The sunlight beat down on the open grass of Central Park, but Rendi only saw the flicker of orange light at the edge of his vision. He stood with his fists clenched, his lungs burning from the dash across the street.“Square up! I guess!” Rendi yelled, looking at a patch of empty space near a startled poodle.[ TARGET LOCKED. LEVEL 1 WRAITH INITIATING AGGRESSION. ]“Ayo, move!” Rendi shouted at a couple nearby. “Deadass, get out of the way! You’re in the hitbox!”“Is he... is he yelling at the grass?” the girl whispered, clutching her iced latte.“Looks like a bad trip, fr,” her boyfriend replied, reaching for his phone. “Or some weird TikTok challenge.”Rendi didn't look back. A sudden rush of cold air hit his chest, and he stumbled backward.“Woah! Bruh, that’s a violation!” Rendi swung wildly at the air. “Did you just try to phase through my ribs? That’s literally illegal!”[ DODGE SUCCESSFUL. COUNTER-ATTACK NOW. TARGET IS LOWER LEFT. ]“Lower left? Say less!” Rendi threw a haymake

Rendi fumbled with his belt, his fingers still tingling from the residual electricity of the System’s remodeling. He stared at the blue interface hovering near the kitchen bin, his heart rate spiking again—not from the System’s coercion this time, but from pure, unadulterated stress.“A hundred gallons, System? A hundred? You’re high-key bugging,” Rendi hissed, pulling a baggy hoodie over his new, alarmingly dense frame. “That’s not a supply run. That’s a whole-ass horror movie set. People are gonna think I’m trying to summon an ancient CEO.”[ REMAINING TIME: 23 HOURS 42 MINUTES. THE HATCHING REQUIRES A SPECIFIC BIOLOGICAL CONDUCTOR. ANIMAL BLOOD IS THE MOST ACCESSIBLE CATALYST. ]“Accessible? For who? Dracula?” Rendi grabbed his phone, his thumb hovering over a maps app. “I live in the city, fam. I can barely find a grocery store that sells fresh kale, and you want me to pull up with a tanker truck for cow juice?”[ LOCAL SLAUGHTERHOUSE ‘MAMAT’S FINE CUTS’ DETECTED WITHIN 4.2 KM. PR

“Wait, run? Rendi, why are you acting like the world is ending? It’s just a blackout!” Sari shouted, her voice echoing down the hallway as she struggled to keep pace with his sudden, frantic energy.“It’s not the blackout, Mbak! It’s the kitchen! Your kitchen is high-key a hazard zone right now!” Rendi skidded to a halt in front of Unit 2A, his hand trembling as he reached for her door handle.“Hazard zone? I cleaned the counters this morning! Get your hands off my door!”“Mbak, please, I’m not joking! Give me the keys! Give them to me right now!”“Why? So you can break more of my stuff? Absolutely not!” Sari clutched her purse to her chest, her eyes wide with suspicion. “You’re acting super sus, Rendi. I’m calling the police. I’m actually doing it this time.”“No! Don’t call the feds! There is literally a monster in there! If you go in there without a strategy, you’re gonna end up as a main course!” Rendi hissed, glancing up at the hallway ceiling as if expecting obsidian tendrils to

The violet eddies in the sky swirled closer, their rhythmic pulsing casting a strobe-like shadow over the gravel roof. Rendi wiped a bead of cold sweat from his eye and looked at the drop down to Sari’s balcony.“Ayo, System, give me a clutch landing here,” Rendi hissed, positioning himself on the ledge. “If I clip into the floorboards now, it’s a total skill issue.”[ NOTICE: AGILITY PENALTY REDUCED TO 50%. RECOMMENDED ACTION: CONTROLLED DESCENT. ]“Say less. Controlled descent it is.”He swung over the edge, his boots scraping the brickwork as he lowered himself toward the small metal railing below. He dropped, his sneakers hitting the balcony with a soft thud that vibrated through his reinforced calves.“Mbak Sari! Unlock the screen! Move with haste, fam!” Rendi yelled, banging his fist against the sliding glass.Sari, who had been staring blankly at her destroyed kitchen, spun around with a scream. “Rendi? Are you—did you just come from the sky again?!”“Open the door, Mbak! No ca

“Yo, Adit, eyes on the screen! Deadass, who is seven feet behind us?! That’s inside the collision box!” Rendi roared, his knuckles white against the obsidian-plated steering wheel of the Rizz-Wagon.“I’m looking, I’m looking! Bruh, the motion sensors are bugging!” Adit scrambled across the back, nearly tripping over a glowing copper conduit. “The HUD is showing a heat signature, but the cam feed is pure static! It’s like they’re using a signal jammer!”“Seven feet? Rendi, that’s literal tailgating in the end times!” Sari shrieked, her eyes fixed on the rear monitor. “Wait—look at the frame! Is that a shadow or a person?!”“Probably a rogue NPC trying to grief the getaway!” Rendi slammed his foot on the accelerator. The van didn’t roar; it hummed with a frequency that made the nearby windows of a derelict convenience store shatter into perfect geometric cubes. “Or a new player trying to hitch a ride on the meta! No free carries today, fam! None!”“He’s staying consistent with the speed