Chapter 298: Hiding in Peace

On Dinosaur Island in the Bahamas, the real owner of the place arrived. Although most of the construction was unfinished, there was still plenty of room to accommodate William White and his entourage.

"How's it going, Lucas? My Jurassic Park looks pretty good, huh?"

"If I were you, I'd wait until the movie comes out before making that call."

"There's some truth to that, but that visual effect will be hard to beat."

After wrapping up location shoots, William White abruptly disbanded the crew to head to his Dinosaur Island for a vacation. Confronted with this reckless guy, Lucas felt too exhausted to even complain.

Fortunately, there was plenty of time and the shooting was efficient. Lucas sometimes wondered how quickly this guy was growing up.

William wasn't just here to check on the park; he was reminded of the scenes from Chernobyl.

The impact of this incident was unimaginable. In terms of nuclear fallout, it couldn't even hold a candle to the damage of Hiroshima.

Four hundred times -- that number alone was enough to strike fear into anyone.

Yes, William was aware of this. He didn't need to be traveling so far. Yet, what if there was a butterfly effect?

...

"Sir, news just came through: The nuclear plant in the Soviet Union might've had an accident."

"Source?"

"A ham radio operator picked up a conversation. We verified it and the credibility is quite high."

"What? Where?"

"Chernobyl."

"Why haven't I heard of this place? Is it in the Far East?"

"No, it's in Ukraine, right in the heart of Europe," the aide replied, shaking his head with a wry smile.

"Alright, I got it. Keep a close watch on this."

What the Soviets were doing was truly catastrophic for Europe. This level of environmental damage was permanent and couldn't be reversed. Even if humanity was wiped out one day, that nuclear fallout wouldn't disappear.

...

Meanwhile, beneath the bright stars over Europe, scientists trying to manage this disaster were calculating strange numbers in their minds.

Eventually, despair overwhelmed them.

If anyone said they weren't diligent, that would be nonsense; their systems were simply too rigid, and they missed the opportunity to act.

The sky was brilliantly colorful, filled with oranges, reds, sky blues, and blood reds like a rainbow -- quite beautiful. Yes, it was a tragically striking beauty.

One engineer recalled the horrifying scene with that description.

Two days later, Europe suddenly felt something was off. They were uncertain whether their instruments were malfunctioning.

In an instant, all of Europe was thrown into chaos. Humanity's fear often stems from the unknown, and that fear of the unknown could drive anyone mad.

...

"George, have we confirmed what's going on? It wouldn't be a nuclear war, would it?"

"There's no way it's that. It's different. I can't quite say what it is, but it seems like a nuclear plant accident."

"Oh man, in Europe?"

"Yep, right in the heart. Don't go spreading this around. We're in big trouble this time."

"Got it."

Whether to speak out or not didn't really matter; the accident at the Soviet nuclear plant was a fact set in stone. The question was how severe the accident actually was.

...

"Fulton, let's stick to American products at home. If we absolutely must import, Australia's fine, but let's pause on other places. The Soviet nuclear plant has had an accident; we must be cautious with anything for Athena."

"Understood, sir. I'll arrange it right away."

Fulton didn't ask for details; he knew all too well that when such significant news wasn't broadcast, it meant serious trouble.

...

"Don't worry, Lucas. Honestly, worrying won't help a bit."

"So we're just gonna sit tight here?"

"What else can we do? Let me tell you, all of Europe is affected. It's hard to assess how serious it'll be."

"Well, thank goodness we didn't film in Europe."

"What are you saying? It's not that terrible. No matter how severe, the impact would max out at 500 kilometers. As for the cancer scare, there's not much that can be done."

When the American space shuttle fell, the Soviets rejoiced. But unfortunately for them, their happiness was short-lived as their own troubles loomed.

However, this time around, the Americans weren't in the mood to gloat. They were anxious to find out just how big of a mess the Soviets had gotten themselves into.

...

Panic began to sweep through Europe; it was rumored that iodine tablets could prevent radiation, and people were trying to figure out where to buy them. Unfortunately, those tablets were quite niche, and people didn't know where to go.

Almost instantly, any iodine-containing product vanished from the market, including iodine tincture and iodized salt.

Fine, the truth was, those things were pretty useless. Eating too much salt wouldn't fend off radiation; it could just make things worse.

Across the Atlantic, Americans remained relatively calm. Experts claimed that even if radiation were to occur, it would be dissipated by ocean winds.

The ongoing chaos in the world hadn't affected the Bahamas. Back then, there was no Internet, and besides a handful of people, everyone mainly received their news through television.

...

"Barry, if you don't have solid information, don't report anything recklessly."

"Got it, Mr. White."

"Then let's keep it that way. We can't hide the truth, but we also don't want to cause a panic."

After taking care of these matters, William White started his vacation. As far as he could tell, the situation was out of control but hadn't yet reached the US. As for everyone else, they could only pray to God.

From that day on, an anxiety known as nuclear fear began to loom over the Western world. Before this, the five most developed countries were eager to cancel all conventional power plants.

This was indeed a good thing, capable of driving the economy and creating monopolies in technology. If this became widespread, energy giants would be thrilled.

However, after the Chernobyl accident, no one could afford to be reckless anymore. Until the cause of the accident was determined, everyone needed to tread carefully.

In terms of technology, several major powers were about the same. No matter the approach, the principles remained pretty similar. Since the Soviets had issues, it was likely that other places would too.

...

"Honey, do you think my parents will be okay?"

"The impact shouldn't be significant; based on what we know, it shouldn't reach that far. If you're still worried, you might want to bring them to America."

"Okay, I'll ask them."

"Be especially cautious about food -- avoid anything that comes from regions close to the Soviets."

Sophie's concerns weren't without merit. However, life had to go on. Unless one planned to leave everything behind, there was no escaping it. This was the kind of threat that was invisible and intangible, and the level of danger varied from person to person.

*****

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