After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1878: After the Movie

Meanwhile, the Ross family—Mathilda, her children, and their spouses—headed to the food court area near the Cinema after the movie.

"That was so emotional..." Cassandra said, wiping her tears, and then not forgetting to kiss her well-behaved baby. There was a separate area with a soundproof glass partition for the people who brought babies. They would pay for their own seats and, if the child makes noise, the adult would take them there. There was a separate speaker there anyway, so people can still watch the movie without bothering others.

Not once did Cassandra have to take her baby there! So well-behaved!

Thanks to this, Cassandra was able to watch the entirety of the movie. First, she was amazed at the technology. "Was that really hand-drawn?!" she remembered asking, though her thousand questions faded as she immersed into the story itself.

Now, she could not help but sniffle. The others smiled, also red-eyed.

This was not a surprise; what was surprising was that even Gwen was crying, too.

It was not that Gwen wasn’t emotional, of course, but it was particularly prominent today. The family smiled fondly, while Ryan gently wiped her tears.

They entered the food court with at least a dozen shops to choose from. This was a new food court inside the mall, and there was a bigger array of products here. Of course, the rent was also quite beautiful.

Right now, this place was filled with people, mostly coming from the cinema. One could hear the discussions about it too, from Terran to aborigine alike.

One table was a group of friends. They were mostly young adults, but today’s circles tended to be more diverse (due to people developing teammates according to availability), so there were also some middle-aged people here and there.

They didn’t have many relatives left, so they ended up watching together as friends.

One downed a cucumber juice before fawning over the movie. "It was so amazing!" he said, eyes evidently red from crying.

The middle-aged woman next to him nodded. "I have watched a lot of movies in my younger years, but it has been a while since I’ve seen hand-drawn cartoons."

"It is really well-made!" another said. "The transitions are so smooth. It was like watching those old-school cartoons, but with smoother, more contemporary styling."

"I’m more amazed we have progressed this far to entertain ourselves to this degree within two years, haha!" another said.

He was one of the refugees who came before Alterra became a town. The progress...well, saying it was as fast as a rocket felt like an understatement.

"When did they start making this? Less than a year? Didn’t those movie houses back in Terran take longer than this?"

The movie was short, less than an hour, but that should still have taken a lot of resources to make, right?

"Oh, I heard they hired a lot of people. Also, with people’s improved physiques, it seemed like artists could draw way faster and more accurately than they could! Some top-tier ones can draw as if they’re printers!"

"HAHA! I heard about this. My cousin is an artist, too, but she’s such a coward that she can only shoot arrows from the battlement even if there’s a beast mob or a war, and then she’d hide under the balustrade afterwards, not even checking her kills.

"After finding out the perks of leveling up, she’s become like an amazona."

Laughter erupted at that table, exchanging stories, and just having a good time.

Others were more focused on the story itself. Someone was still crying, in fact.

"I’m so touched by the movie!" the lady said, gently dabbing her eyes with her embroidered handkerchief (gifted by a suitor from Belluga Village).

She was currently with her lady friends and, if they had children, them as well.

"I think the message is more amazing!" her friend said, and her companions nodded at this.

One woman looked at her child, eating sweets in a high chair, munching away. The kid was totally unaware he was the one being gossiped about.

"You know, after the movie, this kid hugged me and thanked me for being a nice mum!" she chuckled. "Said that he was much less well-behaved than Toto, but I didn’t leave him—"

"Wow."

"Aw, cute!"

"Lolololol"

To be fair, this kid really was very hyperactive. In times when he could not be dragged away from parks, this mother had indeed jokingly said that she would leave him.

Bianca was part of this group. Eloi was currently in Twinwave with a caravan, and she didn’t want to miss the first screening day of the movie, so she went with some girlfriends.

She only managed to snag a ticket, and her adopted sons, well, they usually play well on their own now.

"My children will also be watching movies with their friends tomorrow—who told them to be so slow to get tickets. Should I quiz them about what they learned?"

The women giggled amongst themselves, finding the image quite funny.

In other tables, it actually had people involved in the movie!

"My daughter is amazing! She’s the one who designed Toto and his friend!" The old man said, bragging to the family members and friends they went with.

The others fawned and asked many questions, while the old man just kept bragging.

"Dad, stop it! I’m so embarrassed!" she exclaimed, but her face was flushed, and she kept coyly twirling her hair.

"I’m just one of the few key animators..."

There were a few hundred artists in their crew, though most were the cleanup artists and the inbetweeners. They took the bulk of the work while she was kind of in a managerial position. She had fewer drawings to do, but the prestige was higher and had a stronger influence on the actual storytelling.

She happened to be one of these ’key’ artists. How could she not be extra proud?

The group laughed and wondered when the next production would be. The girl smiled mysteriously, hinting that there was indeed a next production already in the works, set to launch in less than a year!

"WOWOWOWOW!"

Anyway, conversations like these flowed and echoed in the large food court, reaching the ears of the Ross family, who were smiling at the lively atmosphere around them.

They found a table and placed an item to mark their temporary ownership (theft generally didn’t happen in Alterra outside of wars, so even placing valuables was no problem), and people headed to the shop(s) of their liking to buy their food.

Gwen and Ryan went to peruse the options together, holding hands. They usually choose the same stores, or at least adjacent ones, for the convenience of carrying the food in a single trip.

"Shall we go to the Eastern zone?" Ryan asked, pointing at the side of the food court with shops offering various eastern-style cuisines and snacks.

"My tastes changed lately," Gwen said. "I want to try others."

Ryan nodded and they headed to the opposite area. On their way there, Gwen squeezed her husband’s hand. "I hope we can watch this movie again, even when new ones come out," she said.

"I want our future children to be able to watch everything. I don’t want them to miss a single Alterran movie!"

They didn’t really have DVDs or streaming now, right? She was naturally concerned about her future child’s entertainment—

Before she could continue this line of thought, someone with salted fish passed by, causing Gwen to heave all of a sudden.

Ryan caught her in time, but she kept on gagging, as if her stomach suddenly tumbled inside her.

Bleurgh!

Gwen’s vision blurred and her body felt imbalanced. She was dizzy, and almost fell down.

Gwen had been known for her dexterity. She hadn’t been this clumsy since she was a child.

Was she sick? But her level was not that low, and it was not common for them to get ill. This was highly concerning.

Ryan immediately lifted her up, and the family rushed over to them.

Fortunately, the hospital was directly accessible via broat cart route, and the family rushed over there together. Gill was the one to secure a private car, while the rest focused on Gwen.

Mathilda and Cassandra followed right after them, holding hands, and similarly nervous.

As part of the standard operating procedures, they were in an isolated bay, just in case there was a new infectious disease. Once cleared, they could be moved to other places.

In the emergency room, there were healers. However, not everyone could check the body’s condition with just their elements. When Shiela and a few other specialized healers weren’t there, the patients would be asked to take an exam instead.

And then...they were asked to go to the obgyn department.

Ob-gyn department...

Just hearing this made people’s eyes water, hearts twitching with hope as they already formed guesses in their minds. However, since there were still tests required, they did not dare celebrate prematurely, at least not until an actual diagnosis came out.

It was an hour later when the official results came in and they—especially Gwen—really cried.

Gwen was finally pregnant!

She had long wanted to bear a child, but even with her very active bedroom activities with her husband, there was no news because their levels were too far apart.

This was why, when news of fertility pills became available came out, with Mathilda gaining initial priority, the couple jumped at the chance to use the slot, consuming quite a bit of gold and contribution points in the process.

It hadn’t been long since she started consuming the fertility pills, and it already showed some effects!

Ryan smiled as he embraced his emotional wife. Their dream was finally coming true.