They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System

Chapter 549: That’s Impossible!

Somto followed, the calm in his expression almost unnerving, as if waking in an unknown place 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 black blade 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 placement, 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 glaze. 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 camouflaged 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 floor lamp and found a directional microphone hidden inside the bulb housing.

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

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Inside the surveillance 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 black.

there goes

the hell are they doing

vase cam died

one down! Are

it," the first guard hissed, just in time to watch

pull from backup angles, but Arthur’s and Somto’s movements stayed just outside reach, always

"Painting feed offline."

"Table cam, gone."

mic too,

that had been filled with silent observation was a patchwork of black rectangles, the

Back in the room.

beside Nnenna. His

"All clear."

reassuring pat on the head, as if they hadn’t just dismantled

after clearing every trace of surveillance

voice laced with quiet concern. He knew her body wasn’t yet conditioned like theirs,

speak, but his gaze was locked on her, steady and unblinking, waiting for

she might never have guessed. Their expressions gave nothing away, but she

even halfway healed. Just standing here had to be agony, yet they

it made

fine," she snapped, the words sharper than she

widened slightly, surprise flickering there before they exchanged a silent look. She

worry," Somto said in a calm, almost soothing tone.

made the irritation

gave it