Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 496 - 452: On a Dark and Windy Night, the Thief Stole...

With a tactical lean, Chen Ying fell to the ground, and upon concentrating, he saw a black snake body.

Although he didn't know much about snakes, he could immediately recognize it as a White-headed Viper.

But White-headed Vipers usually inhabit rocky areas with caves in mountainous regions; when near cities, they often move alongside roads, rice fields, grass, and residential areas.

The focus here is that it's a ground-dwelling snake; was it just about to fly up and give him a tail slap?

Chen Ying cautiously looked around, finally spotting the culprit.

A bird hidden among the branches!

Once the bird locked eyes with him, it chirped, picked up a long twig, and flew away.

When Chen Ying looked down again, the long black snake that had nearly shared a French-style intimate moment with him was nowhere to be found.

The White-headed Viper isn't highly aggressive, and nearly being swallowed by a snake eagle probably had its cold blood boiling. After hitting the ground, it immediately found a place to hide.

After calming his startled nerves, Chen Ying was about to get up and continue when he heard something moving on the branches above his head.

He quickly put his hat on and lightly lifted his head, only to find a white golden snub-nosed monkey, holding a little monkey and curiously gazing at him.

Though calling it pure white wasn't entirely accurate, Chen Ying suspected a tendency towards albinism, but its neck and chest fur still had faint golden hues, though overall much whiter than other monkeys. From a distance, it looked like a white monkey.

Chen Ying wasn't certain if others had seen this "white monkey," but he planned to lure it down to collect fur and other biological specimens for examination back home.

The white monkey was very vigilant, as other monkeys occasionally interacted with humans, but it maintained a safe distance from them.

Today, it got so close to Chen Ying because it caught a pleasant scent from him.

Testing the situation, it took two cautious steps down, then stopped and watched for a while, considering initiating contact with Chen Ying when suddenly a voice came from his body.

The white monkey got startled, clutching the little monkey tightly, climbed to a higher place, ignoring Chen Ying's attempts to retain it, disappearing from sight in an instant.

Sighing, he pulled out a walkie-talkie; it was Dai Wang calling him to say they received news that traces of the white monkey had been discovered at the Old Dragon Pond Observation Station. The team leader planned to send people in advance, asking Chen Ying if they wanted to follow the vanguard or wait and enter with the main group later.

Chen Ying glanced in the direction the white monkey had left, "I'll go in with you all."

"Alright, the teacher told us to drive directly to the Old Dragon Pond tomorrow morning. There's a parking lot on the perimeter there, where we can leave the car and then walk in."

Chen Ying said he had no issues with that, asking if they'd stay there tonight or return to the inn first.

"We've planned to stay overnight again, there's nothing much to do back there. Apart from it being a bit cold at night, everything else here is quite good."

The climate here is better than in Jiamu Gully, not to mention River Source.

The lowest nighttime temperature is about twelve or thirteen degrees, and with a thick sleeping bag and heat packs, plus a windproof and extreme cold-resistant tent, it's comfortably warm for an overnight stay in the wild.

Moreover, the condition here is better compared to River Source, as a cartridge stove suffices for boiling water and cooking.

He stuffed the walkie-talkie back into his bag, climbed a tree, and meticulously searched the perch of the white monkey, hoping to find any discarded tufts of fur.

Unfortunately, the monkey probably wasn't stressed, not shedding any fur.

After more than an hour of climbing, he finally reached the overnight spot of the monkey troop.

There, many biological samples left by monkeys could be found; sadly, he couldn't distinguish them and could only take photos and record GPS points roughly.

Returning to the previous spot where he met the white monkey, he waited for a while. Without seeing the white monkey return, he regretfully crossed a small creek and climbed the mountain on the opposite side.

"Are Dai Wang and the others staying over there overnight, and are we leaving tomorrow morning too?"

"Yes, earlier I saw a white monkey on the other side, but I'm not sure if it's the recorded white golden snub-nosed monkey. Its fur isn't purely white, as faint golden could be seen on the neck."

This is quite possible; individuals might exhibit symptoms of an incomplete synthesis of melanin, or it could be due to illness or reaching a certain age, causing this kind of hair color in golden snub-nosed monkeys.

They weren't professional researchers, so they couldn't definitively judge if the animal was a white specimen. They'd have to wait until returning to the inn, then share their findings in the group for the teachers to identify.

Come evening, the monkey troop returned to their resting place, with elder, mother, and baby monkeys inhabiting the tree canopy's high places, whereas sub-adults and adults spread out around the perimeter, protecting the vulnerable ones at the center safely.

As the sun was about to set, Chen Ying still hadn't spotted the white monkey's whereabouts. Did it not rest with the troop overnight?

Yet entering the monkey troop's territory indicated the troop accepted it as a member. Why didn't it return home at night?

With this question in mind, they went to sleep early, planning to get up early the next morning to see again.

In the middle of the night, Chen Ying heard some noise, quietly unzipping the tent's door to check, finding the surroundings normal.

He used a night vision device to look around, finding no uninvited guests. Could the noise have been from a dream while he was muddled in sleep?

Chen Ying considered, turned off the night vision device, and lay back down.

Two or three minutes after turning off his phone screen, a large head appeared from behind a nearby big rock.

Under the faint moonlight, a large animal slowly emerged from behind the stone. It crept near the tent, lowered its body, sniffed for a while, and approached Chen Ying's tent.

Circling half around the tent, it discovered the unclosed tent door gap, quietly extending a hand inside.

Chen Ying wasn't asleep, just waiting for the hidden creature to show itself.

But he was utterly unprepared for it to directly reach its hand into his tent.

After fumbling for a while and not finding anything, the hand withdrew.

Under the clear glow of the moonlight, Chen Ying saw the tall beast silhouette outside the tent.

He couldn't tell if it was an optical illusion, but this creature seemed at least a solid one meter eighty tall.

Unwilling to give up without finding anything, the creature searched around again and indeed located the food storage box.

The food was almost gone, leaving only two potatoes and three or four carrots, along with a head of cabbage. There was also a fruit can, a meat can, and a sealed bag with some rice.

While earnestly searching through the stuff, the creature failed to notice the camera working at the tent's door gap.

After biting into a potato and tossing it aside, it took a carrot, took a bite, finding it sweet, and liked it!

Minutes later, it ran off with the carrots and cabbage.

Chen Ying waited a bit longer before turning on the camping light.

Although the video wasn't exactly clear, it still distinguished the identity of the visitor.

In the footage, a tall monkey with its back to them dug through the food box.

The golden snub-nosed monkey isn't large, with males typically reaching a body length of 70 centimeters, yet this monkey squatting was over a meter tall.

Chen Ying watched for a while, a chill affecting his head.

Could this big guy be the legendary Shennongjia Wild man? But the authorities concluded there weren't any wild men here.

From the back, no distinct features could be seen; though the moonlight was bright, it wasn't bright enough for meticulous details.

Chen Ying sighed, stepping out to examine the food storage box.

Luckily, the remaining supplies were scarce; after rummaging through, all carrots were gone, and a bitten potato remained in the box. The rice sealed bag was torn, rice scattered on the box's bottom.

The fruit can and meat can had moved, but the creature couldn't open them and casually tossed them back into the box.

Fortunately, it was a foam box, and the can jars weren't cracked.

Thinking for a moment, Chen Ying bagged the bitten potato in a sample bag, planning to find someone to identify it, hoping to make some findings.

He hadn't heard of gibbons here, as the Shennongjia golden snub-nosed monkey is the only native primate, and the monkey in the blurry footage was likely an abnormally tall golden snub-nosed monkey.

Humans can have exceptionally tall individuals, so probably monkeys could also have peculiar examples.

Maybe those so-called "Wild man" legends include a special appearance by this tall golden snub-nosed monkey.

Chen Ying's movements woke Dao Meihua, and the two analyzed the video for a long while, only confirming it was a primate without further insights.

Around six in the morning the next day, Chen Ying and Dao Meihua observed the opposite monkey troop, still finding nothing.

Without delay, they packed up, cleaned their camps, took away the past few days' waste, and rushed back to meet with Dai Wang.

"Oh, Mr. Chen, you guys recorded it too. I also captured a photo with Dai Wang. I said it's an unusual golden snub-nosed monkey, but Dai Wang said I was mistaken."

The other party pulled out the photo, comparing it with the video Chen Ying made; the body shape was similar, but hers was taken at dusk, with dim forest light, just capturing a fleeting silhouette in the woods.

In one of the continuous shots, part of its side face was visible, looking especially like a "person" with abundant facial hair.