Beastmaster: I'm really just a forest ranger

Chapter 311 Cola: You're only supposed to be my little brother
"Clearly, they see you as accomplices in the destruction of the hot springs."

After listening to the Fire Spirit Monkey leader's account, Chen Yuan shrugged at Zhang Hao.

When pets appear in every corner of the world, the distance between humans and pets is infinitely shortened, and their encounters lead to countless stories, some heartwarming, some thrilling, and some full of conflicts.

As an expert in resolving supernatural events, Chen Yuan was already used to similar conflicts and misunderstandings.

As a fire-type pet, the Fiery Monkey is not afraid of the cold, but hot springs, which are very beneficial to pets, help them maintain a good condition and get through this long, harsh winter.

The importance of hot springs is self-evident.

The other pets could sneak into the hot springs, and the Fiery Monkeys didn't stop them.

Destroying the hot springs is tantamount to touching their sore spot, so their anger is understandable.

"No wonder there are fresh cracks on the volcanic rocks in the hot spring; that guy must have done it, right?"

Recalling Shao Yang's earlier discovery, Zhang Hao suddenly realized why these Fiery Spirit Monkeys were so angry.

The thought vanished in an instant. Zhang Hao stared intently at the fallen Fire Spirit Monkey leader, his expression showing no anger, but rather a grin: "This is truly a misunderstanding. We have absolutely no idea who the guy who destroyed the hot spring is."

He paused, his smile fading, and deliberately feigned indignation, pumping his fist excitedly: "What a despicable guy! He even has to ruin such a beautiful hot spring!"

"If I find out who it is, I'll give them a good beating!"

The leader of the Fiery Monkeys stared blankly at Zhang Hao, whose expression changed rapidly. The anger in his eyes gradually dissipated and was replaced by self-blame and shame.

It had completely misunderstood such a kind human being.
Zhang Hao keenly noticed a subtle change in the way the Fire Spirit Monkey leader looked at him. He chuckled inwardly, but his expression remained serious: "What clues do you have?"

"I will help you find the culprit."

Upon hearing this, the leader of the Fiery Monkeys was moved.

Looking at Zhang Hao's solemn face, Chen Yuan nodded secretly and did not interfere with his actions.

Although the misunderstanding was cleared up, the previous conflict between the two sides still left a deep scar in the heart of the Fire Spirit Monkey leader.

But as long as the Fire Spirit Monkeys find the culprit, the scar will naturally disappear.

If we ask to move out of this place later, these guys will definitely agree.

"Hissing hissing~"

Then, the leader of the Fiery Monkeys struggled to his feet and led everyone to the hot spring, pointing his paw at the cracks in the volcanic rock.

The whistling sound was sharp and filled with anger.

Once the beaten Fire Spirit Monkeys gradually awoke, the bouncing Monkey King led everyone to other places.

It turns out that there are six hot springs in this area, of varying sizes, all steaming with enticing heat, attracting countless pets to bathe in the frigid winter.

As the master of this area, the gentle-natured Fire Spirit Monkey does not forbid all pets from soaking in the hot springs, but they greatly dislike those who damage the hot springs.

If they discover similar situations, they will punish them severely.

Scanning the hot springs, Chen Yuan slowly said, "The geothermal resources here are quite abundant."

Including the nearby cave hot springs, there are a total of seven hot springs in this area, which fully demonstrates the abundance of geothermal resources in this place.

Looking at the hot springs scattered in various places, a young cadre sighed with admiration: "With so many hot springs, these fiery monkeys really know how to enjoy life."

With a smile, Zhang Hao said softly, "When the area is developed, we'll preserve these hot springs."

Shao Yang suddenly asked, "What about these Fiery Spirit Monkeys?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hao immediately fell into deep thought.

Right, what should we do with these fiery monkeys?
After they move away from this place, they will certainly not be able to continue to enjoy the warmth of the hot springs, which is definitely a great loss.

"I need to think of a way to compensate them," Zhang Hao thought to himself.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, the sharp howl of the leader of the Fiery Spirit Monkeys interrupted everyone's thoughts.

According to the monkey king, that wretched fellow liked to appear at night while they were sleeping, destroy the hot spring, and then leave in a hurry.

"You haven't caught it even once?" Chen Yuan asked.

"Whoosh!"

The leader of the Fiery Monkeys shook his head.

That guy's activity time was too sinister; they never caught him even once.

"Are there any useful clues?" Zhang Hao asked.

"Hiss!"

The leader of the Fiery Monkeys continued to shake his head.

"That makes things difficult."

Seeing the Fire Spirit Monkey leader's reaction, Zhang Hao frowned slightly, immediately feeling that things were getting tricky.

Without any clues, they struggled to quickly locate the person who had sabotaged the hot spring.

However, if one waits until late at night to wait for the rabbit to come to the tree stump, whether or not it will succeed is another matter, but it will inevitably waste a lot of time.

Is there a way to quickly resolve this issue?
A thought flashed through Zhang Hao's mind, and he naturally looked at Chen Yuan, who seemed omnipotent to him.

Chen Yuan noticed Zhang Hao's gaze and turned his head to look at the eager-to-try Cola.

"Ow!"

Cola has a keen sense of smell and is good at finding pets hidden in the shadows. As long as the scent of that creature is still lingering in the air, it is confident that it can catch it!
It's my turn to steal the spotlight again!

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, two fiery monkeys leaped forward, waving their hands excitedly.

They have clues!
Chen Yuan gestured for Cola to stay where it was, then looked kindly at the two little monkeys that had come out and asked gently, "Do you have any clues?"

"Whoosh!"

The slightly larger Fiery Monkey jumped around excitedly.

One night, it saw a blazing fire near the hot spring, a fire flying around!

Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Hmm, a ball of flying flame?"

The young cadres were all astonished, but Chen Yuan, who had seen all sorts of bizarre things, reacted calmly.

It's just a flying flame. Is it any wonder that there's a flying dog?
"And what about you? What clues do you have?" Chen Yuan turned his head to look at the other Fiery Spirit Monkey, anticipating its answer.

"Whoosh!"

This fiery monkey discovered strange footprints next to a hot spring!
Very, very big footprints!
"Ok?"

Chen Yuan, keenly noticing the key words, suddenly turned to look at the towering, mountain-like frost giant, a smile spreading across his face: "Giant footprints?"

This discovery sounds too familiar. Could it be another large pet beast?

With his thoughts racing, Chen Yuan smiled and said, "Let's go, take us to see it."

The fiery monkey nodded obediently, while the monkey king beside it looked on with suspicion.

How come it has never heard of these things?
Led by the fiery monkey, the group arrived at the most secluded hot spring and indeed saw the remaining huge footprints.

This footprint is very similar to that of the Frost Giant, but the edges are faintly charred, as if it had been burned by flames.

"What huge footprints."

Zhang Hao crouched down to examine it closely, then reached out to compare the size, and suddenly realized that the footprint was twice the size of his head.

What kind of beast's footprints are these? A multitude of thoughts raced through Chen Yuan's mind as he silently glanced at the Frost Giant beside him, a smile playing on his lips: "Perhaps you'll soon encounter your kind."

"Roar?"

A hint of doubt flashed in the Frost Giant's amber eyes, then he lowered his gaze and stared at the huge footprint on the ground for a long time.

It looked at its own legs for a while, then at the footprints, and finally nodded.

Zhang Hao stretched his head over the giant footprint, faced the Fire Spirit Monkey leader, and gestured with his hands for a while to indicate that his head was not even as big as the footprint. Then he grinned and said, "As far as I know, no human has ever been born with a footprint this big."

Immediately, he looked up at the Frost Giant and joked, "I suspect the suspect pet is about the same size as this guy."

The leader of the Fiery Monkeys glanced at the enormous Frost Giant and nodded solemnly.

"Cola. The rest is up to you," Chen Yuan instructed.

"Ow!"

Cola responded excitedly and ran to the giant footprint. She lowered her head, her nostrils flaring, and carefully sniffed the scent lingering in the giant footprint.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Hao couldn't help but remark, "I hope this pet doesn't have smelly feet."

"Ow!"

Upon hearing this, Cola paused in his movements.

It initially thought there was no strange smell in the footprints, but upon hearing Zhang Hao's words, it felt as if it had smelled a foul odor, making it feel nauseous.

Cola glared fiercely at Zhang Hao, then mischievously blew a gust of wind, swirling snowflakes that landed on Zhang Hao's head.

Zhang Hao casually brushed the snowflakes off his head and chuckled, "Brother Cola, you can continue. Just pretend you didn't hear that."

"Ow!"

Cola snorted and continued to concentrate on capturing the scent.

After a while,
Cola's eyes shone brightly, and its tail wagged.

It smelled a unique scent that didn't belong to any of the pets present. The scent was similar to that of a frost giant, as massive and heavy as a rock.

A knowing smile appeared on Chen Yuan's face, and he nodded slightly: "Yes, can you lead us to it?"

"Ow!"

The cola roared with its head held high, its eyes gleaming.

In terms of strength, he might not be a match for the boss, but when it comes to finding pet beasts, the boss is just a little brother in front of him!
Cola glanced at Chen Yuan, then followed the lingering scent and jogged forward.

Chen Yuan and the little guys followed closely behind, as did Zhang Hao and the others, while the Fiery Monkeys, eager to find the culprit, also followed closely.

In no time, hordes of people and their pets headed northwest.

The further they went, the more puzzled Zhang Hao became: "Isn't that the cave with the hot spring just ahead?"

Chen Yuan looked ahead and indeed saw the familiar cave.

Without hesitation, Cola rushed into the cave, traversing the rocky passageways. Sparks slowly took flight, and the golden flames emanating from its body dispelled the dense darkness, illuminating the path to the hot springs.

Fortunately, the rock passage was exceptionally high, allowing the Frost Giant to pass through with a slight bend.

But as a group of pet beasts followed closely behind, even the tall rock passage became narrow, and amidst the pushing and shoving, a fork in the road suddenly came into view.

Cola chose to enter the left-hand road.

"Brother Yuan, if I remember correctly, the hot spring should be accessed from the right." Zhang Hao approached Chen Yuan and whispered.

"Hmm." Chen Yuan had a good memory and nodded slightly.

Following the cola along the way, the rock passage soon disappeared, and the view suddenly opened up.

At the same moment, a wave of heat, several times hotter than a hot spring, rushed towards us, carrying with it a strong smell of sulfur.

"So hot!"

One of the young officers, who was still a novice beast tamer, suddenly felt hot and kept fanning himself with his hand, trying to dispel the heat.

Novice beast tamers could not bear the heat, while intermediate beast tamers only showed slight changes in expression, and their pets had even better heat tolerance.

Spark had ventured deep into the Flaming Mountain. Cola and Fallen Horned Beast were both Tier 3 pets, while the Flowing Fire Monkeys, as fire-type pets, only felt that the heat made their bodies comfortable.

"嘤嘤嘤"

Except for Sprite, which is only level one.

The heat wave swept over her entire body, and Sprite felt as if every part of her body was surrounded by scalding lava, and even the ground under her feet felt incredibly hot.

It raised its scorched left palm, and its right palm was equally burning hot, so it raised its right palm as well, but lost its balance and fell to the ground with a thud.

With her petite body pressed close to the ground, she could feel the scorching heat emanating from underground even more clearly. Sprite's eyes widened, and she cried out in a panic before leaping up.

"roar
Just then, the Frost Giant slowly moved forward, like a thick shield from the land of winter protecting the people and their pets behind it, and a chill emanated from its body.

The chill spread, the heat dissipated, and a refreshing coolness enveloped my whole body.

Sprite, its tongue lolling out, finally felt cool. It stared blankly at the towering figure of the Frost Giant, its eyes filled with admiration.

Cola noticed Sprite's subtle glance and a strange sense of threat flashed through her mind.

It’s bad!

Am I losing my position as the boss?
With a serious expression, Cola roared, and a gust of wind swept out, completely dispelling the remaining heat.

"Ow~"

Coke tilted its head back, waiting for Sprite to cast an admiring glance its way.

But Sprite continued to stare at the Frost Giant's back, never looking directly at Coke.

"Ow"

Cola lowered his head and sighed.

He clearly promised to be my little brother for life.
Once the heatwave was dispelled by the frost giant who stepped forward, the group continued forward with Cola.

The further in you go, the higher the temperature becomes, with scorching heat waves from the ground enveloping your entire body.

In a daze, Chen Yuan seemed to have returned to the Flaming Mountain.

However, the temperature here is not as high as the Flaming Mountains fire, and it is not yet so unbearable that people cannot move forward.

However, the Frost Giant gradually felt the strain, and its thick blue and white ice armor began to drip a liquid similar to sweat, causing its forward speed to gradually slow down.

"Spark, come on over," Chen Yuan said.

"Chirp."

As the fire-breathing bird took flight, the scorching heat waves emanating from the ground seemed to encounter a natural enemy and quickly retreated, instantly dissipating the heat inside the cave.

"Roar"

The Frost Giant stared blankly at its leader, not understanding why it was so easy.
Chen Yuan remained calm, then suddenly asked Shao Yang, "Do you know about the Wildfire Giant?"

Consultant Chen's question came out of nowhere, and Shao Yang was clearly taken aback. He then frantically searched his mind for information about the Wildfire Giants, and cautiously began to speak, as if facing his homeroom teacher:
"The Wildfire Giant, a fire-type pet beast, is born with the quality of leadership. Its most distinctive features are its head and feet, which are ablaze. It inhabits volcanic and geothermal-rich areas."

Zhang Hao suddenly looked up at Chen Yuan: "Brother Yuan, do you mean there's a Wildfire Giant inside?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Most likely."

He paused briefly, then turned to look at the Frost Giant: "Those inside should be members of your giant race. Why don't you negotiate with them?"

"If everything goes well, you can even gain a follower."

(End of this chapter)