Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

"Are you like a ghost that won't leave? I've come all this way, and you still manage to find me?"

Mr. Lepus didn't let Little Jin get any closer.

He paced back and forth, noticeably agitated.

"My wife is super timid, she even hates when I go near the little cub, so better not go there, or she'll be dragging the kid off to hide again."

Little Jin dared not say anything, just puffed out his chest, signaling Mr. Lepus to see for himself.

"What's this you've grown here?"

Lack of frequent contact with humans left Mr. Lepus clueless that it was a human's observation tool. He leaned in for a closer look.

The big nose pressed against the lens startled Chen Ying, who was monitoring the camera from the other side.

Little Jin abruptly backed away.

Mr. Lepus's move got too close for comfort, even if he was Jinya's brother, it was too much for her.

Realizing his overstep, Mr. Lepus quickly backed off to maintain a safe distance.

"Alright, let's go. I'll come with you to see your two-legged beast."

Chen Ying, seeing Mr. Lepus approaching, couldn't help but give him a thorough pat down.

Mr. Lepus rolled his eyes at the touch.

There was everything good about this two-legged beast except it liked to get handsy.

Noticing that Mr. Lepus not only hadn't lost weight but had put on some, Chen Ying was curious about how his days had been since moving.

"Not bad, slightly better than before. This place has fewer predators but also less food. No matter, my hunting skills are decent, just need to run around more."

Mr. Lepus mentioned he claimed both this mountain forest and the one across as his territory. There was also a Big Cat whose territory intersected with his.

"Its turf is even bigger, owning three or four mountains. It also has three wives, all with cubs."

Mr. Lepus sounded a bit envious.

Three tigers located in different directions, collectively, the territory owned by these four tigers was unimaginable in Mr. Lepus's lifetime.

"But my cubs have grown, they'll eventually occupy a great deal of land."

Mr. Lepus grinned, seemingly envisioning an endless lineage of descendants.

Chen Ying curiously inquired how Mr. Lepus knew the tiger had three wives.

"It told me itself. Seeing I have just one wife and two cubs, it was quite jealous. Mentioned it had three wives, nine kids, not sure how many would survive to adulthood."

Here at the fringe of the male tiger's territory, and with the tiger's preferred food scarce, it rarely came by.

"That female ended up having five cubs, none died, which terrified the tiger. Lately, it spends most of its time here hunting for the female or driving prey her way so she can catch them herself."

After chatting a while, Mr. Lepus noted it was getting late, he needed to find food for his wife.

As for Jinya, she would have to wait.

Mr. Lepus couldn't even get too close to his wife and child, let alone Little Jin.

Chen Ying suggested Little Jin remove the camera and place it on Mr. Lepus.

"Just try to take a look, I just want to know how your two cubs are doing, just have a quick look and come back. Tomorrow we'll be heading upwards, chances are we'll have less time to come here in the future."

"Also, near the water source where the female tiger with cubs is, a group of people is setting up camp there for research, they'll probably be there for the next two or three months."

Mr. Lepus nodded, no problem since neither he nor his family would venture there anyway.

Better tell his wife about it later, to hunt less in that area. Or just wait for feeding time.

After parting with Mr. Lepus, Chen Ying stayed in place for a moment.

The camera recorded the entire hunting process of Mr. Lepus, in first-person view, a rare piece of data indeed.

From observing the prey, to ambushing, to biting through the prey's neck, Chen Ying's adrenaline surged.

Mr. Lepus licked the blood twice, took hold of the prey, and trotted off to feed his wife.

The female lynx had found a very concealed nursery, clearly an experienced mother.

She crawled out of the den and called out to Mr. Lepus in a low voice.

Then she casually walked over to the prey and started to show off her meal.

Mr. Lepus cautiously approached the crevice, lowered his head, and peeked inside the den.

The camera was partially blocked, and only two pairs of small eyes could be seen watching outward, both alert and curious.

Suddenly seeing a strange lynx approaching, the two little cubs huddled tightly together, opened their mouths, and puffed out air, trying to subconsciously threaten the intruder.

Mr. Lepus, not wanting the little cubs to be too scared, quickly backed away.

The female lynx let out a short hiss, filled with a mocking tone.

Mr. Lepus sheepishly left and climbed up a nearby tree to lie down.

After the female lynx finished eating, she cleaned up the surroundings, took a few quick steps beside to stretch, and then crawled back into the nursery to feed her children.

Mr. Lepus still wanted to return the favor, watched for a while, then caught another rabbit, and brought it to Chen Ying to pass on to his sister.

After removing the camera and saying goodbye to Mr. Lepus, Chen Ying and Little Jin returned to the tent.

Jinya was lying at the tent entrance, rolling around bored, getting her fur all dirty.

Seeing Chen Ying and Little Jin return, she quickly rushed over and casually grabbed the rabbit from Chen Ying's hand.

"₍ᐢ..ᐢ₎♡ Rabbits taste so good, you can't ever get tired of them."

Little Jin and Jinya went to talk about Mr. Lepus and his children, while Chen Ying opened the tent flap, checked on Old Gao to make sure he was alright, and then sat down with relief to organize the files.

Sometime later, Jinya and Little Jin left together.

Without having to think, Chen knew Jinya had definitely gone to see her sister-in-law.

This Big Cat's curiosity was off the charts, and it was very friendly; in the world of beasts, no one was more sociable.

She shouldn't even be called Jinya, but directly Lynx might be more apt.

Imagining what Jinya would look like hearing such an unsightly name, Chen Ying couldn't help but burst into laughter.

In the late night, around three-thirty, Old Gao woke up.

He was considerably more refreshed.

He urged Chen Ying to go get a few hours of rest; it would be fine to leave a bit late tomorrow.

Chen Ying woke up at seven-thirty in the morning.

Although four hours of sleep weren't enough to fully recharge him, he felt lively enough to climb up the mountain without much trouble.

Jinya and Little Jin had returned from their morning run, their bellies full and round.

It seemed they had ravaged the scarce local food sources once again.

Chen Ying patted its head and was a bit amused yet annoyed.

"So because they didn't let you see the children, you ate up all their food? Aren't you afraid of starving your nephews and nieces?"

"Hmm, we'll talk about that another time. If it really doesn't work, after you leave, Little Jin and I can come and help your brother take care of the kids."

Jinya was herself still quite childish; she probably wasn't thinking about having her own kids any time soon.

As for Little Jin, Chen Ying chose not to think about it; it was no use thinking anyway.

When it was time to leave, Mr. Lepus showed up briefly and mentioned that there was a snow leopard on the mountaintop, not very good-tempered.

That was also why he and the mother of his children had chosen to live in the mid-altitude area.

Having a troublesome neighbor forced them to compromise.