Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 391 - 389: How did you know that I'm going to be a grandfather?

In the office, a group of people gathered around Chen Ying, laughing so hard they couldn't straighten their backs.

Even the windows outside the office were crammed with people; workers who had finished their shifts came to see the "living seductress," insisting on joining in even if they couldn't see.

Veterinarian Little Su tried to help take the ring-tailed lemur away but was almost scratched by the usually docile animal.

Chen Ying soothed it by patting its back and lured it onto his arm with some fruit.

"Let's go, I'll take it back. How are the mother lemurs in the group doing now?"

"They're stable."

This male ring-tailed lemur was the child of the oldest female in the group; probably, only his mother could suppress him.

Unlike other monkey groups, ring-tailed lemurs are composed of a matriarchal society, where females are dominant.

When Chen Ying arrived at their habitat with the "stinkiest" lemur, a mother lemur had been waiting for a long time.

After dawdling for quite a while, the male lemur finally left Chen Ying reluctantly, walking slowly and looking back after every few steps to return to the troop.

The female lemur watched him until he hid behind his companions, then she turned her head to look at Chen Ying.

Moving slowly towards Chen Ying and the keeper, she sat on a wooden stump and seriously examined Chen Ying for a moment, and then she called out with a gesture; a female with a baby lemur came over when she heard the call.

The large mother lemur pulled a baby, which had just grown sparse downy hair, out of the young mother's arms and placed it in Chen Ying's hastily spread hands.

What's this about? Was she letting him play with this little monkey and ignoring the male one?

Knowing that males have a low status in lemur groups, but surely not this low.

A lemur mother usually has two offspring, and having one taken away by the group leader made her instinctively cling to the remaining one.

She looked at Chen Ying with pitiful eyes, feeling like her heart was about to shatter.

The Monkey Queen observed Chen Ying for a while and then got up to eat the fruit platter brought by the keeper. Chen Ying hurriedly handed the little monkey back to its mother.

The frightened baby lemur, once back with its mother, immediately took a suck to calm its nerves.

With the allure of the delicious fruits, Chen Ying finally managed to leave the ring-tailed lemur area smoothly.

Having a casual dinner back at the hotel, Chen Ying opened up a video call with Yin Li.

"What are you doing? Are you out patrolling the mountains?"

"Patrol my foot, your silly daughter has worn us out."

Yin Li cursed with a laugh, hands on hips as he took several deep breaths.

Upon hearing it was related to Er Niu, Chen Ying became instantly alert, even sitting up straighter.

"What happened?"

"She's pregnant, never calm, has changed spots four or five times already. Went to check on her today, and she was nowhere to be found."

Thank goodness Er Niu was still wearing a collar—otherwise, in the vast uninhabited region, where would they go to find the leopards?

Chen Ying, astonished, "Er Niu is pregnant, how could you not tell me?"

"The results only came out this morning, there was a seventy to eighty percent chance. Xiao Song and I thought we'd find her first and perform an ultrasound before we said anything. But we couldn't find her at noon."

Chen Ying was anxious as hell, wishing he could sprout wings and fly straight there.

"Don't worry. You trust Xiao Song's medical skills, don't you? As long as we can find her, we can confirm it. Also, Er Niu is considered a treasure by the herders; no one will harm her."

Chen Ying frowned tightly. Was it a question of whether anyone would hurt her? Wild animals' biggest natural enemy in the wild is their own kind.

Er Niu's fighting ability had improved only a tiny bit from her previous dismal level, but now that she was pregnant, that bit of progress could be ignored.

"Hurry up and find her, and let me know once you do."

"Alright, don't worry. She's okay, didn't head into the uninhabited area, probably just darting back and forth between Sanjiang and River Source. I told your Young Junior Sister too; she's applied for a temporary transfer to serve as the on-site veterinarian at the nearest protection station. As long as Er Niu stays within this area, she'll definitely be alright."

The birthing season for highland animals is approaching, and veterinarians and related personnel from all agencies are in place.

Chen Ying hung up the phone; his temples throbbed.

After thinking it over several times, he made a call to Professor Bai, asking him to stay in the mountains a little longer.

The animals on Jiamu Gully Mountain were also entering their birthing period, and it might be a bit overwhelming for just Little Sen and Ruan Mengmeng.

He had originally planned to visit River Source for a glance, delaying only three or four days at most, and by the time he returned to Jiamu Gully, it would be the season when little babies were born in May.

But now Er Niu was expecting, and according to the general pregnancy and birthing patterns of snow leopards, she should be giving birth around May or June.

It being her first birth, with a brusque nature and a weak constitution—even though nourishment was hastily provided later, compared to other healthy mother leopards, his Er Niu faced greater breeding risks.

It's human to have feelings, and it's impossible for him to let go of concern for Er Niu.

His current mood, using the words his teacher joked with him earlier, was like a grandfather in prepartum syndrome.

Leopard Sister probably couldn't give birth, and Jinya and Little Jin also had a very small chance of having babies. So by that count, among the Chen family sisters, only Er Niu shouldered the responsibility of carrying on the lineage.

All night long, Chen Ying had been in a half-awake state, dreaming repeatedly of Er Niu lying bloodied in a pitch-dark, cold cave, with two small, indistinct shapes beneath her belly.

Unable to sleep any longer, Chen Ying simply got out of bed, packed his things, and prepared to head for the airport.

He planned to charter a car directly to River Source Protection Station upon arrival and on the way, he sent a message to Duanmu to apologize for not stopping by.

Duanmu received the message while rushing back from Qi Mountain National Park in the northeast.

He had hurried back after hearing that Er Niu was pregnant.

After all, the Qi Mountain side had invited him just to make up numbers; it was fine as long as the experts stayed there.

As soon as Chen Ying arrived at the River Source Protection Station, he saw Yin Li and Xiao Song getting out of a car next to him.

"Have you found Er Niu?"

Yin Li shook his head, "We've searched all along this line, haven't seen her, nor found her signal. Xiao Song and I are planning to ask around in Sanjiang, they're looking for her too, not sure if they'll find her."

Chen Ying thought for a moment and decided to drive out to look for Er Niu himself.

"What about the few little ones?"

"They've been released long ago, they're all half-grown and can fend for themselves. There's basically no poaching here, so their safety isn't an issue, unless they encounter a natural predator. If they really can't find food, they know to come back for a handout."

Since Chen Ying's last departure, the River Source Protection Station's temporary shelter had quickly emptied.

Those who were supposed to retire in the zoo went there, and those who should fend for themselves didn't stubbornly remain at home.

That's why they hadn't been worried about Er Niu not returning for a long period of time.

Usually, they just exchanged information with a few other protection stations to ensure Er Niu was still alive.

While Chen Ying was speaking with Yin Li, Xiao Song was inquiring about the situation with Junior Sister Xiao Bai.

"Brother Ying, Senior Bai says she hasn't seen any snow leopards with collars in her area and suspects that Er Niu hasn't gone to the Sanjiang area."

"This silly girl, being pregnant and not returning to the station and hiding everywhere, what is she hiding from?"

Anxious and angry, Chen Ying didn't bother to rest and took the car keys from Yin Li's hand, intending to go out and search for Er Niu himself.

"Brother Ying, rest for a bit. Tomorrow morning, I'll go out with you. We need to complete a major patrol before the end of the month, and it'll be easier to find her with more people."

Chen Ying was in a hurry but still had enough sense to know that going alone into such a vast area was tantamount to seeking death.

Even the experienced patrol team members had to enter in at least two vehicles together; he'd better not add chaos to their work.

Duanmu didn't arrive at the station until ten o'clock at night, driving the latest model of off-road vehicle, which he said was a designated sponsorship for River Source from Ji Xin's father.

Yin Li didn't refuse it; the station's conditions were poor, and the vehicle attrition rate was high. Having a car with good performance and large space was helpful to the patrol team members; he wished for a few more such vehicles.

Because of Chen Ying and Duanmu's participation, the original plan of three vehicles increased to four, and more supplies were allocated.

Before departure, Yin Li convened a meeting with everyone, highlighted the division of areas, and urged everyone to observe and document the flora and fauna within their areas, ensuring their own safety.

In the no-man's land, there weren't many plant species to focus on, rather the animals.

In a few more months, it would be the annual migration and birthing time for the Tibetan antelopes, and before that, the top predators would also be ready to give birth.

Blossoming, falling leaves, birth, death.

Every year at this time, it is a cycle of life for the plants and animals on the highland.

Chen Ying was familiar with the patrol route they took, but this time they needed to travel even further in preparation for the upcoming birthing season.

By late April, the permafrost had not yet revived, leaving the view stark and desolate.

The distant snow-capped glaciers reflected the sunlight, and without goggles, discomfort was likely to follow.

Chen Ying drove in the middle of the convoy with Duanmu and Xiao Song in his vehicle.

Duanmu was checking for signals with his equipment, while Xiao Song operated a drone to search the area.

"Brother Ying, two kilometers ahead in the ten o'clock direction, Er Niu had stayed there for quite a long time. I went with Brother Li a few days ago and couldn't find her; should we take another look?"

Chen Ying had a feeling that Er Niu wasn't here.

He shook his head, looking towards the farther snow-covered mountains.

"Er Niu should not be here. I have a feeling that she went to the snow mountain cluster ahead."

That place was not within the River Source Protection Zone. To be precise, those snow mountains were basically unvisited. They're too far away, and the climate is too harsh. If anything happened, rescue would not be able to arrive in time.

Chen Ying took a deep breath, "Let's move further in and see the situation. It's just a hunch that she might not have gone there."

On the second and third day, they saw several snow leopards and brown bears, as well as two beautiful large lynxes, but there was no sign of Er Niu.

"It seems like this year we have more large carnivores than last year."

Yin Li took over the driving from an old member on the team, now sitting in the co-driver's seat entering records into the database. He brought up previous data and looked at it, his expression becoming a bit solemn.

More animals were good, but too high a density of animals in one place could cause an ecological imbalance.

Snow leopards and lynxes, on the wilderness, have some overlap in their diets, and with Tibetan brown bears also being carnivorous, intense competition meant potential conflicts among them.

"Brother Li, there's something ahead," a team member from the lead vehicle reported via the walkie-talkie, and the convoy halted from a long distance away.

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