Apocalypse: Transmigrated with an Overlord System
Chapter 101: Don’t Have a Sweet Heart

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Don’t Have a Sweet Heart

After making sure everyone was properly treated and had enough rest, they began clearing the battlefield. The sunlight had fully arrived, revealing the damage more clearly. Because of the mutated black widow spider, the front area of the villa was almost nowhere to be seen, and the light was directly falling on them, illuminating the chaos that had been created by the mutated spider.

The entire hall was filled with the corpses of mutated spiders, and the smell of blood and grime filled the air.

Everyone worked in silence. They checked every corpse carefully to ensure no crystal core was left behind. Even the smallest mutated spiders were checked, and those with cores had them harvested quickly and stored away for later use.

At last, they stood before the massive corpse of the black widow spider. Its size alone was terrifying, even when dead. Its long legs were bent at unnatural angles, and its eyes were cloudy, lifeless, but still unsettling.

This one was their main target. They had to take out the crystal core from its head. Even though its head was cracked open, they could not make the tear bigger and look inside. They still had to chop its head.

The others stepped back as they tried to split open its head, but nothing worked. No blade could pierce its thick shell. Not even the weapons made by the ability users managed to go more than a few inches deep.

Liora watched all this from a distance. She was not going to participate in that at all. But her thoughts wandered—would her mana sword be able to pierce its head? But what if her sword only got damaged?

She didn’t want to take the risk.

If her sword twisted or became useless, then what would she do in the next fight? She needed her mana sword. She was only left with it. Her gut told her this spider’s head was far too hard, and if she tried, her blade would surely become crooked before even piercing through. That loss wasn’t worth it.

So the responsibility fell on Zhao Ren.

He stepped forward silently and summoned his metal ability. Spears, long blades, and new sharp tools began forming in his hands one after another. With a deep breath, he picked one and stabbed it down with force.

Still no good. Nothing happened.

He gritted his teeth and tried again with another shape. This time the blade cracked slightly into the shell.

Everyone joined in to help him. With the tools Zhao Ren made, they chipped away bit by bit at the hard head of the massive spider. The group of humans surrounding this dead monster looked so small—like children trying to carve a mountain.

Meanwhile, Liora sat quietly a few meters away with the child still in her arms. She had taken off her bloodied outer jacket and wrapped it around him like a blanket. His small fingers held tightly onto her sleeve, his eyes wide and alert but still refusing to speak.

She unwrapped a piece of chocolate and held it out to him.

"Here," she said softly, "You must be hungry."

He didn’t move at first. His nose twitched slightly at the smell of chocolate, and slowly, he leaned forward to nibble it. Liora smiled and wiped the dirt from his cheek with the edge of her sleeve.

"What’s your name?" she asked gently, her voice low and careful.

The boy didn’t answer. He looked at her, eyes flickering with something she did not know, but she noticed they widened then dimmed slightly, and then he quickly buried his face against her chest again.

Liora didn’t press him. She simply rubbed his back and handed him a small energy bar next. "It’s okay. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to."

She held him close as the others continued working on the spider. Her thoughts drifted for a moment, but she quickly focused back on the boy in her arms. Right now, she just wanted to rest.

Liora sighed and leaned back against the wall of the ruined villa, holding the boy in her arms. The chocolate wrapper fluttered in the breeze, and the half-eaten energy bar remained clenched in the child’s small hand. His breathing was steady now, and his head rested on her shoulder, eyes closed.

Her gaze slowly wandered to the broken hall stretched out in front of her. All this destruction... and it had only taken place right outside the villa’s entrance. Just one step out, and they had ended up fighting waves of mutated insects, including that monstrous black widow.

If this is what’s waiting just outside their villa, she thought, then what the hell is waiting out in the open world?

She didn’t even want to imagine it.

Liora’s eyes darkened. It was clear now that the outside was far more dangerous than any of them had expected. Their plan was to leave this place. But if they struggled this much at the doorstep... then their future journey was going to be even more brutal.

There’s no going back, she reminded herself. Life’s only going to get harder from now on. And we need to be ready.

She was lost in her thoughts when suddenly—

"YES! We did it!"

A loud cheer echoed across the open hall.

Liora looked up to see the group celebrating. They had finally managed to split open the head of the massive spider. Its thick shell had given way, leaving a jagged crack wide enough for someone to climb in.

But just as their cheer grew louder, it was suddenly cut short.

With a loud plop, Zhao Ren, who had been standing right on top of the spider’s head, disappeared inside.

There was a beat of stunned silence.

Then—

"...What the fuck!" Zhao Ren’s voice exploded from inside the hollow spider skull. "This goddamn thing just swallowed me! Ugh! It’s all over me—what the hell even is this slime?!"

The group froze. Then one by one, laughter burst out of them like breaking dam water. Hooting, wheezing, wiping tears from their eyes, no one could stop.

Liora cracked a smile too, watching from her spot with the boy still curled in her lap.

A moment later, Zhao Ren climbed out of the spider’s head, cursing every step of the way. His face was twisted in horror, and his entire body was covered in black blood and sticky grime.

He looked like he had just crawled out of a sewer pipe.

In his hand, he held the spider’s crystal core, dripping with the black blood.

"Fuck this spider and all its eighteen generations," he grumbled, waving the crystal like it owed him money. "What the hell was that brain made of?! It wasn’t even solid—it was like soup! Ugh, I think it went in my boots! Oh God—I touched that with my hands!"

The team burst into laughter.

"You sure you weren’t born in a gutter?" Liang Zihan called out, barely able to breathe through his snickers.

"I thought you were swimming for fun," Mei added, holding her nose dramatically. "Are you trying a new spa treatment? I heard monster brain slime is good for your skin."

"Smells like you bathed in fermented meat!" someone else choked.

Zhao Ren’s expression twisted like he had just chewed a bitter worm. "Laugh all you want, I’m not doing this shit again! Next time, you can go diving in a spider’s skull!"

"You looked majestic falling in, though," Yun Shou said with a completely straight face. "Like a hero returning to his natural habitat."

"Fuck off, Yun Shou!"

Suddenly, Yan Lin just raised her hands calmly and stepped forward. With a flick of her fingers, a stream of clean water formed and drenched Zhao Ren from head to toe. It washed away most of the grime and spider goo, though it left him completely soaked.

"Better?" Yan Lin asked mildly.

Zhao Ren shivered, gazing at her with a speechless expression. "You could’ve warmed it, sweetheart," he said through gritted teeth.

"You know... I don’t have a sweetheart," Yan Lin said with a shrug.