Not to Kill, but to Keep a Backup Plan

"Phew~ Finally finished."

"As expected of a high-end tool for the lazy. Once my intelligence returned to normal, its internal structure really was insanely complicated."

On a hillside in a pedestrian park near his neighborhood, Morty followed the method recorded in his notebook and dismantled the Mr. Meeseeks Box into eight pieces.

Then, following the plan he had decided on while in enhanced-intelligence mode,

he carried out an in-depth and extremely meticulous modification, starting from the box's core mechanism.

At this point, Morty could not help but complain about the Mega Fruit.

The fruit's effect was indeed incredible. Even Rick had praised it.

But once the fruit's effect wore off, those ideas in his head—

even if his brain still remembered part of them, once his intelligence returned to normal, he still could not begin to tackle those problems again.

The train of thought was there. The result was there. Yet with his diminished thinking ability, he was once again utterly clueless when faced with a piece of technology.

Back to the point: the Mr. Meeseeks Box's operating mechanism was not inherently complicated.

Using the energy conduction device within the box, it extracted oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air, working together with the palm-sized energy stone inside it.

It then created a little blue man roughly one meter tall beside the user.

Core: the energy stone.

Key point: the energy conduction device.

The energy stone could be called the most important component in the box. Morty did not dare tamper with it carelessly, since his upgrade plan did not involve that core.

What he focused on was changing the rhythm and magnitude of the energy output.

Like a sound: turn up the volume, and it became louder; turn it down, and it became quieter.

But if, while a sound was being produced, it was fixed into the shape of a particular word, its effect would undergo a world-shaking change.

Simply put,

the original Mr. Meeseeks Box was like a beginner mage who only knew how to cast a giant fireball.

But after Morty upgraded it, it became an archmage capable of making that giant fireball smash into people in the shape of a flower rather than its previous teardrop shape...

So, after Morty changed the frequency and magnitude of the energy stone's output,

an astonishing change occurred.

After reassembling the box, Morty pressed the button three times in quick succession. Three little blue men, whose details were closer to those of humans, appeared beside him.

The previous little blue man had looked like a monochrome doll, like a person drawn with a single line by someone who did not know how to draw.

Now, the joints where its limbs connected looked more like those of a real human. It had joints, knees, and a more normal-looking neck.

"Mr. Meeseeks, I have an advanced math problem. Can you solve it for me?"

"You, I have a problem involving aerospace materials science. Can you help me solve it?"

"And if I wanted to build a hidden base here for only one person to use, without considering the cost, could you draw up a rough blueprint?"

As Morty spoke, he aimed the phone screen he had prepared long ago at the three newly summoned Mr. Meeseeks.

The first one gave Morty the answer with almost no thought, then vanished before his eyes.

The second pondered for two minutes before carefully explaining the difficult aerospace materials science problem to Morty.

The third had already drawn a rough blueprint on the ground.

After comparing the math answer and checking the already-known answer to the aerospace materials science question, Morty did not even need to look at the final blueprint.

He knew he basically had this in the bag!

He now possessed the ability to build a spacecraft.

Amid his excitement, Morty also began to feel somewhat bored.

Even if he could build a spacecraft, he had merely swum from a small stream into a great river, where huge fish were everywhere.

In the universe where he currently lived,

there were countless enemies stronger than him.

Above them all was Rick.

Having stood beside the strongest person for so long, Morty suddenly found the path of climbing upward from the very bottom of the power hierarchy incomparably arduous.

Just how strong did he need to become before he could walk away from Rick unscathed?

However, Morty quickly pulled himself together again.

Whether he would run away from Rick depended on what Rick ultimately intended to do with him.

And the reason he was doing all this was simply to keep a backup plan.

He was merely guarding against that possibility, not trying to kill Rick head-on.

Thinking about it that way, Morty relaxed.

Holding the box, he set off for home.

When he returned, Summer and Jerry were in the living room. The former was fiddling with her phone, while the latter watched TV. Their mom, Beth, was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen.

Morty was very satisfied with this kind of peaceful family life.

After all, when he was with Rick...

a quiet everyday life was the rarest thing of all...

If his heart was not scared half to death several times a day, that would be strange.

After returning to his room and hiding the box away, Morty went downstairs and was immediately assigned an honorable task.

Deliver some food to Old K's family.

Looking at the plate his mom placed in his hands and the sandwiches already prepared on the kitchen counter, Morty really wanted to say...

these Great Old Ones did not actually need to eat anything.

They were purely spiritual beings.

But how could Morty dare disobey his mom?

That bloodline suppression made him obediently take the plate, head out the door, and walk toward Old K's house.

The moment he reached the entrance,

Morty saw Old K reading through the glass window. This behavior, which completely contradicted the typical image of a Cthulhu-style figure,

made Morty forget to knock for a moment.

It was not until Kassogtha, his genuine mother-in-law, opened the door and stepped out with a seductive gait that Morty came back to his senses.

But the instant he did, a burst of white light flashed behind him.

For a moment, he nearly thought the FBI and CIA had launched a joint operation to arrest the extremely dangerous Cthulhu family.

Click click click~

Click click~

Click click click!

Morty turned around. On the once quiet and peaceful street, a crowd of sunglasses-wearing guys holding DSLRs emerged from the bushes, trash cans, and rooftops.

Their shutters clicked furiously.

They seemed determined to press their cameras until they exploded on the spot!

Where did these people come from...

What are they... Damn! If you knew the woman in front of you was Kassogtha, let's see whether you'd still be this excited!

Not wanting these people to have nightmares tonight, Morty gestured for Kassogtha to hurry back inside.

But Kassogtha did not move.

With one hand, she pushed Morty aside and began striking pose after pose for the cameras.

"Damn it... This is how you people ruin the prestige of Cthulhu World..."

After entering the house and placing the food on the table, Morty righteously told Old K that these Great Old Ones needed to restrain their urge to show off a little.

Normally, they could sleep for millions of years at a time. But when faced with cameras, they practically wanted people to film the gaps between their toes with 8K cameras.

If ordinary people like them came into contact with them, they would all die early in the end.

"Huh?" Upon hearing that, Old K put down his book. He turned to glance toward the doorway, then said to Morty, "It's fine. These people can only live a few decades anyway. We're just speeding up the process a little."

"By the way, you didn't mate with those two yesterday, did you?"

"Was it because of the sense of shame evolved by primates?"

"How about having Kassogtha remove that shyness for you?"

At that point, Old K suddenly lowered his voice, seemingly trying to avoid Kassogtha. He leaned close to Morty's ear and said,

"Have you ever seen snakes entwine?"