Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 583: A bomb!

A bright flash of blue and yellow light lit up the museum. Nine shrieked and threw himself behind a stone statue, covering his eyes. That newly found friendship he had formed with Sunshine started to fizz out. He was sure that she was going to get them both killed.

The current surged through the Aktith-aqua liquid. The blue fluid began to swirl, glowing brighter and brighter until the entire room was bathed in a soft, heavenly light. Deep inside the machine, a heavy gear groaned, then shifted.

Clunk!

Whirrr!

Suddenly, the music box came to life.

A melody began to play_ a sound so clear and sweet it felt like it was pulling at Sunshine’s very soul. It wasn’t just music; it was a memory of a beautiful moment but a sad one too. Tiny mechanical figures on top of the box began to dance with their tails, a merman and a mermaid, their movements smooth and perfect.

Nine peeked out from behind the statue. His antennas twitched in rhythm with the song. "Whoa," he breathed, walking back toward the box. "It’s... it’s actually singing. For a second there I thought it was going to burst."

Sunshine let out a long breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. The tension in her shoulders finally vanished. "It’s working," she said softly. "Glad that gamble paid off."

"You’re a genius," Nine said, looking at her with genuine respect. "A terrifying, mutant genius. How in the world did you come up with the idea of just zapping it with your hands? Any other repairman like me would follow the manual. We would find the right tools and calculate how much energy is needed. In fact, we would make the princess sign an agreement not to execute us if the zapping failed. But not you--crazy Sunshine. You just had an idea, and you executed it." He was beginning to see why she had offended the Noxians.

It had to be her chronic impulsiveness.

Sunshine frowned, "I don’t like that you are calling me a mutant or crazy."

"It’s not an insult." Nine said, "It is a compliment, one that has taken everything in me to admit. What I am saying is that you just might be one of the best repairmen in the universe because you look beyond the manual. Maybe that is why the council picked us for this job.

Come to think of it, your grandfather Maximus was also an out of the box thinker. The man could patch holes with anything, as long as it blocked the gap."

Sunshine felt even closer to her grandfather. They had more in common than she ever knew.

The two of them sat there in the glow of the machine, completely mesmerized. It wasn’t just a music box anymore; it was a tiny, perfect sea world. Silver sea horses galloped on poles that moved with a gentle rhythm. Nearby, clockwork mermaids swam through the water, their scales shimmering. Every time they turned, their fins brushed against tiny crystal bells, creating a melody that sounded like a lullaby played by the wind and the waves.

Occasionally, a mechanical merman would float to the glass and wave at them, his tail flickering with a soft blue light. Deep below, dolphins, blue whales and seals dived into the shadows with movements so realistic it was hard to believe they were made of metal and gears.

Sunshine and Nine, completely drained from the day’s chaos, fell into a trance. They watched the breathtaking sight in a comfortable silence.

"I can see why she wanted it fixed." Sunshine whispered. If she had a music box like this one, she would fix it too. It was too precious to be locked away and forgotten.

"We actually did it," Nine said, his voice unusually quiet and cheerful. "We didn’t blow it up, and we are still alive."

"It is a miracle that we have not killed each other," Sunshine responded, her eyes following a silver sea horse. "There were two possible outcomes from this job. One was you dead at my hands and the other was you dead at the hands of the royals."

Nine gaped. "How come you don’t get to die?"

"Because I am smarter than you." She smirked.

Nine shifted his legs, looking up at the high ceiling. "So... how much do you think she’s going to pay us? I’m hoping for enough coins or gold to buy a vacation home and build my own colony. I am a father to be now, my family needs space to expand."

Sunshine didn’t answer right away. Her stomach was feeling tight and uncomfortable after gulping down two cans of sugary soda during their last break. "You do understand that this is a punishment, we have never been compensated for the many previous jobs that we have done together, and this one will be no different." She reminded him.

He groaned, disappointed, obviously.

Sunshine sat up with a groan and unhooked her heavy tool belt, setting it aside to give her stomach some room to breathe. As the belt hit the floor, a small, orange device poked out from one of the side pouches.

Nine, who could never keep his hands to himself, leaned over and picked it up. "Ooh, what’s this? It looks like very advanced tech."

"Nine, have you by any chance seen it before?" Sunshine said, closing her eyes for a moment to let her stomach settle. "You should tell me if you know something....and be careful with it."

"It looks like a puzzle cube if some sorts! I can see even the faintest lines" Nine said, his antennas twitching with curiosity. "I’m great at puzzles. My brain is basically a supercomputer for things like this."

"Seriously? So, what kind of weapon is it? Can you tell?" Sunshine asked, sitting up.

But Nine wasn’t really listening, he was concentrating on rearranging the device. He held the device in his clawed hands; his eyes narrowed in concentration. "If I just... move this part here... and twist this part there..." He gripped the top and bottom of the orange device and twisted them in opposite directions.

The silence following the click was the loudest thing in the room. For hours Sunshine had poked and prodded that orange device, and it had never so much as hummed. Now, under Nine’s frantic, twitchy fingers, it was moving like it was alive.

"Maybe you should slow down on the rearranging," Sunshine warned, her voice dropping an octave. "I told you, it could be a weapon. A bomb maybe....and bomb means explosive."

The word "bomb" acted like an electric shock to Nine’s system. His many legs scrambled for traction on the floor, and he tossed the device at her like it was a hot coal.

"A BOMB!?" He shrieked, his voice hitting a frequency that made the museum’s glass cases rattle. "You’re carrying a pocket-sized bomb in your tool belt, and you let me play with it?!"