Academic Inventor

Tang Ze held the memory card he'd extracted from the fabric, turning it over to examine it.

The front of the square memory card had inward-pointing triangular arrows at the top, bottom, and right.

His memory told Tang Ze that this was a marking his father used during his postgraduate studies to differentiate his experimental data. It represented the letter "K" from Tang Ze's Romanized name, a habit that had been carried on and was easily recognizable.

The feature was too distinctive; if it showed, he'd be discovered. Tang Ze decided to stash it in his item inventory later. Otherwise, he wouldn't feel at ease no matter where he hid it.

Loading the memory card into the computer, Tang Ze cautiously opened its stored contents.

The moment the folder name came into view, Tang Ze was struck by a bolt from the blue.

"Cognitive Science?!"

Tang Ze stared intently at the characters on the screen, unable to refrain from muttering it softly.

"Cognition," as a psychological concept, referred to the process by which humans acquire, process, and express information through their brains – essentially, the basic psychological function of "processing information to reach conclusions."

Within the Persona worldview, it was a crucial and unique setting because it involved a cognitive space, a different world constructed from the human psyche. Coupled with the various supernatural abilities that arose from it, the study of how it operated, its underlying logic, and how cognition could, in turn, influence reality was called Cognitive Science.

In P5, Futaba Sakura's mother, Wakaba Isshiki, was a scholar who researched related theories. The enhanced final boss, Takuto Maruki, was also one, though his research leaned more towards practical applications.

Unfortunately, just as the Black Organization was now interested in the Tang Ze couple's research, Wakaba Isshiki was also targeted by a villainous faction. Her research findings were appropriated by the villains, and she herself was murdered.

From this perspective, it was indeed a high-risk research project. After all, possessing something valuable without the capability to protect it invited disaster. Such theories, capable of fundamentally controlling the world and manipulating society, were bound to ignite the greed of dark and evil forces.

"This is deadly," Tang Ze muttered to himself. "What's even deadlier is that I've actually mastered this ability."

Thinking this, Tang Ze's expression turned solemn.

He wasn't entirely sure if it was the transmigration-induced him, or "Tang Ze Zhao," who possessed the Persona ability. Or perhaps there was a more absurd situation, like he had transmigrated long ago but hadn't awakened his latent abilities before the plot began...

Regardless, from an objective standpoint, the fact remained that "Tang Ze Zhao, the son of Cognitive Science scholars Ichikawa Tang Ze and Leona Tang Ze, has mastered the ability to alter cognition through certain methods."

"That scoundrel Lavenza! He probably did it on purpose!" Thinking this, Tang Ze felt an urge to immediately lie down in the Velvet Room and beat up his useless assistant.

The moment they met, Lavenza told him, "In this world, reality and the cognitive world have long since merged." He'd also said nonchalantly that it wasn't a big deal, not a major issue.

It was a huge issue! Many experiments whose results couldn't possibly be obtained in the real world could now be directly observed without needing to enter another world!

Even "Tang Ze Zhao's" abilities might have been modified or induced by his parents' academic research!

No wonder the Organization was tormenting a high school student to death. Even Tang Ze felt that with this kind of character role, he'd eventually have to accompany Conan to Beika Elementary School.

And...

Taking a deep breath, Tang Ze adjusted his emotions and opened the folder to browse the contents.

After just reading the index, Tang Ze felt his temples throbbing. The worst-case scenario had indeed occurred.

The fusion of the cognitive world was akin to a process where information at a mental level flowed into reality. Therefore, altering people's psychological cognition would directly produce real-world effects. Consequently, techniques involving psychology, such as hypnosis and brainwashing, would receive an epic upgrade.

Tang Ze's parents had discovered the risks of Cognitive Science in these areas early on, but what they wanted to research was no longer something they could control.

"Brainwashing device, lie detector, interrogation drugs... So the patents they held were for this kind of patent? It sounds so incriminating..." After finishing the table of contents, Tang Ze's hands trembled slightly.

The Organization now possessed even more absurd black technology in these fields than in the original work. Although it seemed they still couldn't stop the rampant use of fake alcohol, it sounded much more brutal.

To put it simply, Tang Ze had only one thought right now.

Furuya Rei, Shuichi Akai, danger.

Scrolling further down revealed multiple experimental reports and papers. Judging by the signatures, they were theoretical knowledge independently researched by his parents.

Having no time to read these lengthy articles in detail, Tang Ze briefly scanned the summaries of each, and was shocked to discover—

They had already touched upon the existence of the cognitive world.

Through treatment samples from multiple psychiatric patients, Tang Ze's parents had, over more than a decade of research, gradually described an abstract world composed of cognitive concepts. They believed that humanity's collective unconscious had tangible and explorable boundaries, and that it could be used to influence reality itself.

Subsequent applied results, such as devices for memory alteration, were all derived from their solid theoretical foundation.

To put it plainly, if not for the lack of the "Otherworld Navigator" cheat, which made it impossible for them to access the true cognitive space, they would have already compiled the world-building settings of P5.

Fortunately, most people understood their theories more as metaphors for an abstract world, not truly believing in the existence of other worlds. Tang Ze was currently safe.

This complete core theory was his parents' most important life's work, the data the Organization wanted to obtain from him.

With such guiding theory, who knew what kind of major developments the Organization might achieve.

No, he had to stir things up.

Tang Ze touched the memory card plugged into the computer, recalling his alias plan, and a mischievous smile spread across his face.

He first copied all the data from the card into the computer, then reopened the papers in the memory card.

As a hardcore gamer who played a lot of video games, Tang Ze had played the P series and read a lot of strange soft sci-fi that didn't exist in this world. His mind was filled with countless bizarre fringe science concepts.

Tang Ze, the academic inventor, was about to begin.

"First, I'll stitch together the concepts from P3, P4, and P5. If you have the guts, try shooting yourself in the temple," Tang Ze's fingers danced across the keyboard as he rewrote a theoretical index. "Then, I'll add some weird stuff. Let me think... 'Formative Field' sounds very fitting. The concept of 'cure' is also good, it's quantum mechanics, obviously... I'll also add some cyber elements. 'Cybernetic eye dream detective' is a good term. Kotaro Uchikoshi, my superman..."

Muttering to himself, Tang Ze pulled out a pile of psychological concepts from various works and quickly stitched together a delirious magnum opus of soft sci-fi.

The white light emanating from the screen cast a faint glow on Tang Ze's grinning face.

"I'm actually a little curious what kind of things can be produced by reversing and practicing incomplete fragments," he said, flipping through his own nonsensical writing with satisfaction. "You'd better not research anything. After all—

"The content above is purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental."

Extra update today~