Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

The twin sister came over, her big eyes wide with admiration as she looked at Black Gold, unable to hide her fondness.

"Doggie, so pretty," she said, her Mandarin not standard, but at least understandable.

"My family's big dog is also pretty, and he can herd too."

The little girl wrapped her arms around the big dog's neck in a backhanded hug, and the fearsome adult Tibetan Mastiff instantly became docile.

With two children around, Chen Ying simply went outside with them for some fresh air. Staying inside the tent was just too awkward, not knowing what to do, already stuffed with milk tea and yogurt.

Stepping out of the tent, Chen Ying saw the yaks moving slowly in the distance.

"Little sister, how many cattle does your family have?"

"Three hundred, my brother says we have three hundred yaks."

Among these four families, the one with the most had over five hundred yaks, and even the one with the least had around two hundred.

Three hundred yaks was already a considerable asset. But due to the beliefs of the herders, aside from necessary culling, they rarely killed animals, and a portion of their cattle and sheep would die of natural causes.

Each year, Dong Lin's family's yaks would increase by about ten percent with new calves, but only about a dozen or so could survive to adulthood.

The greatest threat to the yaks on the grassland wasn't snow leopards or brown bears, but wolves.

Each year, at least half of the calves would be killed by wolves, who would kill even what they couldn't eat.

The worst incident was three years ago when the neighbors' calves were all killed overnight. Even Dong Lin's family lost several yaks.

Even with insurance compensation, the amount was far from enough to cover the losses.

The two children chatted with Chen Ying in their halting Mandarin. The little girl tugged on Chen Ying, asking him to come and see her secret treasure.

The little boy, anxious, muttered discontentedly, not wanting his sister to take Chen Ying there, but after the little girl put her hands on her hips and stamped her feet angrily, the boy could only sigh and give in.

"Okay, let's go, I'll take you there."

Following the kids for over a hundred meters, they found a small stream.

It was a very small stream, practically invisible if you weren't looking for it.

This stream was the drinking water supply for several nearby families, and animals would come to drink from it upstream and downstream.

Chen Ying observed that the place where the horse musk deer had died was about two hundred meters away.

Logically speaking, as solitary creatures, horse musk deer usually wouldn't venture near the herding areas. Moreover, male musk deer preferred climbing steep mountains and were agile, making it hard to imagine how someone could break its legs.

The little girl led Chen Ying along the stream for a while until they reached a small pool scattered with several beautifully shaped and colored stones.

Chen Ying wasn't a geologist, but he knew people in geology.

After casually snapping a photo and sending it to his unlucky classmate recovering at the River Source Protection Station, he nonchalantly put away his phone.

Just then, a teenager on a motorcycle arrived, stopping nearby.

Chen Ying saw that the boy was also carrying a professional camera, with corresponding equipment on the back rack of the motorcycle.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

The teenager spoke Mandarin and was very guarded.

"Brother, he is..." The little girl chattered away, explaining Chen Ying's identity and background to her brother, and then mumbled something to Black Gold.

Chen Ying didn't understand a word, but he could sense the teen's attitude soften significantly.

"So you're a veterinarian. Can you treat livestock, and wild animals too?"

Chen Ying's eyes widened slightly, "Is there an animal that's injured or sick?"

"There's a snow leopard in the mountains over there, with cubs. The mother leopard seems to be acting oddly, she hasn't come out to hunt for a week now. I'm worried there might be something wrong. I went up to have a look but didn't dare get too close. Oh, and near the cave where it's raising its cubs, there's a large cave that belongs to a male snow leopard."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ying asked him to wait a moment while he went to get his veterinary kit.

The teenager, too, was going back to put away his camera, chatting along the way and telling Chen Ying quite a lot about that snow leopard.

"It came here three years ago, when it was just reaching adulthood, and this is its first time with cubs. I've been watching them since the male leopard began courting her. Now the snow leopard cubs are already two months old."

The boy also showed him the photos, documenting the Snow Leopard from the moment it was born without its eyes open, to the momentary flash when it opened its eyes and they were as pure and blue as the sky, through to the entire process of changing to a yellow-brown color over the course of a month.

The boy loved photography. Aside from his daily shepherding duties, he enjoyed taking his camera up the mountain to photograph Snow Leopards, Tibetan Fox and Rock Sheep, Mouse rabbits, and more.

Through his lens, the animals possessed a raw, wild beauty, as well as a purity and vivacity akin to Elves of the Snow Mountain.

Coming out of the tent and passing by where the Horse Musk Deer lay dead, there were vultures pecking at its flesh.

And a little further away, the shadows of wolves appeared and disappeared intermittently.

"These wolves are too wicked," the boy muttered under his breath as he drove Chen Ying towards the direction of the wolf pack, but as they neared, he veered off, circling around them to ascend the mountain.

"These wolves hold grudges; if I hurt them, they'll come for revenge at night," the boy complained, feeling both annoyed and powerless.

The vehicle was parked on the hillside; from there, one could only rely on legs to go further.

Fortunately, the Snow Leopard had chosen a place that was not too difficult to access. With the boy's help, Chen Ying managed to climb the rugged terrain by hand until they hid about ten meters below the Snow Leopard's cave.

"Let's observe the situation first. I need to assess the mother Snow Leopard's condition to determine whether she requires rescue."

After peering through his binoculars for a good while, Chen Ying realized that the mother Leopard seemed to not be doing well; she lay motionless, while the Little Snow Leopard beside her nudged her vigorously without eliciting any response.

"It doesn't look good. I'll go check it out; you stay here and wait."

Chen Ying couldn't let the boy join him in taking the risk.

"I'll go with you; I can help you."

Chen Ying did not agree but pressed down on the boy's shoulder.

"I'll be enough; you help me keep an eye on our surroundings, especially the movements of the male Snow Leopard. If any other animals approach, you need to warn me so I can take cover."

The boy pouted and, after a moment, nodded, "Okay, then. I'll keep watch for you here."

After securing his veterinary kit on his back, Chen Ying continued to climb.

The slope here was quite steep, but there were plenty of places to gain a foothold.

The distance of ten meters took him around twenty minutes to climb.

At such a high altitude, Chen Ying dared not stand up and walk; one slip, and he wouldn't be in human shape anymore.

Crawling on his belly to the entrance of the Snow Leopard's cave, he discovered that the mother Leopard had fallen into a coma. Upon touching her ear, it felt hot, obviously in the midst of sickness.

Of course, one couldn't confirm whether a Snow Leopard was feverish just by touching its ear; the best way to confirm it was to measure the rectal temperature. But out here in the wild, he'd be taking his life in his hands by attempting such a thing; if the Leopard suddenly attacked, there would be nowhere to hide.

Besides the rectum, the belly and armpits could also be assessed, though less accurately.

But what kind of person was Chen Ying? With so many cats at home, he could tell if a Snow Leopard's temperature was normal just by placing his hand on it.

All three places he touched were hot, and despite handling the mother Leopard for so long, she gave no response, not acting as he had expected.

The mother Snow Leopard had to be taken down the mountain for treatment, and the Little Snow Leopard would undoubtedly have to be taken as well.

Unable to carry the mother and child down himself, Chen Ying judged the situation and administered first aid to the mother Snow Leopard.

Then he picked up the Snow Leopard Cub and tucked it into his embrace, deciding to take the cub down first.

The boy, seeing Chen Ying take the Snow Leopard Cub, hurried down the mountain to receive him.

"You need to move fast, go fetch your father and some of your uncles over, and bring some ropes and such. We need to get the Snow Leopard down."

The boy was momentarily stunned but then nodded vigorously and quickly ran down to where the motorbike was parked.

Chen Ying looked at the Snow Leopard Cub in his arms; the little one trembled within his jacket, its entire tiny face conveying "pitiable, helpless, and vulnerable."

After playing with the Little Leopard for a moment, Chen Ying looked up and unexpectedly locked eyes with a robust Snow Leopard.

The Leopard appeared just as surprised to see a human here; its eyes widened, ready to let out a threatening growl when the Little Snow Leopard in Chen Ying's arms struggled to poke its tiny head out.

The expression on the face of the Leopard opposite changed from dumbfounded to shocked, then to fury. Chen Ying had no doubt that in the next moment it would pounce on him.

Would it still be possible to return the cub to its parent now?