William Carter sat in the car and let out a deep breath. He had made all sorts of preparations today, running around busily, but now that everything was ready, instead of feeling calm, he actually felt a sense of anxiety and unease. The composure, the orderliness, the suppressed panic he had maintained before all seemed to erupt at this moment.

After sitting in his seat for five or six minutes, William Carter gradually regained his composure. After all, it was the end of the world! Having such a reaction was normal for him.

According to the information provided by the "Star Seed," William Carter stood up, walked to the driver's seat, then sat down and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

Next, William Carter closed his eyes. As if he had flipped a switch, the scene that should have appeared before his eyes suddenly appeared in his mind.

The steering wheel he was holding with both hands—after "looking" left and right, his field of vision quickly zoomed out, taking in the entire vehicle. Then, the body of the car became transparent, and all the components were clearly visible.

William Carter knew that this was the "Star Seed" scanning him. Although he understood this, actually experiencing it firsthand still felt incredibly amazing to William Carter, like something out of a VR sci-fi story.

When VR first came out, William Carter was very interested, but it was too expensive so he never bought it. Now, however, he was experiencing something even more advanced than VR.

After the entire minibus was scanned, the vehicle's information appeared in William Carter's mind.

Model: Medium passenger bus (14 seats).

Age: Ten years.

Power: Gasoline engine.

Maximum speed: 110 km/h.

Engine: 5.014L water-cooled inline four-cylinder turbocharged direct injection.

Faults: Old engine, all components are aging.

In summary, this was a very ordinary minibus, probably retired from tourism and bought by a rental company. A vehicle like this would have all sorts of minor issues as soon as it was driven; the rental company was basically just trying to make a quick buck.

However, these minor issues didn't really matter to William Carter. He had spent just over ten thousand to get a minibus, which was already a great deal.

After the first round of modifications, this vehicle would be preliminarily adapted for doomsday use.

There were several directions for modification with the "Star Seed." William Carter thought for a moment and chose the "base vehicle" type. The base vehicle was actually a more material-intensive choice, but it was also the most practical.

Soon, the "Star Seed" listed the materials needed to modify this vehicle into a base vehicle (standard). Seeing the list, William Carter couldn't help but click his tongue in surprise.

Steel X 100 jin, copper X 100 jin, screws of various specifications, titanium alloy 10 kilograms, leather 10 square feet, and all sorts of strange materials. Just the first few items alone, William Carter knew, would not be cheap. He vaguely remembered that titanium alloy cost five or six hundred per kilogram, and among those strange materials, some names looked expensive at a glance.

This material list was completely beyond William Carter's price expectations; the amount of materials needed was more than he had imagined, probably because he had chosen the more complex base vehicle option.

He wasn't sure if the money he had left, plus whatever he could get from selling things, would be enough.

Although there were plenty of those "one-minute transfers, borrow money with just your ID" ads plastered everywhere, right now William Carter's student ID was pawned to David Clark, his ID card was with the rental company, and he didn't have a property certificate or anything else he could use, so for the moment he was at a loss.

"Forget it, I'll just order whatever I can buy first..." William Carter took out his phone.

As soon as he turned on his phone, William Carter noticed he had two missed calls. Judging by the time, they probably came while he was rushing around and didn't hear them because it was too noisy.

But looking at the phone number, he didn't recognize it...

"Hello?" William Carter called back.

"William Carter?" A girl's voice came from the other end, sounding sweet and gentle.

"This is he. I saw you called me—may I ask what you need?" William Carter asked.

"I'm Emily Thompson." The girl said a name that surprised William Carter.

He had thought for sure it was a business call—either the rental company, a courier, or a seller's customer service for something he had ordered.

But unexpectedly, it was actually a girl he knew, and not just any girl, but a very popular one... Still, although William Carter rarely communicated with girls by phone, he wasn't so flustered as to lose his composure just because he got a call.

He just found it strange—he and Emily Thompson didn't really have any connection, so why would she call him?

Of course, to be precise, they weren't completely unconnected. In fact, they had been classmates since high school, even in the same class, and even desk mates.

Emily Thompson's family was well-off, she was pretty and sweet, had a good personality, and was very popular in class. Back then, William Carter had also gazed at Emily Thompson's quiet profile as she looked out the window, her hair gently fluttering, lost in thought.

But although Emily Thompson was outstanding in every way, she happened to struggle with math, while William Carter was quite good at it. So Emily Thompson often asked William Carter to help her with problems.