Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

A small, fuzzy head popped out from the bushes and, upon raising its eyes, found itself fixed in place by more than a dozen gazes; the little fox became rigid in an instant.

"Ow, what's this little guy trying to do?"

Leopard Sister, driven by curiosity, walked over unceremoniously and bit the little fox on the scruff of its neck, dragging it out of the bush.

Little Fox: docile and understandingly being dragged (-ｏ⌒)

"Isn't this the same fox we saw earlier?"

Jinya rushed over and pawed at it.

"Speak up, what are you following us for?"

"Mommy told me to leave this place, but I don't know the way out."

The little fox let out a tiny, delicate whimper.

"Please, I just need to leave this mountain forest."

Chen Ying reached out, picked up the little fox, and stroked it from head to tail.

"It's a little fox sister. She must have just come of age, likely her mother told her to fend for herself and find her own territory. The poor thing is clearly directionally challenged; I doubt she knows how long she's been lost."

Jinya burst into laughter without a hint of politeness.

Directional imbecile, an animal that's a directional imbecile, what a colossal joke!

Leopard Sister tried to contain her amusement.

However, her patience with young cubs was always abundant, and seeing that the little fox was about to cry, she quickly licked its forehead.

"Okay, then you follow us. When we get to the right place, you can leave."

Chen Ying did not join the fluffy creature's meeting.

He and Old Gao were busy arranging accommodations for the night. Although they only needed to stay for three or four hours, they still had to be cautious about safety.

The two divided up the tasks and quickly set up camp.

The little fox timidly surveyed its surroundings and ended up clinging to Beibei.

Beibei, never having seen anything fuzzier than itself, circled the little fox in its arms with curiosity and gentleness.

It has to be said, the little fox was stunned at that moment, thinking it was about to perish at the paws of a leopard.

It was only when it got closer that it realized one of Beibei's eyes was damaged.

The little fox instinctively licked Beibei's eye socket and whispered softly, "Licking it will make it hurt less."

It was obvious that this little one was used to comforting itself.

Leopard Sister stiffened for a moment, but relaxed her body upon hearing the little fox's words.

Even so, she was always vigilant of the little fox's movements.

It was probably because both were little girls.

The little fox and Beibei got along incredibly well; they curled up together at night, with the little fox's fluffy tail covering Beibei, and Beibei holding it in her arms.

One could see the look of innocence on the faces of the two little ones.

Upon waking, with food provided by the adult animals, the little fox hadn't had a full meal since leaving its mother.

This time, allowed to eat its fill by a friend's mother, it was so happy it almost cried while eating.

Beibei also treasured food.

Though protected by a foster family, memories of hunger were etched deep in its bones, and it always ate diligently, bit by bit, making sure not to waste anything.

The little fox, imitating Beibei, carefully selected what it could eat and ate until it was stuffed, yet there was still so much left.

It didn't have the chance to show its reluctance when Brother Leopard and Little Jin swooped in and finished off the prey.

Jinya remembered that their Two-legged beast could only eat rabbits.

Leopard Sister and Jinya each fetched a rabbit and feed it to the Two-legged beasts.

Chen and Old Gao worked together, skinning the rabbits and chopping them into pieces, then marinated them with salt and wild onions and ginger; they cooked them on low heat before adding water and letting them stew. Meanwhile, they cleaned up the tent and did a safety round of the surrounding area, preserving the required samples. By the time they finished, it was nearly time to eat.

The next meal would have to wait until the afternoon.

The leftover unmarinated rabbit meat was devoured by Jinya and Leopard Sister, trying not to leave anything for other small animals to avoid fostering their habit of not working for their food.

The little fox moved with grace.

Its tail was fluffy and soft; when it ran, it looked like a duster fluttering in the wind.

Beibei was earnestly learning how to observe the jungle environment from its mother.

But while running, its eyes were lured away by the little fox's fluffy tail.

It wasn't just Beibei; even Chen and Old Gao were very interested in the little fox's big tail and wanted to stroke it.

"While resting, I often see videos online of people stroking fox tails. I never thought there was anything special about those tails, but now I see they really are enjoyable to stroke."

During a break, Old Gao sneakily grabbed the little fox's tail and then turned to gossip with Chen.

His expression was just like that of a sleazy lowlife.

Chen, on the other hand, boldly grabbed the little fox by the scruff of its neck, holding the entire fox in his arms and stroking it from head to the tip of the tail.

The touch was indeed silky smooth.

Yet, under Jinya's accusing gaze, he silently put the little fox down, turned to hug Jinya and stroked it two or three times, then nodded seriously: Still, it's our Jinya's fur that's the most comfortable.

A contented Jinya, with eyes squinted in laughter, looked like a goofy little girl.

Leopard Sister turned her head away, unable to bear the sight.

"A mighty beast reduced to out-cute-ing a little fox, no beast could be sillier than you."

"Hmph hmph hmph, I'm happy. He likes to hold me; are you jealous?"

Leopard Sister immediately put on a masterclass in the art of face-changing.

Little Fox looked on bewildered and frightened as Leopard Sister and Jinya started fighting with each other in the woods.

"Did, did I do something wrong?"

"Not at all, this is just a unique form of emotional exchange between Mom and Aunt Jinya. They're just having a little fun, it'll be okay in a bit."

And sure enough, 5 minutes later, the entire squirrel family that had fallen on hard times was lying neatly in front of everyone.

"I won! I won! I caught one more than it did."

Jinya was jumping excitedly.

Beside her, Brother Leopard tenderly licked his mate's neck and chin.

"Do you want to eat squirrel? I'll catch you some big ones later."

"No way, who likes to eat Mouse Bars? They're all fur and no meat, not even worth catching compared to a deer."

Leopard Sister muttered under her breath in a low hum.

"This guy's such a dunce, I bet it'll never have its own babies in this lifetime. I might as well play with it."

Listening to Leopard Sister's words, Brother Leopard moved closer to nuzzle her cheek.

Leopard Sister was actually the same; she couldn't have babies anymore either. So she felt an increased motherly affection towards animals younger than her, even tolerating Jinya.

However, not even a minute later, Jinya sneakily crept over, bit Leopard Sister's tail, then bolted up a tree and fled.

From over 20 meters away, you could still hear her demonic, raspy laughter.

Leopard Sister couldn't stand it for one bit and flipped over to chase after her.

The forest continued to echo with the sound of breaking branches and the commotion of fleeing birds and beasts.

Seeing a hint of envy in Beibei's eyes watching the scene, Brother Leopard pulled her into his embrace and lightly licked her a couple of times.

After helping Old Gao catch birds, band them with rings, and finish taking notes, Chen Ying returned and, seeing Brother Leopard licking Beibei, curiously patted Brother Leopard on the head.

"Why are you taking care of your daughter today? Where's Leopard Sister?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Little Jin perched on a branch called out, signaling him to look two o'clock ahead.

Leopard Sister and Jinya had somehow started working together to catch birds again.

Their target, a pitch-black bird, was leisurely perching on a branch, comfortably preening its feathers.

As Sister Bao and Jinya moved to strike, the black bird did a hawk-like flip, grabbing the branch with its claws, and performed a 360-degree spin.

Then it took off into the sky, flying away while issuing a clucking sound, like a loud taunt.

Their attempt to catch the bird was a failure.

Blaming the failure on each other for rudely startling the black bird, Leopard Sister and Jinya got into a fight again.

Everyone else was too lazy to break it up.

After finishing what needed to be done, they continued their journey with laughter and chatter.

Jinya, after a whole morning of shenanigans, was lethargic by the afternoon.

Listlessly following behind Little Jin, she almost fell from the tree several times.

For a stretch of the journey, Chen Ying even carried her on his back.

Around 7 p.m., Little Jin found a suitable camping spot in advance and led Chen Ying and the others there.

The cave extended more than ten meters deep, with several small branches off the main path.

Chen Ying and his group didn't go too deep, just checking the vicinity of the cave entrance.

There were no traces of large beasts or snakes inside the cave, the stone was relatively hard, and it was quite dry.

Several branches had a breeze, indicating airflow, suggesting there was an Underground River inside.

They pitched two tents on a flat area by the cave entrance.

Chen Ying and Old Gao decided to stay there an extra day to thoroughly explore the surroundings.

They had been non-stop since entering the mountain and were exhausted, so it was also a good opportunity for rest.

Once it was decided to stay for two nights, the animals scattered, needing to relax as well.

Little Fox and Beibei were left in Chen Ying's care, while the parents went off to hunt hard to feed their babies and the Two-legged Beasts.

Dehydrated vegetable mixes were added to crushed flour, along with dried meat and seasoning packets. The stew they cooked was so fragrant it made one's mouth water.

Beibei knew these weren't things it could eat. Seeing Little Fox want to approach, she gently pressed down on Little Fox's body to stop it.

"That's food for the Two-legged Beasts. If we eat it, they'll go hungry. Besides, the Two-legged Beasts say we can't eat this stuff – it would make us lose our Mao Mao and become really ugly."

Little Fox looked down at its fur, decisively took two steps back, and lay down next to Beibei.

Actually, Little Fox wasn't hungry at all. The parents hadn't forgotten to feed it when they fed Beibei. It just got really hungry before and wanted a bite of food whenever there was some.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, Chen Ying looked at Beibei and Little Fox and pulled out two sticks of dried meat from his backpack, tossing them to them for gnawing.

Little Fox froze, biting into the dried meat. Holding the meat in its mouth, it turned to look at Beibei.

"Weren't the Two-legged Beasts short on food? Why did they give us meat?"

Beibei tasted the familiar flavor.

"This isn't food; it's for us to grind our teeth."

Such luxury!

Aren't wood and bones enough for gnawing?

Little Fox felt that the outside world was nothing like what its mother had told it.