"No, I'll stay with you. I want to protect you," the fat man insisted.
Jiang Fan felt a pang of pain in his teeth upon hearing this. If he were a woman, he could accept being told this.
The key point is that he's a grown man.
"Holy crap!" Jiang Fan looked behind the fat man in shock. "So many Red Maple Ant!"
Upon hearing this, the fat man quickly turned around, almost summoning Xiao Gang.
When they looked back, there was nothing there.
When he turned around again, Jiang Fan was gone.
Only then did he belatedly realize that he had been tricked by Jiang Fan.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Li Zhichao and his team spent a great deal of effort to kill the three Red Maple Ant.
In fact, with his strength, he could easily crush One Star monster like the Red Maple Ant in a one-on-one fight, but the Red Maple Ant rarely appear one by one.
Let alone three, even two Red Maple Ant can double their combat power through coordinated attacks. This is why, so far, he has only ever killed two One Star Red Maple Ant on his own.
At this moment, all of the dozen or so freshmen were injured, and two others were seriously injured and lying on the ground unable to get up.
Li Zhichao, Xu Yan, and Zhou Ming were in slightly better condition, but they still looked exhausted.
Suddenly, Li Zhichao remembered someone.
" Jiang Fan didn't follow us. He's incredibly bold, a freshman who dared to travel alone in the Inner Wilderness Zone. Three days have passed, and we're all in such a sorry state; he's probably dead by now."
"If he really dies, you can expect the school to punish you," Zhou Ming said, his tone somewhat indignant.
Li Zhichao understood, "You're happy that I've been punished, aren't you?"
Did I say that?
Zhou Ming was also angry, and this anger stemmed purely from his dissatisfaction with Li Zhichao.
"You rely on your talent and being a direct descendant of the Li Family to target freshmen more than once or twice. It wasn't such a big deal before, but this time you're so bold as to tamper with the geniuses the school recruited in a place like this."
Li Zhichao, let me tell you, others may fear you, but I don't! If Jiang Fan really dies, I will report it truthfully to the school. Let's see if the Li Family behind you will be able to back you up then!
"What's it to me! He wanted to leave!"
"You used reverse psychology!"
"Is he brain-dead? I only said a few words, and he stormed off in a huff. So what if he's a genius? We, Yuanwu, don't need brainless geniuses! Nor do we need impulsive geniuses! Even if this kind of person doesn't get into trouble here, he'll still suffer a terrible fate because of his competitive nature!"
Just as the two were arguing fiercely, dark shadows were rapidly moving through the thick carpet of red maple leaves, surrounding the crowd.
"Ah!" A sudden scream interrupted Li Zhichao and Zhou Ming's argument, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
Then you see a Red Maple Ant attached to the screaming newborn's leg.
Moreover, a continuous stream of red maple leaves has already climbed up my newly grown hiking boots.
This scene terrified everyone, turning them pale and sending chills down their spines.
"Shh..."
The rustling sounds came from all directions. After looking around, the group was shocked to find that countless Red Maple Ant had completely surrounded them. The sheer number of them was so overwhelming that it made their scalp tingle.
"Help me! Help me!" the freshman cried out in terror.
Although individual Red Maple Ant are not very aggressive, they contain a paralyzing toxin. One or two of them are not enough to kill a person, let alone a newborn cultivator whose physique is much stronger than that of an ordinary person.
However, if it's a group of Red Maple Ant continuously injecting toxins into their bodies, the situation becomes much more serious.
"We need to go save him right away!" Zhou Ming said anxiously to Li Zhichao and Xu Yan.
The two remained silent.
"Save him? Have you lost your mind? There are so many Red Maple Ant, we don't even know how we're going to get away ourselves, and you want us to save him? If you want to save him, save him yourself!"
"That's right, if you want to die, don't drag us down with you."
As Li Zhichao and his companion talked, they worked together to try and tear a hole in the Red Maple Ant so they could escape.
As for the freshmen, they're a bunch of novices. The highest level they've reached is only the Late-Stage Martial Apprentice. What help can we expect from them? So we're not going to bother with them.
The freshmen, upon hearing the conversation, lost all color in their faces.
Just as Li Zhichao said, these people were all at the Late-Stage Martial Apprentice. Even a group of them would have a hard time facing a single Red Maple Ant, let alone thousands upon thousands of them.
"Ahhh! Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"
The freshman who had been attacked earlier was now completely covered in Red Maple Ant, with only one eye showing.
Zhou Ming fought desperately against the Red Maple Ant, trying to get to the rescue, but the more he killed, the more Red Maple Ant there were, and he couldn't get past them to the new students.
Gradually, the screams of the newborn were completely swallowed up by the Red Maple Ant. They fell to the ground, and more and more Red Maple Ant swarmed up on them, piling up into a small mountain.
Upon witnessing this scene, the freshmen were terrified, their blood nearly freezing.
"No, I don't want to die here."
A girl with pigtails was terrified, her face pale, and she ran towards Li Zhichao, crying and screaming.
"Senior Li, I'll give you anything if you save me!"
The last thread in the girl's heart snapped completely; she no longer cared about anything else, as long as she could survive.
However, in such a life-or-death crisis, who would have the mind to think about such things?
Li Zhichao shouted fiercely, "Damn it! Don't come any closer! If you dare bring the Red Maple Ant here, I'll chop you in half with one stroke!"
Looking at the swarm of Red Maple Ant trailing behind the girl with pigtails, a ruthless glint flashed in Li Zhichao's eyes, as if he could really kill her if she came at him.
The girl was so frightened that she stopped in her tracks, unsure whether to go forward or retreat. Finally, she squatted down, covered her head with her hands, and burst into tears.
In an instant, the shadow of death loomed over everyone's hearts.
At the same time, Jiang Fan, who had just killed a few Red Maple Ant, suddenly stopped and turned to look to his left, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
There was no other reason than that he saw Li Zhichao and his group surrounded by a swarm of Red Maple Ant within the range of his Psychic Power.
The focus wasn't on Li Zhichao and his group, but on the swarming mass of Red Maple Ant.
For the past three days, he'd been worrying about how long it would take to kill them all and accumulate enough Psychic Fruit. But look, the points have arrived! It seems the heavens have heard the call from his heart!
The number Li Zhichao Red Maple Ant was increasing, but their stamina was almost completely depleted.
Seeing this, Xu Yan lowered his voice and said to Li Zhichao, "This can't go on. I have an idea."
"What idea? What time is it? Stop playing riddles! Speak up!"