He definitely wasn't qualified to apply for this project on his own.
But he had a good relationship with a member of the Big Cat Alliance, whose mentor and senior coupled a project in the direction of Huanan Tiger genetic research.
Zoology is a big circle, and individual species are a smaller circle within.
If he wanted to establish a foothold in the Huanan Tiger circle, he needed someone to lead the way.
Of course, among Professor Bai's old friends, there were experts studying the Huanan Tiger. The one, who initially established a research team in Jiamu Gully, had advised Chen Ying several times, wanting to pull him into his research group.
Chen Ying hadn't approached him because he understood that his research direction diverged from his own goals.
Another major reason why Chen preferred a different professor was:
That professor's research institute had been studying the Huanan Tiger for nearly 30 years, reliably advancing toward their set goals each year.
