Apocalypse: Transmigrated with an Overlord System-Chapter 255: To the City of the Dead

She needed to fight.

She couldn’t tell him why. She couldn’t. How was she supposed to explain that her system had told her her memories would only return once she reached Level 20? Just a few days ago, she had finally broken through to Level 19. But now, to reach Level 20, she needed a large number of kills and missions. The higher she climbed, the more experience points were required—and the gap between each level only kept growing.

And she needed to level up. That truth pressed against her chest like a weight she couldn’t shake off.

Xu Kai looked at her from across the fire, his sleeves rolled up and a slight sheen of sweat on his brow. He looked so natural like that—a warm, capable man from every girl’s dream. But even then, she knew he noticed something.

"You’re too quiet," he said suddenly, breaking the silence. "And you keep glancing at me."

She blinked. Had she been that obvious?

"I just... want to stretch a little," she said with a shrug, deliberately avoiding his eyes. "Maybe fight. Just for a bit."

He raised a brow. "Fight? Out of nowhere?"

She looked away, feigning nonchalance. "I’ve been resting for too long."

Xu Kai didn’t press further. He didn’t need to. He stood up, brushed the ashes from his pants, and extended his hand to her.

"Fine. Let’s go."

She hesitated, surprised. "You’re not going to ask me why?"

"I don’t need to," he said simply, his eyes soft. "If you want to fight, then I’ll take you."

There was a pause between them, unspoken understanding filling the gap.

She stood and took his hand. "Take me to the most dangerous place you can."

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Dangerous how?"

"I want to kill a lot," she said plainly. "I want something... overwhelming."

Xu Kai was silent for a moment. Then he exhaled through his nose. "The forest around the base has been quiet since the last beast tide. Even the nearby mountain zones are barren. After the ten-thousand-beast tide... most of the mutated beasts were wiped out."

Her brows furrowed. "That many...?"

He nodded. "The ground still stinks of blood. But even now, it’s too calm and quiet. There’s barely anything left to hunt."

She looked down at her hands. "Then what about the city?"

He blinked. "The city?"

"Yes," she said quickly. "There should be hordes of zombies there. Strong ones. I haven’t fought any in months. Maybe... maybe some of them have evolved too."

He looked at her, assessing.

"There are still a lot of them left in the city," she said. "Unlike beasts, zombies stay together. In tight groups. It’ll be easier to find large clusters of them there."

His lips twitched upward. "You sound a little too excited."

She looked away. "I just... I need to get stronger."

"I know."

His answer was soft, understanding.

Without another word, Xu Kai moved to pack the supplies. She helped him quietly, the tension between them light but present. He packed all the things back to his space.

And when she decided to change clothes, she realized she was still wearing his oversized shirt.

No underwear. No innerwear. Just a baggy top that hung loose with a pant that looked like a baggy sack on her—but she had folded it.

She blinked.

Xu Kai noticed her frozen state and turned. Then, without a word, he pulled out a neatly folded set of clothes from his space... fitted combat gear designed for women. Soft black stretch fabric, lightweight solid plates at the shoulders, and... undergarments.

Her face turned red.

"You—" she snatched the clothes and glared. "You had these?! Why didn’t you give them to me before?!"

He raised his hands in innocence. "I didn’t want to risk you thinking weird things."

"Weird?"

"What if you thought, ’Why does he have girls’ clothes in his space? Is he secretly seeing someone else?’" He blinked with exaggerated innocence. "You’d definitely bite me."

She narrowed her eyes. "You’re right. I should bite you."

"But," he added with a crooked grin, "you still looked cute in my clothes."

She turned away quickly, hiding her flustered face.

"Shut up."

His soft laughter echoed behind her.

Once dressed, she stepped out feeling more like herself. Her combat boots clicked on the stone floor of the hut. He pulled out his crystal teleportation ball and glanced at her.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

The world blurred around them. And she felt the familiar pull of space fluctuations.

Soon, they reappeared on the rooftop of a tall building.

The moment they arrived, the difference hit her like a wave.

The air was thick—far heavier than what she was used to. Dust clung to every breath, gritty on her tongue, and there was a strange sharpness to the scent—rust, smoke, and rot. Liora blinked against the harsh wind rushing past her ears, her eyes narrowing as she looked toward the horizon.

There was no clear sky here. Only a hazy gray smog that look heavy, almost suffocating. The sun was a dull, distant glow behind layers of pollution and decayed mist. It gave the city an eerie, washed-out hue. Like it had been drained of life and color long ago.

She had grown used to the clean air of her base—the gentle wind that brushed through the forest edge, the wide open sky that sometimes even showed stars at night. Compared to that, this place felt like a dying world.

She took a slow breath, the weight of the choice she had made pressing briefly against her chest.

"I really did choose a good place for the base..." she murmured, more to herself than to him.

Xu Kai heard her anyway. His eyes quietly scanned the broken skyline, saying nothing, but she knew he agreed.

They walked across the rooftop in silence, their boots crunching over debris and cracked stone tiles. Reaching the edge, Liora stepped forward and looked down—and what she saw made her breath hitch.

They were high. At least ten floors up.

Far below, the city stretched out in every direction, a maze of ruined buildings, fallen electric poles, and streets overtaken by vines and shattered concrete.

And Zombies. Countless of them.

They weren’t just on the roads. They crawled across the sidewalks, up the sides of buildings, even through the skeletal remains of old buses and collapsed floors. The streets were choked with them—slow, jerking, twitching forms packed so densely it was hard to believe there was any space to walk between them.

The creatures looked worse than the ones she remembered. Their skin was stretched thin over sharp bones, parts of them blackened or cracked from decay.

Some of them were no longer moving like mindless corpses. They walked with a strange, unsettling steadiness—almost like low-intelligence humans. Their spines weren’t hunched, and their steps weren’t as erratic. At a distance, they could have passed for starved, desperate survivors.

Their bodies looked more like malnourished humans than rotting zombies. But it was their faces—their twisted expressions, the cold, dead gaze in their eyes, and the way their mouths hung open too wide—that betrayed them. Whatever they were becoming, they were no longer just undead. They were something worse.

And worse there was no sign of life here.

Only the scent of rot and the low, ever-present groan that came from the masses below.

Her heart thudded in her chest, not out of fear—but adrenaline.

Xu Kai stepped beside her, sword already in his hand, eyes scanning the streets with sharp calm. "They’re upgraded too."

"I can tell," she said, her voice low, almost pleased. "This is perfect."

He didn’t question her. He didn’t try to stop her or offer a better plan. He just accepted it—as he always did.

He drew his weapon fully, resting it lightly against his shoulder, eyes focused.

"We’ll take it slow," he said. "But if you get overwhelmed—"

"I won’t," she whispered.

She wouldn’t.