Chapter 122: Who Would Have Thought? 

The sound of my mistake didn’t just fade—it traveled. It ricocheted off the hollow metal walls, stretching into the dark until it finally thinned… and then vanished.

But the silence didn’t survive for long.

Footsteps bled into it—measured, deliberate, each one heavy enough to carry authority, yet slow enough to suggest the person was counting the seconds between them. Gravel shifted beneath unseen weight, whispering against the already suffocating air. A faint metallic tang rode the air, as if the walls themselves were sweating rust.

Beside me, Raven’s fingers closed around my sleeve. Each new step tightened her grip, a silent attempt to hold back whatever was coming.

Damian’s device trembled in his hand, its buzz swelling until it gnawed at my ears. The pitch climbed fast—urgent, desperate—matching the stiffness creeping into all our muscles.

We froze. Every instinct screamed to silence that damned thing before it revealed us. But the device didn’t care. Its rising whine felt like a