For a large-scale wild animal researcher like Cui Xiaofeng, it is undoubtedly a dream come true!

Seeing such a wild South China tiger is basically equivalent to seeing one's two-dimensional paper wife come to life; it can be described as a dream turning into reality.

To put it bluntly.

Even if you let Cui Xiaofeng die now, he could rest in peace—and would even take the initiative to cover his own coffin tightly.

And just as Cui Xiaofeng and others were overwhelmed with emotion.

Thud—

The signal vehicle's door was suddenly opened from the outside.

A moment later.

A man in his thirties walked in, rubbing his hands together to warm them:

"Professor Cui, are you busy?"

"Oh, Director Zhu, we're observing the movements of the target South China tiger."

Cui Xiaofeng politely greeted the visitor and gestured for his assistant to pour a cup of hot water for him.

This Director Zhu is the overall person responsible for this exploration mission, also in charge of various daily logistical matters.

His exact position is unknown, and details like his age and name are not very clear.

In short, he seems to have considerable clout, managing to settle some issues with just a word along the journey.

Then, Director Zhu walked over to the table, glanced at the ongoing monitoring footage of the South China tiger, and asked:

"Professor Cui, have there been any new discoveries in the past few days?"

Cui Xiaofeng hesitated for a few seconds, uncertain:

"There haven't been any new discoveries, but Xiaochen and I analyzed some information and found that something seems off."

"Oh?"

Director Zhu became interested immediately and asked:

"Professor Cui, what seems to be the issue?"

Cui Xiaofeng thought for a moment, then turned to someone beside him and said:

"Xiaochen, fetch the biological report we examined this morning for me."

The Xiaochen that Cui Xiaofeng referred to is one of his graduate students, who, upon orders, looked down and searched the database a few times, quickly locating the corresponding document.

Then, he pushed the laptop in front of Cui Xiaofeng:

"Teacher, all the data is here."

Cui Xiaofeng nodded, pointing at the screen he said:

"Director Zhu, this is a survey report on the ungulate density in the nearby area, compiled in March last year.

According to the report.

The number of ungulates measured within a 120 square kilometer area by the line transect method is 168, whereas the block count method estimates the number to be 237.

Let's use the latter as an example.

Meaning within an area measuring 12 kilometers by 10 kilometers, there are a total of 237 ungulate animals.

This level of ungulate density is simply insufficient to support a tiger, which is also the most substantial argument supporting the extinction of the wild South China tiger currently.

But just look at this South China tiger...

It seems not only is it not starving, but its diet also appears to be quite adequate?

Its belly is plump; Xiaochen and the others even call it a 'chubby homebody.'

Hearing Cui Xiaofeng's words.

Director Zhu thought for a moment, pointing at the South China tiger feasting on a wild bird on the screen, he asked:

"Professor Cui, could it be that there are quite a few birds around, giving it a rather sufficient food source?"

"Absolutely not."

Cui Xiaofeng shook his head solemnly and said:

"A wild South China tiger can never survive solely through preying on birds.

There absolutely must be enough meat sources.

Just like the birds in the video, strip them of their feathers and bones, thirty of them might not even make up one meal for a South China tiger.

The forest environment around here is indeed pretty good, but it's not feasible to have over a hundred birds available daily for the South China tiger to prey on.

To be blunt.

The energy a bird can provide may not even match the energy expended in catching it.

The tiger eating wild birds is like us nibbling on sunflower seeds or eating ice cream, mainly to relieve boredom.

It's nearly impossible to survive long term on this; there has to be another energy source, one hundred percent."

Then Cui Xiaofeng paused, displaying a hesitant look:

"Additionally, there's one more thing..."

"What else?"

"This South China tiger seems to have something odd about its physical condition."

Director Zhu blinked:

"Physical condition? In what way?"

Cui Xiaofeng pointed at a student sitting in the corner and said:

"This situation was initially discovered by Xiaozheng; at first, we didn't pay much attention.

Later, we found through image comparison that this South China tiger is superior in both size and other aspects compared to ordinary South China tigers.

Director Zhu, you might not be aware.

The South China tiger's individual size is smaller; it is one of the smallest subspecies among tigers.

Male tigers measure only about 2.5 meters long from head to tail, weighing about 150 kilograms.

But according to our observation.

This male tiger's body length might reach close to 3.5 meters, and the weight reverse-engineered from its paw prints probably isn't less than 300 kilograms.

Just to know.

The largest Siberian tiger discovered so far only measures about 3 meters.

Besides, its jumping and agility levels are somewhat abnormal too.

How shall I put it...

It's like Er Gen...well, let's use another analogy this time, it's like O'Neal winning in a men's 100m sprint, exhibiting speed and agility drastically different from its size."

Hearing this, Director Zhu was momentarily stunned.

Then his expression gradually turned serious.

Unlike Professor Cui's half-physical, half-social status.

Director Zhu's full name is Zhu Yuhao, and his true position is a deputy director in the central logistics department.

Not only is he aware of the existence of the Damo Realm, but he has also spent a few months there before.

Thus, when Professor Cui mentioned the aberrant appetite of the South China tiger.

He naturally thought of the command center's previous assessment concerning Qinling.

A South China tiger whose body size, agility, and food sources defy known logic...

Could it possibly relate to extraordinary powers... or perhaps spiritual energy?

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