Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 305 - Er Niu Makes Something of Herself

Chapter 305 -305 Er Niu Makes Something of Herself

In the wilderness behind the Budong River Protection Station, no, it should now be called a snowfield, here lived small animals at the bottom of the food chain, such as the Highland Rabbit and various Highland rodents.

The long winter required these little fellows, adept at burrowing, to search for grass roots and moss under the layer of snow, feeding themselves to the full, only to, in turn, become sustenance for the carnivores higher up the chain.

Jinya was not very familiar with the vicinity, so her explorations today, covering such a wide area, had turned out to be fruitless.

By nine o’clock in the evening, with the wind howling outside, she was eager to go out hunting again, but Chen Ying forcibly stopped her and closed the large door of the animal shed to the backyard.

After the door was shut, the temperature inside began to rise gradually.

Little Jin felt much better.

Seeing her little friend a bit distressed, Jinya moved closer, hugged Little Jin and licked her for a while, then lay down snugly beside her.

The lynx’s thick fur was uncomfortable in summer, but amidst the flurry of winter snow, it was the warmest source of heat.

Chen Ying’s room was right next to the animal shed, separated by a small iron door.

The room was specifically cleared for Chen Ying to stay in, with a stove installed against the wall and a long chimney extending above the window.

To heat the room, boil water, and cook, the stove was indispensable.

The Protection Station had a canteen, but not every team member could catch the meal times.

Sometimes, when patrolling the mountains, unexpected delays could happen.

The canteen staff would check the shift schedule to determine who might not return on time and prepare takeaway meals in advance.

When team members returned, they could heat their food on the stove and eat.

The same applied to Chen Ying; the canteen staff, worried he might not get enough to eat or might not be accustomed to the food, even specially delivered to him several flavors of instant noodles and cans of luncheon meat and braised pork.

After checking that the animal shed door was secure against the wind, Chen Ying opened the small iron door between the shed and his room.

Nobody would disturb him at night, and Jinya and Little Jin could freely choose to rest in the animal shed or squeeze into his bed with him.

In the summer, temperatures at Budong River were several degrees warmer, and the evenings weren’t this windy.

Even through the double-glazed windows, the roar of the wind could be heard.

One could imagine just how ferocious the wilderness winds were.

The animals mostly lived in burrows, where it was much warmer than on the surface.

After recording the day’s routine, Chen Ying cuddled the two warm creatures under a big blanket and went to sleep.

At seven in the morning, Jinya woke Chen Ying; she was hungry and wanted to go out hunting.

Little Jin had adapted a bit too and decided to join Jinya.

Chen Ying fitted a mini camera on Little Jin, planning to watch their hunting process in the wilderness.

Jinya was fast, moving agilely across the snow, sniffing here and there, quickly locking onto the scent of prey.

Little Jin was more cautious, tentatively stepping out into the snow, shaking its body fur to ensure accumulated snow wouldn’t melt and soak its fur.

Chen Ying didn’t follow them.

In this environment, three of him together still couldn’t keep up with Jinya’s speed.

It was time to deploy his drone.

The vast wilderness was far better suited for drone patrols than the forests.

That is, as long as the wind wasn’t too strong, because a shaky image was a minor issue compared to a crashed drone.

Jinya had found a rabbit burrow.

It was inside a cave beneath a hillside just behind the Protection Zone.

With great patience, she crouched down low, waiting for the moment the rabbit would emerge to strike.

But Little Jin couldn’t do that; in this heavy snow environment, if it dared to lie down, Chen Ying would only be able to pick up a frozen cat.

The size of the rabbit burrow was quite suitable for a Golden Cat to dig in.

With a few swift moves, the burrow entrance was forcibly torn open, and a plump rabbit was dragged out by Little Jin.

“Eh, so it can be done like this?”

Jinya came over, watched for a moment, then tried to imitate Little Jin’s actions and dig into a rabbit burrow.

Its head was bigger than Little Jin’s, its paws were bigger, and naturally, its body was chubbier; it was coming up empty every time.

Frustrated, Jinya started cursing at the rabbits, swearing dirtily.

Just as it fumed, a laugh came from nearby.

Jinya turned sharply to see a strange-looking critter poking half its body out from a nearby burrow, laughing at her.

A rabbit might endure, but a lynx would not.

Jinya turned and dashed towards the Tibetan Fox.

The fox quickly retreated into its burrow, but Jinya, not content, started to dig at the entrance, wanting to squeeze in and bite the fox to death.

Looking so ugly and still daring to laugh at her; it was courting death!

Little Jin, carrying the rabbit, walked over, put it down, then bit onto Jinya’s short tail.

“Ow, what are you doing?”

“Don’t be mad anymore, have something to eat, I’ll go digging rabbits.”

While she was talking, she saw two or three rabbits of different sizes suddenly burst out from the rabbit burrow they had spotted earlier.

Little Jin made an extremely beautiful leap, adding a mid-air twist, and agilely bit down on one of the larger rabbits.

Jinya also dashed over, biting into another half-grown rabbit.

But while they were hunting, that sneaky Tibetan Fox from earlier emerged and bit into the rabbit Little Jin had just set down, trying to drag it back to its den.

It definitely wouldn’t eat the catch in the burrow, but it could pack it up for now, and wait for the two intruders to leave before coming out to luxuriously enjoy the breakfast it had obtained without lifting a paw.

Jinya, upon looking back and seeing the Tibetan Fox stealing food, got so angry that its whole lynx body bristled, seeming to swell up.

Little Jin was also miffed, but it kept its cool, signaling to Jinya to eat first.

There would be time to deal with the sneak thief after filling their bellies.

Chen Ying controlled a drone to capture this scene, and just as she was about to get the drone closer to Jinya, she saw a familiar Big Cat lying low in the snow a little further away.

Judging by its fur pattern, it should be the Lynx Sister she had encountered last time.

Wasn’t Lynx Sister dating the Large lynx? It seemed strange that there was no sign of the Large lynx anywhere.

Chen Ying, worried she had missed something, even maneuvered the drone to take a loop around the area to make sure the Large lynx was indeed absent.

“Tsk, looks like Lynx Sister ditched him.”

Lynx Sister didn’t seem interested in competing with Jinya for food, probably because she sensed the presence of a strange lynx in the area and had come specifically to investigate.

Jinya, too, seemed to sense something and looked around vigilantly, her gaze locking onto Lynx Sister.

The two lynxes, separated by a distance of more than fifty meters, exchanged a look, after which Lynx Sister decisively turned and left.

It wasn’t that she feared losing in a fight, but rather, Lynx Sister couldn’t figure out what Little Jin was exactly.

In her limited experience as a lynx, she had never seen a Big Cat that looked quite like this before.

It smelled partly of lynx, yet mixed with other scents.

A scent that didn’t interest Lynx Sister at all.

After Jinya and Little Jin had chewed up the rabbits, they crouched down on either side of the Tibetan Fox’s burrow.

Jinya even deliberately shoveled snow into the entrance, as if intent on freezing the Tibetan Fox out.

Chen Ying waited for a while and eventually had to use the drone to call Jinya to head back home.

Upon hearing the call of her Two-legged beast, Jinya huffed for a bit, then, seeing that Little Jin wasn’t particularly resilient to the cold, decisively nudged Little Jin to return.

They left, and at least ten more minutes went by before the Tibetan Fox poked its head out, looked around, and quickly left the burrow with its “found” rabbit.

Heh, a crafty rabbit has three burrows, a crafty fox at least eighteen, goodbye then!

Back at the Protection Station, Jinya rushed into Chen Ying’s arms and began to complain.

She berated the Tibetan Fox on everything from its appearance to its fur color to its sleazy demeanor, only then, fully satisfied, leading Little Jin to enjoy the special breakfast Chen Ying had prepared for them.

One kilogram of beef, specially prepared by Uncle Tashi thinking that Big Cats from the Mainland might not be used to hunting on the highland.

Originally, there was more than one kilogram, cut back by Chen Ying after mentioning that they had already caught rabbits. Uncle Tashi then took the majority back with him, leaving just enough for a snack.

The quality of beef and mutton on the highland is slightly different from that of Jiamu Gully, and also different from the rabbits the lynxes were used to eating, offering a somewhat novel taste.

Little Jin didn’t like the taste too much, ate a few bites, and then curled up next to the stove to nap.

It still needed some time to adjust to the harsh weather.

During the day, the two Big Cats just nestled inside the house without going out.

Jinya’s sleeping posture was as splayed as ever – if not for Little Jin blocking, she would have rolled right off the platform.

Behind the Protection Station in the Animal shed, there were two injured Tibetan Wild Donkeys.

In the direction near the Protection Station, simple sheds had been constructed with crude materials, filled with dry straw for the wild donkeys to sleep at night.

When sunny and snow-free during the day, the dry straw would be forked out to sun, and the trampled roots and leaves inside the shed would be cleaned up.

The two Tibetan Wild Donkeys had been rescued with injuries and were part of the herd that lost contact during a heavy blizzard.

After being nursed back to health for over half a month, they were almost fully recovered and nearly ready for a release training session. They would be sent back when the weather improved.

Dr. Chen helped check on them during the day and was sure they were fully recovered. She also learned how to conduct release training and how to help them find their herd.

At lunchtime, Uncle Tashi sought out Dr. Chen, telling her he had arranged time off for tomorrow and could take Dr. Chen to find Second Girl Chen.

Hearing Uncle Tashi’s words, Dr. Chen looked around guiltily for a moment.

She had yet to find the opportunity to tell Jinya about Er Niu.

Jinya had always thought she came here just for the sick Male lynx and Little lynx, so if Jinya knew there was another close companion named Er Niu here, it would probably be in a huff for days.

But since Dr. Chen had come, and she genuinely worried about Er Niu, she wouldn’t rest easy without seeing her with her own eyes (a man’s mouth, a liar to animals).

“Er Niu has grown up quite well here, even fleshed out a bit. The herders also like her; during the recent blizzard, two young people, worried about her, specifically went out on horses to find her. They said she was fine, they found her just as she had hunted down a gazelle to eat.”

Hearing Uncle Tashi’s words, Dr. Chen let go of some of her worries.

“By the way, Dr. Chen, what will you do with these two Big Cats when you go?”

“They have to come with, of course. Don’t worry, Uncle Tashi, they won’t hurt anyone.”

“I certainly know they won’t hurt anyone, but…” Uncle Tashi scratched his head doubtfully, “they won’t fight each other, will they? Er Niu often fights with another lynx. Not long ago, she even wounded a Male lynx, which I sent to the Rescue station for treatment. It hasn’t fully healed yet.”

Wow, so that’s it. No wonder she hadn’t seen the Large lynx with Lynx Sister; it turns out he was in the hospital recovering!