Ian used the Transfiguration spell to temporarily disguise himself as a member of the Rick variant - Rick E-345. He knew that Citadel had internal means of tracking Portal Gun, so he was extra cautious when carrying out the arrest to ensure that no loopholes were left.
Then, he and Morgana opened the portal to Citadel in a big way. This place was extremely huge and filled with all kinds of entertainment facilities. So, he simply went to buy an ice cream first.
Half an hour later, he asked, "How is the situation?"
"The security system here is so tight." Morgana replied in Morty's voice. Ian tried hard not to laugh out loud, which made Morgana glare at him fiercely.
"What do you expect? This is a place built by the smartest guys in the universe." Ian ignored her protest and continued to ask, "How long will it take you to crack it?"
"At least five months."
"So long?"
"Whoever designed this system made sure that it could only be broken from the inside." She shook her head and replied.
"We don't have five months to spend here. If that's the case, let's dismantle it from the inside."
Ian's plan to take down Citadel was simple and direct; he replicated the methods used by C-137's nemesis. He secretly transferred his consciousness between different Rick until he successfully controlled the Rick among Citadel who had the highest security clearance.
After gaining the highest authority, he implanted a virus into Citadel's central system, allowing Morgana to fully penetrate from the inside. In just three days, they completely took over this huge machine.
"Nice job." Ian praised while flipping through the design drawings of Citadel in front of him. This thing is purely the crystallization of technology, so there are many principles that he cannot fully understand for a while.
However, just the part he has deciphered so far is enough to prove that this thing is definitely an out-and-out technological masterpiece.
"This is definitely the highest level of top technology." Morgana agreed. After acquiring the inheritance of Techno-Wizard, Arcane Empire's technology tree has experienced rapid development. However, even after the recent comprehensive upgrade, the technology in front of them is still "far ahead".
"Should we continue to scan C-137's Life Code and extract his memories?"
"That's natural. As the chief designer of this Citadel, we must get his memory. What's more, various signs indicate that he is most likely the smartest of all Ricks."
"No problem, but when dealing with such an extremely intelligent individual, you must be more cautious than usual."
"I know it well."
People like Rick Sanchez and Doctor Who, like Ian, are outliers whose intelligence or talents far exceed the rules of the world in which they live. Therefore, when dealing with them, Ian will never underestimate the enemy or have a playful mentality.
However, he still has a huge information gap advantage when facing these people, so he knows very well how to find a breakthrough.
Ian quickly put the plan into action. Before landing, he deliberately targeted a specific time point - in the third season of the animation, Beth and Jerry separated, and Rick had not yet destroyed Citadel. This window period.
He disguised himself as a fellow veterinarian and approached Beth and pursued her. With his innate charm, Beth's sense of emptiness after the divorce, and several secret psychological suggestion spells, Ian successfully persuaded her to take the whole family to dinner, even though she had not originally planned to start a new relationship so soon after the separation.
The dinner went very smoothly without any accidents. Ian behaved elegantly, talked humorously, and chatted with everyone very enthusiastically. Although Rick just watched with cold eyes and remained silent throughout the whole process, the children were obviously completely fascinated by him.
After dinner:
"So, what do you think of him?" Beth asked.
"Oh my God, Mom, you just hit the jackpot!" Summer exclaimed, "How did you catch such a top-notch man?"
"What do you mean?"
"Summer is right, mom," Morty echoed, "I obviously don't like men, but I want to marry him now."
"So, you all accept him? Do you mind if I start dating again soon after your father left?"
"With such a handsome and top-notch hunk, who cares about dad?"
"Summer, don't say that about your dad," Beth scolded, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes. Finally, Beth looked at Rick: "Dad, why don't you say a word? Don't you like him?"
"This thing smells evil." Rick muttered, and immediately rushed into his garage. Not long after, he returned with several complex instruments and carpet-scanned every room in the house, especially the dining table.
Of course, he found nothing, because Ian acted extremely carefully. He knew that his body was like a high-wattage super light bulb in front of advanced energy detectors. Therefore, even though he had absolute confidence in his control of magic, he still sent a clone to the banquet just in case.
He didn't even leave any bugs or spell remnants in the house before leaving.
On the other side, Rick, who found nothing, was obviously not reconciled. So, he pointed the scanner at his family. Unfortunately, except for the slightly elevated hormones secreted by Beth due to excitement and thinking he was in love, there was nothing abnormal.
Since no clues could be found, Rick decided to remain vigilant secretly to verify whether his intuition was accurate.
Three days later, Ian invited the family to a luxurious dinner again, and he was still as charming as last time.
Within Floating City:
"How's it going?"
"We have successfully scanned his brain waves, Life Code, and completely received his memories." Morgana reported, which made Ian very satisfied. In the original plot, Evil Morty also used similar methods. He invited C-137 to Citadel for dinner, and used that short time to scan his brain and steal Citadel's core secrets.
With that knowledge, he finally broke Central Finite Curve and escaped the closed Multiverse that "Rick is the smartest person in the universe".
After these two meetings, Ian's scan was more thorough - especially since he already had data on other Rick variants.
He looked into the distance and sighed deeply, "Sorry, Beth."
Before leaving this universe, he did four things. The first thing was to pack up the entire Citadel of Ricks Fortress and place it inside Floating City. Unfortunately, he could not take all the Rick variants with him.
Although these guys possess unparalleled wisdom, the Self destructive tendency in their bones is too serious. Just one of them is enough to cause Arcane Empire to fall into chaos, let alone thousands of them. However, Ian is quite content to have access to the development history files of Council, which will allow him to learn how to better handle the internal political relations of his variant Council.
The second thing is to collect more Portal Gun technology. Rick is not the only one who invented this technology. There is a highly intelligent dinosaur race that even improved the design of Rick. After getting it, Ian is very satisfied with it.
The third thing was to go to a magical dimension called "Dregon". He emptied all the magical knowledge there and learned a brand new magical language. From the intercepted memories, he learned that the wizards there had developed a teleportation spell similar to Rick Portal Gun, and he had a strong interest in this magical technology.
The last thing Ian did was to capture a creature named "Unity". This is a strange life form possessing Hive Mind. Ian is very interested in studying this unique species.
After everything settled, he escaped into Void and embarked on his return journey.
"Boss, we were really lucky just now."
"How to say?"
"I just detected a Void beast."
"Again?"
"Yes," Morgana nodded, "Fortunately, it just glanced at us and didn't pay too much attention."
Ian breathed a long sigh of relief; he didn't even blame Morgana for not warning in advance. He knew very well that if he dared to pay too much attention to a terrifying creature of that level or even try to record its data, it would definitely lead to disaster.
"Void seems to be more active recently than before." Ian murmured in a low voice. Thinking that Merlin had been out of contact for a long time, he began to worry about the old man.
"Now that we have everything, let's go home."
Everyone returned to the Empire smoothly and began to prepare for the next plan.