Apocalypse: Transmigrated with an Overlord System
Chapter 37: He’s dead. I’m alive. End of story

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: He’s dead. I’m alive. End of story

Zhou Yinuo blinked, still trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The arrogant man from before was actually sprawled out on the ground, truly like a dead pig. "Liora... how did you survive? I mean, I saw those roots wrapping around you before I blacked out. That man—he was strong, wasn’t he?"

Liora leaned back, wiping the sweat from her still-damp forehead. A small chuckle escaped her, "Strong? Not really. he was just full of himself," she said, shaking her head.

Zhou Yinuo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He thought he already won, so he got careless," Liora said, keeping her tone light. "He started losing his grip on the roots because he probably thought I was too weak to fight back. But he did not know it was a big mistake." She smirked. "The second I saw an opening, I broke free and went straight for him before he even realized what was happening."

Zhou Yinuo’s eyes widened. "You broke out of those roots? Just like that?"

Liora nodded. "He had power, sure, but he wasn’t much in a real fight. He relied too much on his abilities, but I didn’t give him a chance to use them again. Before he could summon more roots, I made sure he wasn’t going anywhere." She shrugged. "After that, it was easy."

Zhou Yinuo stared at her, amazement shining on her face. "That’s incredible! I thought... I really thought we were done for." She let out a shaky breath, running a hand through her tangled hair. "You took him down all by yourself?"

Liora said with confident. "Obviously. Who else would save me?"

Liora felt a little bit ashamed looking at the sparkling expression of Zhou Yinuo. She did not want to tell her about that mysterious man before finding out his purpose, so she started harmless lies, choosing her words carefully to hide the truth. But as Zhou Yinuo kept asking, she found herself enjoying it too much.

Without thinking, she started embellishing. "Honestly, I knew from the start he wasn’t that much of a threat. He depended too much on his powers. The second I figured out his weakness, it was over. He never had a chance against me."

Zhou Yinuo looked at her with pure admiration. "You’re amazing, Liora. I knew you were strong, but this..."

Liora grinned. "If I got scared over a weakling like him, I wouldn’t have made it this far."

[Ding! The system has recorded the host’s seamless lies.]

Liora’s smirk froze.

[Truly impressive! You’re so convincing, even you believe your own nonsense now. For a moment, I almost thought you actually fought him off.]

Liora’s expression twitched.

[What a story! It’s almost like the whole near-death experience never happened. No trauma, no poison—just the great Liora effortlessly taking down her enemies. Truly inspiring.]

Liora clenched her jaw. She clicked her tongue in annoyance at the mood-ruining system. But she also felt guilty about lying and thought, Habits are really hard to forget.

Isn’t it just like her past self? Whenever her brother helped her achieve anything, she would claim all the credit and boast about it for days, taking all the praise for herself in front of their parents, while her brother would only smile at her antics with a doting expression.

Liora sighed at the memories and realized that her parents were no longer here to praise her, nor was her brother there to dote on her. And now, realizing just how stupid she was, she knew all of them had been aware that she had never done any hard work at all, yet they never exposed her lies and even rewarded her for her so-called bravery.

A small sad smile appeared on her face, and even her eyes became misty. She could not help but want to go back to her parents and her brothers, but it was impossible—at least for now. However, she was determined to become stronger and ultimately achieve the last mission. Then, she would go back.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt somewhere?" Zhou Yinuo asked with worry. She had hardly ever seen Liora sad, so what had happened so suddenly? She could not think of a valid reason at all. Maybe Liora was hurting somewhere.

"No, no, I am alright. Just a little pain in the body, but don’t worry, it will go away soon," Liora said, quickly returning to her cheerfulness. She was afraid that if she thought about it any longer, she would start crying rivers of tears and look like a crybaby.

"Hmm! She could not afford to ruin her goddess-like image. It takes time to build an image... after all, you know."

Zhou Yinuo studied Liora’s face carefully. Something about her expression didn’t quite match the bravado she had shown just moments ago. Her usual confidence was there—bright and untouchable—but beneath it, there was something else. Like longing for something, something very dear to her heart.

And her suspicions grew stronger when she looked at Liora’s eyes. The way her eyes clouded over as if she were lost somewhere far away—Zhou Yinuo knew that wasn’t nothing.

Still, if Liora didn’t want to talk about it, pushing wouldn’t do any good. So instead, Zhou Yinuo played along, forcing a grin. "Well, since you’re such a battle goddess, you can carry me back, right? My legs still feel like jelly."

Liora raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to carry you after fighting for my life?"

"Of course," Zhou Yinuo said without shame. "Isn’t that what heroes do? Sweep in, save the day, and carry the helpless damsel to safety?"

Liora snorted. "Damsel? You’re stretching it."

Zhou Yinuo leaned back against a piece of broken concrete, sighing dramatically. "Fine. Just let me rest here forever. I’ll be one with the ruins."

Liora rolled her eyes but extended a hand. "Get up, drama queen."

Zhou Yinuo grinned and took it, pulling herself up with a groan like an old woman. But as she steadied herself, her eyes drifted back to the body of the man who had attacked them.

Despite everything, despite Liora’s casual dismissal of him, she couldn’t shake the feeling that they had been this close to losing their lives.

"You really aren’t scared?" she asked softly, her fingers tightening around Liora’s hand before she realized it.

Liora hesitated. For a second, just a second, something unreadable passed through her eyes. Then she smiled. "Scared?" she said with her ever-confident tone. "What’s there to be scared of? He’s dead. I’m alive. End of story."