Gu Huaiye and Officer Xie also surrounded other possible locations connected to the cave, calling out to the crevices in the rocks and possible exits.
"Snowball, come out!"
"This way, come here quickly!"
The calls echoed through the vast snowfields and dark caves.
After a few anxious minutes, the snow at the narrow opening suddenly began to move with a soft rustling sound—
A fuzzy white head, covered in mud and grass clippings, timidly peeked out.
It's a snowball!
Its little black eyes still held a trace of panic. As soon as it saw Xia Zhining, it squeaked and darted out of the hole like a white lightning bolt, climbing up her arm in a few quick movements.
He buried his head in the warm crook of her neck, his whole body still trembling slightly.
[It's so dark and quiet down there, not a single animal in sight!]
Its little paws clung tightly to Xia Zhi Ning's collar, filled with lingering fear. [I went around and around, but I couldn't find the way I came...]
Xia Zhining quickly patted Xue Tuan's trembling back with her palm, her voice soft and gentle: "You scared me to death... Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, tell me, what happened?"
Snowball buried his little head in the crook of her neck, and after a while he mumbled:
[Sister...this isn't right. I smell something strange, and I'm panicking. I just want to run away...]
It sniffed, trying to appear brave:
[But I thought, I'm a little animal detective, I can't run away... So I gritted my teeth and endured it, and went to look for other animals, but there wasn't a single one.]
[I wondered if the little animals had gone underground. But when I went down, the strange smell was even stronger.]
[It was pitch black inside, and there were so many paths... I... I just couldn't find my way...]
As he finished speaking, Xue Tuan's voice became tinged with lingering fear.
Xia Zhining's heart softened at the sound, and she lowered her head to gently rub her cheek against its cool, soft fur:
"Little Snowball, you are already super, super amazing."
Her tone was full of affirmation and pride: "This time we found such an important clue. There was a strange smell around here, right? You did a super good job."
She pulled the snowball closer to her chest and said softly:
"Now, our little hero should go back and rest. Leave the rest to us."
In her warm and comforting embrace, the snowball finally stopped trembling, let out a soft "squeak," and snuggled close to her affectionately.
After listening to Xia Zhining's "beast language translation," Gu Huaiye immediately grasped the key point.
"Scent interference, coupled with sound waves to drive away... their goal is clear: to keep all animals away from this area."
He crouched down, took out gloves from his toolbox, and quickly collected several soil samples from near the hole the snowball had emerged from, carefully sealing them away.
"The soil may have been tampered with."
"I immediately sent it to the research station's biological laboratory for emergency component analysis."
Gu Huaiye looked at Officer Xie and spoke quickly, "Captain Xie, please make sure to escort Expert Xia back safely."
Back at the police station, Xia Zhining couldn't calm down.
My thoughts were as chaotic as the snowflakes swirling outside the window: infrasound to scare away birds, soil odors to disturb animals... The other side not only understood biology, but also knew our reconnaissance methods inside and out.
Officer Xie, standing to the side, also looked grave and sighed softly:
"Professor Lin truly deserves to be called a top biologist... His method is both professional and efficient."
"He probably anticipated this when he was planning to steal the reagents. If the core reagents were stolen and there are many animals in the snowfield, we would use the animal language consultants to retrieve the reagents."
"So we set up this animal-repelling barrier in advance to drive away all animal witnesses within a ten-mile radius."
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