Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 652: Puppet master’s game.

Wilbert reached down and began to unbolt the chains from the still-dreaming Nine. The insectoid remained still, making muttering sounds that sounded like his wife’s name.

Sunshine sighed and shook her head. There was obsession and then there was, whatever Nine’s thing was. It could not be explained. Love was too simple of a word to describe it.

Wilbert did not care about that; he was more interested in Sunshine. He wanted to figure out her secrets. "Your right, my appearance is a costume to keep others from remembering me. When you are ugly, everyone looks away because they deem it rude to stare. " He muttered. He looked at Sunshine; his brow furrowed in genuine curiosity. "You are human. How did you reverse the neurotoxin? No human metabolism is that fast."

"I took a pill," Sunshine said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out another Reddix.

Wilbert grabbed it fast. Faster than she could breathe.

Sunshine noted that and backed away, she knelt beside Nine, squeezed his mandibles open, and popped the pill in. "It’s called a Reddix. It’s for emergencies, like when your ’friends’ try to gas you."

Wilbert licked the pill, and walked back to his monitors, holding it up to the light. He looked at it like it was an ancient relic, his expression shifting from suspicion to a strange, deep curiosity. "You were able to acquire Levias marrow. Did they hand it to you, or did you harvest it personally?"

"Both." she replied candidly.

Sunshine walked over to him, standing beside his chair to look at the monitors. On one screen, she saw a small bird trigger a trap_ a puff of colorful smoke exploded, harmless but startling.

Even birds were not welcome here. This was a field of flowers and trees, their natural home. What was it that scared Wilbert? "Who are you really? Nine says you know about Xylos. Do you?" she asked softly.

Wilbert didn’t look at the pill anymore. He looked at the monitors, zooming in on and old Solmiri woman that had broken out into a random dance. And then, she was joined by a dozen others who had been passing by randomly.

"Ack!" he said, like it was disgusting.

"Please, I need to know. My world is in danger." She begged desperately.

Then, he turned his head and looked at Sunshine. It wasn’t the look of a captor or an enemy. It was the look of a man watching a ship sink while standing safely on the shore. His eyes were heavy with pity.

"It doesn’t matter who I am," Wilbert whispered. "What matters is what I am going to say. I know everything that is happening on earth. You being a repairman, you must be working so hard, aren’t you? Trying to fix the broken world. It is in your nature as a repairman. The very first trait they circle when looking to hire."

He reached out, his long, purple finger pointing toward a small blue dot on the map on one of the side screens_ Earth.

"You will not be able to save it, Sunshine Raine," he said, his voice cracking with a sudden, raw emotion. "The rot is too deep, the destruction is too much and the enemy you fight is powerful and calculative. Just give up on it. Take your people, find a new home...you can do that you know. Sometimes when a situation becomes overwhelming, it is okay to drop everything and disappear."

Sunshine felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning. She wondered if he was talking about his own predicament.

"I cannot give up," she said, her voice small but firm. "If I run, I cannot take everyone that is depending on me. They are too many."

Wilbert just looked back at the screen. "Then you’ll break. Just like the rest of those other worlds that were destroyed by the Xylas."

Behind them, Nine let out a loud, sudden gasp as the Reddix pill hit his system. "I’M AWAKE! I am... wait... why does my stomach hurt? Like I was kicked or something."

Sunshine and Wilbert both turned their heads in sync to look at Nine, who was currently rolling around on the floor like a beetle stuck on its back. He was clutching his stomach, his mandibles clicking in a frantic, confused rhythm.

"You’ll feel better in a few minutes," Wilbert said, his voice flat and devoid of the terrified act he’d been putting on for years. "The nausea will go away soon; some people experience that."

Nine finally managed to sit up, his eyes wide and accusatory. He pointed a trembling finger at the purple creature. "Wilbert! I’ve been bringing you food and medicines for years! And you gas me? Is this how you repay me?" Nine scrambled to his feet, dusting off his repairman uniform with indignant huffs. "We are not here to hurt you; how many times must I say this."

Wilbert nodded, eyes colored with regret. "I got that Nine_ my apologies to the both of you."

Nine gestured wildly toward Sunshine. "This is the friend I told you about! The one I said was worth the risk! You’re supposed to help her save her home... her family... her whole world!"

Wilbert didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look at either of them. He just leaned back in his high-tech chair, the glow of the monitors reflecting in his dull, tired eyes. "There is nothing to save, Nine. You’re asking me to help her hold back an ocean with a plastic bucket."

The room went cold. Sunshine felt a knot tighten in her chest. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means the Xylas have taken an interest in your world, you are puppets in a puppet master’s game," Wilbert said.

The words sounded horrifying. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Once they pick interest in a torn world, they don’t just conquer it. They play with it. They poke and prod and stir the pot until there’s nothing left but ash. And do you know why no one in the other galaxies intervenes? Because your world was already dying. Why waste resources on a funeral?"

He stood up, walking toward a holographic map of galaxies "This all started after the intergalactic war ended. The Xylas... they didn’t want peace. They wanted more death. They wanted to instill a fear so deep that no creature in the galaxy would ever dare challenge them. They needed a playground to show how dangerous they are and failed to control their thirst for bloody games. That is what makes them too dangerous."