After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 902

Chapter 902: Playing Babies
The next morning was the usual slow day in Alterra. The citizens were all indoors again, some productive (i.e. those working in several well-insulated factories as well as a number of shop-houses), while some… not so much.

The Gaea Team members were the latter. At this time, they were in the main villa lounging around with the electric fans.

A few days ago, electric fans were finally made commercially available! They were the basic of the basic, and not many stocks could actually be made, but it was revolutionary anyway.

These appliances had been sold in the Specialty Hall, and many of the better-off households had it now.

The Gaea Chamber of Commerce members were living the couch potato life in front of the fans, eating ice cream, popcorn, or… ice cream on popcorn.

It was just that there was a certain ‘show’ ongoing in their living room, and everyone was gaping at what they were seeing.

“What…” Ansel mumbled, abruptly sitting up, lifting his head from its comfortable position on Winona’s soft and full thighs.

Winona’s eyes, along with the others, were also looking at the same thing, similarly shocked.

“So… I finally let them use that aether toy…” Althea mumbled as she ate a piece of popcorn dipped in ice cream, creating a wonderful combination of salty and sweet.

The other’s eyes twitched, their eyes fixed on the center of the room. “Yes, we can see that…”

At this time, the babies were indeed playing with the floating ball, though saying it so simply was an understatement.

At this time, Little Meatball was holding onto it. It was actually around his size, so when he embraced it with his whole body it really looked like he could roll with it.

…except he was floating.

What the heck…

Ansel continued to gape as he asked his sister. “So… do we finally have the formula?”

Althea shook her head. “They seem to really like the toy, but that’s about it.”

Little Pepper obviously really liked the ball too. She was crawling fast, trying to follow the slow-floating ball around with furrowed eyebrows, her cheeks looking puffed up in her annoyance.

“Mnmnmmama!!” She yelled, showing off her little teeth. And the next thing they knew she was already underneath the ball, looking up and trying to reach it.

However, it was a bit higher than what a baby sitting down could easily reach.

In an attempt to catch up with it, the baby girl shakily leaned forward, using her little hands to push herself up, as if about to stand up—

The adults tensed at the sight.

Ansel and a few others even had their hands up, palms clenched to fists. Their sights fixed on the girl’s movements, and their faces were incredibly tense and excited.

Flop.

Unfortunately, the baby was really wobbly and fell down on her bum in the end.

“Aww….” The adults moaned in disappointment, very much like a crowd sad that a goal was missed.

Little Pepper was not one to give up however, with a determined look on her cute face, she continued to purposely crawl, following the ball.

The toy was no longer in Meatball’s embrace, but he still held on with his two little hands. While he did so, his little feet were swinging as if he was swimming in the air.

For a while, the adults could only watch in awe as the floating baby boy and the teleporting baby girl played their hearts out…

This went on for a while until the ball lost power and was in need of recharge from an elementalist.

During this null time, the ball slowly descended, with Pepper finally getting a hold of it.

“Googgmmm….” Little Meatball mumbled when he realized he didn’t have full control of the toy anymore.

In any case, this meant that the ball was now in between two babies, both of whom wanted it for themselves.

“Mngmawamaaa..!” Pepper mumbled, pulling it in her direction. Little Meatball’s eyebrows furrowed, attempting to take it back.

“Gurgumghmm…”

Unsurprisingly, the two babies started fighting for the lifeless ball.

Both of them had a few little teeth now, and the adults could peek at them when they were arguing.

Two babies fighting fiercely when they only had gums for the most part was quite amusing, adorable, and made for a very good show.

Eventually though, the soft-hearted women finally felt pity for the children. Winona pushed Ansel’s head since he happened to be the nearest one anyway.

“Come on, have pity on them already.”

Ansel also developed into a wife slave and nodded without question. He stood up and took the ball, to the annoyance of the two kids.

“Mngmawamaaa..!”

“Gurgumghmm…!!!”

“Patience, little buns,” Ansel said, putting in some power onto it.

With a teasing smile, he walked away from the two kids instead of handing it over to them. He placed it a meter away to the other edge of their play cot.

When it floated, the babies flurried towards it, making their uncle laugh out loud.

While Althea watched the ‘kids’ (babies + Ansel) play around, she was also feeding her husband some popcorn. She was aware that Garan wasn’t particularly big on sweets though, so she just fed him popcorn without the ice cream.

It was mostly absent-minded—with her doing it while laughing at her babies’ silliness—until she felt a wet and slimy sensation wrap around her fingers. She looked up to meet a very heated stare from the man who was licking them.

She flushed a bit, abruptly taking out her fingers, and giving him a pointed stare. “No,” she said, shoving a few more popcorn in his mouth for good measure.

Little did she know that several hours later, when they went to bed, Garan would bring a bucket of popcorn into the bedroom, and he would eat them right off her bare skin.

That was for later, of course. For now, they brainstormed on how to consistently make the kids’ powers work, or even if they should.

Should they keep making them use their powers? They were still too young. Perhaps it could be deferred until they could be reasoned with.

Anyway, they were lucky the babies hadn’t shown anything when outside the house, and could only assume it had to do with the familiarity of their home.

Anyway, various thoughts passed by the adults’ minds while the kids played their hearts out.

Eventually, the aether ball’s energy ran out once more and they watched the kids fight over it with amusement.

Dinner time was approaching though, and the time to finish playing had arrived.

“Okay, enough playing,” Althea finally said. “Can you get the ball for me, Ansel?”

However, before Ansel could take the ball, it suddenly turned on again.

Everyone was puzzled, especially Ansel, who raised his hands. “It really wasn’t me!”

However, they knew of his personality, and they wouldn’t put it past him to prank them.

While the others jeered at poor Ansel, Althea decided to use the Eye to look at the toy and the babies’ interactions.

She blinked.

In her eyes, the ball had thin wisps of gas-like things—which was probably aether—floating around it.

It was denser at the bottom, likely because it was floating. She could also see that it had some sort of pulsation, with the most intense movements at the bottom area.

This was fine and interesting as it was. However, she realized that some of these wisps… were connected to her babies.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she stood up, taking away the ball from them, making them protest with those large teary eyes of theirs. However, she did not succumb this time.

She only looked at the ball before putting it back in her space, and it would not see the light of day for a long time until after she figured things out.

Sigh.

New mysteries just kept getting uncovered before they could get answered.

What could she do about all these uncertainties, especially when they were about her children?