Persona: Devil Summoner

The scenery around me was not much different from Shibuya Station, except that everything was red, just like the fluorescent lights were replaced with red lights. However, it was empty and there was no one around, which was very strange.

Anyone who has been to Shibuya Station knows that it is a huge station that is like an underground maze. It is easy to get lost if you are not careful. How could such a huge station be empty?

The entire station is now eerily quiet...

(Where is this place?).

Jiang Tianwei was startled by the so-called palace he suddenly entered. The others looked similar. Morgana was very satisfied with everyone's surprise and said proudly: "This is the so-called palace in the hearts of the masses!"

This concept is often seen in ACG works, usually called collective subconsciousness or collective consciousness. For example, when it comes to cockroaches, everyone's reaction is basically hate! Disgusting! But, if you have to say, why do you hate cockroaches? What exactly do you hate about cockroaches? It is very likely that many people cannot give a reasonable reason. If it is dirty and spreads germs, then flies, mosquitoes, and mice have similar problems, but they are not as hated as cockroaches. If it is too many legs, then centipedes, grasshoppers, spiders, etc. also have a lot of legs...

This is a typical example of the collective subconscious at work. Since most people hate cockroaches, you also hate them.

To put it simply, this so-called cognitive space is a "palace" for all Tokyo residents.

Although the desire of a single person may not reach the level of a palace, if you put the desires of everyone together, it would be almost the same.

The reason why the entrance is Shibuya Station is probably because this is an indispensable place for everyone to transfer, whether you are a student or a corporate slave, a man or a woman, no matter where you go, you will always have to transfer here, so this place has become a common landmark in everyone's mind.

Just like Kamoshida thought of the school as a castle, Tokyo people also thought of Shibuya Station as something else. But what exactly it was, we don’t know.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 72 Have you ever heard of a cat car?

The entrance where everyone was located could still be seen as a prototype of a station. It seemed that everyone had the same impression of the station entrance. But walking inside from the station ticket gate, there were intricate railroad tracks that spread out like the branches of a large tree, extending into a forked path in the dark tunnel.

This shows that everyone who comes here does not have a common understanding of where the railway leads.

There are dark shadows wandering inside... Although there is no evidence, everyone knows that once you enter the field of vision of these wandering shadows, a fierce battle is inevitable... To put it simply, it is like a maze in a game, complicated and inhabited by hostile creatures.

Speaking of Shadow, although no one knows who started calling him that, everyone in the Phantom Thieves called him that, so Jiang Tianwei followed suit.

(【persona】and 【shadow】, do you have time to study Jungian psychology?).

Jiang Tianwei thought so.

Gao Juan Xing took a quick look. This huge maze must be several kilometers long... If she had to walk through it, her feet would probably get blisters... It was not because she was afraid of hardship, but simply because - she was wearing a pair of high-heeled boots.

I don't know who gave this Phantom Thief costume. If it could be changed, Takamaki An would never want such high heels again! Wearing high heels for strenuous exercise is simply murdering your ankles!

"You don't want us to walk there?"

Gao Juanxing felt a deep despair. She squatted on the ground, holding her ankle with a bitter look on her face.

"Hoohoo, Ms. Xing! We are already prepared!"

Probably having guessed that Takamaki An would behave like this, Morgana ran up to Takamaki An with a proud look on his face, laughed confidently, and put his little paws on his waist.

"Ready? Morgana, have you prepared transportation?"

Gao Juan Xing became interested as soon as she heard it: "What is it? A bicycle? A motorcycle? Or something else? Could it be a car?!"

Morgana laughed mysteriously, and his little paws made a series of movements like a Kamen Rider, and he shouted, "Transform."

There was a bang, and a puff of white smoke rose up! When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of Morgana. Instead, there was a square black van. From the lights and the color, it could be vaguely guessed that this was Morgana's transformation, right?

"Huhuhuhu, you're scared, right? I was shocked too. I don't know why, but among the people of this country, it is a universal consensus that cats can turn into cars."

This is easy to understand. After all, Hayao Miyazaki is a world-class master. The fairy tale world he draws is very popular in Japan, regardless of gender or age. The classic work My Neighbor Totoro includes the Cat Bus.

I can only say that the old man is really amazing.

However, Jiang Tianwei always felt that it was unlucky. As a game enthusiast, especially someone who wanted to work in this industry in the future, "cat cars" were definitely not something he particularly wanted to see. If you want to know the reason, go play Monster Hunter and you will feel the pain firsthand.

With a means of transportation, everyone no longer felt how painful it was to walk through this maze. Everyone got on the bus one by one and said

To be honest, it's a bit crowded. Ryuji muttered: Can't it be a three-row seat or something? But Morgana didn't respond, so he probably didn't hear him.

Everyone was seated firmly. Gao Juanxing was quite interested: "I wanted to ride this when I was a child... I didn't expect that I could realize it when I grew up!"

"Well, let's get going!"

Amamiya Ren's voice couldn't help but rise.

And then... nothing happened...

The car stopped where it was, not moving.

Long Si asked curiously: "What's going on? Why aren't you moving? Move! Cat car! Move instead!"

Morgana's voice came from inside the car: "We are not the ones saying this to you! This is a car! Of course it needs a driver!"

The driver...

Yes, that's right... Logically speaking, this is correct, but...

Everyone looked at each other, and Jiang Tianwei was the first to break the awkward situation: "So, does anyone among you have a driver's license?"

No one speaks.

Amamiya Lian silently raised her right hand. Jiang Tianwei asked happily: "You have a driver's license?!"

"NO, I have not."

"Then I'm worried!"

"It doesn't matter. I've already learned the specific operations."

“Where did you study?”

"Initial D. It says to just keep your foot on the accelerator!"

"Get off the car! I want to get off! The senior in the anime got into a car accident after saying this!"

Jiang Tianwei swore silently in his heart that he must get a driver's license and never let these guys mess around... What a joke, what if there is a car accident! It doesn't matter if the shadow is killed, but if it hits the wall, it will be his turn to become a shadow!

This is not fun at all!

However, a very sad fact is that humans always have the mood to follow the crowd, and Jiang Tianwei is no exception. When he saw that everyone else had boarded the bus, he couldn't insist, so he followed along.

The speeding wheels rolled away, strong winds pressed through the car windows, and the only thing in the field of vision was the narrow light of the headlights. The only scenery along the way was the rapidly receding concrete walls and the black and red fog. The only living creatures that could be seen were strange-looking shadows that looked like black mud.

It was a scene reminiscent of hell.

What's worse than hell is that the person driving the car doesn't even have a driver's license...

Amamiya Ren's driving style can be described as completely without style. Just as he said, he kept pressing the accelerator and didn't let go...

Of course, it is easy to imagine that the probability of hitting a shadow is very high.

After a while, he had already hit Shadow seven or eight times.

I thought that the shadow that looked like a slime monster would be completely smashed after hitting the car, but the opposite happened. Instead, the shadow that was hit would hold the front of the car tightly, and its muddy feet would get stuck in the wheels, causing the car to stop directly. I had to get out of the car to deal with it.

The shadow that appeared here was not much different from the one that appeared in Kamoshida Castle, and its strength was naturally no match for everyone else, so the fight felt like bullying the weak.

Jiang Tianwei took the initiative to take on the task of dealing with these minions.

In this way, the enemy is killed and everyone retains their strength. And you gain experience, and you can take the opportunity to recruit more demons into your app. Even if you can't use them, it's good to use them as synthetic materials!

Moreover, Jiang Tianwei always had a feeling... an impulse for violence.

It seemed that ever since the fight with the bullfighter, there was always an urge to destroy in his chest. It was not very obvious on weekdays, but in situations like this where fighting was needed, there was always an urge to go to the battlefield.

Jiang Tianwei originally prepared an iron pipe in his bag as a weapon, but he gave up using it. If he wanted to vent his evil fire, he really needed to be beaten with fists...

Jiang Tianwei stretched his shoulders and arms, showing an ambiguous smile, got out of the car, and walked towards the shadow step by step, cracking his knuckles with both hands...

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 73 The Violent Boxer

"Hey, I mean, has Jiang Jiang been bullied at school recently? He seems so violent..."

Through the car window, Ryuji Sakamoto couldn't help but give a very accurate evaluation of Jiang Tianwei's violent boxing.

As if to confirm his words, a two-horned beast had rushed to within a few meters of Jiang Tianwei, and its pair of green horns were about to hit Jiang Tianwei's waist, but unexpectedly, this guy seemed to have eyes behind his head, and took a big step back with his right foot, and his whole body moved at an angle, mysteriously avoiding the two-horned beast's big horns.

At the same time, Jiang Tianwei's fist also aimed at the eyes of the two-horned beast like lightning. The fist bone hit the lens violently, and translucent juice flew out of the broken eyeball. Although it was not bloody, it was painful to watch. In the high-speed sprint, being hit from the side by someone, naturally the balance of the whole horse was broken! Seeing the body of the two-horned beast tilted, it hit the wall on the side with a bang.

"It works...it works."

Jiang Tianwei only felt that when he was fighting, his body was more relaxed than ever before, his ears and eyes were sharp, and his perception was first-rate. He didn't even need to send out personas or summon secondary demons, he could just use his fists to deal with these guys.

Fang Zexia used lightning magic to swipe his formation. Once a powerful demon that was difficult to deal with with physical attacks appeared, or Jiang Tianwei was too late to react, she would cleverly use lightning to paralyze the opponent. Just revealing such a small flaw would be enough for Jiang Tianwei to punch back!

"The way you fight is just like that Demon Bullfighter... It's almost like you're using the Blood Andalusia."

Fang Zexia took advantage of the moment when Jiang Tianwei defeated the enemy and was about to go back to the car, and whispered her opinion to him.

"I look like a demon?"

It was obviously just an ordinary sentence, but Jiang Tianwei felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured over him from head to toe... Could it be that his spirit was indeed affected by the demon?

Regardless of the spirit, he himself discovered in the fight just now...his boxing skills have improved a lot.

To use an analogy, it's like a wooden sword that suddenly turns into a sword. Jiang Tianwei had only learned boxing before, and he didn't have any special talent. His level was just average, maybe not as good as many talented boxers. Not to mention fighting with professional boxers, he would probably have to consider his level if he fought with hooligans on the street.

And now, it has fully evolved to the level where it can be used in actual combat.

His fighting posture was seen by Amamiya Ren. This boy who usually didn't talk much was thinking about something else: (When I first met him, he punched me hard in the face. Today, his fists are really strong... Can I make a "deal" with him... His extraordinary boxing skills... If I can master them, I won't have to worry about the enemy getting close to me and making me unable to attack.)

Regardless of everyone's own thoughts, this time they sneaked into the impression space for a clear purpose: to find the stalker.

Normally, if you want to use the Different World Navigation App to enter the other party's palace, you need [name] [place] and [distorted impression], such as [Kameshida Taku] [Shujin Academy] [Castle]. In the impression space, you only need to know the other party's name.

This is because although these targets do have twisted desires compared to the general public, they lack the necessary conditions to form a palace. Simply put, although they have such desires, they have no space to control in reality, just like the middle management of a company. The entire company belongs to others, but their status is higher than that of ordinary employees. They are in the level that is neither high nor low... It's really a bit sad...

Since we have a car and navigation, it is not difficult to find this stalker. As we walked, we saw a rolling track in front of us rise up and fly into a vortex-like cyclone. It was almost as if the word "suspicious" was pasted on it.

After driving in, it turned out to be a relatively empty space. A man with a bowler head and glasses, a man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, with lifeless eyes and a red and black twisted glow all over his body, was standing in the middle. When he saw everyone coming, his bright yellow pupils turned to everyone:

"Who are you!".

"It's you! The pervert who stalked my ex-girlfriend!"

Takamaki An was the first to attack, shouting and cursing. After all, she was a woman, so she could empathize with the female victim. The thought of this woman being so troubled that she had to ask for help on the Phantom Thief Channel, an invisible and intangible online message board, showed how troubled she was.

"What?! What do you know! How much do I love her!"

The tone of this stalker was even more intense than that of Takamaki An. It was reasonable to think that a stalker must be somewhat paranoid and stubborn. He spoke with his arms spread wide, like a famous politician making an impassioned speech, or like an animal that spread its wings and feathers to make itself look huge in order to intimidate its enemies...

"You actually call our love perverted? Who the hell are you guys!"

"Are you asking us?! Listen carefully, we are the famous Phantom Thieves!"

When Sakamoto Ryuji heard that the other party didn't know who he was, he quickly introduced himself and punched his chest with his fist in a rather arrogant manner. With his short blond hair and skull mask, he looked a bit like a gangster who was taking advantage of the power of others.

"Phantom Thief? Ah, the Phantom Thief who made the nymphomaniac teacher repent?! You actually came to me?! Do you want to take her away from me?! Impossible, she is mine! I will never give her to anyone! I have nothing left! I will never, ever give her to anyone else!"

The hysterical roar of the stalker only made Gao Juan's brows tighten. As a woman, it would be uncomfortable to hear others treat women as objects, right? In order to seek resonance, she turned her sight to Fang Ze Xia who was flying in the air. The latter also nodded heavily and gave her a firm look. It seemed that the only two women in the Phantom Thieves had reached a consensus.

As the stalker roared hysterically, the ominous black and red gas around his body spread out, and his entire body was covered with a layer of black mud. In the blink of an eye, he had turned into a red, cat-like little devil.

This is the [Backbone Demon], a monster that is somewhat famous in Japanese legends.

They would hide in the bushes at night, wait for people to pass by, and then jump on their backs. The weight of these little ghosts was beyond imagination, and people were often directly crushed.

If that's all, it's not enough to gain any fame. After all, there are similar plots in Journey to the West! Sun Wukong was also played by the monsters. Moreover, if it's just weight, the fat guy is also heavy! Just relying on weight to leave something in the legend of supernatural powers is too underestimated.

The core thing that distinguishes the Backpacking Ghost from Journey to the West is... According to legend, if you can endure the weight and carry the Backpacking Ghost back home, then he will turn into gold coins.

This is also the main reason why it is famous.

According to legend, desperate men in ancient Japan would try walking at night, gambling on whether they could encounter a backpack-carrying ghost and earn some gold coins to spend. It can only be said that ignorance is really scary.

But apart from anything else, the setting of the ghost on the back is indeed somewhat similar to the stalker who refuses to accept that he has been dumped and insists on sticking to the other person.

"You guys! What's the point of coming after a small character like me! Do you think it feels good to bully the weak? There are so many people in the world who are worse than me, why don't you go find them! Go find them! Go and take action against them! Go find that scumbag [Madamame]!"

The stalker who transformed into a ghost on his back had a weird metallic tone in his voice, as if it came through a microphone. Jiang Tianwei curled his lips and said, "We will beat the big bad guys, and we won't let go of little ghosts like you either."

Just as Jiang Tianwei was speaking, he saw the ghost on his back jump up quickly. His thin and small body was obviously just skin and bones, but he had an astonishing speed!

Jiang Tianwei only felt a red shadow suddenly flash in front of him!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 74 Have you heard of bullet time?

There is a limit to human reaction speed.