Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Poisoned

Xu Ying swiftly bandaged the sou mao’s wound and turned to the vulture group: “What’s wrong, my friends? What happened?”

The largest vulture landed on a rock in front of her, pacing anxiously with its wings half-spread.

[Little Xu Station Chief! Hurry! My child… my child is in trouble!]

Xu Ying sensed the terror in the vulture’s voice.

Counting the days, Vulture Sister-in-law had been incubating her eggs near the rescue station for quite a while, and the vulture chick should have hatched by now.

Xu Ying’s heart sank abruptly.

Just last week, she had checked that all three eggs in the vulture nest were fine; how could they suddenly be in trouble upon hatching?

“Quick, take me there.”

Xu Ying patted the bandaged sou mao and bid it farewell: “Don’t touch the bandaged area in the next few days, take care of yourself!”

The vulture group immediately took flight, and Xu Ying hopped onto a sand buggy, closely following the black silhouettes in the sky.

The vehicle jostled over the rugged Gobi Desert terrain, kicking up a cloud of dust.

When Xu Ying arrived near the vulture’s nest, the scene before her made her gasp.

Eggshell fragments were scattered in the nest, with a wet young vulture chick curled in the center, its breathing so weak that her chest barely moved. One egg was already cracked, but the chick inside evidently didn’t survive. The third egg remained still.

Vulture Sister-in-law anxiously nudged the young vulture with her beak, emitting low mournful cries. Seeing Xu Ying, she stepped back a few paces, her eyes full of pleading.

[Little Xu Station Chief, please save my child.]

“Don’t worry, let me have a look.”

Xu Ying gently picked up the young vulture. It was much lighter than a typical chick, its feathers sparse, its beak an unhealthy grayish-white.

Xu Ying pressed her lips into a line and quickly checked its vital signs with a toolkit she carried—weak heartbeat, low body temperature, shallow and rapid breathing.

“When did it hatch?” Xu Ying asked Vulture Brother.

[It was not long after you left the rescue station.]

Vulture Brother replied with a trembling voice, [It chirped a few times at first, but then grew weaker… the other chick didn’t make a sound at all…]

Xu Ying nodded, quickly making a decision: “I need to take it back to the rescue station. It needs professional treatment; there’s nothing I can do for it here.”

Vulture Brother and Vulture Sister-in-law already regarded Xu Ying as one of their own, so of course, they chose to trust her unconditionally.

Xu Ying carefully placed the young vulture into the specially designed incubator on the motorbike.

Although the vulture’s nest wasn’t far from the rescue station, every bump made Xu Ying’s heart twist, fearing harm might come to that fragile little life.

When the white building of the rescue station finally came into view, Xu Ying sped through the final stretch almost at a sprinting speed.

Upon entering the rescue station, Xu Ying hooked the young vulture to monitoring equipment, then prepared warm water and nutritional fluids. The only sound remaining in the medical room was the regular “beep” of the machines.

Vulture Brother and Vulture Sister-in-law crouched inside the rescue station, hardly daring to breathe, their eyes fixed intently on their child in the sickbed.

Xu Ying gently examined the young vulture’s beak.

Over the next day, the condition of the young vulture fluctuated, keeping Xu Ying up all night. The two vultures suffered from insomnia alongside her, couldn’t eat, and their feathers visibly lost their luster.

Even the little foxes showed no interest in playing these days, gathering around the vulture chick’s sickbed, aware that this little one was ill and might not survive.

Two days later, Xu Ying suddenly discovered an unusual softening in the young vulture’s beak.

She immediately communicated the situation to the vulture parents.

“This is soft beak syndrome.”

Xu Ying frowned, “It’s very rare, usually linked to environmental toxins or genetic defects. No wonder it’s so weak.”

[Can it be cured?]

The voices of the two vultures were laced with barely concealed worry.

Xu Ying frowned: “It needs to be fed special nutrient supplements. I’ll call headquarters to check if they have any, and if so, I’ll take the little one over there!”

She quickly dialed the headquarters, and after receiving a positive response, Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief, quickly grabbing the incubator, and taking the vulture chick to the rescue station’s headquarters, not forgetting to bring the unhatched vulture egg along.

Xu Ying deduced that there might be issues with the whole batch of vulture eggs, and given the severity, it’s likely something inherent.

Yet she had conducted numerous health check-ups on Vulture Sister-in-law, and she was robustly healthy.

The situation is indeed quite tricky this time!

After discussing the vulture chick’s condition with Zhuo Yi on the way, by the time Xu Ying reached headquarters, a rescuer was already waiting to assist her in getting the nutrient supplement.

The syringe slowly pushed the nutrient supplement into the vulture chick’s mouth.

Having finished feeding the vulture chick, Xu Ying was persuaded by Zhuo Yi to hit the canteen for lunch; since awakening before dawn, all she had was a slice of bread to keep going.

However, upon returning from lunch and opening the medical room door, the view made her heart drop— the heart rate line on the monitor oscillated violently, with Fu Qiuhua and two assistants urgently attending to the vulture chick’s incubator.

“What’s happened?” Xu Ying rushed forward, her voice trembling.

Why was even Professor Fu alerted?

“Sudden respiratory failure,” Professor Fu Qiuhua briefly replied, his hands tirelessly working, “Go prepare for intubation!”

The following half hour felt extraordinarily long to Xu Ying.

She assisted Fu Qiuhua with various emergency measures, watching as the small body of the vulture chick struggled between life and death.

When the curves on the monitor finally stabilized, everyone in the medical room let out a breath of relief.

“It pulled through,” Fu Qiuhua removed his mask, a tired smile on his face, “But the situation is more complex than we imagined. Besides soft beak syndrome, its respiratory system also has congenital issues.”

Xu Ying gently caressed the young vulture’s head, sensing its faint breaths.

The next day, a batch of special medications arrived at the headquarters, one of which was just suitable for the young vulture.

However, treatment with the special medication was not smooth.

The young vulture had a strong reaction to the drugs, slipping into a coma at one point. Xu Ying and Fu Qiuhua took turns standing watch, adjusting dosages and trying various adjunct therapies.

On the third night, while flipping through old case records, Xu Ying suddenly made a discovery.

“Professor Fu!” She rushed into the medical room, holding a yellowed file, “Last year, Rescue Station 017 had rescued a falcon that was poisoned, showing symptoms very similar to the vulture chick!”

Fu Qiuhua quickly browsed the file: “You’re suggesting… the vulture chick’s issues might be due to hereditary toxin accumulation?”

“Vulture Sister-in-law might have been exposed to some kind of environmental toxin long-term, passing it down to the young vulture.”

Vultures naturally have a strong resistance; for adult vultures, these toxins might not be significant, but for newly hatched vulture chicks, they certainly might be!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep