Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 386 - 384: The Devil's Claw Descending from the Sky in the Night

The Leopard Brothers were slightly injured and began to "whimper," but fell silent after smelling the scent of blood and medicine.

The four clouded leopards that followed did not enter the campsite; instead, they found two trees nearby and settled down.

Concerned for the two leopards, they prepared to take turns standing vigil to prevent any sudden attacks on the injured.

Chen Ying had brought a lot of supplies, including several non-woven fabric animal bed sheets and pee pads, which proved to be very useful.

The night was cold, and he worried the large clouded leopard might catch a chill and worsen its injuries, so he placed it in his own tent.

He didn't dare close the tent door, fearing that the little cubs might become agitated if they couldn't see their mother.

Another concern was the giant panda that might come to the campsite to sleep at night; in case of a conflict, the clouded leopards might not be able to handle the meat-eating bear.

He had seen how, in the past two days, the Leopard Brothers had to find another place to rest because the giant panda had occupied the campsite.

Chen Ying didn't dare close his eyes all night long.

Shu Nan slept for a little over three hours.

At four-thirty, he began to boil water to prepare a mix of milk powder and nutritional powder for the large clouded leopard, and told Chen Ying to go sleep in his tent for a while.

Chen Ying didn't hold back, knowing that even a short rest would do him good.

Around seven o'clock, Chen Ying woke up and saw Shu Nan feeding the large clouded leopard.

Chen Ying had instructed him to mix the medicine powder into the milk powder for feeding, and Shu Nan had done so, but the clouded leopard's condition was very poor. It was irritable during feeding and needed to pause for a while after just a couple of sucks.

Shu Nan showed no impatience, constantly keeping water boiling and the milk bottle warm.

"Brother Ying, let's just have some noodles for breakfast; I'll cook," Shu Nan offered.

After two hours, the clouded leopard finished the 100 milliliters of milk and medication. Shu Nan, kneeling and tired in the shoulders from feeding, had no complaints and simply stretched before busying himself with making breakfast.

Chen Ying took over the pot and poured water into it.

"I'll cook; you rest for a bit. Tonight is crucial, and we still need to take turns keeping watch."

"I'm fine, don't worry, Brother Ying. We're definitely going to save this clouded leopard."

Chen Ying didn't share his full confidence but didn't want to discourage him either and, giving him a pat on the shoulder, urged him to rest.

The two leopards were now curled up asleep in the corner they had been in before, and two clouded leopards could be seen in the trees; the other two might have gone hunting.

After breakfast, Chen Ying washed the pots and pans and then headed to the stream to fetch more water.

They were constantly using the water purifier; the purified water just sufficed for their drinking and cooking needs.

As for hygiene, a grown man could simply wash directly in the stream if needed.

Though the water was cold, one could choose to wash at noon when the sun was strongest and even dry the clothes afterwards.

Finishing his chores, he noticed that the clouded leopards in the trees had switched places?

It seemed they were taking turns going to hunt and watch over the area. It was impressive; they even knew how to schedule shifts!

In the afternoon, Shu Nan took a short nap and woke up to find the tent door blocked.

Blocked by something heavy enough that he didn't dare to push it open.

Fortunately, his tent was sturdy, and the giant panda had not leaned its full weight on it; otherwise, he feared he might have been the first person squashed to death by a giant panda.

The panda, sensing movement behind it, turned its head and, through the somewhat opaque tent fabric, locked eyes with Shu Nan for half a minute before moving away of its own accord.

Shu Nan rushed out of the tent and secured the door before looking nervously at the giant panda.

Across the way, Chen Ying was changing the bandages on the large clouded leopard.

The injuries were severe and had been left unattended for too long, leading to a heavy infection.

Proper treatment would have been more accessible at a rescue station or veterinarian's, but under the conditions of the wild, they had to resort to the most primitive methods of treatment.

Fortunately, when they were in the county town, two young men from the Forestry and Grassland Bureau had provided plenty of jars of local medicine, which although not as effective as hospital-grade drugs, were life-saving in the wilderness where nothing else was available.

A pot that hadn't been used for cooking oil was dedicated to boiling the instruments, and they also boiled water to cleanse the clouded leopard's wounds and the infectious secretions surrounding them.

In the wild, boiling water has become the best disinfectant.

Alcohol is also available, but in limited supply, so it can only be used on blades.

Fortunately, Chen Ying's medical skills were solid. Relying on these limited medications and equipment, it took him three days to snatch the large clouded leopard back from the brink of death.

By the fourth day, the large clouded leopard was already able to lick up nutritional milk powder on its own and even eat some strips of meat per meal.

The meat strips had been snatched from the mouths of the Leopard Brothers.

After seeing them hunt, Chen Ying would cut off a small piece, shred it, and feed it to the large clouded leopard.

After being fed like this twice, the Leopard Brothers flatly refused to bring any prey back to eat.

And it seemed like the little clouded leopards up in the trees understood something. That night, the campsite was graced with an additional rabbit and a pheasant.

The pheasant was a red-bellied pheasant, and no one knew where the four of them had caught it.

Chen Ying had Shu Nan take photos before he plucked and butchered the bird, feeding a little less than half to the large clouded leopard.

What remained was originally intended to be given back to the little clouded leopards, but then the giant panda came sniffing around and unceremoniously picked up the rest of the chicken, crunching it down, bones and all.

The rabbit was hung up by Chen Ying using grass stems he had woven into a rope, planning to prepare it for the large clouded leopard the next day.

Who would have known that in the dead of night, the two silly leopards would actually form a leopard ladder and stealthily devour the rabbit.

After seeing the video stealthily taken by Shu Nan, Chen Ying put a hand to his forehead, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

It was just a little bit of meat from their catch that he had eaten, and they even knew to eat it back with interest.

Fortunately, the little clouded leopards couldn't count, and the next morning, two more rabbits were placed at the edge of the campsite.

This time, the giant panda wanted to eat too, but after picking it up and sniffing it, it surprisingly threw it away.

What's the matter, choosy now?

Chen Ying watched it head toward the bamboo forest again and had a hunch.

This giant panda probably did not eat just meat as Xiong Youming had said, but rather was very picky about bamboo.

He had looked at the bamboo forests around the area, and the kind of bamboo in that particular forest where the giant panda went was not found elsewhere.

Moreover, the animal ate only the shoots and the tenderest green bamboo, not even sparing a glance for anything slightly older.

Not very knowledgeable about pandas, and similarly not very knowledgeable about bamboo, he could recognize bamboo species but was not too clear on the distribution pattern of this kind of bamboo.

After sharing his speculations with Shu Nan, he asked him to take note and check if that type of bamboo was available back home.

The main reason the giant panda ate meat might also be related to insufficient bamboo.

Being too picky could force one to adapt to other types of food.

Why it was so picky about bamboo, whether it was a deficiency or mutation of some substance inside its body—these were issues for those who specialized in researching pandas to investigate; he was just a simple veterinarian, and treating and saving animals was his domain.

Xiong Youming and his company found Chen Ying and the rest one week after their last contact.

Upon arrival, they were greeted with the sight of numerous leopards around the campsite, and the four-person team led by Xiong Youming stood stock-still, not daring to move.

Eventually, they found a suitable spot to set up camp fifty meters away at another cliff crevice.

Apart from the proximity to game trails, which could lead to accidental encounters or disturbances with wild animals, all else seemed good.

They too set up two tents but did not have an awning like the other camp. Moreover, their tents were a bit more basic compared to those of Chen Ying and his group.

Chen Ying took the time to take a look and offered them a spare awning.

The crevice on their side was a bit higher, and if it rained, water could easily blow into their tents, which made the awning's usefulness quite apparent.

Among those who accompanied Xiong Youming was a veterinarian who, knowing that the large clouded leopard was severely injured, took the initiative to offer his own medical supplies for Chen Ying's use.

He also volunteered to take care of the large clouded leopard, allowing Chen Ying more time and energy to collaborate with Xiong Youming and the rest to study the giant panda's behavior and dietary habits, among other aspects.

Chen Ying considered for a moment; the large clouded leopard's injuries were already healing, and its condition had improved a lot since a few days ago—the only requirements were assistance with defecating and the routine debridement and dressing change which would likely need his oversight.

He was not worried about the other veterinarian's skills, rather that if he wasn't present and the large clouded leopard, unable to endure the pain, bit him out of instinct.

Having him around meant that at least when the large clouded leopard whimpered, he could provide immediate comfort and give necessary emotional assurance.

What he hadn't anticipated was that on the night of Xiong Youming and his team's arrival, the giant panda reached out its paw towards the first newborn water deer fawn.