Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 392 - 390: Our Water-Splendid Little Baby Bok Choy!

Ahead lay four or five Tibetan gazelles lying on the ground, a brown bear having dragged one of the gazelle carcasses to the side and voraciously eating it.

On the other side, a Snow Leopard Mother with her two cubs was eating while vigilantly watching her surroundings, her two children so engrossed in their meal that they didn't even lift their heads.

Based on their size, these must be Snow Leopard Cubs born last year, not yet one year old, still needing to stay by their mother's side to learn various survival skills.

In addition to this scene, there were also numerous vultures nearby, eyeing the remaining gazelle carcasses with hungry anticipation.

This situation didn't look like the work of snow leopards or brown bears. Yin Li, well-equipped, was ready to go over and investigate. If the gazelles had died from disease or for other reasons, their bodies shouldn't be consumed by other wildlife, which would cause irreparable losses.

Several people from the other cars in the convoy also got out, even Xiao Song, armed with a medical kit, prepared to disembark.

Chen Ying stopped her in her tracks, taking the medical kit from her hands.

"Duanmu, you drive. Xiao Song, don't go, just wait in the car."

"Brother Ying, I can do it."

"Can do what, if I weren't here then you should go, that's your job. But since I am here, it's not your turn."

Xiao Song silently let go of her grasp on the kit.

Chen Ying quickly caught up to Yin Li and distributed protective face masks and gloves to the team members.

"I'll go first; you follow slowly. Watch my signals before you act."

Facing a Tibetan brown bear just out of hibernation and a leopard mother with cubs, one could never be too careful.

Chen Ying didn't start with challenging the two apex predators; he approached the carcass partially pecked at by vultures.

After a brief observation, he confirmed the gazelle had died from claw wounds.

Checking one by one, it turned out all were killed by large carnivores.

What kind of animal could kill so many Tibetan gazelles in one go? And wouldn't the gazelles run away instead of standing still waiting to be killed?

If it wasn't a fierce predator, then what kind of predator herd could be slaughtering prey like this? Among the top big cats, only lions hunt in groups; other large felines usually hunt solo.

Even with surplus killing, it'd be hard to take down gazelles of such a large size in succession.

Looking at the distribution of the prey, if the bodies were not moved post-mortem, the spacing between them wasn't large, implying the gazelles probably died around the same time.

The Snow Leopard Mother watched Chen Ying's hands with a cold gaze, ensuring he didn't steal the food intended for her and her cubs, before flicking her long tail across his knees as if to urge him to hurry away.

Chen Ying slowly retreated, and once at a safe distance, he turned to look at the far-away brown bear.

He didn't check that gazelle carcass, not daring to provoke the bear that was hungry after a winter of fasting.

Collect samples, take photos.

After the work was done, everyone returned to the cars.

"Brother Ying, we might need to set up camp earlier here. Although these gazelles don't seem to have died from disease, this kind of incident is too rare; we must figure out the reason."

Chen Ying understood that just because Er Niu wasn't in immediate danger, they shouldn't neglect other dangers.

Emotionally it was a bit tormenting, but reason told him Yin Li was right in his approach.

The campsite was not far from the gazelle carcasses. Backed against a slope, it also provided some shelter from the cold wind.

Standing on the roof of a car and using binoculars, one could see the feeding behavior of the three snow leopards and the brown bear clearly.

The brown bear was the first to leave, taking with it the remaining unfinished meat.

Research has shown that Tibetan brown bears have the habit of caching food, although they often forget about it.

The Snow Leopard Mother and her cubs, on the other hand, were stuffing their bellies voraciously, moving on to the next carcass when one was insufficient.

Normally, after a hearty meal, a snow leopard can last a week without hunting. And if they fancy a snack, there are rabbits and ground squirrels.

The three snow leopards continued eating until the night deepened before slowly leaving.

In their wake, the scavengers had their feast.

Chen Ying borrowed a drone from Yin Li, maneuvering it around in the direction he guessed for a couple of circles but still didn't see the target.

Duanmu came over, "Brother Ying, don't worry, I believe Er Niu will be fine, it's the messenger of the Snow Mountain Goddess."

Chen Ying glanced at him, shaking his head with a low chuckle.

He understood, yet he couldn't help but worry.

Just after one in the morning, the climate suddenly changed, and fierce winds mixed with hail battered them mercilessly.

When the tents were almost unable to withstand the onslaught, the wind finally began to abate.

Once the hail stopped, everyone cautiously unzipped their tent doors, and a bunch of icy pellets rolled in noisily.

The larger pellets were the size of quail eggs, and the smallest ones were about the size of peanuts.

"Luckily the hailstones were small this time; any larger and the tents probably would've been wrecked."

Mountain Patrol Team member, Old Yang, grabbed a handful of hailstones and sighed, "That year, when I was still at the old Protection Bureau, I went out with the captain, and we also encountered hail."

"My goodness, those hailstones were as big as ping-pong balls, and even the small ones were the size of a thumb. Within ten minutes, our tent was ruined, even the windshield of our car shattered. If the station hadn't been worried and come out to find us, I'm afraid we might have ended up stranded in the uninhabited area."

(20 years in Qinghai Maqin, a record-breaking hailstorm with hailstones up to 40mm in diameter)

Chen Ying, while listening to their chat, climbed onto the roof of the vehicle to have another look around.

Just as he got up, before he could stand firmly, he saw a leopard crawling out from under the chassis of the vehicle next to him.

"Ao wu, two-legged beast, are you here to find me?" The leopard was in a sorry state, wearing a collar around its neck.

Suddenly, tears welled up in Chen Ying's eyes, and he scrambled down from the vehicle, embracing Er Niu in a tight hug.

He stroked her from head to tail.

Indeed, Er Niu's belly was much bigger than before.

Upon hearing the commotion, Yin Li quickly came out to check and, seeing Er Niu, couldn't help but rush over and give her a vigorous rub.

"You silly leopard, where have you been all these days? We couldn't find you anywhere. Do you know how worried we've been?"

Er Niu didn't quite understand Yin Li's words, but that was alright, this two-legged beast was kind, and would make them warm nests and provide them with delicious food.

Er Niu shook her head gently and tenderly licked the back of Yin Li's hand.

The roughness of her tongue gave Yin Li a sense of reality.

"Quick, come inside, it's so cold out, and she's pregnant."

Er Niu stepped into the tent, which was a bit uncomfortable for her due to the number of people inside.

Chen Ying led her to a corner, letting her lie down inside, while he sat outside, shielding her from the gaze of others.

Xiao Song had already prepared the ultrasound machine, fully charged and ready for examination.

"Wow, our Er Niu is amazing, there are four little guys in her belly?"

Yin Li watched the excitement on the side, happy that Er Niu could have so many children.

But the expressions on Chen Ying and Xiao Song's faces were not so good, and Duanmu also came over to carefully examine the cubs' condition.

"Let me do this, there might be something wrong with this cub."

Duanmu took over the probe and operated it again.

"Currently, we can clearly see four cubs, but only two of them have normal body development; the other two are smaller."

Snow leopards usually give birth to 2-3 cubs at a time; occasionally, there may be 4 or 5 cubs, but there are basically no records of all of them surviving.

From what Chen Ying and his team had seen of snow leopards with cubs, the most they had seen were three, and typically, there were only two cubs.

Er Niu's physical condition was not particularly good to begin with, as she had suffered too many inherent deficiencies, which couldn't be made up for with later nourishment.

Moreover, under normal circumstances, before giving birth, a male leopard would stay close, providing food for the mother and offspring who struggled to hunt in the later stages of pregnancy. The male would leave only after the little leopards were weaned and he entered the mating season.

But Chen Ying had already observed carefully; apart from Er Niu, there was no sign of a male leopard nearby, which meant that after Er Niu got pregnant, she had to rely on herself for hunting.

With so many cubs to bear, hunting would certainly be difficult. Small animals like rabbits and ground squirrels simply couldn't provide the nutrition she needed.

The more Chen Ying thought about it, the angrier he became, his eyes reddening with the urge to tear into the wild boar that had ruined his own "vegetable patch."

But the problem was, he still didn't know where that boar that had dug up his "little cabbage" was!

MD, the more I think about it, the angrier I get!

Er Niu seemed to sense Chen Ying's anger, gently placing a paw on the back of his hand. Her eyes, watery and pure, looked at him clearly and simply, her mouth corners slightly raised, as if filled with joy.

"My dear, how can you be so foolish?"

Chen Ying cradled her large head and gently nuzzled it.

"Come back with me, I'll take care of you until the children are born."

Chen Ying also wanted to try and see if he could apply to take Er Niu away, to release her in the Snow Mountain at Jiamu Gully, so they wouldn't have to part for months at a time.

After finding Er Niu, Chen Ying was full of thoughts about supplementing her nutrition, but then the problem arose again.

Their mountain patrol work was less than two-thirds complete, and they couldn't possibly leave on their own at this point. But with Er Niu with them, hunting was a big problem.

Snow leopards could prey on Tibetan antelopes, Tibetan gazelles, and Tibetan Wild Donkeys, but they couldn't, so solving Er Niu's food issue became a big challenge for the Mountain Patrol Team.

Er Niu didn't seem too troubled and showed no signs of hunting the next whole day.

Chen Ying and his team assumed she had eaten her fill earlier and could last a day or two.

Normally, snow leopards eat enough for five days in one meal. Since she was a pregnant leopard, perhaps, she could possibly last three days?

If she had only eaten rabbits and ground squirrels before, she probably wouldn't last three days and would likely need to hunt once every other day.

The next evening, Chen Ying was contemplating whether to help catch a couple of hares to feed Er Niu when the patrol team member responsible for the lookout gave a warning signal — a ferocious animal was approaching.