Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

After receiving part of their supplies, Chen Ying and her team, with two vehicles and seven people, took over the support team's tasks and followed one of the Tibetan antelope's return routes to catch up.

The Patrol Team that came to take over was from the Protection Station that houses the Tibetan Antelope Kindergarten. The young antelopes Chen Ying and her team had rescued were left with them to be taken directly back to the kindergarten.

The scientific research team actually wanted Chen Ying to stay, but they were too embarrassed to say it out loud.

She wasn't exclusively in this line of work and had other tasks to attend to, so after much consideration, they had to let go of the idea.

Chen Ying saw through this but pretended not to understand and called everyone to get in the car, eager more than anyone.

She had been incredibly busy these past few days.

She had assembled over a hundred skeletons of Tibetan antelopes and laid them out on the riverbank.

Even someone with the slightest fear could be scared to death.

Analyzing the skeletons, they concluded there were probably over two hundred Tibetan antelopes that had died from dystocia.

This was only counting the bones at the collective birthing grounds; those killed by predators were not included.

There were also some Tibetan antelopes that died without leaving any remains, estimated to be around twenty or thirty skeletons.

This was the data they gathered by Zhuonai Lake, and it wasn't very reliable.

Chen Ying calculated this data to provide a record for Yin Li and the others, so that they could track the trends of the Tibetan antelope's birthing situation in the future and set better protective measures.

Most of the Tibetan antelope's dystocias occurred either from being too exhausted after long-distance running or from being startled by humans, predators, and raptors.

The plans to manage Zhuonai Lake were underway, and they could provide this data to the management team to design quieter, more secluded meadows and grasslands that were better suited for the Tibetan antelope's birthing.

From afar, they could see Tibetan antelopes running ahead, gathering together both big and small, creating a rather spectacular scene.

Along the way, Chen Ying was also observing the surroundings.

In the wilderness of the uninhabited area, animal skeletons left after death were seen everywhere.

Golden Eagles and Vultures circled in the sky, closely watching the young of the Tibetan antelopes and the Tibetan gazelles on the grasslands.

Each descent from above provoked a panic among the antelope herds, and many young Tibetan antelopes were separated from their mothers this way.

The separated young Tibetan antelopes and Tibetan gazelles became targets for the Golden Eagles.

The Vultures weren't so bad; they generally only ate the flesh of already dead animals or those that were sick and injured.

When feeding, they would insert their heads into the animal's abdomen to peck at the soft tissues.

And those Vultures whose beaks and talons weren't sharp and strong enough had to wait for the stronger ones to tear the animal's skin open before they could rush in for a bite.

On the first and second days, they watched the Tibetan antelopes migrate back from a distance. Although some were preyed upon by fierce animals and birds, the number was not considered high.

This was also part of nature, and they could not intervene.

Ji Xin took a lot of photos, and he also sincerely recited sutras for the souls of those little ones who ended up in the bellies of beasts and birds.

"No way, where did you learn all this?"

Cai Rang couldn't stop laughing, and Yin Li was very curious and kept asking.

"You don't seem like a Buddhist in your daily life."

"I saw it online when I was looking up information. It said there were too many animal skeletons in the uninhabited area, and people who passed by should recite sutras for them…"

The group waited for him to finish and then burst into laughter.

Ji Xin was no Buddhist; he'd just seen some dubious things online and didn't ask too much before following suit.

"In our local traditions, we've never had the concept of being buried in the ground. Sky burial, water burial, and cremation are our most common choices. The locals believe that sky burial is a form of 'highest-grade charity'. After a person dies and the soul leaves, the husk becomes redundant, and leaving it out for birds and beasts to consume is the final act of benevolence in a person's life."

So, it was not what mainlanders thought, as if there was no place for burial after death.

Ji Xin's misunderstanding turned into a joke, and his face flushed red. He spread his palms to cover his face, too embarrassed to show it.

"That's enough, let's go. Help me bring that little one back."

Chen Ying told him not to be embarrassed as she pulled him out of the car.

A few hundred meters ahead, there had just been chaos.

The Tibetan antelope herd had already run off quickly, and the fallen young Tibetan antelope got up only to find it couldn't locate its mother.

Chen Ying darted forward with swift movements, scooping up the confused youngling before the fierce birds in the sky and predators on the ground could reach it.

The young Tibetan antelope seemed to have been born just over a week ago, and its recent fall had caused a fracture in its small leg.

It bleated softly, not daring to touch the ground with its left front hoof.

Chen Ying held it and brought it back to the rear of the pickup truck, quickly checking the injury to its bone.

"It's alright. It looks like a hairline fracture, not a clean break. I'll put some medicine on it and fix it with a splint."

The back of the pickup had been modified, especially for the rescue of young Tibetan antelopes.

After treatment, the little one nestled in the rear of the car, quietly looking out the window at the outside world.

Just when they were about to reach the nearest checkpoint, the Tibetan antelopes ahead were thrown into disarray again.

This time, it wasn't because predators were hunting them but because three big fellows were brawling on the grassland.

Ji Xin raised his camera without waiting for Chen Ying to signal.

This was a rare sight of yak dominance.

The breeding season for yaks is from July to November.

The herds from the herders move to their summer pastures, and breeding mostly takes place there.

The male yaks in the herds fight for the right to mate.

However, this sight is rarely seen under normal circumstances.

Sometimes, when there are wild yaks nearby, domestic male yaks will be challenged by the wild ones.

What was unfolding before their eyes was a battle between one wild yak against two domestic ones.

The wild yak was significantly larger than the domestic yaks, and their combat abilities were not in the same league.

Even if two domestic male yaks fought together against one wild yak, the losers would still be the domestic ones.

When they arrived, the fight was already nearing its end and it wasn't long before the two domestic male yaks retreated in defeat.

What followed was not suitable for children, so Ji Xin turned away from the scene with a blush.

The large herd of Tibetan antelopes they had been following had already run far off, and the nearby Tibetan gazelle herds had also moved away from this grassland.

Chen Ying and Ji Xin returned to their vehicles and continued on their way, bypassing the meadow.

Ahead lay the highway in the buffer zone.

Comrades from the Protection Station were already organizing the protection of Tibetan antelopes crossing the road.

Chen Ying and his group, having reached this point, had essentially completed their mission.

After greeting their colleagues from the Protection Station and exchanging a few words, they planned to drive back around thirty kilometers to swap shifts at a lake to the southeast.

That area, being closer to the highway, was a favorite spot for self-driving tourists to visit and take pictures.

Recently, however, it had been off-limits because the Tibetan antelopes would choose this place as a stop to feed, drink, and rest overnight.

But some people ignored the warnings and sneaked in, seeking close encounters with the Tibetan antelopes.

In reality, this grassland was highly dangerous.

First of all, with abundant water resources in the summer, the lush grassland could deceive you; you never knew where there might be marshes or ditches.

Many self-driving tourists focused only on reaching the lakeside, only to find their vehicles stuck, and then they had to call for rescue.

Even some locals would set up camp near the roadways across the grasslands, and they would charge an exorbitant price for rescue.

Well, they had it coming.

After all, if you didn't heed warnings and your vehicle got stuck, you only had yourself to blame if you got gouged.

You could opt for a rescue vehicle, but during peak seasons, it's not unheard of to wait for hours without one showing up.

If you were following traffic rules in the first place, you wouldn't have driven here, so invoking driver solidarity to get a free rescue is out of the question unless you find someone else who's just as noncompliant.

But to be fair, once you've broken the rules, it's only natural for rescuers to expect compensation!

From a distance, Yin Li saw a vehicle sputtering along.

"Brother Li, this one's on you."

His team member made a gesture with his hands mimicking a bird's beak, suggesting he had jinxed it.

They had just been discussing people who don't follow the rules and, lo and behold, they encountered one on the spot.

"What should we do now, go over there or stay put?"

Yin Li leaned back, lips quivering, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Let's go, what else can we do? First, we'll pull it out, then let the traffic police comrades handle it. Oh, and don't forget to take their names. Record them in the Protection Bureau's list of violators."

They drove over in their two vehicles, and when the passengers in the stuck vehicle saw them approaching, they hurriedly jumped out seeking help.

The typical pairing of two men and two women made it easy to guess what had happened.

However, Chen Ying noticed that Ji Xin's expression was darkening and he even pulled his cap down lower and raised the collar of his jacket to cover half of his face.

"Do you know them?"

"Yeah, college friends, two from my year and two from other years."

Chen Ying patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to stay hidden in the vehicle.

If Ji Xin showed up now, the others might pressure him to help for free on account of their friendship.

Such luck didn't exist in the world.

Chen Ying didn't get out of the car either; this was something Yin Li and Cai Rang could handle.

He was on his phone, chatting with Little Sen. They had been out of contact for so long, he had no idea how things were going back at Jiamu Gully.

Little Sen replied that everything was quite good, Sesame was very well-behaved, even helping their sister take care of the children.

"Leopard Sister and Brother Leopard came back once, then took Big and Small Baby with them, and they haven't returned since."

"Jinya got so angry because she brought a little lynx for you and couldn't find you; she messed up everything in your room, then left again with the little cub."

Little Sen was a bit worried, unsure if Jinya had given birth to the little cub or stolen it.

The chances of it being her own were slim; it was more likely stolen.

Chen Ying knew right away that the rascal had probably snatched one of her brother's cubs to play with him, and failing to find him, had left.

He would need to check later; he hoped Jinya, that wild girl, hadn't completely alienated her new sister-in-law.

Just then, while speaking, he happened to glance up and his pupils widened.

What was that over there? A lynx perched on a power pole?

At first glance, he thought Jinya had somehow dropped in from afar.

Upon closer inspection, the golden pattern and facial structure of the lynx were quite different from Jinya's.

It looked somewhat shabby.

Ah, spit, forget the appearance, first figure out how the lynx got up on the power pole!