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

At sea, the fleet finally took action. A motorboat sailed out from the fleet and slowly approached the island.

Zhang Shi ordered all personnel to be on alert and not to open fire without his order. He then instructed Zhang Dazhuang to keep a close eye on the tourists who had landed on the island to prevent any traitors among them.

Not long after, the motorboat sailed straight to the coast, and a young man walked down from the boat. He also looked like a Xia national. Unlike the other survivors, he did not wear protective gear. Instead, he was wearing light shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. He had a warm smile on his face and looked confident.

Although Zhang Shi was very dissatisfied with the disturbance by the outsider, he still admired the man's courage to go to the meeting alone, so he also showed up and took off his mask, and went to negotiate alone.

When the kind young man saw Zhang Shi appear, he raised his hand to signal.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Shi. I've long heard of you. Seeing you today, I'm sure you have an extraordinary demeanor."

Zhang Shi walked to ten meters in front of the young man, which was the optimal activation distance for the Shadow Step. If the opponent made any dangerous moves, Zhang Shi could kill him in the first time.

Seeing that the young man seemed very familiar, Zhang Shi just nodded indifferently as a response.

The young man then introduced himself.

"Hello, sir. My name is Chen Baomu, you can call me Xiaobao. I'm sorry to bother you this time because I want to discuss cooperation with you."

Zhang Shi looked at Chen Baomu's face and remembered that this man was the one who was ranked third in the world a few times before, so he became more wary of him.

"Cooperation? I've never seen such a grand gesture when discussing cooperation. What? If I say no, are you going to turn hostile and send those dozens of ships on the sea to attack us?"

Zhang Shi expressed his dissatisfaction directly without hesitation. He stared at Chen Baomu with a sharp gaze, trying to detect any possible deception or threat from his expression and subtle movements.

Upon hearing this, the smile on Chen Baomu's face did not diminish at all. He slowly took two steps forward, but always stayed outside a certain range, showing an excellent sense of propriety.

"Boss Zhang Shi, you misunderstood. I came here with sincerity and a desire for cooperation. Those ships on the sea are indeed my people, but they are not hostile."

Zhang Shi sneered.

"You brought an entire fleet to stop near my island all at once. I'm afraid it will be hard to avoid misunderstandings."

Chen Baomu continued to explain slowly and calmly.

"Haha, sir, you misunderstood. We brothers have been living on the boat since the flood. The boat is like our shelter. I was worried about something going wrong on this voyage, so I brought all the brothers here. sir, please don't think too much. We don't have the guts to go against you."

Seeing Chen Baomu's slick talk, Zhang Shi couldn't help but feel a little disgusted and didn't respond to his explanation.

Chen Baomu went on to explain.

"I came here this time to discuss cooperation with you. I see that your sea station is thriving, with a large number of passengers every day, and the current scale is far beyond your limit."

Chen Baomu paused, and seeing that Zhang Shi didn't react at all, he continued talking to himself.

"Wang Wu and his men alone can't carry that many passengers. What I mean is, why don't you split off some of the transportation business and let me handle it? Look, we brothers are quite powerful. We have the ships and the equipment. If we work together, your daily passenger volume can at least increase five or six times. That way, everyone will make money, and you won't lose anything."

Zhang Shi's brow furrowed slightly after hearing Chen Baomu's words, a look of deep thought flashing across his face. He had considered expanding operations, but he had always been cautious about maintaining the status quo, partly due to limited resources and partly due to his distrust of external forces. While Chen Baomu wasn't particularly likable, his proposed cooperation proposal impressed him; it sounded like a win-win situation. Of course, he might have other motives, so Zhang Shi had to be cautious.

"You say it lightly, and cooperation sounds wonderful, but how can I guarantee that you are not coveting my territory, or wanting to use my resources to expand your own power?"

Zhang Shi's voice was low and powerful, and every word revealed unquestionable firmness.

Chen Baomu's smile brightened upon hearing this. He spread his hands, appearing quite sincere. "Boss Zhang Shi, you're worrying too much. In this chaotic world, we're all just trying to survive. Why kill each other? My proposal is entirely based on mutual benefit and win-win considerations. If you're concerned, we can sign a detailed cooperation agreement that clearly defines the rights and responsibilities of both parties. We can even invite a third party as a witness and publish it on the world channel to ensure fairness and justice in our cooperation."

Zhang Shi remained silent for a moment, seemingly weighing the pros and cons. He knew full well that in this world of scarce resources and lurking crises, going it alone wouldn't last long. Cooperation might be a path worth exploring. But the key lay in ensuring the security and controllability of such cooperation. Of course, the so-called agreement was merely a formality, merely a statement of each party's stance.

"Okay, Chen Baomu, I can consider your proposal, but there are a few conditions," Zhang Shi finally spoke, his tone carrying undeniable authority. "First, the specific details of the cooperation need to be discussed in detail, including but not limited to profit distribution, operating methods, and security guarantees. Second, during the cooperation period, your people must abide by my rules and must not cause trouble on my territory. Third, and most importantly, if I discover that you have betrayed me or harmed my interests in any way, I will immediately terminate the cooperation and reserve the right to pursue legal action."

Chen Baomu nodded repeatedly, a satisfied smile on his face: "Of course, of course, these conditions are very reasonable, I fully accept them. Then let's find a time to sit down and discuss the specific details of the cooperation."

Zhang Shi nodded slightly, agreeing to the initial cooperation intention. He knew that this cooperation was both an opportunity and a challenge. The key was to strike a balance between leveraging Chen Baomu's resources to expand his influence and ensuring his own position and interests were not threatened.

With the two sides reaching a preliminary agreement on a partnership, Zhang Shi signaled to Zhang Dazhuang to keep an eye on the tourists. He then told Zhao Feng to keep an eye on the fleet at sea. He and Chen Baomu returned to the island to discuss further details of the collaboration. The massive fleet remained quietly anchored on the sea, as if witnessing this potentially fateful meeting.