Mr. Meeseeks Box 2.0

The next day—or rather, at four in the morning, before dawn had broken.

A completely blue "person" took a plastic bottle filled with Mega Fruit pulp out of the refrigerator at home.

He tiptoed back into Morty's room.

Several other blue people, who had been waiting for quite some time, were carrying out preliminary preparations on the flask on the table.

Morty lay on the bed with his eyes closed, waiting for them to work, a Mr. Meeseeks Box resting on his chest.

This thing came from the first season of Rick and Morty. Its specific function was to summon Mr. Meeseeks by pressing the button on the box.

Mr. Meeseeks' abilities were extremely limited. Expecting them to fight aliens or anything like that was basically... out of the question.

On Earth, any regular army could crush them.

They were essentially just little household assistants.

But through some simple and common methods, they could dilute the miraculous substance in the fruit pulp to a level they could tolerate.

If it were not for the fact that the harder the task, the longer they existed, the more miserable they became, eventually wanting to kill whoever summoned them.

Morty felt that with this thing alone,

he could at least dominate Coronado State's housekeeping service market!

No matter how cheap the AGO rates in Mexico were, could they compete with Mr. Meeseeks, who required practically no cost at all?

As the sky gradually brightened,

the last Mr. Meeseeks vanished.

The seven or eight flasks on Morty's desk were empty now, leaving only a 500-milliliter bottle of emerald-green liquid in a plastic water bottle.

He picked up the bottle.

The water had been cooled beforehand, so it was not too hot to hold.

Looking through the window in front of the desk at the sun slowly rising from the horizon.

After waiting so long, the day was finally here. It really hadn't been easy...

He recalled how, half a year ago, he had come to this world and gone through all kinds of adventures with Rick, one world after another.

Until, in these past few days...

Rick's undisguised attempts to manipulate him

had made him resolve once more to escape Rick's side.

But there was one thing Morty could not understand.

Normally, if someone was playing mind games, who would be so bored that afterward, like explaining the plot of a story, they told you everything?

It almost seemed like he was teaching him... something?

If Rick wanted to train me, couldn't he stop screwing with me using this kind of scheme...

Why couldn't he give me one of those wholesome Rickverse stories of a loving grandfather and devoted grandson?

Why did he have to treat me this way?

With a trace of doubt, Morty stopped wasting time. He raised the plastic bottle and drank a mouthful of juice diluted from the Mega Fruit.

As the liquid flowed down his throat and into his stomach,

the special substance, possessing a slight penetrating quality, spread from his stomach into his muscles, then traveled through his blood vessels directly to his heart and brain.

But because it had already been diluted,

Morty did not experience that first-time sensation of possessing thirty thousand core computers. Instead, his single-core processor's computing power was merely expanded several dozen times over.

And it did not last nearly as long.

So Morty did not dare waste time. He stared at the Mr. Meeseeks Box, thinking as he took small sips of the Mega Fruit juice.

By the time he drank the last drop,

the notebook beside Morty's right hand already contained the most foolproof improvement plan.

He shook his aching right hand. Feeling weak, Morty took two steps back before dropping onto the bed. Slightly dumber now, he stared up at the ceiling.

Yeah, it was just a ceiling!

Could he really see a flower in it?

But as the sun outside continued rising from the horizon toward the center of the sky, the intelligence-reducing effect of the Mega Fruit slowly faded.

Morty really did see a flower.

The seed of the Flower of Freedom had finally begun to sprout!

As his intelligence gradually recovered, Morty got up and picked up the notebook from the bed, his heart filled with delight.

He had previously considered whether he should just make a Portal Gun in one go.

Even Rick from Universe 137 had needed his wife and daughter to be murdered before he resolutely awakened.

As for how his own Rick had managed it, he honestly had no idea.

But that proved this thing was not so easy to make.

So rather than having a plan stuck at 50%, or at a despairing 99%,

it was better to complete a simple, practical tool.

Mr. Meeseeks Box 2.0!

Due to certain disgusting properties of the Mega Fruit, it had to undergo a special process before it could preserve the genius ideas that appeared in his mind when he consumed the fruit.

Morty, relying purely on written notes,

could only choose to improve this thing.

After resting in his room until noon and eating lunch, Morty returned to his room, locked the door, and began looking over the materials listed in his notes.

To his surprise,

when his intelligence had skyrocketed, he had indeed taken minimalist technology to its absolute extreme.

Compared to things that cost millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of millions,

his Mr. Meeseeks 2.0 could be said to have a total cost of two hundred dollars, with all raw materials purchased from nearby supermarkets...

Morty did not dare leave this matter to Jerry.

Because that loser was basically useless.

So, carrying the box and his notebook, he pulled out a bicycle he had not ridden in ages from the storage room at home.

Then he set off for the supermarket.

He had been in this world for half a year, yet he really had not spent much time staying in this world.

If not for the memories in his head, Morty might not even have been able to get from his neighborhood to the supermarket.

Ugh, couldn't they build apartment buildings...

Stack thirty floors on one plot of land. Wouldn't that make more profit than building just two floors on the same plot?

And the supermarket would be super close, too!

Pedaling beneath the afternoon sun, sweating away his youthful vigor all the way, Morty finally rode to the supermarket outside the neighborhood. The moment he got off his bike, he saw Jessica at the supermarket entrance.

Several stereotypical American high school punks were wearing sleazy grins as they tried to get handsy.

Seeing this scene of a beautiful girl being bullied,

Morty's body shook with righteous fury!

Then he pressed the Mr. Meeseeks Box, having seven or eight little blue people carry away those bastards whose current purpose in life was still nothing more than petty nonsense between boys and girls.

Afterward, he did not bother with Jessica, who wanted to come up and thank him. He simply bought the things he needed from the supermarket and rode back toward his neighborhood.

Leaving only Jessica, the goddess in every Morty's heart, standing at the supermarket entrance, watching that thin retreating figure with her beautiful eyes.

This Morty really is unusual. He didn't show the slightest attachment to Jessica, nor did he get flustered.

No wonder the Citadel of Ricks sent me here to investigate him.

So who is his Rick?

When Jessica entered the alley beside the supermarket and took out a phone, preparing to contact her superior,

Rick appeared.

With a cold expression, he grabbed Jessica by the throat, then forcibly stuffed a pill into her mouth and made her swallow it.

She struggled with all her strength, but after only a second, she became completely obedient.

"Citadel of Ricks Jessica N-069 reporting to you!"