java.lang.NullPointerException crash when generating certain chunks in upgraded world

The Bug:

On worlds that have been upgraded to 1.18-pre1, the game will crash after traveling too far into new chunks.

Reproduction Steps:

• Download this world (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jj7qokK2SBKggslqhamUasC5p95CZjdF/view?usp=sharing)

• Load it in 1.18-pre1

• Fly in the direction shown in the attached video
  →❌ The game will crash after going a certain (varying) distance.

Additional Information:

• This crash may not be exclusive to this world.

• This crash occurred on a world that has been upgraded through the last few snapshots.

• The F3 menu says MultiMC, however it is completely unmodified.

• On my Windows 11 laptop, the game crashed, but the windows stayed open with a black screen until I killed the process. On my main PC, the game immediately died.

• On my higher power Windows 11 laptop, the game still displayed the black screen (also showing the "Saving world..." text in the bottom of the screen for a few frames) but then did close automatically. It seems on Windows 10, the game freezes and crashes, while on Windows 11, the game displays a black screen and then sometimes properly crashes.

If anyone who understands the crash report has information, please leave a comment so I can add it to the bug description.