Yin Li had to deal with his father's matter, so the deputy director of the Protection Station and Captain Liu from the Jiamu Gully Police Station came over to provide support.
As soon as he saw the camera, Captain Liu determined that this group was repeat offenders.
"The natural conditions in our country have been improving over the past two years, which has made the international poaching syndicates restless. They won't target large animals, or the particularly precious ones, but will likely choose to poach Second Nation species and some small-bodied First Nation species."
Chen Ying's guess was not wrong, the target of this group was probably the Golden Cats and Clouded Leopards.
"There's also a possibility of Black Bears. Bear skins, bear paws, and bear bile also fetch a high price on the international black market."
Unexpectedly, there was a significant task before the New Year, as all nearby Protection Stations and the Forest Police Stations went into action. Some reinforced their own areas' vigilance, and others came to support Jiamu Gully.
After looking at the map, Chen Ying felt like the few people around Jiamu Gully seemed to be deliberately attracting attention. He had an intuition that the group's primary target must be in the neighboring protection area.
The neighboring protection area spanned hundreds of thousands of hectares and could not be covered with a net, so they could only focus on catching these four individuals first.
Chen Ying didn't need to worry about the safety of his home, so he took Little Owl Mother into the woods and asked for her help in finding Little Jin.
In the broad daylight of the cold winter weather, Little Owl Mother didn't feel much like flying. However, this two-legged beast often provided tasty food for her and her baby, so she decided to help out.
The street rat had people from the Bear Garden to look after him, so Chen Ying went to find Black Bear Sister now.
Black Bear Sister was in the late stage of pregnancy and had become increasingly irritable. The last time Chen Ying brought her fruit and woke her up, she nearly gave him a pounding.
Fortunately, Black Bear Sister's sanity returned just in time, and when she realized it was someone she knew, she huffed and puffed but accepted the feeding.
This time, Black Bear Sister was not asleep. She had somehow found dried nuts from some little squirrel's den and was crunching on them one by one; they were crackling and delicious.
"Bad two-legged beasts? Will they harm me?"
"Yes, that's why I came to check on you. If you spot any two-legged beasts, you should hide right away. I'm not sure if they have any weapons that could threaten you."
After rubbing Black Bear Sister's belly and ear for a bit, Chen Ying had to continue searching for cats in the woods.
Black Bear Sister looked at Chen Ying for a while with her beady black eyes, then stood up and let out a roar.
It wasn't long before a roar in response came from the distance.
Judging from the sound, it was Great Bai. Chen Ying hugged Black Bear Sister gratefully and was pushed away indifferently.
He was interrupting her meal!
Great Bai and Jiaojiao slowly came over with their two kids. Hearing Chen Ying's words, they didn't take it too seriously.
Having never experienced the power of firearms, Great Bai felt there was nothing about two-legged beasts they couldn't handle.
"Alright, you two aren't scared, but don't you worry about your kids? Hurry back to the rescue center."
After ensuring that this family of four had faced no danger, Chen Ying dared not stay any longer. His anxiety grew as he could not find Little Jin and Jinya.
Jiaojiao mentioned that when she went out, she saw Jinya and Little Jin running towards the northeast side, not sure if they were off to beat up another long-haired beast.
At his wit's end, Chen Ying finally calmed down and instructed Little Sen to deploy a drone to aid in the search.
"The drone's already been released, and all the Protection Station drones are out patrolling. Old Gao also sent one out. Don't worry, Brother Ying, those guys definitely won't get away."
If rationality could completely control emotions, humans would no longer be human.
Chen Ying knew it was best for him not to act rashly, but the waiting felt unbearably long; it seemed he could bear several litters in that time.
"Brother Ying, we found Jinya; they are playing by the hot spring."
Little Sen's voice carried an indescribable weirdness, "It's just, the thing they are playing with might be a bit unpleasant."
Little Sen looked up at the deputy director, his expression slightly twisted.
Everyone stared at the small screen, speechless with astonishment.
The male lynx was cornered in the water by Jinya, Little Jin, and Big Eared Bear, trembling with cold, looking utterly pitiable.
"Is this, like, the animal version of bullying?"
Little Sen muttered to Old Gao in a hushed tone, "That male lynx too, why does it have such a beef with Little Jin? It's clear there's no spark between it and Jinya."
Even if they couldn't understand the language of beasts like Chen Ying, over time, from their actions and postures, it was possible to discern whether there was any potential between the male and female animals.
The male lynx had never made a courting gesture, and Jinya would always bare her teeth in a threatening manner whenever it approached.
The drone completed a circle, and aside from Jinya, Little Jin, and Big Eared Bear, there was a clouded leopard lying on the tall trees to the west, and a group of monkeys were gesturing and chattering on the eastern slope.
Social death, this was definitely a death trap for the lynx!
Ultimately, Jinya didn't press her fellow species too hard. She backed off two steps, allowing the male lynx to clamber out of the hot spring.
But the thick fur was soaked through, and when the wind blew, the male lynx slipped, feeling it might be better to go back and soak in the water, which was at least not bone-chilling.
At that moment, the monkeys noticed the drone in mid-air.
One monkey tentatively threw a piece of fruit at it, and then a shower of fruit rained down as the rest of the monkeys followed suit.
The male lynx was hit several times, and it turned and roared in anger.
This commotion caught Jinya's curiosity, and she looked up to see a familiar object.
As the one who had been with Chen Ying the longest, she had seen drones many times.
Little Jin also noticed the drone, stood up, and watched it warily for a while before giving a low call, signaling Jinya to leave quickly.
The two young ones had sharp senses, and Huaqiu Valley was naturally on their way home.
It wasn't long before they found Chen Ying, who had been anxiously waiting for their return.
"Roar, why are you waiting here for us? Let me tell you..."
Before Jinya could finish speaking, Chen Ying cradled her head in his hands.
"Listen to me first," Chen Ying said with a serious expression, "More bad guys are here, and this time they are after Little Jin and the clouded leopard."
Jinya's big eyes filled with confusion. She looked back at Little Jin and asked unsurely, "Do those two-legged beasts like it? Are they planning to take it away?"
"They are poachers. They will kill Little Jin and the clouded leopard and skin them."
Jinya's eyes widened in an instant, and she let out an angry growl, "No way, I won't allow it!"
Chen Ying nodded, "I won't allow it to happen either, so, my dear, I need your help."
There were other golden cats in the mountain besides Little Jin. Not having seen them didn't mean they didn't exist; otherwise, did Little Jin just pop out of a crack in the rocks?
And then there was the clouded leopard. While it couldn't be said for certain if there were any others of its kind in the area, reports did indicate that the neighboring protection zone had clouded leopards.
"You need to pass a message to that clouded leopard, warn it to be cautious. It would be best to alert its kind to hide for a while."
These poachers had chosen this time to enter the mountain for two reasons: the approach of the Spring Festival, when everyone was looking forward to the holidays, and the challenging weather conditions in the mountains, which, in some ways, made it easier to evade searches.
If there were internal conspirators working with them, Chen Ying didn't even want to imagine how many forest elves would lose their lives this winter.
Natural selection was one thing, but death caused by humans, absolutely unforgivable.
Jinya leapt onto a tree branch and issued an angry roar into the air: Roar, roar-roar~