The sun was just climbing over the horizon, washing the area in a pale morning light that hadn’t fully come alive yet. The air was cool. Ratree’s soft hair swayed with the breeze, brushing against her cheek.

In the distance, Pasar Muae stood silent.

Too silent.

The stalls were still open. Food was still warm. Thin steam rose lazily from abandoned woks. Fruits and vegetables were neatly arranged, fresh, untouched. Not a single thing disturbed.

Ratree swallowed.

The silence pressed in. A market that should’ve been buzzing at this hour looked like it had been emptied in a rush. Her eyes caught on a sealed metal plate embedded in the road.

“Guess everyone’s hiding in the bunker,” she muttered.

She brushed her hair aside and shoved her AirPods into both ears.

Zzzzzrrrrr…

Static.

“No Zingforce radio signal,” she said under her breath.

She pulled out her tablet and moved forward slowly, carefully, eyes scanning every corner. The graph on the screen stayed flat.

Zing Read: NULL

No pelesit presence within a 100-meter radius.

Ratree tightened her grip on the tablet. The data said it was safe.

Her feet said otherwise.

She picked up her pace toward the market.

Static hissed in her ears. Every sound felt amplified. Canvas tents flapped in the wind, loud enough to crawl under her skin. A chill crept up the back of her neck. Goosebumps rose along her arms.

Her eyes kept flicking back to the tablet. The graph was her only early warning. Miss it, and she’d be the one getting hunted.

She moved between stalls, keeping low.

“Typical… Zingforce is always late,” she muttered, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

The radio stayed dead. Just empty static, thickening the unease in her chest.

Pip.

A small spike appeared on the tablet.

Ratree froze.

“Pelesit tissue residue?” she whispered. The Zing reading was weak, barely there.

Using the tablet’s radar, she followed the signal.

On top of an overturned stall table lay a small fragment, rock-like in shape. Thin red smoke curled gently from its surface.

Ratree’s eyes lit up.

She quickly pulled out a sample vial and carefully collected the fragment.

A grin spread across her face as she lifted the vial slightly.

“Yes. At least I didn’t come empty-handed.”

The smile faded.

Only then did she really take in her surroundings. The stall was wrecked. Woks overturned. Canopies collapsed. Tables broken.

This wasn’t random damage.

This was a battlefield.

The static in her ears suddenly felt wrong.

“Who fought this thing?” she murmured. “Zingforce isn’t even here yet…”

Pip! Pip! Pip! Pip!

The tablet screamed.

Ratree jolted.

“Two spikes?” she whispered. “Close… but where?”

She spun around, searching.

Pip! Pip! Pip!

The beeping accelerated. Sweat formed on her forehead. Her heart pounded. Her breathing grew heavy.

Whatever happens, I need to get out of here.

She stepped back, legs feeling like lead.

BOOM!

CRASH!

Something slammed into the stall behind her.

Ratree was thrown forward. The tablet flew from her hands. She hit the ground hard, rolling before crashing into another stall.

She groaned, clutching her head, vision spinning.

Gasping for air, she looked back.

Her eyes widened. Her throat locked. Her body trembled.

A massive figure lay sprawled across the wreckage, twice the size of a human. Its body was hard, dark brown, almost black. Thick, shell-like armor wrapped around its wrists and legs. Its arms were huge, muscular, gorilla-like.

Its head resembled a cockroach, crowned with two antenna-like horns.

One of them was broken.

“Pelesit…?” Ratree whispered, then clamped a hand over her mouth.

The creature roared, the sound deep and raw, like an angered tiger. It slowly pushed itself up, staring at something in front of it.

Ratree followed its gaze.

From the drifting smoke, a man stepped forward.

Long hair parted down the middle. A black t-shirt. Long pants. In his hand, a dented wok, gripped tight.

His eyes looked tired.

But sharp.

He raised the wok slightly, a silent warning.

The pelesit answered with a low growl, its stance tense, threatened.

“Who… is this guy?” Ratree whispered.

A normal human. No armor. No real weapon.

Standing face-to-face with a creature that could tear him apart.

Pip! Pip! Pip!

The tablet continued screaming on the ground, but Ratree didn’t look at it anymore.

On the screen, two Zing readings remained active.

RED ZING

UNKNOWN ZING ???