This was the story Gu Zheng gave.
Zhang Hucheng had no suspicions. After reading the statement, he left the Criminal Arrest Squad Room. He immediately went to get the money and then collected the body.
...
"That Zhang Hucheng fellow wouldn't say much, but it's no big deal. Don't worry, Gu Zheng. I've already written to my mentor for information about the Demon Fiends. We should hear back in ten days at most."
In King Runan's villa, Tong Yuanshan stood at the bedroom doorway and said softly to Gu Zheng, "But you, Gu Zheng, you must be careful after you go down into the passage. If you sense any danger, retreat immediately."
"I understand!"
With a firm fist-and-palm salute and a nod, Gu Zheng picked up a torch. Long saber in hand, he stepped into the entrance of the tunnel, which was now clear of its stone slab and pedestal.
He walked about a dozen paces down the passage, which reeked of a foul, pungent odor. Along the walls on both sides, he saw sconces for oil lamps mounted at regular intervals.
But now, the sconces were all out of oil.
Gu Zheng didn't bother trying to light them. Torch in hand, he walked step by step into the darkness.
His Spirit, which had reached 10, constantly scanned for any movement ahead.
He walked on without stopping, but found nothing other than a few scattered bones.
There were, however, tracks on the ground left by crawling Demon Rats.
Keeping his eyes on the tracks, he headed deeper in.
He turned, went straight, then straight again, and turned once more.
He walked without stopping for over half an hour before a light suddenly appeared up ahead.
Gu Zheng immediately slowed his pace and approached cautiously.
He kept his senses on high alert, wary of the source of the light.
Only when he was right beside it did he realize the light was coming from above.
The end of the passage opened into the bottom of an abandoned water well.
The light was shining down from the well's opening.
Snow was still falling from the sky, and it had accumulated in a thick layer at the bottom of the well.
Gu Zheng wedged his torch into a crack in the wall. He stood at the bottom of the well and waited for a moment, confirming there was no movement outside the opening.
With a light push of his feet, he scaled the well wall and leaped out.
WHOOSH!
As he leaped from the well, before his feet even touched the ground, Gu Zheng scanned his surroundings while still in mid-air.
He saw no Demon Rats, nor any people.
Outside the well was another abandoned garden.
Beyond the garden, there were no signs of habitation, only a few abandoned stone houses.
SWISH~
With another light push of his feet, Gu Zheng braved the falling snow and leaped out of the rubble-strewn garden. He followed the tracks left by the crawling Demon Rats out of the ruins.
Just as he emerged, he saw the entrance to a village at the foot of a mountain to his front right. Several figures were moving unsteadily.
'People?'
Gu Zheng's eyebrows shot up. Without breaking stride, he quickly rushed over.
"Hey folks, are you..."
His greeting died in his throat. Gu Zheng froze, his pupils constricting.
The swaying figures he'd seen a moment ago did look human from a distance, but their skin, their eyes, their bodies... they were anything but.
Their eyes were lifeless and white, their skin was rotting away, in some places revealing the bone underneath.
They moved unsteadily because two of them had broken legs. Another had its abdomen hollowed out, a massive hole running straight through its torso where its organs should have been. The last one was missing half its head.
Yet these four... things... did not fall. They continued to move slowly, as if they were still alive.
But the Death Qi emanating from them was incredibly thick.
'The living dead?'
'Zombies?'
Gu Zheng's brows furrowed deeply.
He hadn't found any more Demon Rats, but he had found zombies instead.
The zombies didn't attack him. They just swayed and moved about instinctively, their white eyes seemingly unable to see him at all.
But Gu Zheng didn't dare let his guard down.
He skirted around them and entered the village quietly.
The village was deathly still.
'No living people... no, to be more precise, there isn't a single trace of a living creature's presence.'
There were no chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, pigs, or dogs. Not even the sound of birds or insects.
All he saw, as he ventured deeper, were more of the dead-like villagers—in corners, inside houses, some standing motionless, others shuffling and swaying.
The village wasn't large. Gu Zheng quickly made a full circuit but found not a single living soul.
Standing on a hill behind the village, he looked into the distance. A great, mist-shrouded mountain came into view.
'Great Dragon Mountain?'
'The underground passage dug from King Runan's villa... the exit actually led all the way to Great Dragon Mountain.'
Great Dragon Mountain was nearly ten kilometers from Qingshi County Town.
For some reason, Gu Zheng felt that the distant Great Dragon Mountain looked different now.
He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, though.
He glanced back at the lifeless village. A strange aura pervaded the air there as well.
'...I should go take a look!'
After a moment's thought, Gu Zheng turned and headed for Great Dragon Mountain.
His intuition told him the Demon Rat he'd killed last night had likely come from Great Dragon Mountain.
He charged down the slope, crossed a field, and another village came into view.
But this village had been utterly destroyed, smashed by massive boulders and stone pillars.
The houses were mostly made of wood with thatched roofs; there were hardly any stone walls.
With boulders the size of millstones—or even entire houses—crashing down, not a single structure could have survived.
As for the strangely shaped stone pillars, their lengths were even more outrageous—one, three, even five zhang long.
As he entered the village, Gu Zheng discovered that in addition to the boulders and stone pillars, there were also bones from unknown beasts, and even massive skeletons.
The bones were one to two zhang long and as thick as water buckets, while the skeletons were as large as entire buildings.
These things had smashed down on the village, completely obliterating it.
Gu Zheng walked through the wreckage but didn't see a single body.
He did, however, find plenty of Demon Rat tracks. And it wasn't just their prints; there were also claw marks from other, unknown giant beasts.
'Are they all Demon Fiends?'
'Where did they come from?'
As Gu Zheng searched vigilantly, his mind filled with questions.
'Two villages in a row, and not a single living person.'
'Clearly, no one was left alive in any of the other nearby villages either.'
'Everyone in the villages near Great Dragon Mountain... they're all dead?'
Gu Zheng's heart lurched.
And just then—
[Equippable Item Discovered]
[Heaven-Stepping Demon Elephant Fang Fragment]
[Equip Conditions: Strength 10, Constitution 10, Spirit 10, Agility 10]
[Equipment Effect: Bronze Elephant Body]
[Bronze Elephant Body: Total physical defense, overwhelming power.]
[Equip?]
...
Lines of prompts suddenly flashed through his mind, materializing before his very eyes.
Gu Zheng stopped in his tracks, a look of shocked delight on his face.
'An equippable item? The Heaven-Stepping Demon Elephant Fang? An Equipment Effect?'
'The equipment pane has this kind of function?'
'Or rather, is this the proper way to use the equipment pane?'
The oppressive weight he'd felt just a moment ago was instantly swept away.
Elated, Gu Zheng scanned his surroundings, searching for the "Heaven-Stepping Demon Elephant Fang."
Then, just two paces to his right, he saw it. A massive, cylindrical stone pillar, seven to eight zhang long, lay slanted on the ground. Its surface was pitted and scarred, mostly grayish-white with patches of black, and it exuded an intangible aura. One end had crushed a wall and two thatched huts.
'...This is the Heaven-Stepping Demon Elephant Fang?'
Gu Zheng blinked, then gave the command in his mind.
'Equip!'
WHOOSH~
His vision blurred for an instant, and the massive cylindrical stone pillar vanished.
In his equipment pane, a complete, virtual ivory tusk now occupied one of the slots.
[Gu Zheng]
[Realm: Alien Body · Xianfeng]
[Strength: 11+ (299)/10]
[Agility: 10+ (149)/10]
[Constitution: 10+ (299)/10]
[Spirit: 10+ (149)/10]
[Divine Wondrous: 0.5+ (299)]
[Demon Points: 0]
[Demon Techniques: Super-speed Self-healing (Inactive)]
[Equipment Effect: Bronze Elephant Body (0.05% Unlocked)]
...
His muscles suddenly swelled, his bones abruptly hardened, and his skin instantly turned the color of bronze. A Divine Power materialized within him, so immense it felt as if it would burst his body apart. At the same time, an urge to vent, to roar, to destroy everything around him, surged through his mind.
HAAAAH!
Gu Zheng exhaled, and the breath he released became tangible, shooting through the air like a sharp arrow for more than ten meters.
"This... is the Bronze Elephant Body?"
His clothes were stretched taut against his frame like a second skin. Feeling the immense power coursing through him, Gu Zheng had to fight the urge to throw his head back and roar at the sky.
But the excitement in his heart was impossible to contain.
'Bronze Elephant Body!'
'This Equipment Effect is just absurd.'
'With this effect active, he's instantly become something more than human.'
'And this is with only 0.05% of it unlocked. What would it be like if it were one hundred percent unlocked?'