<h4>Chapter 549: That’s Impossible!</h4>


    Somto followed, the calm in his expression almost unnerving, as if waking in an unknown ce was routine for him.


    They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.


    Arthur’s eyes moved in a tight, deliberate sweep, floor to ceiling, left to right, recording every detail. He pressed two fingers lightly to the wall beside the bed, tapping once, twice, three times, listening for air pockets in the structure.


    A faint, hollow thud made his jaw tighten. With a sharp motion, he slid a thin ck de from inside his boot and pried open the seam just enough to reveal the faint gleam of a lens. He crushed it between thumb and forefinger before tucking the broken pieces into his pocket.


    Somto, already across the room, approached the curtains without disturbing their natural drape. He checked the stitching first, then the curtain rod, then the folds, his fingers brushing over the fabric with surgical precision until they stopped on a single coarse thread. He tugged. A needle sized camera dropped into his palm. He snapped it cleanly in half and set the pieces quietly on the nightstand.


    Arthur moved to the decorative vase in the corner. He didn’t touch it immediately, he circled once, noting the cement, the shadows, the unnatural angle of the base.


    Then he crouched, gripped the bottom rim, and twisted. A lens the size of a match head popped out from the ze. He didn’t bother to look at it before grinding it beneath his heel.


    Somto vaulted lightly onto the bed, not a bounce, not a sound, and inspected the chandelier’s metal framework. His fingers skimmed the gilded molding until he found it: a wafer thin disc camouged under gold paint. He plucked it out and flicked it across the room to Arthur, who caught it without looking and crushed it in his palm.


    They kept moving. Behind paintings. Under the lip of the table. Beneath the armrests of chairs. Arthur even pressed an ear to the floorboards to detect any faint mechanical hum. Somto disassembled the top of a floormp and found a directional microphone hidden inside the bulb housing.


    In less than ny seconds, the air in the room changed, no longer under surveince, no longer prey being watched.


    -----------


    Inside the surveince room, one of the operators leaned forward. "Wait... the bed cam’s gone dark."


    "That’s impossible, it’s hardwired," another muttered, fingers flying over controls.


    A second monitor flickered to ck.


    "...And there goes the curtain feed."


    "What the hell are they doing in there?"


    "Don’t know—" The vase cam died with a sharp static pop.


    "Third one down! Are they finding them?!"


    "Looks like it," the first guard hissed, just in time to watch the chandelier feed vanish in mid frame.


    The team scrambled, trying to pull from backup angles, but Arthur’s and Somto’s movements stayed just outside reach, always one step ahead.


    "Painting feed offline."


    "Table cam, gone."


    "Floormp mic too, dammit!"


    In less than two minutes, the wall of screens that had been filled with silent observation was a patchwork of ck rectangles, the operators’ curses filling the sudden, hollow quiet.


    Back in the room.


    Arthur finally straightened, standing beside Nnenna. His voice was low but firm.


    "All clear."


    Somto gave her a small, reassuring pat on the head, as if they hadn’t just dismantled an invisible web of eyes and ears.


    Only after clearing every trace of surveince did they finally turn to Nnenna.


    "How do you feel?" Somto asked, his voiceced with quiet concern. He knew her body wasn’t yet conditioned like theirs, that kind of resilience took years. He stepped closer. "Any pain?"


    Arthur didn’t speak, but his gaze was locked on her, steady and unblinking, waiting for her answer as if it was the only thing that mattered in the room.


    Nnenna blinked. If the Love System hadn’t already told her their condition, she might never have guessed. Their expressions gave nothing away, but she knew the truth.


    They weren’t even halfway healed. Just standing here had to be agony, yet they were worried about her... and her injuries were already half mended.


    The unfairness of it made her bristle.


    "I’m fine," she snapped, the words sharper than she intended.


    Two sets of eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering there before they exchanged a silent look. She must be scared, they concluded.


    "Don’t worry," Somto said in a calm, almost soothing tone. "We’ll be fine. I’ve dealt with worse before."


    But that only made the irritation in her chest re hotter.


    Finally, she gave it words.


    "You two, sit. Down. Now!"


    Her voice carried an authority she didn’t even know she had. Before either could argue, she grabbed them both by the arms and pulled.


    And they... followed. Instinctively. Like their bodies had decided before their minds could catch up. Somto’s hand twitched as if to steady her grip.


    Arthur’s gaze stayed on her the entire time, unreadable, but his steps matched hers without hesitation. In that moment, it wasn’t about reasoning or pride, just an unspoken trust that made them move when she told them to.


    As they sat, both men wore the same confused expression.


    Sit down? She actually wanted them to sit down? That wasn’t the reaction of someone scared out of her mind.


    "Are you... okay?" Somto asked, his tone hesitant, almost testing the waters.


    Silence.


    "Nnenna?" he tried again, softer this time, watching the strange mix of anger and something else settle over her face.


    "I’m fine," Nnenna snapped. Her eyes narrowed. "You guys aren’t."


    Her bluntness made them both blink.


    The two exchanged a quick nce, half questioning, half... cautious.


    ’How would she know?’ flickered in Somto’s mind.


    "We’re fine," he countered automatically, his voice carrying that calm, unshakable tone only trained fighters seemed to have. There was no way she could know what was really going on inside their bodies.


    "No, you’re not," Nnenna shot back, voice steady, almost cutting. "Stop lying to me. I may still have a long way to go before I’m even half as good as you, but don’t insult my life experience."


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