Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 325 - : The Missing Team Member

Chapter 325 -325: The Missing Team Member

Chen Ying released Er Niu and Jinya, letting them sniff the personal items of the Mountain Patrol Team members. The two Big Cats rubbed against Chen Ying’s legs, then turned and dashed directly into the vast night.

“Will it work? Won’t they…”

Chen Ying looked up at the person speaking, smiled reassuringly, and comforted, “You have to believe in them. They’re equipped with tracking collars and cameras. Unless they encounter poachers or more powerful wild animals, they’ll definitely come back safe.”

Not lingering any longer, after Jinya and Er Niu had left, Chen Ying, Yin Li, and two other rescue vehicles also entered the prairie at night.

“Tonight is not bad, the wind isn’t strong, and the temperature isn’t particularly low, and it hasn’t snowed yet. If we encounter blizzard weather, no one would dare to venture deep into the prairie.”

The herders of Northern Tibet also graze at the edges at most. Once they go deeper, even the most experienced old herders can’t guarantee they’ll make it out.

“Have you guys checked, other than their team of research patrol officers, is there anyone else in the deep prairie?”

The Forest Police’s reply came through the walkie-talkie from the vehicle behind, “We’ve already asked, and the herders are all at home. After learning of the Patrol Team’s disappearance, a few herders living closest to the prairie even formed a rescue team and went in voluntarily to search for them.”

“They’re all veterans; they wouldn’t be unaware of the dangers of the prairie. The uninhabited area over there is definitely not a place to enter at will, and their work route is along the perimeter of the uninhabited area. Together with the scientific research team, they’d only stay between these two points for a longer time.”

The rescue team leader, an old Patrol Officer touted as a living map of the prairie, drew a line between two mountain ridges.

“This line used to be the common route for those transmigrators as well. This route has more undulating terrain, many lakes, and a few freshwater supply points. Our other rescue team is searching along this line, but we haven’t found the whereabouts of the missing personnel yet.”

All night they traveled less than forty kilometers. Around three in the morning, as the wind picked up, they pitched tents and waited for dawn within the circle of three vehicles with their eyes open.

As it was nearly dawn, a group of vultures flew over and lingered nearby.

Chen Ying understood the language of birds, but because he carried the scent of the Big Cats, he was becoming less and less favored by the avians.

But at times like this, whether the birds love him or not, he had to try.

Holding a piece of frozen lamb leg that was a bit hard, he approached the nearby vultures.

The vulture cocked its head to one side, motionless, watching him approach.

“Hey, can I ask you about something?”

Chen Ying had never interacted with this kind of bird before, really unsure of how to begin.

Fortunately, his abruptness didn’t scare the vulture away; it instead curiously sized him up.

“Have you seen any humans like me around here?”

“Like you?”

The vulture’s hoarse, deep, and somewhat unpleasant call rang out. Chen Ying understood its words.

“Yes, similar to me, along with those iron cans.”

“Never seen them.”

The vulture answered decisively, curiously stepped forward a couple of paces, and spread its wings.

Chen Ying tossed the lamb leg to it.

The vulture jumped back in alarm but approached and pecked at it tentatively once it realized the object was motionless and seemingly edible.

The speed at which the vulture ate was astonishing.

Despite the lamb leg being a bit less tasty due to the cold, it devoured the four or five pounds of meat, leaving nothing but a bone, in less than ten minutes.

“If you find a Two-legged beast like me, can you come and let me know?”

The vulture shook its head, spread its wings again, craned its neck up and called out a couple of times, neither agreeing nor refusing, then flew away.

Yin Li approached only after the vulture had left.

“How is it, any news?”

“None, communicating with birds is so difficult.”

Yin Li forced a smile, “Let’s go, while the weather’s still good today, we can search more.”

Chen Ying joined him back in the vehicle, and they continued onward.

Around half-past eleven, they encountered a lone wolf wandering on the prairie.

The wolf stood not far away, watching them for several minutes before trotting off.

With no appetite for cooking, they grabbed some dry food and water to snack on. After staying no more than half an hour, they decided to keep moving.

This time they went straight, heading directly into the belly of the prairie.

Not long into their journey, they saw the wolf again.

This time it was standing atop a small mound.

“Ali, wait, let me ask.”

“But that’s a wolf…”

“It’s been roaming around here; it might know something.”

Chen Ying grabbed a rabbit from the box, hopped out of the car, and ran towards the wolf, tightly wrapped up in his coat.

The two following vehicles stopped helplessly, and uncertain voices came through the walkie-talkies, wanting to know what Chen Ying was up to.

“It’s fine, he’s asking for directions,” Yin Li replied dryly.

His words brought a heavy silence over everyone.

Asking for directions? From a wolf? Dude, are you hearing what you’re saying?

However, a young member of the rescue vehicle seemed to recall something.

“That Mr. Chen Ying, isn’t he the Veterinarian Teacher that people on the internet joke about being a Druid?”

“Druid what now?”

“Druid, in the Western legends, they are a group of nature worshippers. They can understand the speech of wild animals and plants. But it depends if they’re animal druids or plant druids.”

The others looked puzzled—what in the world?

Amid everyone’s complex and hard-to-define gaze, Chen Ying approached the wolf.

Maintaining a safe distance, he tossed the rabbit over.

The wolf turned and ran a few meters away before stopping to continue watching him.

Chen Ying didn’t approach further but took a few steps back instead.

After a standoff of three or four minutes, the wolf came over, sniffed the rabbit, and began to wolf it down hungrily.

After eating his fill, the wolf’s gaze towards Chen Ying seemed to relax slightly.

“Have you seen any ‘Two-legged beasts’ like me?”

The wolf remained silent, only silently watching him.

Chen Ying asked again a couple of times, but the wolf was still unmoved.

Having no choice, and impossible to wait indefinitely, Chen Ying could only leave.

Just as he turned around, the wolf suddenly took two steps forward, and gasps of surprise came from within the vehicle.

Chen Ying quickly turned to face the lone wolf.

“Awooo!” the wolf raised its head and let out a long howl, “Pack, big meat, water,”

After speaking, the lone wolf turned and quickly disappeared from sight.

“Pack, big meat, and water?”

Chen Ying frowned in thought, quickly returned to the vehicle.

“Would our patrol path pass by any lakes?”

“Yes, there are three lakes; two are very small, but one near the heart of the uninhabited area is quite large.”

“Has anyone searched around that lake?”

All the places along the route had been searched. There were no indications of anyone entering the water. After all, it was two vehicles, impossible for both to simultaneously rush into the lake.

Even if they had driven in, the tire tracks wouldn’t disappear so quickly.

“Do you think there’s a connection with the lake?”

“There’s a pack of wolves, by the water, that’s what the lone wolf said. But when it mentioned big meat, I didn’t quite understand what it meant.”

Chen Ying covered the walkie-talkie and relayed the lone wolf’s words to Yin Li.

“Turn on the tablet and let’s see where the nearest lake is. This is a lone wolf, it wouldn’t stray too far for food, the water it mentioned must be nearby.”

Chen Ying had thought so too and had already taken out the tablet and opened the map while Yin Li was speaking.

To the left, 10 kilometers away, was a lake, the nearest one within the hunting range of the lone wolf.

Through the walkie-talkie, after confirming that this lake was a freshwater lake frequented by animals for drinking, everyone decided to go take a look first.

This lake was a freshwater source and attracted numerous animals to drink from it, so the Mountain Patrol Team members would only observe from a distance and not usually get too close to the lake’s edge.

“We went there the year before last during the census. And the team researching water quality went there to collect water samples last year. The lake isn’t very big, but many animals drink from it. Tibetan wild donkeys, Tibetan yaks, and others like to hang around there.”

Where there’s water, there’s lush grass and other plants, which also serves as a cafeteria for the herbivorous animals.

On their way there, they saw a herd of Tibetan gazelles grazing and drinking.

“The lake is up ahead, be careful, there seems to be a leopard…”

Through the binoculars, a grey-white snow leopard looked in their direction and then ran away towards the east along the lake.

Chen Ying felt a bit regretful, no chance to inquire it for information.

They didn’t get too close to the lake edge, where the water often spilled over the grasslands, freezing at night and melting into water with the sun during the day, making it easy for vehicles to get stuck in the marshland.

Chen Ying and a few members of the rescue team decided to walk over to see if there were any traces left by the patrol.

“Look! Isn’t that a human item over there?”

They indeed found something – it was a blowtorch.

“Captain, it’s one of our patrol’s items.”

Finding the item brought both joy and nervousness.

The joy came from finally finding an item left by the team members, indicating they were searching in the right direction.

The nervousness stemmed from the fact that, at a glance, there was no sight of any vehicle or tents.

Just as Chen Ying and the team members were about to begin a thorough search of the surrounding area, a huge bird suddenly swooped down from the sky.

The other few team members were startled; nearly falling over.

Chen Ying also stumbled but fortunately, his balance was good, and he managed to stay upright.

It was the vulture!

“Agga, nothing, there’s nothing here.”

The message brought by the vulture plunged Chen Ying’s spirits.

“Agga, one of my companions mentioned seeing ‘Two-legged beasts’ by a large water source.”

A lot of water? Chen Ying recalled the map he had just seen, with the largest lake in the heart of the uninhabited area.

But around that large lake, there were seven or eight smaller lakes, among which the second-largest was to the west, entirely opposite to the patrol direction.

The Mountain Patrol Team members weren’t inexperienced rookies; how could they keep going farther away with limited supplies?

Unless there was a compelling reason.

“Ali, do you remember where we last released the brown bear?”

Yin Li was stunned, “It was in the center of the uninhabited area, quite far from here; that bear shouldn’t be able to come over.”

Hard to say!

That bear was like a crazed young tiger, fiercely uncontrollable.

And the Tibetan brown bear is the fastest kind among all bears, reaching speeds of up to 56 kilometers per hour.

Humans easily lose their way in the vast uninhabited area, but animals are different; they don’t have the concept of getting lost, they just go wherever they find food.

Chen Ying also suspected that the large meat mentioned by the lone wolf could be a bear.

Chen Ying and the others didn’t rush to leave but held a brief meeting.

“I personally suspect they might have encountered a wolf pack on the way and veered off the route to avoid them, or they encountered some other irresistible force, which led them to travel further away.”

“How’s that possible? They barely have any supplies, and if they go too far, they can’t even make it back.”

Every team member venturing into the uninhabited area does so with a great deal of caution, but that doesn’t mean they will recklessly pursue thrills regardless of their own safety.

Two members of the rescue team specialized in operating drones came over with their equipment.

“There’s nothing, within the effective range, there’s no trace of humans or a wolf pack.”

The leader of the rescue team looked at Chen Ying and posed a question.

“If you say they distanced themselves from the patrol route to avoid a wolf pack, then how do you explain finding their abandoned blowtorch here?”