Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

At four in the afternoon, Old Gao and Xiao Shen hurriedly ran back.

Both of them were holding bamboo baskets filled with eggs.

"Come and help, quickly."

"What's going on?" Chen Ying asked as he ran over to help with the baskets. "Did you go stealing eggs?"

"Steal what? There was an incident in the back woods."

"What happened?" Chen Ying's face darkened slightly. "Is there a disease outbreak?"

If there were a disease outbreak, it would be a huge problem.

"No, a family of foxes and a family of raccoon dogs came, all targeting pheasants. When we got there, the two pheasant populations had already vanished. We found the bodies of more than a dozen pheasants, all bitten to death and abandoned."

April to June is the peak breeding season for pheasants. With this disturbance from foxes and raccoon dogs, who knows how much the pheasant population will decline this year.

Pheasants and small mammals are the ecological foundation of the entire reserve. A significant reduction can easily lead to the forced migration of top carnivores, and it might even cause the offspring of top carnivores to starve to death.

After helping to tidy up the egg incubators, Chen Ying rushed to find Elder Tiger and Brother Leopard to inquire about the situation.

"It seems there is a group of foxes active in the back hills." Brother Leopard scratched his chin, thinking nonchalantly. "It's probably a family, two adult foxes and five little cubs. I guess because there are so many cubs, and they're growing, the two adult foxes are crazily biting those long-haired creatures."

Brother Leopard isn't interested in pheasants; lately, he's taken a liking to antelope calves. Catching one and eating it can last him several days; the meat is tender and nutritious, and he would never eat pheasants—plucking the feathers would drive a leopard mad.

As for Elder Tiger, he basically lives off the food provided to him, sometimes catching rabbits or having Brother Leopard bring him some food.

He's so old, why bother hunting when he can have food delivered?

Looking at the increasingly plump Brother Leopard, Chen Ying didn't know what to say.

Brother Leopard lifted his eyelids to glance at him and yawned.

"Alright, stop looking so worried. I'll help you drive that family away, okay? Seriously, I'm getting old and still have to work hard for you."

Listen to him! In terms of age, Brother Leopard is in his prime. In the wild, this is the peak time for expanding territory, yet here he is, living a comfortable retirement life at the emergency station. It's hard to know what to say.

Brother Leopard is pretty reliable; if he says he'll help, he definitely will.

But Chen Ying never expected that, even though Brother Leopard said he'd drive the fox family away, by evening, he, Leopard Sister, Jinya, Little Jin, and even Little Lynx each returned with a little fox cub in their mouths.

"What did you all do? Raid a fox den?"

Chen Ying was so shocked he almost jumped up. He quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks and ran to check on the fox cubs.

This litter of little foxes didn't seem to be in great shape; they weren't as plump as the fox cubs Chen Ying had seen before.

But didn't Brother Leopard say their parents were around? How could they end up raising cubs like this?

After setting down the fox cubs, Brother Leopard nudged Chen Ying with his head.

"Hurry, hurry, help out, the mother fox is about to die."

His voice was anxious, and his words were unclear.

Leopard Sister followed suit, setting down the cubs she had brought back and kicked Brother Leopard, sending him tumbling.

"Go take a look. This idiot seems to have injured the mother fox, or perhaps she was already unwell. Now she's lying in the woods, unable to move. The father fox stays by her side, refusing to leave. We had no choice; we were afraid the cubs would be harmed by other animals, so we brought them back first."

Upon hearing Leopard Sister's words, Chen Ying rushed into the emergency room, grabbed the medical kit, and took a bottle of oxygen as a backup.

As Chen Ying moved, Ruan Mengmeng and Little Sen also got into action.

Little Sen and Xiao Shen carried a specially designed stretcher, following the group, while Ruan Mengmeng stayed home to check the equipment in the emergency room. She prepared everything to ensure it would be ready for use as soon as Chen Ying returned.

Following Brother Leopard's lead, the trio arrived near a hill on the south side of Huaqiu Valley.

There was a tree hollow there, the den of the fox family. Now, the mother fox lay in the woods more than twenty meters from the den. No matter how much the father fox nudged her or called out, she remained motionless.

Seeing Brother Leopard return, the father fox bared its teeth, ready to fight.

Brother Leopard pounced and pinned the father fox, dragging it aside so Chen Ying could check the mother fox.

"She's burning up. Her abdomen is unusually swollen, there might be an internal abdominal problem."

Little Sen felt around while reporting his findings.

"Feel the abdomen properly to see if it's a tumor or something else."

"It's very soft, doesn't feel like a tumor, maybe ascites?"

Once the portable ultrasonic machine was ready, Chen Ying placed the probe on the mother fox's belly, and his brow furrowed.

"The situation is bad, ascites, and other issues. Let's take her back first. Give her some oxygen."

The custom-made animal oxygen mask was strapped onto the fox's head, the oxygen tank was connected and set up. Little Sen placed the mother fox on the stretcher, and he and Xiao Shen lifted it and started walking.

The father fox seemed to understand that these people were here to save his mate and stopped struggling.

Once Brother Leopard released him, the father fox immediately followed them.

Back at the rescue station, they took the mother fox into the emergency room. When the door closed in front of the father fox, it almost exploded on the spot.

In the end, it was Leopard Sister who came up and slapped it down, then stood guard at the door, watching it.

After being hit and rolling a few times, the father fox finally calmed down. Looking around, it found that there were many two-legged beasts here, even more beasts, all the fierce creatures on its watch list.

The most terrifying thing was that its cubs were actually here too!

Frightened, the father fox jumped in place and then lay on the ground, pulling the little cubs into its arms and watching the fierce creatures warily.

Jinya rolled her eyes disdainfully, stretched out a paw, pulled the little lynx into her arms, and groomed its fur.

"Hmph, as if no one else has cubs."

Little Jin exhaled, unable to bear watching.

The examination results came out quickly, and it was bad news.

"There's a dead fetus in its belly that hasn't been expelled. Now the fetus is decaying inside, infecting even the uterus. The placenta has implanted into the uterus, I estimate it will need to be removed along with the uterus. Furthermore, the entire abdominal cavity is full of fluid, and other organs show signs of infection and inflammation."

Professor Bai seriously looked at the examination results, "So what do you plan to do?"

"Operate immediately, no more delay. Compared to life, the uterus... let's remove it."

"Then let's do it. I'll be your assistant." Professor Bai decisively made the decision, "Mengmeng, prepare the instruments needed immediately. If we don't have them, let someone outside send them in."

During the examination, Little Sen had already entered the mother fox's medical record into the system. Although it was after work hours, the veterinarian on duty at the protection station called to ask if help was needed or if it should be transferred there for surgery.

"No need, Brother Ying is back. He and Professor Bai will handle it, Mengmeng as the nurse, no problem."

"Alright, please ask Brother Ying if we can come and observe the surgery."

"Come on over, Brother Ying doesn't mind. Also, bring some things over. I've already sent the list."

Pre-surgery preparations proceeded quickly. Normally, this situation wouldn't be suitable for immediate surgery, but the mother fox had entered a critical stage. If surgery wasn't performed, it likely wouldn't survive the night.

The mother fox's condition was quite complex. Chen Ying first performed an abdominal drainage puncture, followed by uterine removal and other organ infection control procedures.

However, his surgical skills were originally strong, and with Professor Bai overseeing as well, the teacher-student pair conducted the surgery orderly and smoothly.

In addition to Sister Dai and others from the protection station coming to observe the surgery, there was also live streaming and recording of the surgery, placed in the rescue center's resource library for other veterinarians who couldn't attend the surgery to later view and learn from.

"Watching Brother Ying perform surgery is always a pleasure, his fluid movements—it's something I'll never be able to master."

The young veterinarian observing the surgery outside murmured softly, while Sister Dai and others showed no emotion, but internally admired the leadership's approval of Chen Ying, for no one else in the area could match his skill level.

Not to mention that he also knows orthopedics and has a natural affinity with animals.

Even though this was a surgery on a fox, the entire procedure lasted more than three hours.

Professor Bai couldn't hold on after about two hours and sat aside to direct, with Xiao Shen taking over his assistant position.

Xiao Shen had studied with Professor Bai for quite some time and had performed many minor surgeries, so he could handle being an assistant.

Young, quick-thinking, and with strong hands-on ability, Xiao Shen's surgical skills were stronger compared to Little Sen, who focused more on nutrition science.

"The surgery went smoothly, but the mother fox's condition is still poor. The infection has lasted too long, there might be coagulation dysfunction, it needs someone watching overnight."

Sister Dai offered to watch first, with others taking over in the morning.

"No, watching alone all night is too exhausting. How about this, Sister Dai, you watch until one o'clock, and then I'll take over, with Little Sen replacing me at five in the morning."

The rescue veterinary team from the protection station also had professional nurses. Although they had to look after other rescued animals, there were no new rescues these past two days at the protection station, and previous rescues had dedicated keepers overseeing them.

Upon hearing Ruan Mengmeng's words, two nurse girls discussed it and decided to take shifts tonight, with veterinarians checking in regularly.

"Mengmeng, you've been busy for over three hours, go rest. You'll have more work tomorrow."

The mother fox's condition wasn't something that would calm down overnight, with the following week being crucial. Mengmeng couldn't possibly endure the whole week alone.

The two nurse girls consulted with Sister Dai and decided to leave one person to assist Chen Ying and others in caring for the mother fox.

Don't be deceived by Xiao Shen's good surgical skills; he couldn't compare to the girls when it comes to post-surgery animal care.

After administering medication to the mother fox, Chen Ying changed his clothes and sat down to rest.

"Where's Little Sen? What's he doing in the mixing room?"

"Brother Sen said the little foxes haven't weaned yet, with the mother fox unable to feed them, so they must be hand-fed. He's researching the baby fox milk powder formula."

Chen Ying was focused entirely on the mother fox's condition and only now realized, based on uterine infection analysis, that the fox cubs should be about twenty days old.

Barely opened their eyes before almost losing their mother, how pitiful.

Gathered his spirit and looked at the father fox curled up with its cubs in the empty animal shed, fortunately, the fox father seemed pretty healthy.

Chen Ying speculated that its previous frantic pheasant hunts were likely to make the mother fox eat more, for animals usually need to eat well and sleep well to recover from illness.

But if it weren't for its frenzied chicken killing behavior being discovered by Old Gao and his team, the mother fox would probably have been doomed.