On the deck outside the window, quite a few tourists had gathered. In fact, out of the more than four hundred tourists on the cruise ship, over half were now lingering on these three levels of decks, enjoying the final night of their journey.

However, when William Scott looked at them, he could already foresee another fact from the satisfied smiles on their faces: this might truly become the last night for many of them... On most of them, the same prophetic visions as that couple had appeared!

“The cruise will arrive at the Shen City port at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and it’s four in the afternoon now... which means the disaster will definitely happen within these nineteen hours.”

“But, exactly when will it happen?!”

William Scott felt both panicked and confused. He gazed out at the distant sea... Just as Grace Johnson had said, this route had always been very safe, and the weather was currently calm and sunny, everything appearing peaceful.

What, then, was the disaster that would soon cause heavy casualties on board?

Chapter 002 Prelude

After calming himself a little, William Scott suddenly pushed back his chair and hurriedly walked out, saying to Grace Johnson as he went, “You stay here, don’t go anywhere until I get back.”

Grace Johnson was a bit baffled, and recalling William Scott’s strange behavior just now, she quickly caught up and asked with concern, “Did something happen?”

“I need to check on something, you stay here...” William Scott said. He was feeling rather unsettled, but the rationality he’d developed from years of dealing with disasters made it clear what he needed to do now.

Find a crew member and ask if anything unusual had happened. Thinking about it now, there must be some connection between the loss of signal and the disaster he had foreseen...

But just as he hurried onto the deck, someone suddenly blocked his way.

This person was wearing only shorts, clutching a water volleyball, and suddenly jumped in front of him: “Hey, isn’t this Mr. Scott, who loves to keep to himself?”

But William Scott, completely oblivious to his surroundings, didn’t even see him, and the two collided at once.

The other stumbled and immediately cursed in annoyance, “Damn, can’t you watch where you’re going?!”

Only then did William Scott react, but after glancing at him, he didn’t bother to respond. He just muttered a quick “Sorry” and continued on his way.

The guy in shorts was named Brian Foster, tall and burly, always proud of the abs he’d built up at the gym. With plenty of money to spend, he was quite popular with the girls. However, William Scott wasn’t close to him. The only reason he’d come out to “tease” William Scott now was because he’d seen Grace Johnson following behind.

But unexpectedly, he ended up getting bumped, and William Scott didn’t even stop, as if he was in a hurry.

“Weirdo...” Brian Foster grumbled under his breath, glaring at William Scott’s back in annoyance.

This “field trip” had been organized by the students themselves, taking advantage of the holidays and recruiting openly. In William Scott’s words, it was essentially just a group tour.

Brian Foster hadn’t been interested in “marine biology” at all; he only came because he saw Grace Johnson’s name on the flyer. But to his frustration, since arriving, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to her at all. Instead, this bookish-looking, seemingly weak pretty boy seemed to have a good relationship with Grace Johnson... He’d even heard that the only reason William Scott came was because Grace Johnson had personally invited him...

Still, he didn’t want to seem petty in front of Grace Johnson, so after saying that, he stopped paying attention to William Scott.

William Scott cared even less about such trivial matters... He simply wasn’t in the mood. But unexpectedly, after just a couple of steps, he was blocked again.

A bespectacled male student grabbed his arm and said, “Mr. Scott, why didn’t you apologize to Mr. Foster after bumping into him?”

It was David Bolton, a fellow graduate student from the School of Life Sciences...

He’d joined a year earlier, under the same advisor, and was known for being very rigid.

He’d always been displeased with William Scott’s “most promising graduate student” title.

William Scott impatiently shook him off and said, “I already apologized. I have something urgent to do. If you need anything, let’s talk later.”

But David Bolton straightened his face and pressed on, “What kind of attitude is that? That’s not how you apologize. As your senior... Hey! William Scott!”

William Scott had no time to waste on him. After glancing around the crowd, he quickly spotted a crew member and walked straight toward him.

Seeing this, David Bolton glanced at the surrounding classmates and immediately felt embarrassed in front of everyone, so he followed after him: “I want to see what’s so urgent for you...”

Brian Foster turned to Grace Johnson, putting on a smile, wanting to talk to her, only to find that Grace Johnson had also followed after them, leaving him even more frustrated. He looked back, thought for a moment, tossed the volleyball aside, and followed as well.