Sky Curtain: The Darwin Incident at the outset, the Declaration of the People's League

Rick shrugged dramatically and tossed the empty bottle behind him casually.

"Universes, timelines, parallel realities... these things are like cockroaches in my garage, countless in number, and if one nest dies, countless more will follow. The important thing is whether the process is exciting enough, whether it's 'Rick' enough!"

"Oh, this thing didn't disappear, there must be more to come."

"So, how about we go out and have some fun while we have this time? The ice cream in the next universe is really delicious!"

Chapter 16 Lifting the Silence

Why did the sky darken and the video stop playing?

It's very simple. Bai Jin fell asleep while watching it, and the phone automatically turned off.

The next morning.

Bai Jin slept in as usual.

I checked the time; it was almost noon.

I peeked out.

My dear roommates have already set up their formation, ready to reunite with their relatives in Wali.

"Yo, you're finally awake! Want to get up together?"

"No, I'll order takeout first and call later."

Bai Jin got out of bed with a yawn.

Could he say that he really didn't want to acknowledge his mother and then block the bridge?

It takes too much effort to take a family photo.

I ordered my usual takeout, lay back in the chair, and charged my phone.

Then what?

Of course, I'll keep watching videos!

As soon as he turned on his phone, he was bombarded with hundreds of messages.

Bai Jin was taken aback.

Did I let myself get cyberbullied?

When I opened it, I found it was a group chat I had joined a long time ago, probably from the first two years of college.

However, the group chat only existed for a short time before it became completely quiet and there were no more messages. He was happy to not open the group chat to avoid being disturbed by messages.

But what's going on here?

How did a group chat that had been dead for several years suddenly become so lively?

He clicked on it and scrolled up, arriving at last night's page.

The earliest message was sent by the group admin.

[O5 Representative: To all Foundation staff, upper-level narratives, and enthusiasts]

[The O5 Council has today ordered the lifting of the "re-silence" directive. This concludes the 257-day special secrecy operation. Your access is being gradually restored by the Records and Information Security Administration (RAISA).]

Welcome home, everyone!

May the foundation live on forever!

[Containment, Control, and Protection]

[D-000000: All members, do not answer, this is a trap!]

[White Fox One: The Foundation has intervened in the investigation. Preliminary assessment indicates an Euclid-class anomaly. To prevent infohazard and cognitohazard, information has been blocked. Mobile Task Force Epsilon-11 has been dispatched for containment. All informed personnel should remain in place or follow standard evacuation procedures until the task force arrives at their location.]

[Su Xiaohai: Wow! The group admin is back! Everyone come out and catch him!]

[Unknown Project: Sulfur, Carbon, and Phosphorus Enthusiasts Club [doge]]

[Observer 001: Wow, the Foundation won the revival match?]

[QQ Group Administrator: The Anti-Meme Department is on holiday!]

[The Thousand-Throated Beast: We have no ████.]

[Warhammer 40k Recruiting Office: ████? Do we have this department?]

………………

Despite the various memes circulating, the phrase that went viral was "Welcome home."

Bai Jin quickly browsed through the pages, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips.

He understood.

No wonder the group is so active.

It seems that the old organization that was once active on the fringes, the "circle" that had become unusually quiet and even needed to be mentioned with caution, has quietly "returned".

A mix of nostalgia and curiosity welled up inside me.

That was part of his youth.

I remember he was obsessed with this thing in high school and bought a bunch of related figurines.

He immediately exited the chat software and eagerly tapped the familiar blue video icon.

In the search bar, he solemnly typed in those three capital letters, one by one.

The moment the search results page refreshed, Bai Jin's eyes widened slightly.

The first video pushed to the homepage has a familiar cover and a title that gets straight to the point.

He immediately clicked on it.

Humanity has multiplied to this day...

The familiar, deep male voice seemed to have never left.

Chapter 17 Humanity Can No Longer Live in Fear

The light curtain covering the heavens lit up once more, and the familiar energy ripples swept across countless dimensions, while a deep male voice resounded like an ancient bell.

In countless worlds, whether in the midst of war, contemplation, or the hustle and bustle of daily life, billions of gazes are once again forcibly drawn to the sky or to the screens that appear in one's consciousness.

---------

The Rick and Morty Universe

"Wow, it's finally airing. More punctual than the trashy sitcoms of the last universe."

Rick tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of whiskey he found in the fridge, then made a face.

"Tsk, why does this wine taste bland?"

He lay sprawled on the broken swivel chair next to the workbench, stained with oil and unidentified chemicals, with the tools left behind by this original Rick from outer space scattered at his feet.

Rick, I still... can't understand.

Morty's voice came from the corner, weak and trembling.

He huddled in the corner of the garage, hugging his knees amidst a pile of used batteries.

Just hours earlier, they had buried Rick and Morty, who had both died in an experimental accident in this universe.

Now, they are sleeping in the bed that originally belonged to the grandfather and grandson, using their toothbrush.

"It's alright, Morty."

Rick waved the bottle, his tone light: "Just live like you used to. Go to school, have a crush on Jessica, get yelled at by your parents. You're dead in this world, we're just... filling a niche. Like fungi growing on rotten wood, it's the law of nature."

"But we killed them!"

Morty looked up abruptly, his eyes bloodshot and streaked with tears: "I mean... we caused the 'Kronenberging' of the original universe! Then we escaped here, and coincidentally, we in this world died, so we... we sneaked in and pretended nothing happened! Dad, Mom, Xia Mo... OMG, I destroyed my entire world because of some incredibly stupid things, and then I ended up in another world."

"It just so happens that both 'me' and 'Rick' here are dead, so we crawl into their still-warm bodies and continue ordering takeout and watching TV! And nobody in the house finds out! Nobody on the street finds out! This...this is more terrifying than any monster we've ever encountered!"

He was incoherent and breathing rapidly.

The weight of destroying the world with his own hands, and the lingering sense of justice, are tearing his young heart apart.

"Motty! Morty!"

Rick raised his voice and impatiently banged the bottom of a bottle on the workbench: "Look! That all-universe channel is on again! You fucking shut up and watch it properly."

Rick forcibly dragged his grandson, whose eyes were glazed over and whose body was trembling slightly, to the front of the canopy.

"Have a drink. Then watch the show. Thinking about questions like 'Who am I' will only lower your average IQ over the entire timeline."

Morty mechanically gripped the bottle, but didn't drink.

His gaze was strained as he focused on the screen.

He still felt...very uncomfortable.

On the sky, accompanied by a deep, solemn voice-over that seemed to come from the depths of the river of time, the images began to flow.

---------

Human beings have existed for 250000 years, but only the last 4000 years are truly significant.

A horizontally extending timeline, emitting a faint glow. The first part is extremely long, with only scattered flint sparks and ape silhouettes moving slowly, the colors being a monotonous earthy yellow and dark brown.

As the timeline moves past a certain point, the colors suddenly burst forth!

The lines of the pyramids, the patterns of bronze tripods, the unfolding of philosophical scrolls, the piston motion of steam engines, the waterfall of binary code...

The bursts of light from civilizations transformed the latter part of the timeline into a dazzling galaxy.

So, what have we been doing for nearly 250000 years?

We hid in a cave, huddled around a small campfire, fearing things we didn't understand.

A primitive man squatted at the entrance of a cave, looking out at the dark forest where wind and rain raged and beasts roared. He hugged himself tightly, his eyes filled with confusion and fear.

In the small cave, the flickering campfire was the only source of light.

The figures sitting around were indistinct, but huddled together tightly.