, people will also think of them in swarms.

However, the long road was found, but the monster? No, there was none.

Walking in the room made up of hexagons, there were hexagonal grids everywhere, filled with sweet honey. Although Pixie made a bold statement that she would eat honey to her heart's content, she was so small that she could only eat a fist-sized piece of honey. Fang Zexia also ate a piece out of curiosity, and then spit it out.

Yes, although the honey sold in stores is golden yellow and tastes sticky and sweet, it is processed. The original honey in the honeycomb contains beeswax and is usually mixed with the taste of soil, and the taste is really not very good.

In this neat hexagonal space, the three of them advanced cautiously, but no enemies emerged. Their caution was in vain.

The first impression Jiang Tianwei had of this honeycomb palace was that it was small. Compared with Kamo Shida's palace, it was not just a dwarf compared to a giant, it was like an insect compared to an elephant.

After walking through three rooms, we came to a wide hall. On one side were honey jars piled up one after another, filling up the west side of the room. On the other side was a tall staircase, which was almost like a sign for the boss battle room.

Jiang Tianwei looked at his partners on both sides: This was obviously an invitation for them to go up, but the question was, was this an enemy conspiracy?

Speaking of which, there is a hypothesis about the famous strategy "Empty City Strategy", which is that Zhuge Liang was lucky to meet a suspicious person like Sima Yi. If you were replaced by a powerful general like Xu Chu or Lu Bu, he would have attacked first regardless of whether there was an ambush or not.

Now Jiang Tianwei has the same mentality. If the enemy comes, we will stop him. If the water comes, we will block it with earth! No matter what conspiracy you have, just do it!

Without any hesitation, Jiang Tianwei kicked open the door at the end of the stairs - but he did not rush in, for fear of encountering an enemy ambush behind the door.

However, contrary to expectations, there was no ambush at all, only three people standing inside.

Not surprisingly, it was the store manager, the store manager's son with golden retriever earrings, and another worker with a mustache.

The three of them were kneeling at the end of the room. The whole room was empty, making people confused.

As soon as he saw Jiang Tianwei coming, the store manager stood up abruptly. His expression was distorted with extreme anger, and he looked like he was watching a horror movie.

"You disgusting Chinese! Why are you still slacking off? I want you to come to work right away! Why is it taking you so long?"

Before Jiang Tianwei could answer, the blond man with earrings next to him also stood up, with the same distorted expression: "Reflect on yourself! Do you know that because you didn't come, everyone has to cooperate with you!"

Finally, the guy with the mustache also jumped up: "Yeah! You, don't you have any sense of social responsibility? Don't cause trouble for others, idiot!"

Jiang Tianwei was stunned by what these three people said and didn't understand what nonsense they were talking about.

"Isn't it a normal need for employees to take a break? It's written in the law..."

"Hey, hey! What are you talking about, Chinese pig? Listen carefully! The laws of the Empire of Japan only protect the citizens of the Empire of Japan. You are a scum from the bottom of society, you are not worthy of talking to me about the law!"

When the store manager said this, Jiang Tianwei was completely stunned.

He knew that although the manager opened a Chinese restaurant, he looked down on China in his heart. This kind of thing was just like in Europe, where white people discriminated against black people. But on weekdays, whether it was because of face or public opinion, he would never say that.

(Is this the so-called truth of the mind space?)

Jiang Tianwei thought so.

Before he could say anything, the three people who had jumped up and were suspended in the air had translucent wings growing out of their backs, and their arms also spread apart, becoming six arms! From the looks of it, they had transformed from humans into some kind of insects...

Considering that this is a beehive, I'm afraid they have become bees?

The store manager was the biggest, looking three meters long and bloated. On either side, his son and the workers were much smaller. The three of them relied on their wings to hover in the air.

"Know your own identity! This is a strict Japanese society! Everyone has to do their job well! And you, Chinese, are the lowest-level worker bee! Just give us everything you have!"

The store manager's words made Jiang Tianwei even angrier.

"That's right. Aren't you used to it anyway? What's it called? The Doctrine of the Mean? It's great! It's a traditional Chinese virtue! Just kneel down and serve us. Be happy to be a part of this society and to dedicate yourself to it!"

Bee with blonde hair and earrings speaks even more infuriatingly.

"Could it be that he doesn't understand? That's why I said that this guy, who was born by his father but not educated by his mother, can't understand human language at all, and can't understand the proud moral integrity of our noble Yamato nation!..."

"【I'm CNMLGB!】"

He was angry.

Very angry.

I was so angry that I couldn't control myself and cursed in my native language.

Although Fang Zexia didn't understand what he was cursing, she could still clearly see the venting of anger in his pupils that were almost about to bleed.

"[Just because I'm Chinese, I have to be inferior to others? What a bullshit! I've always been trying not to cause trouble, but you guys are making it worse?]"

He thought he was used to bowing his head and being slandered. But unexpectedly, his disguise was torn off. Such blatant discrimination still made him furious.

Not getting upset by praise or criticism? That is the quality of a saint. I am not a saint, and I don't plan to become one, so it's okay to be angry, right?

and……

If it was just an insult to himself, Jiang Tianwei could endure it... However, when he heard the other party commenting on his family, Jiang Tianwei could not suppress his anger no matter what. It was as if there was a gas pressing against his chest, forcing him to vomit but unable to, and he could only let it stay in his heart.

[You finally remembered...]

Jiang Tianwei seemed to hear his own voice in his ears, speaking his familiar mother tongue.

"【Who are you?】"

[I am you. You are me - I am your incarnation... This time, don't forget me...]

Hearing this voice, Jiang Tianwei unexpectedly felt the raging anger in his chest calm down.

(He is me? I am him? He said, don’t forget… him? Have I ever forgotten?)

Jiang Tianwei couldn't help but fall into memories, but the enemy would not give him a chance to breathe.

Although he couldn't understand Chinese, his anger just now was clearly conveyed! The bee man with a small mustache flapped his wings and rushed towards Jiang Tianwei!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 23 Persona

It was a swift charge that was difficult to see with the naked eye.

It takes full advantage of the impact of the swift speed of bees and the mass of human bodies.

Even tiny things can become extremely powerful with the power of ultra-high speeds. A bullet is a good example. The speed of a bullet thrown out and the speed of a bullet fired from a gun are completely different, so naturally they have completely different powers.

If a human were to collide with the bee-man's extremely high-speed charge, he would probably be smashed into a pulp!

It would be too arrogant to try to resist this kind of impact with your body.

Seeing this, Pixie pushed her hands forward, and a yellow-white electric light flew out from her palms and hit the bee man accurately!

But before the lightning could touch the body, it was blown away by the wind pressure caused by the high speed!

"Hey! Jiang Jiang! Run!"

Fang Zexia saw the bee man rushing towards her and screamed in panic. She used both hands to push Jiang Tianwei, trying to push him away... However, Jiang Tianwei did not move and just stood there.

"Oh, be at ease. . . . I am well, very well, inexpressibly happy!"

Jiang Tianwei seemed to be crazy, his eyes were wide open, his pupils shrank, the corners of his mouth were strangely raised, and he muttered to himself: "Ah, yes, that's it, I have, I remember it completely!"

He pressed his forehead with his right hand, and suddenly blue flames burned on his entire face, quickly covering his entire face.

As his hand touched his cheek, the burning flame went out. Instead, a white mask appeared. Except for the blank space where his eyes were, the rest of the mask was white, covering his entire face.

“【Call my name loudly——Declare war on all injustice!】”

The voice in his heart roared like this, and Jiang Tianwei was also infected by this enthusiasm, and he pulled the mask off his face with force. The mask seemed to be glued to his face, and as he took off the mask, the entire face was easily torn off, and dark red blood flew in the air with severe pain. However, Jiang Tianwei's heart was filled with unprecedented joy!

I felt so refreshed, as if all the hardships I had endured in Japan over the years had disappeared.

"【I will never forget you again——persona! Xiang Yao!】"

Unable to control himself, a familiar melody suddenly rang in his mind. Unable to control himself, he sang in a low voice in Chinese: "My strength is as great as the mountains and my courage is as great as the world... The time is not right and my horse will not move... What can I do if my horse will not move..."

Boom!

The huge impact crushed the floor easily, and the flying dust rolled up dark green flames, instantly capturing everyone's vision.

"See! This is the price you pay for not following the collective consciousness..."

"[Yu Xi, Yu Xi, what can I do...]"

Although the battle situation in the dust could not be seen, it was not difficult to judge from the Beijing opera accent coming from it that Jiang Tianwei was not only not dead, but also full of energy, as if he was not injured!

The dust gradually dispersed, revealing a giant with a metallic body, wearing scale armor and a yellow robe. The part that should be the face had no facial features. On the silvery-white metallic face, black ink was used to outline the eyeliner and patterns, as well as a fake beard. On the bald head, there was a gorgeous crown. It looked like a Peking Opera costume put on a faceless mannequin.

Behind this giant is Jiang Tianwei.

At this moment, he was wearing a black robe, an eight-treasure jade belt around his waist, a sword hanging diagonally, and four pairs of triangular flags inserted behind his back. The plain white mask on his face had been outlined with black powder at some point, making him look as if he was frowning and looking bitterly, with drooping eyes...If someone who understands Peking Opera, they will probably tell at a glance that this is the mask of Overlord Xiang Yu in Peking Opera!

Well, Jiang Tianwei is standing so straight, where is the bee man just now?

When the dust settled, I saw that the bee man had been pressed to the ground, his limbs twisted in a strange way. The floor cracked because it could not withstand the huge impact, and spider-web-like cracks expanded to the end of the wall.

"Thanks to you, I now remember everything..."

Jiang Tianwei remembered.

This was not the first time that he had fought alongside this metal giant.

That was when I first came to Japan...

As mentioned before, when the father was taking his family out for a trip, he suddenly went crazy and lost consciousness. The car crashed through the guardrail and drowned in the river.

If someone knows relevant physics, it is not difficult to understand one thing: in this case, the pressure difference between the inside and outside makes it difficult to open the car door. It is not something a woman can open easily. Adding a child does not help either...

So, how were they rescued?

There is a kind of force, called fire field force in Japan, which means that when a person is in a critical situation, he will burst out with all his strength. Jiang Tianwei forgot, he really forgot, that at that time, he summoned this metal giant for the first time because of panic, fear, desire to survive and the desire to protect his family!

It was this metal giant that saved his life and ripped open the car door.

Jiang Tianwei also lost this memory due to excessive panic and the mental exhaustion of summoning the metal giant for the first time. His only memory was that he and his family drove into the sea, and the next memory point was that he was in the hospital.

This time, his family was insulted by the other party, which once again aroused his anger, and the dusty memories emanated from the depths of his heart.

This kind of power... Although no one has ever told him about it, he seems to have known this word naturally...

"This is my...persona."

"Well, that's awesome, Jiang Jiang!"

Fang Zexia was dumbfounded before. It’s not that she didn’t want to help, but she was just an ordinary ghost. She was neither a fighting champion nor an invincible hero, nor a great magician. She couldn’t help at all in the field of fighting...

"You actually want to rebel against me, the queen bee? As expected, your nature is rotten! Not only do you slack off as a member of society, you even want to destroy the entire society!"

This kind of statement that allows oneself to occupy the moral high ground and look down on others made Jiang Tianwei's originally calm mood rise with anger again, but soon, like ripples in the water, it fluctuated a few times and then disappeared, returning to calm.

Apparently, the persona also has a calming effect. Thanks to it, Jiang Tianwei never thought that he would be so calm.

"It seems that this space has the effect of making people unconsciously excited... It is also thanks to it that I can remember 'myself' - it's been a long time since I last felt this way."

Persona, a personality mask, is an important part of Jungian psychology. Like all psychological terms, it is difficult for laymen to understand. Jiang Tianwei also didn't understand why he felt that this metal giant was a persona.

But what does this matter?

There are so many things that humans still cannot explain clearly. They call these laws natural laws. Once someone asks, they will just say, "This is how reality is" to evade you, and they can't explain it at all. But humans still live well. For many things, you only need to know how to use them, and you don't need to understand the principles.

Just because babies don't understand the composition of breast milk doesn't prevent them from consuming it and growing.

"How is it possible, it's actually persona?!"

Suddenly, a sharp voice came from behind Jiang Tianwei.

I've heard this voice so many times before that I've become familiar with it...

Is it that black cat demon?

Jiang Tianwei turned around and, sure enough, at the bottom of the stairs, there was a curly-haired man in black clothes and a mask, followed by a short, small cat-shaped mascot.