Animal Whisperer: Take Back My Life and Love Chapter 212: The Muted Sentry

Master Crow gave his tail a cocky flick. "Stay put, Boss. I'm heading over to talk terms with my marmot brothers."

While Simon went into the village to gather intel from the locals about the well's daily use, Nancy remained high on alert. She scanned the surroundings while keeping a close eye on Hailey, who was busy sealing the water samples.

Before long, Master Crow came fluttering back in a frantic rush, his caws echoing from a distance.

"I found a colony of marmots nearby, but they're all sick!"

Nancy stood up instantly. "Take me to them."

Led by Master Crow, they trekked to a sun-drenched grassy slope where they found the marmots. Usually bursting with energy, the little creatures were now slumped listlessly at their burrow entrances. Even their signature move—vigorously gnawing on fresh grass—had become a slow, weak grind of their front teeth. They had lost all their usual spark.

As Master Crow landed, he announced at the top of his lungs, "The doctor is here! The miracle worker who cures all is here!"

Nancy flushed. He's laying it on a bit thick.

At the mention of a savior, the marmots' dull eyes brightened. They began scurrying over, surrounding her in a rustle of fur.

Ever the professional, Nancy immediately donned her mask and double gloves, using firm yet gentle hand gestures to signal them. "Don't rush, everyone! Keep your distance! Line up and I'll see you one by one."

She was being extra cautious for a reason. Wild marmot burrows are notorious for harboring fleas and ticks, and they can carry serious zoonotic diseases like the plague. Close contact in the wild required strict precautions.

To her amazement, the marmots actually obeyed, forming an orderly queue. They even stepped aside for a smaller, normally sharp-eyed companion, urging him forward: "Hurry! Let the sentry go first! He's suffering the most today!"

In a marmot colony, a "sentry" is always posted during foraging. Their job is to let out a piercing whistle at the first sign of a hawk or fox. They are the most responsible and respected members of the group.

The sentry marmot charged forward from a distance, but he overshot Nancy completely. He lunged toward a tattered old scarecrow standing behind her, grabbing its trouser leg and rasping in a desperate, gravelly voice:

"My throat! What happened to my voice?!"

Marmots usually have incredibly loud, clear whistles that can carry for hundreds of meters. Now, the poor little guy could only manage a raspy, hissing breath. He sounded exactly like a singer who had completely lost their voice.

"Save my voice! Please!"

Nancy watched the sentry marmot frantically pleading with the scarecrow and couldn't help but rub her temples. Marmots are famously nearsighted; to them, a stationary object in the distance is just a blurry shadow. They are hypersensitive to movement but practically blind to still landmarks.

"You little dummy! The doctor is over here!"

The colony elder, looking both exasperated and heartbroken, hurried over and pushed the sentry—who was still in deep "consultation" with the scarecrow—directly in front of Nancy.

Nancy knelt down and used a cotton swab to gently check his mouth. "The throat lining is severely ulcerated," she noted, her brow furrowed. "It's even starting to turn black."

She softened her voice. "Little one, did you drink from that old well?"

Compared to humans, small animals often react much faster and more violently to toxins due to their sensitive systems and rapid metabolisms.

The sentry nodded weakly, his bead-like eyes filling with tears of pain.

"Water... bad..."

"After I drank it, my throat and stomach... felt like they were on fire..."

He gestured wildly with his paws, his voice barely an audible hiss. "I... I can't make a sound. If a hawk comes today, I won't even be able to warn the family..."

He paused, then added in a proud, tiny whisper, "But I only took one sip before I knew something was wrong. I told everyone else not to touch it ~"

The elder nodded repeatedly, still shaken. "Thanks to his quick thinking, none of us touched the well water after that."

He pointed worriedly at the dirt beneath his paws. "But our home is right next to the well... I suspect it's not just the water; the soil might be contaminated too. We all feel tight in the chest, and it's getting harder to breathe..."

"It's definitely acute mucosal ulceration caused by poisoning."

Nancy had anticipated finding animal victims and had brought along an activated charcoal suspension. This medicine acts like a thousand tiny sponges, rapidly absorbing toxins in the gut before they can enter the bloodstream. It was the ultimate "jack-of-all-trades" for emergency detox.

As she carefully adjusted the dosage, she explained to the marmots, "I'm giving you this for temporary relief. It can soak up many different types of poison. The police are still investigating, so we don't know the exact chemical yet."

She sighed softly and tried her luck: "Since you live right by the well, did any of you see who put the poison in the water?"

The members of the marmot colony shook their heads in perfect unison.

"We only come out during the day to find food. We didn't see anyone suspicious~"

"At night, we're all tucked away in our burrows, sleeping like logs!"

Their schedule matched the humans' almost perfectly. Nancy thought for a moment, then turned to Master Crow. "Could you do us a favor? Go and talk to the local rats." They're active at night—maybe they saw something near the well that they shouldn't have."