Shang Qi laid out his terms first.
Whether Peng Yansheng listened was his own business.
If he listened, he'd be wise to adapt to the circumstances, either leave or surrender.
If he chose neither and insisted on a direct confrontation, he'd become a meal for the fish.
Shang Qi could distinguish between feigned and genuine surrender.
Attempting to deceive him was sheer overestimation of oneself.
Peng Yansheng could feel Shang Qi's strength, a strength whose depth he couldn't fathom, inspiring an instinctive fear.
Despite appearing to be of similar age, Shang Qi's power far surpassed his own, making a direct confrontation impossible.
In the end, he had miscalculated.
If the containers at the port could be swept away, why hadn't he considered that ships could also be taken?
He had finally arrived at this sea island, and his uncle's unjust death had yet to be avenged!
He was unwilling to leave like this.
Unknown to Peng Yansheng, Shang Qi was privy to his every thought.
Shang Qi was an exceptionally intelligent individual. After hearing Peng Yansheng's inner monologue, he likely deduced Peng Yansheng's identity.
It was highly probable that he was connected to the people from Lu Cheng who had come to negotiate and recruit them.
And that group had been massacred by his brother.
After his thoughts shifted, Peng Yansheng looked at Shang Qi and introduced himself, "My name is Peng Yansheng."
"Shang Qi." Shang Qi maintained a facade of 'friendliness' as long as the other party's ambition and greed were not yet revealed.
Upon learning Shang Qi's name, Peng Yansheng got straight to the point: "We are survivors from the Lu Cheng Base. Before you arrived on this sea island, I believe you had dealings with a bald man wearing a gold chain."
In Peng Yansheng's mind, even if Shang Qi and his group weren't involved in killing Peng Qiang, he intended to pin the blame on them. Only then would he have a legitimate reason to stay and plan a future surprise attack to seize the sea island.
In reality, Peng Yansheng didn't need to scheme. Shang Qi had no intention of denying it.
After laying the groundwork, Peng Yansheng continued, "He was my uncle. His initial intention in seeking you out was to negotiate a partnership, to invite you to join our base. We could help each other survive in the post-apocalyptic world."
"But you—" Peng Yansheng's expression suddenly changed. He looked at Shang Qi with feigned grief, "It was fine if you refused, and my uncle didn't force you to join our base. But what you shouldn't have done was resort to sneak attacks and betrayal, slaughtering everyone in our base, and destroying it, leaving us who were out searching for supplies homeless."
Although Peng Yansheng spoke the truth, this was the apocalypse; it was survival of the fittest.
Furthermore, Peng Qiang's initial intentions were impure.
Had Shang Qi's group not been strong enough to deter and intimidate Peng Qiang,
then Shang Qi and his people would have been the ones killed, massacred, or enslaved.
Shang Qi waited for Peng Yansheng's accusations to finish before speaking, "Your uncle had malicious intentions, so his death was justified. It's just a shame about the destruction of the base."
After all, according to Shang Qi and Su Ling's original plan, the leader of the base was meant to be replaced.
But they hadn't expected his prodigal brother to turn the base into ruins with a single strike.
Was it regrettable? It had, after all, solved a significant problem for him and Ah Ling.
Was it not regrettable? It was indeed wasteful.
This was the apocalypse, not the pre-apocalypse world with continuous resource supply.
Alas, what was done could not be undone.