Chapter 13 Did You Lose the Leopard?

Three days after the call, the construction team arrived on site.

The main structure of the Panda House was intact, requiring only internal renovation and refitting.

While air conditioning wasn't needed on the mountain, a proper ventilation system had to be installed; in addition, all the standard equipment for the Panda House had to be fully equipped.

Two rooms were also urgently cleared out as offices and accommodations for veterinarians who would assist with follow-up treatments on the mountain.

Chen Ying's office staircase was originally inside an iron gate, which had to be repositioned to expose the middle staircase, and an additional iron door was needed at the other stairwell entrance.

Meng Yan's room was moved to the opposite side of the staircase entrance, isolating it from the two Big Cats to prevent the little guy from being constantly tense, as it almost seemed depressed.

Although small, the Rescue Station was still well-equipped with essential testing devices, such as an ultrasonic machine for small animals, a compact X-ray machine, and a portable ECG—all of which were now available. Meng Yan's fracture had been confirmed by the small X-ray machine.

All these instruments had now been moved to a warehouse next to the Panda House.

After clearing out and refurbishing the warehouse that originally stored animal feed, lightweight wall panels were used to divide it into several examination rooms, giving it a more professional look.

Ordinarily, a rescue station of this size should have at least three people working, but due to the low wages and its remote mountain location, they had always been understaffed.

Their work wasn't like that of Yin Li and other rangers; while grassroots rangers could recruit part-time help in the villages, they were professional technical personnel—it wasn't feasible for just anyone without relevant training to take on the work.

Most of the small animals rescued by the station were Second Nation protected species, with quite a few First Nation ones as well. If anything went wrong, no one could bear the responsibility.

However, the situation had improved considerably over the past year.

Director Bai at their center and Chen Ying's graduate supervisor, Professor Bai, were cousins, and this year, Professor Bai had sent several of his graduate students here for internships, which somewhat bolstered their fighting strength.

The forest area mid-mountain was allocated to the Rescue Center, but to build additional facilities, they had to file reports and await approval before construction could start.

Chen Ying had long wished to build a dedicated Big Cat medical room. The Animal sheds in the office building were still too small, suitable for small animals like Meng Yan. Jinya and Leopard Sister felt particularly claustrophobic inside, which was one of the reasons why he took the chance to let them out into the yard when no one was around.

His ambition wasn't grand; he simply wanted the Rescue Station he was a part of to become a sanctuary for all animal life.

The clinking and clanking sounds kept Jinya and Leopard Sister on high alert, with the two Little Leopards so timid that they constantly hid under their mother's belly, and Chen Ying had to pick them each out and hold them to feed.

Fortunately, the workers understood the animals' fears and sped up the construction schedule significantly, finishing in three days what would normally have taken a week.

The remaining painting and formaldehyde removal were also done as quickly as possible—within less than ten days, the Panda House had completely transformed.

The day after the completion of the Panda House was Jinya's release date.

Besides Chen Ying, the release site included Director Bai from the center, Researcher Teacher Lan, as well as Brother Liu and Sister Dai, who was responsible for filming and archiving the event.

Jinya's injuries had fully healed, and since it had not sustained any internal injuries, the recovery time was even shorter than expected.

"Jinya is in great physical shape; it could already hunt and eat on its own during the latter stages of its recovery. I've recorded its food intake and activity levels this week, all of which meet the standards for release."

Chen Ying handed his work log to Researcher Teacher Lan and also a journal specifically dedicated to observations of Jinya.

The daily records of food and water intake, excretion, and feces were all there.

These all needed to be archived—in case Jinya needed to be rescued again in the future, these records would be valuable for comparing its physical condition and assessing its survival status in the wild.

"The monitoring progress in this area has been somewhat slow, and the center is considering fitting Jinya with a collar. What do you think about that?"

After observing the interaction between Jinya and Chen Ying, Director Bai wanted Chen Ying to carry out this task.

The full name of the collar was "Satellite Positioning Collar", which played a very important role in the conservation of wildlife.

Typically, the collar would fall off automatically after a certain period, and then be retrieved by conservationists who would read the content stored on the collar's chip to understand the living activities of the wildlife.

The rescue center where Chen Ying worked was relatively grassroots in terms of the national scale, and its facilities and equipment naturally couldn't compare to those of higher-level rescue centers, even though they had developed quite rapidly over the past two years.

The first addition to their unit was infrared cameras, which are the most commonly used tools in the conservation community.

Followed by the positioning collars.

Chen Ying considered the matter and agreed to the leader's proposal.

The collar wouldn't cause any burden to Jinya, and it could help them understand the forest. When the time came to retrieve the collar, it would be either Brother Liu or him doing the job. He certainly wouldn't refuse the chance to get a clearer understanding of Jinya's living environment.

Director Bai brought ten sets of collars with him when he came.

Besides Jinya, Leopard Sister was also one of their channels for understanding the forest.

When Jinya was fitted with the collar, Big Cat was not used to it and kept trying to scratch it off.

Chen Ying bent down and nuzzled Jinya.

"Don't scratch at it. This thing won't disrupt your life. It will fall off on its own after a while. I'm just worried you might encounter danger."

He wasn't lying.

Jinya said that it had fallen down a slope while dodging a fierce beast, and Leopard Sister had also been attacked by a fierce beast while protecting her newborn cubs, resulting in her injury and fall into a ditch.

Exactly what this fierce beast was, Jinya and Leopard Sister were not clear, only that it was bigger and more ferocious than both of them.

Chen Ying couldn't possibly tell his superiors that there were fierce beasts in the mountains, as informed by Jinya and Leopard Sister. He could only infer, based on the analysis of the injuries suffered by Jinya and Leopard Sister, that there might be even larger predators nearby.

In some respects, lynxes and Flower Leopards were already at the top of the food chain, above which could only be large predators like lions and tigers.

But lions couldn't live in the mountain forests, so Chen Ying speculated that there might be tigers in the mountains.

For well-known reasons, the indigenous Huanan Tiger was suspected to be extinct in the wild.

However, Chen Ying and his classmates analyzed that wild Huanan Tigers might still exist in the primitive forests, and the protected area where he worked was geographically and in terms of latitude, considered a region where wild Huanan Tigers could possibly still be found.

Fitting Lynx Jin Ya with the collar was also a way to try to discover the presence of Huanan Tigers.

Jinya couldn't understand human intentions; it simply trusted that Chen Ying would not harm it.

What's the big deal about wearing a collar? As long as Chen Ying didn't refuse, it would come to be fed by him every day.

One should care for their own trusted two-legged beast, right? Didn't you see the stinky cat next door coveting it?

It already had offspring, yet it still eyed Chen Ying's two-legged beast with envy. Talk about losing face as a leopard!