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"Wait a moment, I'll send it to you on WeChat."

Shi Wen sent over the address, hung up, and hurried back to the pet hospital. He asked if he could leave the two dogs there for now and pick them up after he was done.

The woman readily agreed.

Shi Wen did not wait long before Yan Kexing drove over.

Yan Kexing wore a white shirt with dress pants, the sleeves rolled nearly to his elbows to reveal his smoothly defined arms.

The moment Shi Wen saw him dressed like this, he knew Yan Kexing had not planned on heading into the wilderness today. Something had probably happened with the Tibetan Wild Asses, and someone had asked him to come.

With a shift in thought, Shi Wen quickly tossed all his analysis aside, opened the front passenger door, and got in.

The car carried Yan Kexing's faint scent, like mist drifting through a spring forest. The instant Shi Wen sat down, he was wrapped in it.

Every other thought in his mind vanished at once, his entire attention forcefully drawn to Yan Kexing.

Using the motion of fastening his seat belt to steady himself, Shi Wen asked, "I've never seen a Tibetan Wild Ass before. Is the situation serious?"

"There are quite a lot around the Agouna Mountains. You'll see one soon enough." Yan Kexing turned the car around and drove Shi Wen toward the outskirts. "Why did you come into the city today?"

"I bought another batch of sheep recently. Black Kid probably can't handle them all alone, so I thought I'd raise a few more sheepdogs. This pet hospital happened to have some sheepdogs up for adoption, so I came to take a look."

"Did you find any you liked?"

"I picked two. The adoption paperwork is already done. I'll come pick them up after we finish here."

As Shi Wen chatted with Yan Kexing, he discovered that Yan Kexing knew his ranch extremely well.

There was practically no generation gap between them when they talked.

As they chatted along the way, the car arrived at the marsh where the Tibetan Wild Ass was trapped.

Before getting out, Shi Wen saw a ring of cars nearby and quite a few people gathered ahead. From his angle, all he could see were cars and heads.

He shifted through several positions before finally spotting the Tibetan Wild Ass trapped in the marsh through a gap in the crowd.

More than half of its body was submerged, with only its neck, head, and a small section of its back exposed.

Judging from its exposed head, the Tibetan Wild Ass was already extremely weak and exhausted. There were also several wounds on its head covered with thin blood scabs, likely injuries sustained during the rescue.

The marsh divided the two sides: the people trying to rescue it stood on this side, while a large group of onlooking Tibetan Wild Asses stood on the other.

With yellow backs, white bellies, and chubby bodies, the Tibetan Wild Asses looked like stuffed cotton toys. They were unbelievably adorable, far beyond Shi Wen's expectations.

He and Yan Kexing walked over.

Many of the rescuers noticed them and turned to greet them—though they were mainly greeting Yan Kexing.

The Tibetan Wild Asses also noticed the two new humans. They craned their necks and cried, "Ahh-ang! Ahh-ang!" Their voices were rather delicate, sharper than a domestic donkey's and somewhat like bird calls.

Shi Wen also saw someone wearing waterproof waders, a rope tied around his waist, standing on planks laid over the marsh. He was trying to lasso the Tibetan Wild Ass and pull it out.

Some of the mud around it had been dug away, but they had not managed to reach the area in front of it.

The Tibetan Wild Ass was completely uncooperative. Not only did it keep dodging, it stretched out its neck and bared its large teeth, trying to bite the people rescuing it.

The rescuers had been splattered with mud from head to toe and looked rather bedraggled.

The crowd made way for them, and Yan Kexing led Shi Wen to the front.

Someone introduced the situation to them helplessly. "That's how things stand. All the other Tibetan Wild Asses have been rescued. This is the only one left. The marsh has sucked it in too tightly, and it won't cooperate either. We just can't get it out."

Yan Kexing nodded. "I brought an expert in this field to help."

Everyone looked at Shi Wen.

Shi Wen merely had a rather unusual bloodline and did not feel right accepting the title of expert. He quickly changed the subject. "How did the Tibetan Wild Ass fall into the marsh? Don't donkeys have their own paths?"

During the drive, Shi Wen had briefly looked up some information on Tibetan Wild Asses. He knew they were cautious animals that traveled along fixed routes.

The man said, "It ran in by accident while racing a car."

Remembering what he had read, Shi Wen widened his eyes. "It really ran in there itself?"

Tibetan Wild Asses had a habit of racing cars. If a car passed near them, they would chase after it and refuse to stop until they won.

This time, it had probably failed to watch where it was going while running and plunged straight into the marsh.

No wonder this Tibetan Wild Ass had sunk so deeply. It had charged right in.

Shi Wen looked at the trapped Tibetan Wild Ass and suddenly found it several degrees more foolishly adorable.

After getting a general understanding of the situation, Shi Wen put on a pair of waterproof waders prepared by the rescue team, secured a rope around his waist, and slowly approached the deeply trapped Tibetan Wild Ass with everyone's help.

Shi Wen moved very slowly. The Tibetan Wild Ass stared at him without blinking, its large eyes holding a dim-wittedness entirely at odds with its size.

When Shi Wen drew close, it sniffed hard but did not resist at all, nor did it attempt to bite him.

Shi Wen looked into the Tibetan Wild Ass's eyes and tentatively placed a hand on its neck.

The Tibetan Wild Ass cried, "Ahh-ang—"

Shi Wen stroked it. Seeing it grow even more docile, he turned toward the crowd, intending to ask them to toss him the rope.

Before he could speak, Yan Kexing had already taken one end of the rope in hand and thrown the other end near him. "Be careful."

Shi Wen picked up the rope and nodded at Yan Kexing.

Holding the long rope, Shi Wen examined it and ultimately decided to wrap it around the Tibetan Wild Ass's belly once, then around its front legs and up to its neck, forming a loop.

The Tibetan Wild Ass was very well-behaved under his hands. It neither bit nor struggled, though it was rather chubby, and moving while standing in the marsh was difficult. Shi Wen practically had to drape half his body over the Tibetan Wild Ass before he could barely pass the rope beneath its belly.