Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

Zhang Shi released Pipi, letting him gain experience while keeping a vigilant watch. He then drew his compound bow and began firing at the street ahead. Perhaps it was because the invisible beings were too numerous, or perhaps they simply didn't know how to evade. In just a few minutes, the warehouse entrance was filled with translucent, blood-stained corpses.

A ray of light flashed by, and after many days, Zhang Shi finally reached level 25 and unlocked a new professional skill.

[Evil Thoughts: Passive skill. Every time a target is killed, there is a 20% chance of spawning a shadow at the target's location.]

Zhang Shi knew the power of this skill and was eager to test its effect, so he shot blindly forward even harder.

After a few arrows were fired, the evil thoughts were successfully triggered. A shadow identical to Zhang Shi's appeared in front of the invisible corpse. The other monsters must have discovered the existence of the shadow and rushed forward to tear it to pieces in a few moves.

Zhang Shi was stunned. He remembered that shadows existed in the form of energy and were immune to all physical attacks. However, these invisible beings could cause damage to shadows, which meant that their means of attack existed in the form of energy. However, they themselves could be harmed by ordinary physical attacks, which was somewhat different from souls.

Zhang Shi drew his bow again, and this time after triggering the evil thought, he passed a steel knife to the shadow. Zhang Shi controlled the shadow with all his heart to fight, and performed Shadow Slash and Triple Strike together, clearing an area in front at once. At the same time, more shadows were triggered. Zhang Shi's level increase maintained the duration of the shadow at about 3 seconds, and a shadow army soon formed on the street.

As the number of shadows increased, it became difficult for Zhang Shi to distract himself and control them, but the advantage in numbers was still fully demonstrated in the small-scale battle. In just a few minutes, the streets returned to silence.

The shadow dissipated, leaving only blood and corpses on the ground. Without the beast to clean up, the whole street was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Zhang Shi and his companions successfully reached 1000 kills, unlocking the Fog City teleporter. Meanwhile, a private message arrived on Zhang Shi's system panel. Clicking it, he discovered it was from Mao Tai. Zhang Shi's heart sank, suspecting something had happened on the island. Before he could open the private message, Cai Qing also sent him a message, confirming his suspicions. A fleet of over fifty ships had docked near the island. Lao Bai had already deployed artillery along the coastline, and now he was returning to take charge.

When Zhang Shi heard that the other party had more than fifty ships, he knew that they were no ordinary people. He immediately informed everyone about the request for payment and decided to return to the island immediately to deal with the emergency.

Zhang Shi opened the system panel and directly clicked on evacuation. With the flash of white light, five figures appeared at the secret stone tablet on the island.

Zhang Shi was about to rush to the north bank to check on the situation when Pipi, who was standing beside him, suddenly started barking wildly. Zhang Shi knew Pipi's personality well and knew that he was smart and wouldn't make noise for no reason, so he quickly turned around and looked at everyone.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Shi immediately realized something was wrong. Only five of the original six people had returned, and Chen Beipan, who had been staying at the back and acting as an invisible figure, was nowhere to be seen.

Zhao Feng also noticed that Chen Beipan had suddenly disappeared, and cursed angrily.

"This bastard, he got away without me noticing. If I had known this would happen, I should have broken his legs in advance."

Ge Dalong shook his head and explained.

"Something's not right. When we evacuated, the entire team did. I didn't see anyone else leave. He probably didn't run away on his own initiative."

Zhang Shi also silently sensed the master-servant connection with Chen Beipan and found that the connection between the two had become extremely weak, but the contract still existed.

"The connection between the master and servant is still there, and we won't be able to figure out what happened to him for a while. Let's deal with the problem on the island first."

Zhang Shi quickly gathered his thoughts, realizing that the most important thing now was to deal with the crisis on the island. He turned to the group and briefly assigned tasks: "Brother Feng, Lao Ge, you two will be responsible for checking equipment and supplies to ensure we are ready for battle at any time. I and the others will first check the situation on the north shore and contact Lao Bai for the latest updates on the fleet."

Zhao Feng and Ge Dalong nodded in agreement and quickly took action. Zhang Shi, with the remaining team members, including Pipi, quickly headed towards the north bank. Along the way, he quickly contacted Lao Bai through Cai Qing, Mao Tai, and others.

"Old White, we're back. How's the fleet doing? Are there any further moves?"

There was a hint of urgency in Zhang Shi's voice.

Lao Bai's voice came through his watch, a hint of solemnity: "My Lord, the fleet does not seem to have any immediate plans to land, but they are lingering on the sea, perhaps waiting for some signal or opportunity. I have placed the artillery on high alert, ready to respond to any emergency."

"Okay, we'll be there soon. You stabilize the situation first."

After Zhang Shi finished speaking, he hung up the phone and quickened his pace.

After arriving at the north bank, many soldiers were already in position, looking at the coast nervously. Zhang Shi's arrival boosted the morale of the originally nervous soldiers, and they stared more intently at the ships on the coast.

Zhang Shi didn't say much, but quickly found a secluded spot and observed the situation on the sea using a panoramic map. As Lao Bai had predicted, a massive fleet fanned out across the sea. Each vessel was filled with shadowy figures, the crews bustling about. Zhang Shi noticed that most of these ships were heavily armed, including several massive cannons, their barrels fixed within the ships' cabins, their muzzles extended, pointed at the distant island.

"It seems like the other party is here with ill intentions."

……

The sea station was operating normally today. Many tourists who had come to the island on their own were frightened by the fleet at sea and hurriedly drove away. More tourists who had arrived on the island with Wang Wu's team were gathering at the bar, clamoring for Zhang Shi to come out and give an explanation.

Mao Tai had never encountered such a thing before, so he could only keep calming the tourists. Originally, he could keep the situation calm for a while thanks to Zhang Shi's reputation, but Zhang Shi did not show up for a long time, and the tourists became more and more uneasy and agitated, and were about to cause trouble.

At the critical moment, Zhang Shi pushed open the door of the bar.

"Who wants to see me?"

The bar suddenly fell silent.

"Who wants to see me? I'm here, why is no one answering?"

Zhang Shi's tone was neither cold nor hot. Seeing that no one in the group of tourists dared to speak, he sat down at the bar and drank a glass of beer in one gulp.

"I know that fleet out at sea looks intimidating, and everyone's feeling a little uneasy. I, Zhang Shi, hereby promise everyone that as long as I'm here, not a single ship will land on the island without my permission."

Seeing Zhang Shi made a promise, the tourists looked at each other, and then a big bald man wearing flowered shorts stood up and explained.

"Boss Zhang Shi, we don't have any other intentions. We're just a little worried that those scoundrels on the sea might cause trouble, ruining everyone's fun and affecting your business. It would be awkward for us to fight each other then."

Zhang Shi smiled and nodded, then spoke loudly again.

"Don't worry, everyone. Please return to the inn and continue playing music and dancing. I will take care of the things outside."

"Mao Tai, today's drinks are all 20% off. This is my way of making up for your friends' fright."