Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 383 - 381: It's Complicated, Better Left Unsaid

After parting ways, Chen Ying and Shu Nan continued along the established route, while the others turned towards the Protection Station.

They didn't go far when Chen Ying found a crevice under a rock face to stop. He pitched two tents, still propping up a small canopy between them.

The canopy was meant to protect their pots and bowls from plant soil or small insects falling from the rock face above.

"We'll stay here for three days, are you afraid to be here alone?"

This was one of the permanent spots for giant pandas suggested by Xiong Youming, with two bamboo forests nearby, as well as a small group of water deer.

The only trouble was that the water source was a bit far, down at the foot of the mountain there was a small stream.

To get down there from where they were, there was an animal trail about a dozen meters away, otherwise, they'd have to take a longer detour, sliding down the slope.

On the first day, Shu Nan felt somewhat scared while staying alone in the camp. He would get extremely nervous at the slightest rustle until Chen Ying returned around four in the afternoon with collected samples, allowing Shu Nan to slightly relax.

"You can't be like this, Brother Nan, there will probably be times in the future when you have to watch the camp alone. If you're this nervous, your body won't be able to take it."

"It's okay, it's just that I'm not used to it since it's my first time out. I will try my best to overcome it."

Since Shu Nan said so, Chen Ying didn't say anything more.

After putting away the samples, he began to give Shu Nan practical lessons in the field.

Shu Nan studied biology in college and the school had arranged for them to go out into the field for practice twice, each time for ten days.

However, their field practice was always with teachers and classmates, and they stayed in the dormitory buildings of the practice base at night, never truly spending a night in the wild.

The lesson Chen Ying gave him wasn't advanced theory but covered matters one needs to pay attention to when alone in the wild, as well as issues such as water and food procurement.

Shu Nan had learned quite a bit following everyone in the wild these past few days.

But with a team where roles were finely divided, he only picked up some camping skills, and much required experience to accumulate.

Chen Ying talked with him while making dinner.

Taking advantage of the early evening, Shu Nan could sleep first, then wake up around one or two in the morning to switch and let Shu Nan sleep.

If he were alone, he wouldn't be so worried and would just secure safety measures before sleeping.

But with two people, especially with one a newbie, he feared that Shu Nan wouldn't dare to close his eyes without night watch arranged.

Sure enough, when he woke up around one o'clock, Shu Nan was extremely sleepy but still forcing himself to stay awake, clutching a wooden stick in front of the fire.

Chen Ying stretched, and after waking up fully, he urged Shu Nan to go to sleep quickly.

Shu Nan didn't stand on ceremony with Chen Ying, he was indeed exhausted, collapsed into the tent, and within ten seconds, the sound of snoring could be heard.

Chen Ying turned on the camping light, keeping the fire at low burn, and began to read.

Around three or four o'clock, there was a rustling sound nearby; Chen Ying grabbed a stick and cautiously looked towards the source of the sound.

Half a minute later, two familiar heads peeked out.

"How did you two find your way here?"

Chen Ying chuckled softly, walking over to lead the two leopards to rest beside his tent.

Wild animals don't like fire, and leopards are no exception. They chose a spot far from the fire and lay down.

The Leopard Brothers wuffled softly for a while, the injured one even stretched out its slightly sore leg for Chen Ying to see.

The place where the fur was rubbed off was a bit skinned, stained with mud and rotten leaves, looking a bit infected and red.

Chen Ying quickly brought out the first aid kit, cleaned the wound, sprinkled on some medicinal powder and then wrapped it up with gauze and bandages.

The leopard drew back its leg, sniffed at the spot, sneezed, then looked up at Chen Ying innocently.

"It's a bit sharp to the nose, but it works well. Don't worry, it should heal in two days."

Afterward, he touched the area the leopard had hurt the day before.

When touched, the leopard trembled slightly, but did not cry out in pain.

Chen Ying took out his own blood-activating and circulation-promoting medicine and sprayed it onto the affected area. He let the leopard move freely only after the medication had dried.

The two leopards had probably come after eating their fill, feeling sleepy now. They took his small blanket out of the tent, then the two leopards snuggled up together on it and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Chen Ying shook his head with a smile, continuing to read his book.

Around five o'clock, he woke up the two leopards, left a note for Shu Nan, and prepared to try his luck at another bamboo forest.

The luck was there but little.

In the bamboo forest were two giant pandas, one big and one small, obviously a mother with her cub.

Upon noticing Chen Ying and the two leopards, the mother panda made aggressive gestures, and the panda cub quickly scrambled up a nearby tree.

Actually, leopards can climb trees too, but these two leopards seemed quite timid, retreating quickly after sensing the threat from the panda mother. They didn't forget to drag Chen Ying by his clothes along with them.

It was them, one biting his shirt and the other his trousers that nearly toppled Chen Ying over, and his trousers were pulled down revealing his boxer briefs.

Even though there weren't any girls around, Chen Ying was still embarrassingly annoyed.

He pushed away the heads of the two leopards, fixed his pants and clothes, and muttered curses as he followed them back in retreat.

Mama Panda did not pursue them but instead stood in place, clearly not understanding what the three of them up front were up to.

After they had left some distance, Mama Panda called out to the tree, and the panda cub swiftly descended and followed behind its mother with a bouncy gait.

Chen Ying had wanted to greet Mama Panda, get familiar, and then get some information, but his plans were ruined by the two foolish lads by his side.

Well, what could he say about the leopards he saved himself.

Since there was nothing to be gained in the bamboo forest, Chen Ying thought about it and decided to take a stroll by the river, as well as fetch some water on the way.

The water deer herd was not directly below their campsite; instead, they moved downriver about fifty or sixty meters where the water flow was gentler. There was a sandbank on both sides, and a lot of hydrophilic plants grew on the shallow beach, attracting many herbivorous animals to forage. Also, quite a few animals would go there for water.

Today's luck really wasn't too good; there weren't any animals by the shallow beach at this time.

The two leopards ran over and pounded around for a while; the more agile one suddenly entered the water and emerged seconds later with a palm-sized fish in its mouth.

These two guys had probably eaten fish before, as they licked clean a strip of flesh with one lick.

The coldwater fish in this stream didn't have many bones, but they also weren't large—just enough to fill the gap between teeth.

The other leopard crossed the shallow beach and ran to the opposite forest in search of prey.

By the time Chen Ying had filled his water containers, it, too, came back triumphantly with prey in its mouth.

It was still the most common sight in the mountains, the rabbit at the bottom of the food chain.

But this rabbit looked a bit malnourished, very slender, with hardly two taels of meat on it.

Seeing its brother return with a rabbit, the other leopard also dashed to the other side and, after slightly longer, came back with a small wild pig. And behind it, an infuriated mother pig burst out of the forest.

Chen Ying exclaimed, "Damn it," and hurriedly took the water bottles and ran up the slope.

Fortunately, upon seeing that there were two leopards, the mother pig became timid first. She stood at the edge of the woods, cursing for a while, before turning and running back into the forest.

As for the piglet, what's there to be afraid of? It wasn't like it couldn't reproduce!

A piglet weighed at least twenty pounds; even deboned and skinned, there were still over ten pounds of meat—not quite enough to satisfy the two leopards' hunger, but sufficient to sustain them until the next meal.

The unfinished piglet was left on the grassy bank where other animals would come to clean up the remains, as long as it didn't rot in the water source.

The two leopards understood this point too; the spot where they ate was seven or eight meters away from the water source.

When they had finished eating, Chen Ying had also taken his photos and even found two piles of Qingtuan remnants that had been left for a while.

It seemed that this was also a drinking spot for giant pandas.

He looked around and, sure enough, found a well-placed infrared camera beneath the cliff on a rock.

After checking that the camera was still working, Chen Ying called to the two leopards to follow; they needed to go back for breakfast and then continue seeking the water deer herd's tracks.

Brother Xiong Youming had said that in several shots of the carnivorous giant panda, it was gnawing at water deer meat, occasionally antelope meat.

Although the photos did not capture the panda hunting, studies of modern panda teeth show that their premolars have developed cusps, and the molars are robust with many tubercles capable of grinding bamboo stems.

So even though their main diet is bamboo, they can also tear through their prey's skin.

Back at camp, Shu Nan was already up boiling water for breakfast. He even picked up and dusted Chen's small blanket, wondering how it ended up on the ground outside.

Hearing footsteps, he turned around and almost threw his back out.

"Brother Ying, what is this..."

Seeing Chen Ying return with a leopard on each side, Shu Nan's face went through a kaleidoscope of colors.

"Don't be scared; they won't hurt people."

Chen Ying set down his water bottle and patted the heads of the two leopards.

One of the leopards went over, took the small wool blanket from the stiff Shu Nan's hand with a strong tug, then dragged the blanket over to the corner between Chen Ying's tent and the mountain wall, carelessly tossed it there, and the two leopards lay down on it, using the small blanket as a pillow and fell back asleep.

Shu Nan didn't know what to say and decided to stay silent, adjusting his mood by cooking.

Chen Ying didn't know how to explain either. Since the other party wasn't asking, he was glad not to make up excuses.

"Brother Ying, should I go out with you? It should be fine to leave the campsite here, right?"

They were far from human habitation, and unless wild animals came to make a mess, there was no worry about anyone stealing things.

Chen thought about it and agreed to take him along.

Since he was in this line of work, it seemed Shu Nan wasn't keen on staying in the office either. It was easy to follow the administrative route, but the difficulty of promotion was high.

If he had connections and achievements of his own, promotion could be much easier.

After breakfast, the two of them locked up the tent door and covered the tools with a waterproof bag, then weighed them down with stones—not something even large wild animals could pull open easily.

The two leopards in the corner were still sleeping soundly; Chen didn't bother them and took Shu Nan towards the area where the water deer were often seen.

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