Chapter 1026 - 45: The Owner of the Paw Prints

"Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!"

Gaston gasped for breath, quickly running back into the camp.

Seeing his actions.

Chen Wen couldn’t help but raise his hand to calm Gaston.

"What happened? Speak slowly, no rush."

Chen Wen said, reaching out to steady Gaston.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Gaston’s eyes revealed a look of fear: "Paw print! By the lake! I found a very large paw print! And it’s fresh!"

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback, but soon, they all became serious.

Fresh paw print discovered!

After that brown bear was killed, this area briefly entered a state without a ruler.

Or rather, Chen Wen and his team became the new rulers of this area.

However, Chen Wen and his team wouldn’t mark territory, leaving their scent, so this resource-rich area would eventually welcome a new ruler.

This was the consensus among Chen Wen and his team.

But they never expected the new ruler to arrive so quickly!

"Can you identify which animal it is? Wolf or bear?"

Chen Wen quickly asked.

Though he himself felt a bit uneasy inside.

Even if a new brown bear arrived, would Gaston be scared like this?

Wasn’t his courage quite strong before?

But after hearing Chen Wen’s question, Gaston shook his head repeatedly: "It’s not a bear nor a wolf. Their paw prints are completely different from what I saw!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wen froze for a moment.

If it’s not these two, what could it be?

Bigfoot?

Otherwise, why would Gaston be so frightened?

However, Gaston’s next words changed everyone’s expressions drastically: "It’s a cat! A feline! A large feline of some kind! I saw it clearly, the paw print is feline!"

Feline!

Chen Wen frowned, instinctively recalling the most common animal in this area: "Lynx?"

Here, the largest feline would be the Baikal Lake subspecies of lynx.

This type of lynx can reach up to thirty kilograms.

In the animal world, that’s considered quite a large size.

But Gaston shook his head, recalling the footprint: "It should be heavier! I’d say at least over a hundred kilograms!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wen immediately denied: "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! A lynx cannot grow to a hundred kilograms, even a giant one has a maximum of forty kilograms."

The others were also puzzled, looking at Gaston.

Adam even bluntly asked: "Did you see it wrong?"

Hearing this, Gaston swallowed: "No, I couldn’t have seen it wrong. I even compared it with my hand, the paw print is larger than my hand!"

Seeing Gaston wasn’t joking, nor making things up.

Chen Wen furrowed his brows even tighter.

He recalled the large felines that might exist in this area, soon, Chen Wen looked at Gaston: "You’re not suggesting it’s a tiger’s paw print, are you?"

Hearing this, Gaston nodded vigorously: "Yes, I think it should be some kind of tiger’s paw print!"

This statement left everyone speechless.

The reason was simple, there are no tigers around Baikal Lake.

Fred said helplessly: "How could it be? In the 1930s and 1940s, there weren’t any tigers here."

Adam also said: "The snow is very deep here, and the terrain is monotone and lacks hiding places, making it unsuitable for tiger survival."

The two looked at Gaston, feeling like he was spouting nonsense.

However, Chen Wen waved his hand: "Let’s not dismiss it so quickly. The footprint is there, I’ll go with Gaston to take a look later. Although I don’t quite believe there are tigers here, we can’t rule out the possibility of one or two individuals being artificially placed here."

Chen Wen didn’t say more.

Actually, back home, through Jiang Xue, he learned about the methods of some foreign animal conservation organizations.

To restore a region’s ecosystem, sometimes conservation groups attempt to reintroduce a species to areas where they once lived.

Such attempts have been made for many endangered animals by conservation organizations.

In the last century, Baikal Lake area still had tigers.

Specifically, Northeast Tigers, known here as Siberian Tigers.

Back then, due to limited human activity, many Northeast Tigers roamed the forests around Baikal Lake.

However, with the increase in human activity, such as deforestation, hunting, and poaching, the area available for Northeast Tigers drastically reduced, causing their numbers here to plummet.

Eventually, the range of Northeast Tigers gradually receded eastward.

Currently, Northeast Tigers only inhabit the Sikhote-Alin mountains in the Far East and some coastal areas further away.

It’s been almost a hundred years since a tiger was seen around Baikal Lake.

Upon hearing Chen Wen’s words, the others seemed to recall this fact.

After a brief discussion, Roland and Adam continued to build the shelter and lay the foundation.

While Hua Yun and Fred continued crafting the wood.

Chen Wen then went to the lakeside with Gaston to check out the situation.

...

As the animals all went out to find food, Chen Wen didn’t have them follow along.

He and Gaston took spears and bows, setting off together toward the lake.

The cold wind brushed over Baikal Lake, stirring up ripples.

If not for the purpose of coming here, Chen Wen felt lying on the grasslands beside Baikal Lake would be very comfortable at this time, of course, with a cup of hot tea and a blanket.

Additionally, if there really was a tiger, it would be best to have a group of experienced hunters guarding.

While Chen Wen’s mind wandered, Gaston had led him to the spot.

He pointed to the ground, where some innards were piled up, directing Chen Wen’s gaze.

"Hey, there really is something!"

Seeing the paw print on the ground, Chen Wen instantly got interested.

The paw print was smaller than a bear’s, with a thick cushion, and four depressions in front of the cushion, each having a small tip ahead.

A standard big cat paw print.

Chen Wen extended his hand, roughly comparing the size.

He nodded: "Pretty close, at least over a hundred kilograms, I even suspect it might be around two hundred kilograms. The soil here isn’t too soft, leaving such clear paw prints would be difficult without weighing several hundred pounds."

Saying this, Chen Wen scratched some of the soil.

Gaston curiously asked: "Can you tell what kind of animal it is from the soil?"

In response, Chen Wen flicked the soil off.

He exasperatedly said: "I’m just checking the moisture level of the soil. You’re really stretching here. If I could tell what animal it is from the soil, you should learn from Conan Doyle and write a detective novel about animals, and just name the protagonist after me."

Hearing this, Gaston chuckled.

Chen Wen cleaned off the dirt, saying: "It hasn’t been long, probably left this morning. How much food did it take?"

Gaston thought for a moment, saying: "Not much, only seems to be missing a bit of bear intestines."

"Looks like this guy wasn’t very hungry, you’re quite lucky."

Chen Wen said.

If it were a starving big cat, these innards wouldn’t be enough to satisfy it.

It might have launched an attack on Gaston as he came to clean up the carcass.

Without any defenses, Gaston could have faced danger!

Gaston also understood the gravity of the situation, he licked his lips: "Luckily, my luck is always on point!"