Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 393 - 391: This Complex Bao Bao Relationship Web

The team member responsible for the night watch swallowed and added in a hoarse whisper, "Stay alert, it's not one, there are three."

Yin Li came out and quickly climbed onto the roof of the car to grab the infrared night vision binoculars for a look, and his scalp tingled.

Three leopards, all of considerable size, were slowly approaching their camp in a surrounding formation.

After looking again, Yin Li felt one of them looked familiar.

He thought for a moment, entered the vehicle, turned on the headlights, and the familiar leopard indeed retreated a few meters, then crouched low to issue a warning growl towards them.

"Chen Ying, Chen Ying, that Yellow Fur Snow Leopard is here."

"There are also two other leopards, unsure if they are its companions."

Leopards usually do not gather in groups, but during mating seasons they gather briefly; once a male and female leopard take a liking to each other, they quickly leave the gathering area to start their unabashed happy life.

If there are female leopards present, male leopards will continue to fight for mating rights, but if no female leopards are left, the unsuccessful males will quickly disperse to find other females.

Yellow Fur coming for Er Niu made sense – their relationship had always been good, and it was very likely that Er Niu's partner was Yellow Fur.

But what are the other two Snow Leopards here for? Surely they didn't follow Yellow Fur just to celebrate him becoming a father.

Chen Ying came out at the sound and stood by the passenger side, looking at that Yellow Fur Snow Leopard on the edge of the illuminated area.

Upon seeing him come out, Yellow Fur immediately stood up and didn't hesitate, running straight towards him.

Behind it, two Snow Leopards took a half step forward, half their bodies revealed in the light.

One of them was decently sized, its style slightly fierce – clearly a robust Male Leopard. The other was smaller and looked more delicate, glancing occasionally at the fierce leopard, obviously more timid.

Chen Ying stayed out a few minutes longer, and Er Niu also followed and emerged from the tent.

As soon as she came out and saw Yellow Fur and the two other leopards, she lay down very human-like and heaved a sigh.

Seeing Er Niu lying at Chen Ying's feet, Yellow Fur approached, but before it could snuggle against Er Niu, the other leopard rushed over, baring its sharp teeth at Yellow Fur.

What the heck? A Snow Leopard version of a pampered wife running off with a ball?

Chen Ying got bumped by the big leopard, leaning back against the car door, nearly stumbling.

Er Niu became displeased at the sight, growling at the reckless big leopard.

Yellow Fur joined in the howling beside it, with a look of being owed something.

A bunch of heads were squeezing through the tent entrance, with Yin Li and the night watch standing on the rooftop getting a close-up view, but it was only Chen Ying who was personally involved in this chaotic scene centered around Er Niu.

Er Niu butted heads with Yellow Fur and then growled at the big leopard before finally looking up at Chen Ying.

"Ow, Two-legged beast, I need to go out for a sec, I'll be right back, don't be afraid, I'll bite them for you."

Chen Ying squatted down to hold Er Niu's round head.

"Don't run far, it's cold at night, and you've got a little cub in your belly."

"Whine, whine, they came to bring me food."

Indeed, while Er Niu talked with Chen Ying, the smaller Snow Leopard went back into the darkness, and after a while, it dragged a sheep over with much difficulty.

Seeing the smaller Snow Leopard's actions, Yellow Fur and the big Snow Leopard also rushed into the darkness, and in no time, three sheep were displayed in a triangle formation.

Er Niu rubbed against Chen Ying's shin, then trotted over, sniffing at each one before choosing the smallest one brought by the smaller Snow Leopard.

Watching Er Niu eat her meal with big bites, Chen Ying's feelings were complicated.

His Er Niu was definitely not naturally fickle; she was just a bit too popular, and that's his business!

The three Snow Leopards waited until Er Niu had nearly finished eating before starting on their own prey.

The little Snow Leopard cleaned up Er Niu's leftovers and then ran back into the darkness.

That bit of scraps wouldn't be enough to fill it, probably off to hunt some more.

Before long, the little Snow Leopard returned with a Sand Fox in its mouth, neck broken.

Hesitant for a moment beside Er Niu, it approached Chen Ying tentatively and placed the Sand Fox before him.

"Is this, for me?"

Chen Ying's tone was dry, feeling like he was being ingratiated by a simpleton son-in-law.

The little Snow Leopard howled once, turned, and rubbed against Er Niu before following suit and nibbling on Yellow Fur's meal.

After eating about a third, Yellow Fur stopped and lay down to lick its fur.

Chen Ying watched this scene, feeling it entirely contradicted his understanding.

The behavior of this group of Snow Leopards was too strange, nothing like what the textbooks described!

The alert being over, Chen Ying simply took the four Snow Leopards to the smaller adjacent tent.

Previously, everyone crowded into one tent for meetings and casual chats.

Now it was to make room for the Snow Leopards.

Furthermore, since it had hailed tonight and was particularly cold, huddling together would be warmer.

The warmest one had to be Chen Ying, cradling Er Niu in his arms, leaning on Yellow Fur behind him, with two Snow Leopards lying next to him, one horizontal and one vertical.

Struggling to even turn over!

For the next two days, Er Niu simply got into the vehicle and rode along with them. Two of the leopards dispersed, leaving Yellow Fur and the Snow Leopard nowhere in sight, while Little Snow Leopard stayed with Er Niu in the vehicle.

During the noon rest, Chen Ying reached out with his "magic claw" toward Little Snow Leopard.

In the end, not only did he get Little Snow Leopard twisted into a "cat worm," but he also received a direct hit from Chen Ying himself.

"No way, she's a female leopard too?!"

Er Niu looked innocently at Chen Ying. She hadn't claimed Little Snow Leopard was a male, so why was her Two-legged beast so shockingly startled?

"No way, Er Niu, can't you guys follow the script? You're female, she's female too. Explain to me, why would she need to catch prey for you?"

"Because she is the sister of my baby's father inside my belly."

Er Niu didn't understand the human term "aunt," but she had learned to pull strings from Jinya.

Shouldn't Cub's father's sister take care of her in lieu of Cub's father? Jinya also cared for Little Lynx on behalf of her brother, right?

Chen Ying stared blankly out the window.

The group was temporarily resting by the lake. Xiao Song and Duanmu, rare in their leisure, stood shoulder to shoulder admiring the view, leaving only him alone with the two leopards inside the car.

After getting pregnant, Er Niu's appetite had grown considerably. Just now, she and Little Snow Leopard had gone out and caught two wild rabbits, which Er Niu, a hefty leopard, gobbled up in one go.

Little Snow Leopard probably wasn't hungry yet, showing no intention to go hunting. For the moment, she was greatly interested in playing with the Tibetian style tassel dangling inside the car, too lazy to even spare a glance.

After eating and drinking her fill, Er Niu lazily jumped out of the car, stretched a mighty yawn, and found a dry patch of grass to lie down and bask in the sun.

Chen Ying followed suit and sat beside her, quietly asking Er Niu why Yellow Fur was still around, given that she was having cubs with Big Leopard.

"Yellow Fur has his eye on Little Leopard, but she's not ready to have babies yet. Afraid that Yellow Fur would force her, she tagged along with her brother."

This complex four-way relationship.

No, perhaps not complex. It's just my best male friend taking a liking to my little aunt!

Damn, you could write a compelling 10,000-word romance out of this, maybe even make enough money to buy cub formula.

After the joking chit-chat, Chen Ying anxiously touched her belly.

He was a bit worried about the little cubs inside.

Four of them, no telling how many would survive birth, let alone whether Er Niu had the ability to raise so many.

No, he needed to prepare well in advance.

The veterinarian Little Su from the Wildlife Park in Gan Province had mentioned to him that they wanted to collaborate with Qing Province on a translocation conservation artificial breeding project, followed by eventual rewilding in the Qi Mountain Nature Reserve.

After all, Qi Mountain was vast, stretching across two provinces' territories, making the research on Snow Leopard projects feasible with cooperation from both sides.

The area around River Source and Budong River was large too, but conditions fell short somewhat.

Strong cubs might survive, but the weaker ones might not fare so well.

Most likely, they'd end up like their mom Er Niu, struggling to survive on small animals like rabbits and ground squirrels, growing up slender and small, an easy target for anyone.

Just thinking about it made Chen Ying feel uncomfortable.

Er Niu's children couldn't just walk the same hard path as she did.

Chen Ying pondered, rummaged through his contact list, and pulled the veterinarian from Qing Province and Little Su into a group chat.

There was no signal right then, but he decided to send out messages once he was back in coverage.

Perhaps their smooth completion of the mountain patrol mission could be attributed to the presence of the lucky charm that was Er Niu.

Not once did they stumble into a pit or have a vehicle breakdown. The team members marveled at the miracle, believing it was all thanks to Er Niu's blessing.

Upon returning to the Protection Station, they volunteered to tidy up the temporary shelter at the back of the station for Er Niu and even installed a heater to ensure she wouldn't be too cold at night.

Little Snow Leopard didn't enter the Protection Station; it took a fancy to a beast stall in the backyard, especially a hole made from a wooden post and blue bricks.

The hole was small, provided shelter from the wind, and was warm.

When Snow Leopards shed their fur twice a year, Er Niu and the others had pressed their fur into the cave.

This time, Little Snow Leopard somehow groomed off some of her fur to line the floor; she rolled around and compacted it.

Layered with dry grass, branches, and fur, the den was much to Little Snow Leopard's satisfaction.

Right outside the den entrance was a wilderness, seldom disturbed by humans; she slept there during the day, patrolled and hunted at night, and in full uniform, she was an unofficial security guard of the River Source Management Station!

Not to mention, with her patrolling at night, the occasional lone wolf stopped appearing.

Rabbits and ground squirrels moved out overnight, while sand foxes and Tibetan foxes swore as they dug their burrows deeper and wider.

The platform that connected the animal shed and the camp became the royal sunbathing spot for the two Snow Leopards.

After returning to the Protection Station, Chen Ying didn't restrict Er Niu's daily activities.

After a thorough check, he dialed the phone of a Veterinarian from Qing Province, who specialized in Snow Leopards.

"Four cubs? That's a lot; nutrition must keep up. Brother Ying, do you have the medical records of the mother? Send me a copy; let me see if we need to supplement her diet."

Artificially raised Snow Leopards carried more cubs than those in the wild due to the addition of special supplements that improved the mother's condition.

However, in the wild, the mother leopard must hunt, find a safe place to give birth, and beware of other animals' attacks, so miscarriages or stillbirths are not uncommon.

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