Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 157: Hey, I Have 2 Faces, Jealous Much?

Chen Ying took a nap in the afternoon, and Old Gao said he would take the second half of the night, so after dinner, he went to sleep.

Chen Ying guarded the fire, occasionally roasting some chestnuts to eat, and scrolling through his phone, time also passed very quickly.

The monkeys left after it got dark.

The young mother was reluctant to go, but she was dragged away by someone yanking her hair.

Watching, Chen Ying felt a pang in his scalp for her.

The big monkeys stuck to a no-pampering policy!

After sitting for a while, he stood up to stretch his legs, and then he noticed two unusual shadows on the edge of the firelight.

He turned around abruptly and almost lost his soul.

Two male jackals, each dragging a lamb, stood on the slope staring at him with bright green eyes. Seeing that he had noticed them, they dropped their prey, gave a couple of barks, and then ran off.

"Is this a thank-you gift they're bringing? Quite considerate."

Going up for a look, indeed, it was young antelopes.

It was not something one could eat, nor could it be left unattended.

The gifts from the two jackals were a huge headache for him.

At 2:30 a.m., Old Gao woke up and saw Chen Ying bustling on the slope, and walked over to have a look.

"Whoa, what are you up to, kid?"

"No time to talk, come help me."

In the middle of the night, he couldn't return the items, but leaving them there would only attract predators lured by the smell of blood.

Fortunately, the cold weather meant the bodies wouldn't decompose quickly. He planned to hang the two young antelopes high on a tree, letting hungry carnivores come and fetch them on their own.

Old Gao sneered at his actions but still helped out.

Chen Ying dared not sleep, and he forced himself to stay awake with Old Gao until five in the morning, when they hurriedly packed up and left.

Shortly after they'd departed, a famished blind Flower Leopard with little more than skin on its belly emerged from the woods. It stopped beneath the hanging young antelope bodies to sniff them, clawed at the carcass to stand up, bit down, and after snapping the grass ropes tying the antelope's legs, it didn't bother to relocate but ate with vigilance and voracity.

It didn't even take the time to chew slowly, swallowing huge bites. Nearly sated, it heard other noises and promptly left the unfinished young antelope, trotting away.

A few minutes later, a three-person Patrol Team arrived, setting the coordinates while also noticing the young antelopes hung by Chen Ying and Old Gao, as well as the three-quarters eaten carcass on the ground.

"I'm really impressed by Dr. Chen's luck and capabilities; look, he even received a mid-night gift from jackals."

He flashed his phone, replete with jumping messages.

It was Little Deng forwarding messages to their large Protection Station group, specifically mentioning their station.

Yesterday, Chen Ying had reported the hot springs situation here, but the Protection Station hadn't been particularly concerned, as hot springs are not rare and they generally don't pay much attention unless there's developmental value.

However, a troop of monkeys treating this place as their wintering ground required special attention.

And if the monkeys could come, so could other animals.

So, after receiving the report from Chen Ying and his colleagues yesterday, the leaders of the Protection Station held a meeting and decided to arrange for people to come here to set up infrared cameras.

The team set out at four in the morning, taking the animal trails and it took them about three hours to get here.

Unfortunately, they missed the chance and didn't know which predator ate the young antelope.

Initially, they judged it to be a member of the cat family, but which one, they weren't sure.

After finding good positions and angles, two infrared cameras were installed.

They hadn't even had the chance to leave when the monkeys from the hot springs surrounded them with whoops and hollers.

However, this troop of monkeys wasn't as gentle with them as it was with Chen Ying. Two or three large monkeys stood on the closer trees, making threatening noises at them.

The group hastily retreated.

"Dr. Chen also mentioned that there's a pack of red dogs up there, shall we go take a look?"

"Let's not go. The mother dog has just given birth, and we'll upset them if we get too close. Let's go, head towards the southeast. Didn't Dr. Chen say the giant panda went that way? We'll go check it out."

The group took a detour on their way back.

What they didn't know was that overhead, in one of the trees, the old one-eyed leopard lay on a branch, silently watching them as they walked away.

It wasn't until much later that the old leopard jumped down from the tree, swishing its tail, and skirted the jackal's bushy area as it headed up the mountain.

"Old Gao, have you noticed that the animal population density in this reserve is a bit higher than on our side? It's strange given they're not far apart—it doesn't make any sense."

Old Gao couldn't be bothered to respond; he was too busy eyeing birds.

Truth be told, this mountain was somewhat lower in altitude. Though it seemed like they were climbing, they were actually at a lower elevation than the emergency station.

There was an abundance of broad-leaved forests here, and, consequently, a greater variety of birds living in them.

Along the way, they had spotted no less than seven or eight different species, all from the Second Nation and up.

The variety was great, but the density was still within normal range.

Just now, the two of them had spotted a Crested Goshawk.

Chen Ying's understanding of birds needed further deepening. Being able to identify the Crested Goshawk was already a huge step forward for him.

Thanks to the animal and plant encyclopedia he had been flipping through.

The Crested Goshawk, this little creature, looked a bit like the Long-striped Small Owl but was even tinier, and it had two faces!

When they encountered this Crested Goshawk, it was perched in a tree, clutching a small mouse and staring at them without blinking.

After about five minutes of mutual gazing, the little Crested Goshawk was the first to retreat.

Chen Ying, hugging his bag and leaning against a tree, yawned again, feeling once more that coming out with Old Gao had been a mistake.

Men with different interests are destined not to be comrades on the same journey.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Yin Li was an exception; that guy's self-control was simply inhuman. No matter how much he liked something, he would rather set aside time later to take pictures than let his own preferences hinder the schedule.

Of course, this was just Chen Ying's one-sided feeling; for all he knew, Yin Li might also feel he couldn't go out with him.

The upper half of the mountain was clearly sparser in vegetation, akin to balding, as if the forests had mysteriously disappeared, leaving vast expanses of bare rock.

Touching those rocks felt like touching chunks of ice.

There was snow on the highest part on the backside, covering a significant area, though not very thick.

Their destination was now in sight, and the two of them walked around the bare rocks for a while before finding a suitable place to set up camp.

This spot was chosen by Old Gao, facing his objective for the trip—the Bearded Vulture.

The cliff on the opposite side was higher, with several cracks and rock caves on its face, and roughly one-third of these openings had bird nests.

The nests of the Bearded Vulture and the Golden Eagle were dish-shaped, mainly built from dry branches, lined with dry grass, fine twigs, fluffy materials, and animal fur, among other things.

Sometimes Bearded Vultures would also occupy old nests left by the Golden Eagles, and they would fight with their own kind for good nests and nesting spots.

They had arrived at just the right time, as there were already females beginning to incubate eggs in two of the nests.

Old Gao seemed ready to settle in for observation, engrossed to the point of forgetting even the basic needs like eating and going to the bathroom.

The Bearded Vulture generally lays two eggs, and the incubation period is around sixty days, with the two chicks hatching about a week apart.

When food is plentiful, both chicks can grow up successfully; in case of an accident, the latter hatching chick might either replace the earlier one as the precious child of its parents or become the older chick's reserve food supply in times of scarcity.

The cruelty of life is inadvertently revealed in countless details.