Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 651: Drugged to unconsciousness.

Nine’s hands shot into the air so fast he almost dropped a bag of flour. "Wilbert! Whoa! Easy! She’s with me! She’s just... she has no filter! She’s not a spy, she’s just incredibly blunt! What creatures.... are you really in hiding?"

Nine groaned internally. Why did this always happen to him? They went for a talk and ended up at gunpoint. Life around Sunshine was dangerous.

[Warning, Host,] the system chimed in a cold, mechanical tone. [Air composition shifting. Trace amounts of neurotoxin detected. A type of sleep-inducing gas is being released.]

"What gas have you released?" She looked at Wilbert who was now wearing a helmet.

Sunshine felt a sudden, heavy weight behind her eyes. The room began to tilt. She saw a faint, shimmering mist beginning to swirl around their ankles. Wilbert wasn’t just relying on his gun; he was making sure they wouldn’t live to tell anyone where he was.

"Nine..." Sunshine muttered, her tongue feeling like it was made of lead. "We are....in bug trouble..."

In her mind, she tried to correct bug to big, but her tongue failed to move. She tried to vanish into her space, but something seemed to be blocking her mind connection to it.

Nine didn’t even get to answer. His eyes rolled back, and he slumped against the wall, sliding down to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Sunshine’s hand moved with a desperate twitch. She reached into her pocket, her fingers brushing against the cold foil of a Reddix pill. Hoping the detox pill could help if the gas turned out to be poisonous. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed hard just as the world turned to black.

As her knees hit the floor, the last thing she saw was Wilbert’s ugly, masked face looming over her, the rifle still pointed at her head.

****

Hours later, Sunshine regained consciousness_ slowly. The ceiling, which was the first thing she saw, was made of cold, reinforced stone, a far cry from the flowery paradise outside. As Sunshine’s eyes flickered open, the world stopped spinning. The Reddix pill had done its job, burning through the fog in her brain like a localized wildfire. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

She tried to sit up, only to hear the sharp clink of metal. Her wrists were bound by heavy, reinforced chains.

Next to her, Nine was having a much better time. He was sprawled out on the floor, snoring with a rhythmic, whistling sound. Occasionally, his mandibles would twitch, and he’d let out a soft, happy giggle.

"Nine!" Sunshine hissed, nudging him with her shoulder. "Wake up! We’ve been kidnapped by your so-called friend!"

Nine only hummed, a blissful smile on his face. He rolled over into a more comfortable position. Sunshine rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for a nap. She delivered a sharp, well-aimed kick to his abdomen. Nine flinched, his legs cycling in the air for a second before he settled back into his deep, drug-induced slumber.

[Host, the gas is completely out of your system,] the system chimed. Physical status: 100%.]

"You woke up much earlier than I expected," a voice rasped from the shadows.

Sunshine squinted. Wilbert was sitting at the far end of the room, but he wasn’t just sitting_ he was perched in front of a massive wall of monitors. The screens showed high-definition feeds of the mountain, the booby traps, and the trails leading up to the house.

Some of the footage was from the town, different parts. Alleys, shops, landing ports, hotels, restaurants. It was the kind of monitoring used by law enforcement agencies governments claimed were nonexistent. The harmless anti-social creature had better surveillance than most military outposts.

"Must be the work of that system inside you," Wilbert said, his tattered ears twitching. "I heard you talking all about it on your way here." He turned his chair slightly, looking at her with cold, analytical eyes. "You seem too young to be that high in the Repairman hierarchy. Most repairmen do not even get a system until they reach the master level. What level are you, girl?"

In the Repairman world, it wasn’t a secret that high-ranking members used specialized repairmen systems to help with complex fixes. Sunshine didn’t bother lying.

"I’m high enough to know these chains are a safety hazard, I am also a royal Repairman for the Glacis kingdom so you can guess how high up I am in the hierarchy." She replied.

Her tool kit was around her waist. Mentally, she issued a command: Hammer. Precise strike. Break the links, leave the skin.

The hammer rose and the heavy tool hummed to life. A sudden, metallic CRACK echoed through the room. The chains on her wrists shattered, the metal links flying in opposite directions and thudding against the stone walls.

"That was unnecessary but quite impressive." Wilbert said.

Sunshine rubbed her wrists and stood up, glaring at the purple Solmiri. "Do you really think the Repairman Council is going to let you be if you harm us? We’re kind of a big deal, Wilbert."

Wilbert didn’t look scared. He actually shook his head, looking almost tired. "I wasn’t planning on harming you. I just needed to run a background check. You came to my door asking why I was hiding. That makes you a variable. And I don’t like variables."

"So, you are hiding!" Sunshine yelled, her voice echoing. "Am I wrong? Why go through all this trouble to look like a broken, lonely old man?"

To her surprise, Wilbert didn’t answer with words. Instead, he stood up. He didn’t struggle, and he didn’t use the armrests for leverage. He simply stood on two strong, functional legs and walked toward her. The wheelchair wasn’t a necessity; it was a prop. The social anxiety, the disability_ it was all part of the costume.

"What else are you lying about?" Sunshine asked, her eyes following him. "Forget it...I do not want to know what does not concern me." She shook her head. Knowing about the Noxians had put her in enough danger as it was.