The moment Askum’s thorned arm rose—

A distant siren wailed somewhere in Narathiwat.

Faint.

Dying.

The sound dissolved into nothing.

Shops stood gaping.

Restaurants lay hollow.

Cars were abandoned in the middle of the road, doors ajar, engines cold.

The city had been emptied of its soul.

Silence.

Too much silence.

Ratree could hear her own breathing. Each inhale felt heavy, as if something unseen pressed down on her lungs. The tablet beside her emitted a soft ping, absurdly loud in the stillness.

She lay sprawled on the floor.

Cold concrete pressed into her body.

Zing radiation burned from the inside.

Askum stood before her.

The pelesit’s face was blank, stripped of emotion, as though the life beneath him carried no value at all. Crimson smoke seeped from his body, pulsing slowly, alive, like blood given form.

At the far end of the restaurant, a man’s body slumped against a cracked wall.

Limp.

Blood slipping from his lips.

Khai.

Ratree’s fingers twitched. Her body tried to respond, but the radiation crushed every nerve into submission.

Askum raised his arm higher.

Ready to strike.

His shadow swallowed Ratree whole. Her head felt too heavy to lift. Her hand clawed at the floor.

Hard.

I can’t die here.

The thought tore through her, raw and desperate.

Her father’s face flashed in her mind.

The sound of his quiet sobs as he stared at her mother’s lifeless body.

Ratree swallowed.

Her fingers moved again.

“This Zing radiation…” she whispered, her voice barely there.

“…it’s not that strong.”

With what little strength remained, she forced energy into her right arm and rolled sideways.

Askum’s blow still landed.

The impact sent Ratree crashing into a restaurant table.

The floor cracked.

Concrete shards burst into the air.

One sliced across her cheek.

A thin red line bloomed on her skin.

She slumped back, gasping. Her university jacket was torn, fabric shredded, her calf trembling as pain took hold.

Askum stared at her.

His eyes no longer burned red.

“Didn’t expect that,” he said.

He stepped closer, the space around Ratree shrinking with every movement.

“You still want to live—”

“Were you waiting for the crowd to disappear?”

Ratree cut him off.

Askum froze.

His expression tightened, authority snapping back into place.

“I could kill you even—”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

Ratree’s gaze dropped to the tablet on the floor.

The Zing graph spiked violently, overriding all other readings.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Askum stiffened.

He turned toward Khai—

A foot slammed into his face.

The impact cracked like thunder.

Askum’s body flew backward, smashing through three tables before slamming into the wall. The concrete fractured, leaving the imprint of his body behind.

He’s still alive?

Askum lifted his head.

Khai stood in front of Ratree.

Blood ran from his mouth, yet a crooked smile carved itself across his face. Not empty.

Alive.

Ratree stared.

He was smaller than Askum, yet he stood firm. That grin, half-savage, half-calm, radiated a confidence that refused to yield.

“Who are you?” Ratree’s voice trembled.

She pressed a hand to her chest.

Her breathing steadied.

The air around her felt lighter.

Khai wiped the blood from his lips.

“You can breathe properly now, right?”

Ratree froze.

That smile returned.

Her heart jolted, but she shook her head sharply. Not now.

A roar ripped through the restaurant.

Askum screamed.

Red smoke thickened, engulfing his body completely. Zing pressure surged violently. Ratree’s hair and Khai’s jacket whipped in the force. Tables and chairs lifted from the floor.

“I’m not the same as this morning!”

“Get down!”

Khai stepped in front of Ratree. She dropped instantly.

A curved wall of violet Zing formed before them. Objects slammed against it and fell away.

From the red smoke emerged a massive shape.

Twice the size of a man.

Carapaced skin.

Arms like a gorilla’s.

“The pelesit from earlier…” Ratree whispered.

Khai stepped forward.

“Run far.”

Ratree hesitated.

Khai glanced back, eyes flicking to the tablet in her hand.

A small smile appeared.

“Don’t worry.”

“But—”

He raised a finger to his lips, silencing her.

“This stays between us. Just us. Deal?”

Ratree nodded.

She backed away.

“I’ll cover your line,” she said firmly.

Humans aren’t specimens.

Everyone has their use.

Her mother’s voice echoed in her mind.

She slipped in her AirPods. Static crackled.

Zingforce was still outside the one-kilometer radius.

Ratree looked up.

Violet smoke wrapped around Khai, growing denser. The pressure forced Askum back.

He tried to advance.

The force pinned him in place.

Ratree frowned.

“Purple Zing…?”

She dug through her sling bag, pulled out her phone. Her fingers flew across the screen, searching for anything relevant.

What she found made her chest tighten.

Every article…

In Malaysian.

No official Thai reports.

No local Zingforce records.

Only obscure blogs, old forums, and a single independent podcast recording.

Ratree tapped the audio file.

The language wasn’t Thai.

She fast-forwarded.

“At that point, pelesit surrounded me.

I thought I was dead for sure.”

Ratree looked up at Khai.

Purple smoke still pressed outward from him. Askum was encased in a translucent red layer, struggling forward… failing.

“Then a man appeared,” the recording continued.

“His body was covered in violet smoke.

The pressure was different.

Not like any Zing we’ve encountered.”

Ratree stared at the screen.

“Do you know who that man was?”

The recording paused.

The voice returned, quieter now. Careful.

“He doesn’t exist in any official record of our country.”

Laughter echoed through the smoke.

Low.

Heavy.

Ratree’s skin prickled.

A violent blast ripped through the air. Violet smoke scattered. Askum staggered, claws digging into the concrete to stay upright.

Ratree fell back hard. Her phone slipped from her hand, crashing onto the floor, screen still glowing.

The recording continued.

“The man was tall.

Wearing a purple jacket…

With black stripes.”

Ratree froze.

Khai now stood taller than before. Broader. His shoulders defined. A purple jacket with black stripes clung perfectly to his form.

He waved the smoke aside calmly.

Askum groaned, like an animal realizing its territory had been violated.

Ratree swallowed.

A name surfaced in her mind.

Not because she read it.

Not because she heard it.

It simply arrived.

“…Kenz.”

Ratree fell silent.

She didn’t know why that name existed inside her.

No data.

No record.

Only an unease.

As if the name had always been there, written somewhere deep beneath conscious memory.