Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Director Yin and the others' supply consumption will be compensated financially once everyone has left.

Such a significant scientific expedition by a significant institution won't face financial worries.

After negotiating with Yin Li, the teacher leading the team had the sick and injured students transferred to Yin Li's vehicle.

Having learned that their purpose of heading out was to look for Tanggu Rhodiola, a student with an interest in plants shared with Dao Meihua the locations where he had spotted the Tanggu Rhodiola.

"Dao Bo, don't worry, if we find more up in the mountains, I'll email you the locations and photos directly."

After exchanging email addresses, Chen Ying and her team turned back, camping at a location they had previously identified, while the scientific expedition team returned to their main camp to spend the night.

The injured student's mood wasn't good, for despite the difficulty of the mission, the potential rewards were significant.

Having come so close to completing the mission, stumbling at the last moment felt like a heavy blow, difficult to accept for the time being.

Chen Ying wasn't good at dealing with these kinds of issues, so she simply went to stay in another vehicle, leaving Dao Meihua to counsel both of them.

After their vehicle had left, the Snow Leopard that had been lingering on the mountain ran down, following the scent trail of Chen Ying's group.

Coincidentally, two members of the Mountain Patrol Team were discussing that same Snow Leopard.

"That Leopard is quite bold, there are so many of us, and it doesn't even hide; just watches from above, curious as anything. I suspect it might even join in if there were fewer of us."

Chen Ying applied medicine to her hand.

Despite wearing thermal underwear while working, her hand had scraped a large area against a rock, the fabric providing little protection.

The fellow in the passenger seat turned around and glanced at Chen Ying's arm, feeling nervous.

"There are indeed dangers up here, to be honest, in all my years here, this is the first time I've encountered this. We should warn everyone not to let their guard down when we get back."

Although it was an accident, being extra cautious reduces the likelihood of mishaps.

After setting up camp, Chen Ying checked on the injured student's wounds again; the swelling was bad, but fortunately, the bones were unharmed.

It was a blessing amid misfortune.

"We need to watch out for a fever tonight. Do you guys have any cold medicine?"

"Yes, the team doctor gave us some when we were leaving."

"Alright, I'll stay up with him tonight; you all get some sleep. Ali will take over around three in the morning."

The injured student, shocked and scared, had also sweated a lot due to his injured foot. Despite being padded with a towel, it likely wasn't very effective.

Chen Ying asked Dao Meihua to fill a bag with oxygen from the modified vehicle's supply, just in case.

Sure enough, by ten o'clock, things started to seem off. His skin was burning hot, yet he kept saying he was cold. Wrapped in a down sleeping bag and a military coat wasn't enough; his teeth chattered violently.

"What do we do? Will he be okay?" Another male student was frightened, now regretting agreeing with his teacher's proposal to stick with a smaller group rather than the main body of the team, the pressure of the situation becoming too much to handle.

Chen Ying pursed her lips and remained silent. They used antipyretics and physical measures, but if those failed, there was nothing more to be done.

They struggled on until after midnight. Even though the others could hardly sleep, they forced themselves to rest; they had a long journey ahead, and they needed to be alert to avoid getting their vehicle stuck.

Just before one o'clock, Chen Ying heard animal roars outside, a faintly familiar sound.

The injured student's condition seemed to stabilize for the moment; he stopped complaining about the cold, though the fever hadn't fully subsided.

Chen Ying looked over at him, saw he was asleep, and got up to leave the tent.

Yin Li, lying nearby, opened his eyes and looked at her, wanting to get up but was signaled by her to stay down.

Wrapped in thick clothing, Chen Ying climbed onto the vehicle, planning to turn on the lights and check.

The most feared on the grasslands were wolves, followed by brown bears.

The latter could be scared off, but one needs to be careful with the former, as a slight negligence could lead to several restless days.

However, before Chen Ying could turn on the vehicle lights, a Snow Leopard sprang up nearby, its distinctive fur and colors making it unmistakably Yellow Fur.

Behind it, crouching and looking outside, was the Little Snow Leopard from Er Niu's house, the sister of the big Snow Leopard.

"Roar, Two-legged beast, how did you get here? Didn't you notice there's another leopard behind you?"

Chen Ying really hadn't known, since the Snow Leopard had followed their scent to find them; they had already set up camp by the time the other arrived and hadn't come close, instead staying on the hillside nearby, watching them.

Yellow Fur circled Chen Ying, sniffing intently, and not detecting any unpleasant smells, finally relaxed.

Accustomed to the commotion with Er Niu and the others, Yellow Fur saw Chen Ying going into the tent and rushed in without a thought.

A student, already sleeping in a daze, was almost scared to pee himself on the spot; luckily, another team member quickly covered his mouth. However, his whimpering still woke up the others.

Chen Ying simply turned up the camping lamp a bit, touched the forehead of the injured student, his fever had subsided, but his skin was starting to turn cold.

"Yellow Fur, call Little Snow Leopard in, you two come and help."

No amount of thick clothes or quilts could compare to the warmth of sleeping sandwiched between two Snow Leopards; after lying like this for a couple of hours, Yellow Fur could no longer stand it and sprung up to run off.

Little Snow Leopard reacted a bit slower and after Yellow Fur called out softly from outside, it decisively got up and left as well.

The others, still dazed from sleep, opened their eyes, glanced around, and went back to sleeping.

Yin Li got dressed and came over, sitting next to Chen Ying.

"How's it going?"

"Not bad, the fever has gone down, now the temperature is just slightly below normal, should be fine after taking some medicine in the morning."

"That's good, I'll keep watch, you get some sleep, we'll start early tomorrow."

Originally planning a leisurely stroll on the way, visiting other places, now it wasn't possible anymore; they had to rush back to the Protection Station as soon as they could.

Chen Ying was woken by noises outside.

Feeling as if he had just closed his eyes for a moment, the commotion outside made him sit up, holding his throbbing head.

Dao Meihua stood at the tent entrance looking outside; hearing some noise, she turned back, saw Chen Ying sitting up, and quickly told him to get dressed and have breakfast.

"What's the commotion outside?"

"Three Snow Leopards and a pack of wolves are fighting, oh, and two birds joined in too."

"What? What's joining in?"

"Just get up and see for yourself. Those two, are they vultures? But they're so big."

She could recognize some small ornamental birds, but she genuinely couldn't identify such large birds.

Chen Ying quickly dressed and went outside, to his surprise, it was two Golden Eagles.

A bit farther off, vultures were eyeing the scene covetously.

There were seven or eight wolves, apparently, they had tried a sneak attack but didn't succeed, stumbled upon by Yellow Fur and his 'little girlfriend'.

As for whether the other Snow Leopard was the one from the mountain yesterday, he hadn't looked closely enough to tell.

But being able to fight wolves meant at least they were on Yellow Fur's side.

He had seen such scenes before, the same happened at Zhuonai Lake when they were watching the Tibetan antelope.

Back then, several packs of wolves had gathered together, yet none could withstand the Snow Leopards and the brown bear; these mere seven or eight wolves were no match for three Snow Leopards.

Not to mention the two eagles in the sky, ready to strike with their claws at any moment.

Just as they thought the outcome was about to be decided, suddenly a bear head popped out from behind a mound.

A few minutes later, the brown bear charged towards them with an unstoppable momentum.