Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 369 - 367: Naughty Kid, Calm Mother, Shattered It

"One will definitely not be sent, either a pair is taken away together."

Chen Ying had been pondering this issue in the past few days.

For a little tiger cub raised semi-wild like this, could it really adapt to life in the wild? But it's different with a tiger mother's guidance, especially since this particular tiger mother's maternal instincts are extremely strong.

But the tiger cub cannot just be sent away on a whim.

In human society, everything revolves around making applications and full reports in advance.

Chen Ying planned to find time to visit the bereaved mother tiger with the tiger mother and then come back to figure out a way to convince the tiger cub's real "family."

During the visit, Chen Ying couldn't go alone, and had to bring along experts from the observation station.

Chen Ying had the contact information of the person in charge at the Old Northern Gully Huanan Tiger Observation Station before, and when he called, he found out that the person was in a meeting in the city but recommended two doctoral students specializing in related fields.

These two doctoral students had come from Shaos City and had been involved in the reintroduction of Huanan tigers into the wild since their master's studies, totaling five years now.

Upon hearing that there was a female tiger at Chen Ying's side that wanted to take away two young cubs from the emergency station, the two doctoral students raced here overnight without thinking of anything else.

Thankfully, they didn't travel directly through mountain paths but drove overnight to Jiamu Gully after leaving from the observation station.

The next day at noon, when Chen Ying saw them, he couldn't help but praise them for their effort.

"Let's go, let's check on that mother tiger first to ensure her condition is suitable for taking the cubs, then discuss how to reintroduce them."

Normally, feline animals stay with their mother until about two years of age, learning all the skills needed for life in the wild before becoming independent.

Even with human efforts to replicate wild conditions, they cannot truly teach them how to survive in the wild.

At this point, the importance of the mother animal becomes immensely evident.

The two doctoral students were also very familiar with the tiger mother, having observed her for over half a year, studying her hair, feces, and behavioral habits repeatedly, to the extent the tiger mother wanted to hide whenever she saw them.

Going to find the grieving mother tiger required the tiger mother's guidance.

Before setting off, Chen Ying suddenly realized something and asked the tiger mother, "You came to find me, but what about your cubs? Aren't you afraid that mother tiger might lead them away?"

"Not afraid, my little cubs are too big now. I told her that I came here to help her abduct the younger cubs, and asked her to help keep an eye, and she agreed."

Goodness, even tigers can make promises nowadays!

Chen Ying and the two doctoral students checked the little tiger cub's health, then prepared to escort them back to the observation station.

They did not take the car back this time. Instead, Chen Ying led the way, following the mother tiger on a mountain path, teaching the two landlord's sons how to navigate the forest during their journey.

Chen Ying had some understanding of the reintroduction of Huanan tigers in the country from previous experiences, but as he wasn't specialized in this, he wasn't clear on the specifics.

During the route, the two doctors detailed the current progress of the reintroduction in the country.

"There are four major research bases in the country, and they are also the fastest progressing ones. Meihua Mountain is already releasing large live animals like wild boars into their release areas to train tigers for hunting. It's probably the fastest progressing research base in the country."

"Besides, two of the other three institutes are just behind Meihua Mountain in progress, and the remaining one has been designated as a national-level protected area for reintroduction, also setting up a rewilding training area and a breeding area."

Before, one of them had been at the breeding research base in Shaos City, and the other at the Meihua Mountain breeding institute, before eventually moving to the Shaos City research base.

"The Huanan tigers at our place are learning to hunt in the wild, but they are still too friendly toward humans compared to those that have grown up in the wild."

This is the downside of captive breeding, as with humans raising the Big Tigers from a young age, they grow up believing food should be provided by the Two-legged beast, having no concept of independent hunting.

Chen Ying's emergency station's two little tiger cubs were slightly better off, having Big Tiger and Big Cat teaching them, at least able to catch rabbits and pheasants on their own, a starting point higher than that of the research institute's Big Tigers.

After walking for over an hour, they reached the newly built iron chain bridge above Huaqiu Valley, which saved considerable time by crossing the river.

Moreover, the bridge uses a wildlife corridor design, allowing animals to use the bridge to traverse between two mountains directly.

Just before crossing the bridge, the tiger mother suddenly stopped, standing on the slope, staring intensely at the opposite side.

After a while, she took the two little cubs down to the river.

"Tigers enjoy swimming, she's probably taking the two little cubs for a water play."

Looking at the sky, they estimated that they might have to spend the night in the wild, and a clearing right beside the bridgehead with two big trees was a perfect camping spot.

They set up a small canopy between the two trees and erected two tents beside it.

The canopy was for the tiger mother and the two cubs, in case it rained at night and they got wet.

After all, the little cubs were not entirely wild reared, and their physical constitution was much weaker compared to wild tigers.

They wanted the little cubs to learn wilderness survival skills, not to send them directly to their death.

This was, indeed, a dilemma for many researchers.

Having painstakingly raised the tiger cubs, setting them free meant they might meet again only in the afterlife.

The tiger mother led the two cubs to the water's edge for a stroll and even managed to catch two rabbits and a pheasant along the way.

The tiger mother stated that these two little cubs were stronger than she thought but nowhere near her own cubs.

After the little tiger cubs had eaten their fill and tired themselves out playing, they cuddled together to sleep, and only then did the tiger mother approach Chen Ying, saying she thought she smelled the other mother tiger.

"It's right across the river, definitely her. She was supposed to keep an eye on my cubs, but instead, she followed me here. She's trying to kill me."

The tiger mother grumbled and cursed for a while, then angrily turned around and ran off to find food.

She hadn't been gone long when Jinya and Little Jin ran over, saying that they had been told a beast had spotted a tiger nearby, and that they should be careful.

In the middle of the night, it suddenly started raining lightly.

The cold wind awoke the two little tiger cubs with whimpers, and feeling thirsty with no sight of the tiger mother, the little fellows ran together to the river to drink.

Chen Ying suddenly woke up, hearing the sound of raindrops hitting the tent, and hurriedly went out to check on the little tiger cubs.

Shining the flashlight, he didn't see them at all, which snapped him out of his drowsiness.

After turning on the main light and looking around, hearing the little tiger cubs' cries coming from down the slope, Chen Ying quickly wrapped himself in a raincoat and ran down.

When he reached the river, he almost laughed out loud.

The smaller one stood by the water, quietly calling out, while the bigger one had dared to swim in the river. Seeing Chen Ying come down, it even let out an excited growl.

The milk scent in the voice of the cub made Chen Ying's eyebrows jump.

"Get over here, how can you swim in such cold weather? This isn't nearly as warm as the basin at home!"

He called out for a long time, but the cub acted as if it didn't hear, even turning its head to swim into the middle.

"Don't go, come back to me right now!"

Chen Ying was terrified and raised his voice.

Two doctors, hearing Chen Ying's voice, rushed over, watching the mischievous little tiger swimming towards the middle of the river, the three of them anxiously pacing on the bank.

Just then, the cub suddenly let out a cry of fright, and then they saw it sink briefly into the water before reappearing about five meters away from its previous spot.

Chen Ying desperately wanted to jump into the water to rescue the cub, but before he could act, a fierce beast suddenly rushed out from the opposite side, leaping into the water, quickly grabbing the cub by the back of its neck, and going ashore about twenty meters away from them.

Luckily, the water wasn't too turbulent here, just right for an otter family's territory below.

Had it been high water in summer, daring to swim might have led to a rendezvous with the king of hell as a little kitty.

When the strange Big Tiger picked up the cub on the shore, it shivered continuously, curled up into a ball.

The cub that hadn't gone into the water tried bravely two or three times to run over, biting its friend's ear trying to drag it away.

The strange Big Tiger stood by the shore, shook its body, and flung water all over the obedient little cub's face.

Seeing Big Tiger shake off the water, the drenched little cub uncontrollably imitated Big Tiger and shook its fur.

Unfortunately, it wasn't strong enough, so it had little effect.

The two doctors wanted to rush over to bring the cub back but were worried that Big Tiger might get frightened and hurt the little cub.

Chen Ying held them back, "It's okay, this must be the mother tiger who lost her cub."

With Chen Ying's reminder, they calmed down and took a closer look, indeed noticing the slightly sagging belly of the mother tiger showing signs of having nursed.

Big Tiger licked the obedient little cub's head twice, then picked up the wet cub and walked up the slope.

Passing by Chen Ying and the others, Big Tiger unapologetically flicked its tail, lashing the legs of the two-legged beasts blocking the way.

One of the doctors, named Lin Fang, got hit, gasping from the pain.

Once the mother tiger with the little cub had walked a bit farther away, he lifted his pant leg to check.

Good grief, a welting bruise emerged on his leg.

The obedient little cub also followed Big Tiger and its friend directly to the top of the slope. Chen Ying chased after them, only to see Big Tiger comfortably lying down on a dry spot under the canopy, pulling the little cubs into its embrace and grooming them.

The other little cub was very curious about the tail of Big Tiger, playfully biting at it.

As the saying goes, a cat and its tail are two different creatures. Big Tiger was busily cleaning the little cub's body, but its tail naturally teased the other little one, exciting the whole tiger.

The little cub being groomed, seeing its friend having fun, cried out anxiously, wanting to play instead of being groomed!

But unfortunately, the little cub couldn't possibly resist the strength of Big Tiger, only being released when Big Tiger felt its fur was sufficiently dry.

The three tigers huddled together felt truly like a real family of three.

Chen Ying and the others didn't enter the tent to shelter from the rain but instead used their phones to capture the scene of Big Tiger interacting with the little cubs.

Though the camp light hanging from the tent wasn't very strong, it was enough for filming.

Just then, the tiger mother, who had gone off somewhere, also returned. Seeing Big Tiger, she wasn't surprised; instead, she let out a slightly annoyed growl.

Holding the two cubs, Big Tiger responded with a purr, then rolled over, embracing the two cubs, preparing to sleep.

The two doctors didn't understand what they were saying, but Chen Ying did.

Because he understood, he looked at the tiger mother with a touch of sympathy.

Coming out on this trip, a few cubs got scared away by the male tiger; wouldn't there be a fight to the death with that male when they returned?

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.