Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 350 - 349: Rare Task, Cute Prairie Dogs and Mongolian Wildcats!

Chapter 350: Chapter 349: Rare Task, Cute Prairie Dogs and Mongolian Wildcats!

The scene here was the quintessential image of autumn.

Everything was golden.

The small river meandered gently.

Xu Yang felt it was about time, so he decided to use the Treasure Compass to trigger a Treasure Hunting Task.

[A Rare Treasure Hunting Task has been triggered. It will consume 10 Treasure Compass uses, do you wish to claim it?]

At this moment, a system prompt appeared.

The Rare Treasure Hunting Task was triggered once again.

Seeing the system’s prompt, Xu Yang’s eyes lit up with joy.

There it was again!

He had come here for the Rare Treasure Hunting Task.

Indeed, the higher the grade of the Treasure Compass, the easier it was to trigger Rare Treasure Hunting Tasks.

Xu Yang naturally chose to claim it.

[Rare Treasure Hunting Task triggered: Encounter! Rare Animals!]

[Task Description: In the forests and grasslands of Hulun Bei’er, take photographs to record a sufficient variety of rare animals to accumulate 50 points. Among them, first-level protected animals count for 5 points, and second-level protected animals for 3 points.]

[Task Reward: One random skill *1, Ancient Tea Tree *1, Golden Silk Nanmu Table *1]

[Task Tool: Special Treasure Compass uses for searching animals *3]

The system’s prompt appeared, and seeing it, Xu Yang pondered for a moment.

This task was genuinely not easy.

That is to say, he had to photograph at least 10 first-level protected animals or 17 second-level protected animals.

Where could he find 10 first-level protected animals?

The task allowed a duration of 5 days, which was quite generous.

However, it would be quite troublesome to complete.

"Ah, Rare Tasks are indeed challenging."

"But the rewards are genuinely excellent, a random skill, an Ancient Tea Tree, and a Golden Silk Nanmu Table."

"Can only take it step by step."

Xu Yang thought to himself.

He walked out from the golden Birch Forest and onto the open ground; Xu Yang looked around, hoping to find some lovely wild animals.

And wouldn’t you know it, after a few steps, Xu Yang saw a fellow.

It was a gopher, poking its head out of a burrow, curiously surveying its surroundings.

Seeing Little Wolf appear, it immediately retreated back into the hole.

This action was caught just in time by Xu Yang.

"There’s a gopher over there, quite a coincidence."

"There are plenty of gophers on the grassland, but they dare not show themselves when they see a wolf."

Xu Yang pointed ahead, explaining to the netizens.

Everyone looked at the empty grassland, suddenly curious.

A gopher?

Where is it?

Didn’t see it!

Xu Yang was exactly planning to complete the task, so he set his backpack down on the ground and then said to Little Wolf:

"Little Wolf, sit here and wait for a while."

Little Wolf was very obedient and immediately lay down next to the backpack to rest comfortably.

Xu Yang walked forward, getting close to the gopher’s burrow.

Then, he lay down on the grass, took out some cookies, and began to enjoy them leisurely.

The netizens were curious about what Xu Yang was doing when they saw the gopher’s head pop out of the burrow.

It twitched its nose, smelled the scent in the air, and stared intently at Xu Yang.

[It’s come out! There really is one!]

[Old Xu is so clever!]

[Hahaha, he lured out the gopher!]

The netizens couldn’t help but laugh.

Xu Yang didn’t look at the gopher but continued to savour his cookies.

The gopher grew bolder, crawled out of the burrow, and slowly approached Xu Yang.

The sight was particularly amusing, and everyone watched with increasing mirth.

They saw the gopher tentatively approach Xu Yang, unable to help inching forward, drawing close to Xu Yang’s head and eyeing the cookies.

Its little eyes seemed to say:

"Bro, what are you eating? I’m just taking a whiff."

Without paying attention to it, Xu Yang continued slowly eating.

The gopher’s courage grew, and it soon came closer, then it bit into the cookie Xu Yang was eating and ran off with it.

The sight was quite amusing.

The gopher stood to one side, sampling the cookie.

These creatures were plentiful on the grassland and were easy to encounter.

Moreover, they weren’t very afraid of people.

Seeing it eat the cookie, Xu Yang couldn’t help but laugh and took a picture of it.

After all, it was a second-level protected animal, which would score him points.

This task was indeed quite interesting.

Xu Yang glanced at the chat and saw that everyone was encouraging it to "Ah" out loud.

[Old Xu, make it say ’ah’!]

[Ah!]

[Make it make some noise!]

This all stemmed from a popular meme – a gopher on the grassland with its mouth wide open and someone dubbing a rough "ah" sound over the video.

Laughing, Xu Yang explained:

"Gophers don’t actually make ’ah’ noises; their voices are very shrill, kind of like a police siren."

"They’re nothing like the meme with the full-bodied voice."

Hearing him say that, many people were surprised.

"Huh? That’s not its sound!"

This was a bit of science education for the viewers, too.

The marmot, not satisfied after eating a biscuit, ran over to Xu Yang’s legs again, pulling at his pant leg. Xu Yang found it adorable and gave it another piece.

Then, Xu Yang continued on his journey.

The scenery here was beautiful, and the animals were cute—perfect for sightseeing.

Little Wolf followed by his side.

Currently, his score was 3 points, a long way off from 50.

Xu Yang was full of confidence, though.

There were plenty of animals in these mountains, and it wasn’t like he needed to take selfies with them—just snapping pictures was enough.

That made things easier.

The number of viewers in his livestream kept growing.

He went straight to the trending searches as soon as he started broadcasting.

After all, it had been so many days since his last broadcast, everyone was waiting to see.

"I’m currently deep in Hulun Bei’er Forest, where there’s forest as far as the eye can see."

"I think the scenery here is fantastic, and I plan to stay here for a while."

"I hope to see lots of beautiful natural landscapes."

Xu Yang explained to his online friends.

His livestream was spacious and free.

People from all over the country were watching him, and even those in Inner Mongolia were discussing topics related to Xu Yang.

Xu Yang was quite lucky.

Following a river inward, he actually found a derelict wooden hut at the edge of a forest, in front of a lake.

The hut lacked doors and windows and had been abandoned who knows how long.

Xu Yang walked over to inspect it.

"There’s a wooden hut here."

"It feels like one an old hunter might have built for rest."

"But hunting isn’t allowed anymore, so it’s fallen into disrepair."

"Perfect, I can stay here for a day."

Xu Yang went inside the hut to look, and it was already decayed.

But luckily, a wooden bed was still intact, and with a sleeping bag, he could sleep there.

Xu Yang also secured the windows and doors, so he’d have a place to go at night.

The viewers found it fascinating.

[There are huts in the forest, who used to live here? So impressive!]

[Feels like a hut from many years ago!]

[Old Xu’s exploration is so thrilling!]

[This is normal, those livestreamers who hike through no-man’s-lands also find and stay in many abandoned houses!]

At that moment, Xu Yang stepped out of the hut and said,

"It seems pretty safe for now, I was worried there might be bears living here."

"Some lakeside cabins deep in the forest are often used by bears as places to hibernate."

"But it looks like there are no bears here."

"This place is relatively safe."

Xu Yang’s voice was calm, but the viewers listened with their hearts pounding.

Then, Xu Yang and Little Wolf went into the forest to look at the scenery and search for wild animals.

He was like a hunter from a bygone era, accompanied by a hunting dog.

But times have changed.

Where there used to be hunting, now there was photography.

Xu Yang was searching for wild animals, and the viewers were delighted by this.

Everyone enjoyed seeing different kinds of animals, especially those that were cute and a little odd.

On the first day, Xu Yang was very lucky.

He managed to photograph Sika Deer, Purple Mink, and Red-crowned Cranes—three species that were first-level protected animals—earning him an instant 15 points.

The scenery here was too good.

Inside the forest, Xu Yang and Little Wolf continued their stroll.

Little Wolf had good stamina too, keeping up without any issues.

At this point, Xu Yang spotted, from a distance, a plump Mongolian Wildcat resting, curled up on its paws.

The Mongolian Wildcat was a species of felid, a second-level protected animal, but it looked rather strange—very corpulent and always seemed to have a particularly pained expression.

It and the Tibetan Fox were known as the "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" of the plateau animals.

Both were the kind that looked exceptionally odd.

He directed his viewers over to it, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing such an unusual cat.

How could a cat look so preposterous?

So ugly yet so adorable.

Xu Yang took a picture of the Mongolian Wildcat and earned another 3 points, bringing his total to 21.

He explained,

"Mongolian Wildcats are quite interesting cats, you shouldn’t be fooled by their size; they have exceptionally short legs."

"And their jumping ability is really poor; they can only run."

"Mongolian Wildcats are very cold-sensitive, so they have very thick fur. Their paws are especially sensitive to cold, they love to wrap their tails around the front and then stand their front paws on their tails."

"That keeps them warm."

"But strangely enough, despite their dislike for the cold, they don’t go to warmer places."

"They prefer plateaus or areas far in the north, and they like to live in deserts."

"They are neighbors with the Tibetan Fox."

Upon hearing Xu Yang’s explanation, everyone found it very peculiar.

Wait, there are cats like this?

Indeed, cats’ logic is not something humans can understand.

The distant Mongolian Wildcat was exactly as Xu Yang described, its tail pulled to the front, its front paws resting on the tail, as if it feared freezing its paws.

Its silly appearance made everyone particularly fond of it.

The content of Xu Yang’s live broadcast was becoming increasingly exciting.