I Have 10 Equipment Slots-Chapter 69 - 63: Half Human?

A soft, seductive voice, one that seemed to scratch at the heart, echoed through the small alley.

"We are but a group of poor, homeless souls..."

"Poor souls?" Gu Zheng interrupted with a sneer. "You think you’re worthy of being called human?"

"The first ancestor of our Night Demon Race was half human."

The female voice continued in an even tone, recounting their origin. "Our ancestor had human blood. It has been passed down through the generations to this day. Though our human bloodline is faint, it still exists. Since we have human blood, why can we not be considered human?"

"It is just like your Half-demon Families. They have the blood of Demon Fiends and humans in their bodies, yet they are allowed to exist peacefully in this world."

"Ever since we came to Daping County, we have only possessed the bodies of the dead. We have never once laid a hand on the living..."

"Are you sure?" Gu Zheng cut in again. "The villagers around Thousand Star Lake—you haven’t harmed a single one of them? They’re all still alive?"

"..."

A moment of silence.

After a long moment, the female voice spoke again, her tone haunting. "In a certain sense, they are indeed still alive..."

"The living dead, you mean?" Gu Zheng snapped. "You turn perfectly healthy people into the living dead, and you call that not harming them?"

’Just as I thought,’ Gu Zheng said to himself. ’The villages around Thousand Star Lake have fallen. Not one person survived.’

Whether the first ancestor of this so-called "Night Demon" race of Demon Fiends truly had human blood was impossible to verify, and Gu Zheng couldn’t care less.

They say you should judge a person by their actions, not their intentions.

If the Night Demon Race truly considered themselves human, they shouldn’t be mingling with the living after possessing corpses.

If they had only stolen corpses, the Demon Slayer Bureau might never have even noticed them.

Trying to play the good guy now?

Too late!

...

SHIIING!

A flash of light from his blade erupted like a silken thread, tearing through the night and slicing across the entire alley.

WHOOSH—

The night wind was damp. The Sword Gang cut a path through the mist, burying itself in the far end of the alley, where it shattered a wall and left behind a pile of rubble.

"Lord Gu, must you really slaughter us all?"

The female voice rang out again.

It seemed Gu Zheng’s strike had hit nothing but air; his opponent was completely unharmed.

"You could also take this chance to flee," Gu Zheng said, concentrating his Spirit and extending his powerful perception to scan the alley and its surroundings.

No one...

No, that’s not right. There were no Demon Fiends!

There were none in the alley, nor was there any trace of Demon Qi within a radius of several dozen yards.

The blurry figure in the center of the alley was merely some sort of projection.

A Demon Technique?

SWOOSH!

With a light push of his toes, Gu Zheng shot into the air. Soaring high above, he circled and scanned the ground below, using his powerful perception to search for Demon Qi.

Soon, on a rooftop more than two hundred meters north of the alley, he spotted a tall, slender, lavender figure. She seemed to melt into the night, wisps of mist drifting around her body.

"Found you!"

Gu Zheng’s figure flickered as he leaped through the air toward her.

But before he could get close—

WHOOSH—

The tall, lavender figure dissolved into mist and vanished.

The night air was thick with moisture, and a pervasive mist filled the streets.

Even with his powerful perception, Gu Zheng was stunned to find no trace of Demon Qi.

She got away!

She could travel through the mist and moved incredibly fast. If she was determined to escape, there was truly nothing he could do to stop her.

His Water Manipulation Demon Technique could drive the mist in the air, gathering it into a ball or pushing it out of the city.

However, the Thousand Star Lake Domain was about to activate. An endless, dense fog would soon cover the county town, and no matter how much Divine Wondrous energy Gu Zheng had, he couldn’t afford to waste it.

If this Night Demon was set on hiding, he wouldn’t be able to catch her anytime soon.

’Should I wait until the Thousand Star Lake Domain disappears before I deal with her?’

Gu Zheng frowned.

There were too many uncertainties surrounding whether the Thousand Star Lake Domain could be eliminated.

The last time, with the Great Dragon Mountain Domain, he had gotten completely lucky.

’The Night Demon Race...’

The Demon Slayer Bureau had distributed a manual on Demon Fiends, which recorded information on several hundred different types.

More than one hundred of those were Wise Demons.

But as for the "Night Demon," Gu Zheng racked his brain and came up with nothing. It wasn’t in the manual.

Without knowing the Demon Fiend’s abilities or weaknesses, his only option was to figure things out through trial and error.

...

He returned to the alley and woke the unconscious constable.

The two of them continued down their list, hunting down and killing those who had risen from the dead.

They continued their hunt until midnight, by which time all the resurrected individuals in the city and its surrounding areas had been eliminated.

Gu Zheng gained another 3 Demon Points.

With the resurrected taken care of, all that remained were the un-possessed Night Demons, whose unpredictable movements made them difficult to track down.

Their exact numbers were also unknown.

Therefore, at dawn the next day, Gu Zheng had Zhang Boshong remain in the county town to guard against any further trouble from the Night Demons.

Meanwhile, Gu Zheng himself accompanied personnel from the County Magistrate’s Office to the more distant villages to help evacuate the residents.

When it came to sheer strength, Gu Zheng was worth ten men.

The elderly, children, and those with difficulty moving were placed in large rattan baskets or on flatbed carts. Gu Zheng single-handedly carried or pulled them, moving them ahead to the county town as quickly as possible.

While evacuating the people, he would kill any resurrected individuals he found with a single slash of his blade.

Just like in the county town, only one out of every three he killed had the Bloodshed quality.

After rushing about for the better part of a day, he had earned another 3 Demon Points, bringing his total to 218.

With his Demon Points once again over two hundred, it was naturally time to spend them.

He considered the requirements for equipping the Mother Empress Short Toe.

Gu Zheng added 20 points each to his Strength and Constitution, bringing them to 87 and 88, respectively.

He also added points to his Spirit, raising it to 86. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

...

[Gu Zheng]

[Realm: Alien Body · Shadow]

[Strength: 87/99]

[agility: 66 (+1)/99]

[Constitution: 88/99]

[Spirit: 86/99]

[Divine Wondrous: 36.6]

[Demon Points: 2]

[Demon Techniques: Super-speed Self-healing, Spirit Capturing, Dark Vision, Triple Jump, Fire Manipulation, 100% Absorption, Steel Claw, Water Manipulation]

[True Skill: All Heaven Jade Void Skill Alien Body Chapter (Perfected), Eight Directions Travel (Mastery), Frenzy Battle Saber Technique (Perfected)]

[Equipment Effect: Bronze Elephant Body (Inactive), Nether Heart Slave Seal, Deceptive Appearance]

...

His Strength, Constitution, and Spirit were all approaching 90.

He was about to reach the peak of the Alien Body realm!

...

...

「Dusk.」

East of Daping County Town, a long column of people trudged along a narrow official road.

"Faster, everyone, faster!"

Sun Zhenyao, his face drenched in sweat, ran back and forth along the edge of the crowd, shouting himself hoarse. "Just a little farther and we’ll be in the city! Keep pushing, everyone! Don’t stop, and whatever you do, don’t fall behind!"

"..." The procession continued its slow advance in silent protest.

Sun Zhenyao was tired, thirsty, and utterly helpless.

He didn’t want this job either.

However, Gu Zheng had given the order: the people from outside the city walls had to be moved inside.

’The area outside the city is about to become incredibly dangerous?’

’Where’s the danger?’

’We haven’t seen any danger this entire way.’

Of course, Sun Zhenyao believed Gu Zheng.

But these common folk didn’t believe it!

He could hear the occasional curses and complaints rising from the crowd.

Sun Zhenyao wasn’t deaf. Of course he could hear them...

BOOM!

A tremendous roar suddenly erupted from a mountain peak a hundred meters ahead and to their right.

Startled, Sun Zhenyao flinched and looked up just in time to see massive boulders arcing through the air from the summit.

Along with the falling rocks were two figures, one chasing the other as they flew through the air, diving toward the base of the mountain.

"Yuan Qianjun, if you’ve got any guts, stop running!"