Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 267: Only when people are alive can there be hope

"Now, an urgent news report. In the early morning of March 28, 1979, Eastern Time, a loud noise was heard on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania."

"After the incident, our Columbia TV station's resident reporter immediately went to the scene to investigate. According to local resident William Whittock, at around 4 a.m., he was awakened from his sleep by a loud noise. The piercing sound sounded like a large jet breaking through the air."

"After the accident, he immediately rushed to the window and looked out. He found that even though it was dark, he could see countless steam spraying out of the cooling tower of Three Mile Island. It felt like a fountain on fire, or more like a kettle boiling water magnified countless times. This situation caused panic among local residents because everyone knew there was a nuclear reactor there."

"At 6:56 in the morning, Three Mile Island officially declared a state of emergency. After that, their parent company, Metropolitan Edison, reported the accident on Three Mile Island to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. The state government held a press conference two hours ago. Lieutenant Governor William Stockton said at the press conference that Three Mile Island was just a minor accident and everything was under control."

"But local residents were not satisfied with the result. They felt that the Pennsylvania government was deceiving them. Under their strong request, state officials reported the matter to the National Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When the association's president, Joseph Hendry, learned of the situation on the scene, he directly activated the emergency response headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and immediately went to Washington, DC, for support."

"We still don't know what happened, but we know that if it was just a small accident, Metro Edison would not have declared an emergency at Three Mile Island, and our country's Nuclear Regulatory Commission would not have activated the emergency response headquarters."

"So, now, we hope that the spokesman for Pennsylvania, the Lieutenant Governor, can tell the truth, and we hope that Metropolitan Edison can make public the internal conditions of Three Mile Island. If there is a problem, it is best to solve it immediately because there are at least 200,000 people living there."

When Ethan heard the CBS midday news at noon on March 28th, Western Time, the term Three Mile Island accident instantly appeared in his mind.

Although the media reports did not show the full picture of the incident, Ethan's memories of his previous life made him understand that there was a big thunder. Even if he could not repeat the key points, he knew the result of the incident. This nuclear leak accident directly led to America's abandonment of the development of nuclear power, and in the future, America suffered from power shortages and major cities were forced to blackout.

Of course, this is not the scariest thing.

The most terrifying thing is that, according to some insiders, the radioactive substances produced by this accident are actually a hundred times that of the explosion in the east. Although the protective measures played a certain role, the reason why there was no immediate panic was that this accident did not cause immediate deaths.

As these facts emerged from the depths of Ethan's memory, the news reports on TV also made him frown. When he learned that the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania actually said that the accident on Three Mile Island was under control and asked local residents not to panic, he immediately shook his head.

"Ah--"

"Traditional performing arts..."

In his previous life, when Ethan lived in America, the biggest feeling he gained was that everyone here did not trust the American media, let alone the American government.

He was indeed a little surprised when he first arrived.

But later, as he gradually understood the surrounding ecology, he felt relieved.

It's okay to hear the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" once, and it won't have any impact if you hear it twice. But if you are still fooled after hearing it three, four, a hundred, or a thousand times, then it's not that you have a problem with your IQ, but that you are deliberately pretending to be stupid.

Therefore, when broadcasting the news, Columbia Television publicly stated that local residents were not satisfied with the Pennsylvania government's statement. Not only that, even the TV station's host felt that the Pennsylvania government's act of declaring a state of emergency while claiming that there was no problem was really an insult to the public's IQ.

And these questions...

Ethan can't solve it, he doesn't have the ability.

But he knew what he should do at this moment.

He picked up the phone and dialed Ballmer's short number. After the bald man hurried into his office, Ethan asked, "What's the status of our game now?"

"Registration should be almost over, right? Only three days left?"

Ethan's calculations stunned Ballmer for a moment, and then he realized that his boss had not included today in his calculations, so he nodded and said, "Yes, if you don't count today, there are still three days."

"After all, when we advertised, we said that the entire month of March would be the registration period."

“It is not necessary to end it early because it would damage our reputation.”

"Boss, do you want to know how many people have signed up?"

"The figures for each state for the first twenty-five days have been compiled. Can I go get them for you now?"

"No, no, no—" Ethan didn't need that number.

When Ballmer is in charge of the project, all he needs to do is show up in the finals.

"My purpose in calling you here is very simple."

Ethan said, “Tell me what the contingency plan is for our game.”

While speaking, he pointed to the TV in front of him.

Ballmer blinked at the news being reported.

"Boss, do you think the Three Mile Island incident will affect the Pennsylvania race?"

Ethan shrugged at the bald man's probing. "It's a nuclear power plant after all. If something goes wrong, it will definitely affect a lot of people, right? Besides, do you believe what those people say?"

Ethan's question made Ballmer smile and nod. Without further questioning, he directly told the emergency plan that was engraved in his mind, "There are two National Football League stadiums in the whole state of Pennsylvania, Veterans Stadium of the Philadelphia Eagles and Three Rivers Stadium of the Pittsburgh Steelers. These two stadiums are our registration addresses and competition venues."

"They are more than a hundred miles away from Harrisburg, where Three Mile Island is located. Judging from the current situation, unless Three Mile Island is bombed, it is impossible to have an impact on them."

"However, Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania, and we already have a registration point there. So, according to the emergency procedures, I should contact the National Football League now and ask them to prepare for the transfer immediately. At the same time, we also need to divert the elimination game crowd in Harrisburg to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and this... is a big project."

Ballmer frowned, and a heavy look was written all over his round cheeks.

"According to the emergency plan, we need to bear all the costs of relocating the venue, including but not limited to providing round-trip travel expenses for the contestants and covering their meals during this period."

"Sure..." Ethan nodded and said, "Has Nintendo's money arrived?"

"I'll give you another 5 million dollars, and you go and solve this problem."

“If the players there still want to continue to compete, then follow the process.”

"If they voluntarily give up, we respect their wishes."

"Of course, the five million is only part of the cost of the match point transfer. You can contact McDonald's for the food, and Coca-Cola for the drinking water."

"This is a major public safety incident, and I believe they are willing to bear this part of the expenditure."

“And after the discussion, you can communicate with the media and publish an article.”

"Although we are an entertainment company, since we have started a public event, we must bear some public responsibility. The time will be after the evacuation notice of Pennsylvania."

"Then prepare a statement saying that the Three Mile Island incident made us feel very heavy and sad, so we decided to donate $2 million to the local victims."

"To provide the affected people with necessary living supplies."

"The money will be distributed directly to local staff on a reimbursement basis."

"Okay?"

Ethan raised his eyebrows at Ballmer, who was listening attentively.

"No problem, boss, I know what to do." Ballmer responded quickly and turned away.

Although Ethan was unable to resolve the major safety accident at Three Mile Island, well, in fact no one could resolve this kind of accident, because if Ethan remembered correctly, in his previous life, the faulty reactor at Three Mile Island was directly abandoned after the accident.

However, it is still possible to donate money and supplies to the people in the disaster-stricken areas.

Of course, Ethan also admitted that the donations at this time did have some marketing implications, which could create a good image for Americans of overcoming the disaster together, but many times, the ruthless commercial considerations were actually a warm gesture for the victims.

Just like Ethan’s previous life, a comment widely circulated on the Internet -

"I don't care whether the company's donations are for show or not. As long as they really donate money and really use the money for the people in the disaster area, then this company is doing good deeds."

Because of this, even though he punched Warner and kicked Sony, Ethan always felt that he was a kind-hearted entrepreneur, just a little bit irritable in front of his peers.

And under his instructions, an hour later, Ballmer reached a cooperation agreement with the two companies.

McDonald's spoke highly of the good deed of the Destiny Game and was willing to provide meals for contestants who needed to be relocated during the competition, with each person being guaranteed a hamburger and a serving of French fries for each meal.

But at the same time, they have two small requests.

One is that Destiny Game should always include their name when purchasing press releases in the future.

Second, they wanted half of the donations from the Destiny Game to the people in the disaster area. In other words, McDonald's wanted Ethan Jones to directly spend one million US dollars to buy their meal packages and distribute them to the people in the disaster area. For this, they were willing to give the meal packages a 20% discount and would ask local restaurants to assist the Destiny Game in distributing meals.

Coca-Cola's requirements are the same as McDonald's.

They were also willing to provide products, but they also hoped to sell some products while becoming famous. These requests seemed ruthless, but in fact they were reasonable. Ethan naturally agreed when he heard about them.

Since McDonald's and Coca-Cola are willing to tie their images to the game of fate, there is no problem at all using bailout funds to buy their products.

After all, if the money is transferred directly to these companies, they will at least be able to provide supplies to the victims.

As long as he can really deliver something, Ethan doesn't care whose pocket his money goes into.

After the three parties reach a consensus, there are only two things left for everyone to do.

The first thing is to prepare supplies, which is not difficult for McDonald's and Coca-Cola. The former's central kitchen model allows them to mix ingredients as they please, and the latter's industrial chain, which has been operating for decades, is the best in the world, and they can supply goods with their eyes closed.

The second thing is to wait for the next development of the situation and wait for Pennsylvania to start announcing the evacuation of the masses, if any. After all, the official news so far is that everything is under control...

Well, it’s actually not controllable at all.

Shortly after Destiny Game and Coca-Cola reached a cooperation, Pennsylvania held another press conference. The deputy governor who said in the morning that there was no major problem has now changed his attitude and said that the local situation is more complicated than they knew.

This news made local people very angry and they wanted to know more about the inside story.

And this is before the local residents could unite and demand an explanation.

By evening, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor had changed his tune again, advising residents to stay indoors and farmers to hide their animals under shelter and store some feed.

When this news came out, everyone knew that there was a problem at Three Mile Island!

This situation caused the local government near Three Mile Island to be besieged by local residents.

They blocked the government gate with vehicles and demanded an explanation from the officials inside.

But unfortunately, those people could not give it and could only keep expressing that they hoped that the people would follow the deputy governor's advice, stay indoors, and listen to the radio to get the latest news.

As the next day came, after the full involvement of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Metropolitan Edison finally could not conceal the situation of the nuclear power plant. They said that during the explosion at 4 a.m. on the 28th, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant had actually discharged "some inert gas" into the surrounding area. But at the same time, they also emphasized that there was only a small amount of radiation in these gases and it would not cause any impact on local residents because there was no large increase in radiation in the surrounding environment.

This situation prompted Joseph Hendry, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to make a decision to require Pennsylvania to immediately evacuate the surrounding people. At this time, Governor Dick Thornburgh finally stepped in and ordered that all schools within five miles of the nuclear power plant be closed, and pregnant women and preschool children must evacuate immediately on their own.

If the people were just dissatisfied yesterday, then today they must be filled with anger.

"MFxxk! The explosion happened yesterday, and they only told us to evacuate today???"

"Oh! Sxxt! Evacuate? How? Where? You ask us to evacuate, but you don't give us any plan? Do you want us to die on the way?"

"You are a bunch of bastards! How much money did you receive from Metropolitan Edison? Yesterday you said the situation was under control, but today it has endangered the surrounding area for several miles? Schools can't even open? You are all criminals! You are all executioners! You want to kill us!"

To be honest, announcing the evacuation but not providing a plan is really a stupid thing to do.

The behavior of just talking without taking any funding is really disgusting.

However, at this moment, the game of fate has no time to criticize them. The evacuation order from the Governor of Pennsylvania is like the starting gun in a track and field competition for them.

After receiving the official confirmation, Steve Ballmer immediately asked Columbia Broadcasting System to release a pre-written statement to the American people:

"Fate Game has just made an urgent contact with our station. They want to release a statement through us. The statement said that in line with the attitude of being responsible to the public and the principle of bringing happiness to the public, Fate Game has decided to modify the game schedule in Pennsylvania from now on."

"The official competition date has been postponed from the 3rd to the 10th, and Destiny will close the registration and competition venues in Harrisburg. Those who have already registered will still be arranged to compete. Those who want to participate can go to any registration point in Pennsylvania to reconfirm their information from April 1st to April 7th. The travel expenses incurred will be fully borne by Destiny, and those who need to travel long distances due to the change in the competition area will also receive a certain amount of meal subsidies. This part of the cost will be jointly borne by the kind-hearted McDonald's and Coca-Cola Group. I hope everyone will not be anxious."

"The Game of Destiny expresses strong indignation over the Three Mile Island incident and strongly condemns Metropolitan Edison's handling of the incident. At the same time, they hope that residents near Three Mile Island will follow the advice of the Pennsylvania government and evacuate immediately."

"Not only that, Destiny Game has also decided to donate two million US dollars of necessary supplies to the victims in the disaster-stricken areas to ensure that the victims can evacuate smoothly."

"Fate Game has teamed up with McDonald's and Coca-Cola to set up supply points on 17 evacuation routes 30 miles from Three Mile Island, providing at least one hamburger, a cup of French fries, a bag of apples and a bottle of Coca-Cola to every evacuee."

"Destiny Games knows that these materials may not be much for individuals, but they and McDonald's and Coca-Cola have promised that they will allocate as much materials as possible to satisfy everyone in the evacuation area."

"Game of Destiny, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola sincerely hope that people near Three Mile Island will not stay there! Parents, please think about your children! Husbands, please think about your families! Bring your necessary items and comply with Pennsylvania regulations The governor’s advice is to leave immediately!”

"They hope that everyone can stay away from danger! They hope that everyone can be safe again!"

"Finally, Ethan Jones, the founder of Game of Destiny, has something to say to the people living near Three Mile Island - as long as people are alive, there is hope. Only by surviving can we seek justice from those idiots!"

"Uh - you heard it right. The fax we received said idiot. If nothing unexpected happens, Ethan Jones should be very angry about the slow response of Three Mile Island? After all, this unexpected situation also caused a huge change in their game plan. Everyone is a victim..."

When the Columbia Broadcasting System broadcast the Game of Destiny announcement to the entire North America through television and radio, the people who were still confronting the local government near Three Mile Island were all stunned.

After a moment, they came to their senses and immediately dispersed, some went home, some drove, and after picking up their necessities, they ran towards the outside world without looking back.

The steel torrent consisting of countless vehicles made the Governor of Pennsylvania, who was still trying to persuade local residents to leave, look confused, and also surprised Joseph Hendry, chairman of the Nuclear Energy Association who was in charge of the investigation.

"Is this the Ethan Jones that Fred is protecting?"

Joseph Hendry cast a puzzled look at the assistant beside him.

As the former director of Brookhaven National Laboratory, he certainly knew Fred Terman.

"Uh--probably."

The assistant nodded and said, "The name of Game of Fate has already been revealed, so the Ethan Jones mentioned by Columbia must be the one in California."

"Besides, this kind of thing is indeed in line with Ethan Jones's style of doing things, right?"

"According to Professor Ralph Bell, he really likes video games and is very happy to communicate with players. There are more than 600,000 people near Three Mile Island. There must be people here who have signed up for his game competition. In order to allow those players to compete smoothly, he must have been paying attention to every corner of North America."

"So - it should be okay to prepare in advance, right? Maybe they have more contingency plans than we do."

"After all, Colombia said that they have set up a material supply point."

This speculation made Joseph Hendry nod and keep it in mind.

Regardless of Ethan Jones's reasons for issuing a national statement, this statement helped him, "This kid is interesting. I don't know where Fred found it."

After a sigh, he turned his gaze to the Governor of Pennsylvania, "So - maintain order?"

"After most people within five miles have evacuated, we will allow people within ten miles to evacuate?"

"After all, our circle is twenty miles long, huh?"

"Okay." Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh nodded quickly, knowing that the time was right, and ordered his subordinates to have the local police direct traffic on the evacuation route. He also asked the commissioner to lead the police to the 17 supply points mentioned by the CBS to help the people there find a place to rest.

With the concerted efforts of all parties, at noon that day, the first group of people evacuated from the disaster area saw the flag flying in the air. When the outrageous drawing of a snake king chariot with its bloody mouth wide open trying to swallow Mr. Pac-Man appeared, the guys in the car felt their noses sore.

They were even more surprised when they stopped the car and got two hamburgers, two servings of French fries, two servings of apple wedges and two bottles of Coca-Cola each.

"Isn't there one for each person?" the man in the car asked puzzledly.

"It's one for each person, but our boss Ethan Jones donated two million dollars." The staff on the scene smiled and said, "A McDonald's meal plus a bottle of Coca-Cola costs one dollar."

"There are nearly a million people within thirty miles."

"So of course everyone gets two."

"However, due to the time constraints, the food here may not taste as good as when it was freshly baked."

"Please forgive me."

At this point, the staff member smiled and waved his hand, "Okay, you guys hurry up and find a place to rest. This is all we can do. Next, please contact the local government."

The smiles of the on-site staff made the disaster victims who fled there a little dazed.

Only after hearing a shrill horn behind them did they release the clutch and step on the gas to leave.

As they drove away, the fluttering cartoon flag was reflected in the rearview mirror.

The brutal hunting scene seemed so warm at this moment.

(End of this chapter)