Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 313 - Damn Goddess, He’s Looking for a Goddess Spokesperson

Chapter 313 -313 Damn Goddess, He’s Looking for a Goddess Spokesperson

Five vehicles formed a semicircle with two tents set up in the middle.

Team One was on the left; Team Two was on the right.

Two people from each team stayed behind in the tents to light a fire and cook, while the rest went out to search for clues.

Yin Li spoke with the captain of the opposite search and rescue team, negotiated the search area, and then each person led a squad, keeping in touch via walkie-talkies.

Yin Li worried that Chen Ying lacked wilderness search experience, so he asked him not to go out but to help with cooking in the tent instead. He planned to take some people up the mountain himself to look around.

Chen Ying grabbed him and said he wanted to go out with him. Initially, Yin Li wanted to persuade him to conserve energy and rest more, but after seeing Chen Ying’s gaze, he redistributed the teams.

“What did you find?”

“Little Jin said there’s a fearsome beast up there.”

The mountain looked to be only three to five hundred meters high with rugged, bare rocks. After carefully scanning the area with binoculars, they found no sign of any wild animals on the mountain.

But Chen Ying believed that Little Jin wouldn’t lie.

“Alright, let’s go. The two of us will head up the mountain to have a look.”

Yin Li still trusted Chen Ying unconditionally, as always.

“Ali, come over and take a look. What is this?”

Chen Ying was not in a good mood. If he was not mistaken, that appeared to be a human jacket.

Yin Li put on gloves, picked up the piece of clothing, and unfolded it to take a look.

“A men’s jacket.”

The two exchanged glances, then followed the mountain path upward, and about 150 meters up, they found a shoe in a pile of rocks.

The leather shoe was torn and stained with traces of blood.

“Dajie, go find the leader of the opposite search and rescue team and ask him to come up the mountain. We’ve found something here.”

“Captain, did you find a clue?”

“Not a clue. It’s something else.”

Half an hour later, the search and rescue team captain came up with two team members and saw Yin Li and Chen Ying measuring something with a tape measure.

“Director Yin, what did you find?”

“Captain Nan, come here. You have more experience, can you estimate when these marks were left?”

Upon seeing the torn clothes, shoes, and remains that seemed to be human bones, Captain Nan was startled.

“These are adult male sizes. It looks like the traces were left about half a month ago.”

Half a month earlier, there had been two heavy snowfalls here, and although not catastrophic, even the animals had to hide and wait for the storm to pass in hunger. It would have been impossible for humans to survive in such a climate.

Chen Ying continued up the mountain with Little Jin.

Little Jin said that the fierce beast was at the top of the mountain.

Yin Li asked Captain Nan and his members to deal with the discovered belongings and remains and to wait for the Forest Police to arrive.

“We’re going to check it out further up. Right now, it’s not clear if they passed away here or higher up the mountain.”

Some team members wanted to follow, but Yin Li gently refused.

“Mr. Chen said it was the work of a wild beast. There could be fierce animals above. You all stay here and be careful. We’re used to dealing with wild animals; we’ll be fine.”

Reaching a height of over two hundred meters, Chen Ying began to feel tired.

Little Jin also had difficulty continuing and lay down with soft whimpers, not wanting to move.

While Chen Ying rested, Yin Li looked around and fished a backpack out from a crevice in the rocks.

The backpack was so rotten that only a piece of fabric and half a strap remained.

“Director Yin, the Forest Police have arrived. Did you find anything up there?”

“We did—a half-destroyed backpack, likely belonging to the deceased.”

Yin Li stood up, replied to Captain Nan, and turned to move closer to Chen Ying.

Just then, Chen Ying suddenly rushed over and tackled Yin Li to the ground.

At the same moment, a gray and white mottled fierce beast leaped down from above them.

Five meters away, the huge Snow Leopard approached them with an imposing slowness.

But at three meters’ distance, the Snow Leopard stopped, yawned, and walked away.

The animal then lied down on a rock, its gaze locked on Little Jin, who was poised and ready below.

The Snow Leopard had probably never seen a small creature bare its teeth at it before and found it quite intriguing, watching Little Jin without blinking.

“Hello, is that two-legged beast yours…”

“I’m not interested in that thing. It’s all bones and not much meat, besides having to tear through several layers of skin.”

The Snow Leopard’s voice sounded quite young.

“It was a big fellow passing by here who did that. I can’t beat it. That creature ate and just left.”

Chen Ying hesitated, then returned to Yin Li’s side.

“It might have been a bear. Remember the report about a Big Brown Bear? The Snow Leopard is a top predator, and on the wilderness, only bears and large packs of wolves are more formidable.”

But having checked around, they found it unlikely to be wolves.

The remains had been scattered too long ago, consumed by various animals and Vultures lacking food. They couldn’t reconstruct the scene, at least not by themselves.

The Snow Leopard had spared them, sensing the aura on Chen Ying, and it noticed that the small one down below had a strange fur color and even carried the scent of its kind…

Could it be kin, born of another beast?

The Snow Leopard flexed its claws twice before it couldn’t resist jumping down, approaching Little Jin.

Since the other didn’t show malice, Little Jin, though on high alert, didn’t react aggressively.

After waiting a while, four Forest Police officers came up. Seeing the Snow Leopard, all four stopped dead, unsure whether to approach.

Chen Ying told Yin Li not to move as he tried to communicate with the Snow Leopard to clear the way.

The Snow Leopard opened its mouth, seemingly intending to carry Little Jin away.

That was not going to happen!

Little Jin ran straight down the mountain.

Snow Leopard wanted to chase, but without a second thought, Chen Ying grabbed its tail.

Crap, he’d gotten used to grabbing Er Niu like that!

Fortunately, he quickly let go, and the Snow Leopard turned to threaten him with a bared-fanged hiss, its tail flailing uncomfortably.

It probably understood Chen Ying wanted it to make way so the several Two-legged beasts below could come up.

The Snow Leopard leapt onto a boulder ten meters away, lay down, and rested its chin on its paws, its tail idly swinging left and right, watching them work.

The four Forest Police had seen Snow Leopards before, but they’d never been this close.

Their work became clumsy with the distraction.

Chen Ying simply walked over and sat down beside the Snow Leopard.

“Want something to eat?”

Chen Ying pulled a small bag of jerky from his bosom.

It was emergency rations, to replenish energy.

The Snow Leopard sniffed the jerky and curiously bit a few sticks.

The air-dried beef was more flavorful when hand-torn, but few could chew it properly.

However, this was the first time the Snow Leopard had eaten such meat; hey, it was delicious, give me another stick!

The four Forest Police cleaned up the surroundings, and anything that looked like human remains was bagged and taken back for analysis.

Looking up to see Chen Ying sharing beef with the Snow Leopard like good brothers, they were so astonished they were speechless.

There wasn’t much to collect, and they were soon ready to head back down the mountain.

Chen Ying had them go first and brought up the rear.

Little did he know the Snow Leopard would naturally follow him down the mountain.

It kept begging for the dried meat all the way.

The Forest Police and the rescue team members were both curious and afraid.

They only dared to stand far away and watch as Chen Ying stroked the Snow Leopard.

Who doesn’t dream of petting a Big Cat! But the Big Cat has to be willing to let you pet it.

Even zoo Keepers, if not tasked specifically with caring for Big Cats, can’t usually get close to them.

Little Jin was seething with rage!

This shameless cat actually followed them down and cozied up to him the moment it got there; what, you can’t find a female Leopard, so you’re eyeing a male?

“Oww!” Little Jin, unable to bear it anymore, swiped with its paw.

But the Snow Leopard dodged quickly and wasn’t scratched.

Fuming, Little Jin burrowed into Chen Ying’s sleeping bag and refused to come out.

Damn it, if I can’t provoke, at least I can still hide!

Chen Ying held back laughter and nudged the Snow Leopard aside.

Its presence made the team members too scared to enter the tent, hiding instead in the neighboring tent, peeking through the door slit.

The Forest Police brought their own tents as well, which were smaller and just enough for the four of them.

They set up between the first team’s tents and vehicles.

While sorting the remains as evidence, a young policeman asked the veteran officer leading the team why they were letting a man-eating Snow Leopard down the mountain near humans.

“First of all, it’s not certain whether the Snow Leopard killed the victim or not. Secondly, the Snow Leopard didn’t invade human territory and harm someone; rather, humans invaded its domain. And another thing, do you think Mr. Chen, a Veterinarian and wildlife conservationist, would overlook this fact? Being able to approach the Snow Leopard means he believes the aggressive beast is not this Snow Leopard.”

In fact, the experienced old officer had deduced from the torn backpack that the victim had probably encountered a Big Brown Bear.

What exactly happened, they would need to send the remains back for a forensic examination to find out.

“Master, there’s an ID in this bag and a medical diagnosis.”

The officer handling the remains carefully extracted a plastic booklet and two folded pieces of paper from a compartment in the backpack.

The backpack was wedged in a crevice sheltered by rocks; combined with the water-resistant layer in the compartment, the ID had been well preserved.

Finding the victim’s ID would make things easier, a quick check in the police database would reveal the victim’s identity.

However, the search result silenced all four officers.

Yin Li came to bring them dinner and noticed the four of them were in low spirits.

“What’s wrong? Worried about the Snow Leopard? Don’t worry, Brother Ying can control it.”

“No, it’s not that, Director Yin. We’ve identified the deceased. He… was an orphan and suffering from a terminal illness.”

Yin Li pursed his lips and said nothing.

It became clear; the deceased had likely ventured into the uninhabited area knowing his days were numbered.

“Master, I also checked, and this person was a student of folklore.”

Yin Li’s mind suddenly had a flash of insight.

“Officers, do you think those two runaways might have been influenced by him? Should we check if this man had been to the Pastoral Village before?”

It was a good lead, and the Forest Police’s leader immediately contacted the local station, asking colleagues to assist with the investigation.

Returning to his tent, Yin Li informed Chen Ying of the situation.

“I’m wondering if he really has been to the Pastoral Village, whether those two children were actually looking for the Snow Mountain Goddess in the highest mountains or trying to join this lone traveler in the wilderness.”

“Let’s analyze this.”

Chen Ying scratched his head, “The two kids were actually pretty well-prepared, of course, within the extent of the resources they could access. But if they weren’t aiming for the highest Snow Mountain but wanted to find this solitary traveler instead…”

Chen Ying took out the tablet and opened the saved map photos.

“Entering here and following along the base of the mountain to this point; with what they were carrying, it should have been enough.”

“Moreover, I heard from Uncle Tashi and the elders of their Pasture area say, the Snow Mountain Goddess’s earthly incarnation is the Snow Leopard. Could it be, this person was here to seek out the Snow Leopard?”

“He was looking for the Snow Leopard?”

Both exclaimed simultaneously before instinctively turning their gaze towards the Leopard still laboriously tugging at the jerky.