Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 159

Chapter 159

Chapter 159

Sierra’s expression changed in an instant.

She immediately asked. “Bear gallbladder? What are you talking about?”

The black bear cub shook its head. “I… I don’t really know. Mom told me the folks living down at the foot of the mountain are all bad. They always come up here with weapons, looking for us.

We keep having to move around, always on the run from humans. But no matter what, they still manage to find us.

“Me and my siblings had just been born, and Mom was really weak when the humans showed up. Just a couple of days ago. they took my brothers and sisters away.

Mom tried to save them, but she got hurt really bad and bled a lot.

“Mom was too hurt to get me out of here. She said humans are greedy, so she knew she couldn’t get away and decided to hide me instead.

The black bear cub’s voice trembled, and it looked genuinely confused.

It asked, “Humans, why do you want our gallbladder? Don’t you have your own?”

The cub’s innocent question made Sierra feel a heavy weight in her chest, almost crushed by guilt.

When it came to emotions, most animals were truly uncomplicated.

They couldn’t make sense of all the scheming in the human world, let alone understand why anyone would want their

organs.

Sierra didn’t answer the black bear cub’s question.

She gently patted the cub’s head. “Hey, little one, why don’t you come down the mountain with me for now? In a couple of days, we’ll find your mom and your brothers and sisters, okay?”

The black bear cub’s eyes lit up, and it nodded eagerly. “Okay, okay!”

Worried the villagers might double back, Sierra didn’t stick around and made her way down the mountain at top speed.

Dragging a black bear that weighed 500 pounds, the villagers would have to move a lot slower than Sierra and the others.

So everyone bolted down the mountain as fast as they could.

Once they got down the mountain, they found Marcus and filled him in on what had happened.

Marcus looked furious.

“Harvesting a bear’s gallbladder? How could it possibly survive that?” Marcus slammed his hand on the table, his anger boiling over. “I’m going to go arrest them right now.”

But Sierra held Marcus back.

Marcus blinked, not getting it.

Sierra said, “Mr. Mendoza, wait. Don’t be hasty. Haven’t you noticed something critical here?”

Marcus frowned, still looking confused. “What problem?”

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Chapter 159

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Sierra asked, “When black bears roar, you can feel it in the ground. If there really was a black bear in the village, why haven’t we heard any roars these past few days?”

“So you’re saying the bears aren’t in the village at all?” Marcus asked, still puzzled.

Sierra shook her head. “That’s pretty unlikely. My guess is the villagers were afraid of getting caught, so they probably severed the bears’ vocal cords to keep them quiet.”

From what the black bear cub described, the villagers kept coming up every few days to hunt bears. It was pretty clear they’d already set up a whole operation around it.

Sierra said, “When we were up on the mountain, we saw that the villagers’ bear-trapping gear was highly specialized. Clearly, this wasn’t their first time.

“And honestly, I don’t think they’re after the gallbladder. What they really want is the bear bile.

“You know, Hustralia has been around for ages, and a lot of old medical books say bear bile is good for people. That’s why there are some legit pharmaceutical companies here that actually farm bears just to collect their bile.

“Of course, with all the advances in science, the way they get the bile nowadays doesn’t hurt the bears at all. That’s actually a requirement for legal bear farms these days.”

Mark added, “Back when there wasn’t any advanced technology, Hustralians used to extract bile from live bears. Later on, Korino came up with a new method.

“They’d cut a hole in the bear’s abdomen and insert a tube, draining the bile while the bear was eating. There’s no way these villagers could pull off that kind of surgery, so they’re probably just using the old Korino’s technique.”

But that method put the bears through unimaginable pain.

And it drastically shortened their lives.

Timothy clenched his fists, his anger boiling over. “These monsters!”

Marcus fell silent.

After a moment, Marcus looked at Sierra seriously. “Ms. Sterling, what’s your next move? The police are ready to support you however you need.”

Sierra nodded. “The villagers are armed and there’s a lot more of them than us. We shouldn’t tip them off unless we have no other choice. I bet they’ll try to move the bears soon and might come over to mess with us.

“So for now, nobody makes a move. Mr. Mendoza, have someone low-key stake out the trail down the mountain and get video evidence on their phone. Just get the footage, nothing else.”

“How are we supposed to find where they’re keeping the bear?” Marcus asked, frowning.

“I’ll handle that part. For now, nobody does anything rash. Let’s just wait until Mr. Garner brings in reinforcements,” Sierra replied.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door.

Everyone instantly shut up.

Timothy reacted instantly, darting into the kitchen and tucking the black bear cub into the stove. He whispered, “Hey, little one, no matter what happens, just stay put in there, okay?”

The black bear cub blended into the shadows inside the stove, completely hidden from view. Unless someone actually reached in to check, nobody would ever guess there was a bear hiding in there.

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Chapter 159

The cub stayed perfectly still, trusting these humans to keep it safe. It curled up quietly, not making a single sound.

The knocking on the door just wouldn’t stop.

Right as Mark reached for the handle, Elliot’s worried face popped up at the window beside the door.

Elliot hissed, his voice low and urgent, “Let me in. I’ve got something important to tell you!”

They shot each other a look and rushed to open the door.

Timothy stepped out of the kitchen and instantly relaxed when he saw Elliot. “Man, it’s you, Mr. Paterson. I thought it was someone else.”

Everyone was tense as hell, worried sick the villagers might discover them.

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But Elliot came in looking dead serious, headed straight for the table, poured himself a glass of water, and knocked it back in one go.

Once his breathing steadied, Elliot fixed everyone with a serious look. “Do you know what I saw today when I was talking to Hank?”

Everyone froze for a second, and then shook their heads.

Timothy asked, “What did you see?”

Elliot leaned in, his tone conspiratorial, voice low but clear enough for everyone to catch.

He said, “I saw black bears. Real ones.

“There were tons of them-crammed together, everywhere!”

Seeing everyone stare at him, he thought they didn’t buy it, so he hurried to explain, “Seriously! Sierra, you know I wouldn’t make this up. . Trust me!”

He could lie to anyone else, but never in a million years would he lie to Sierra.

Sierra snapped back to reality and asked in a rush, “You saw them in the village?”

“Yeah.” Elliot nodded. “It felt fishy, so I shot a video on the sly.”

He handed his phone to Sierra. “The password is 020708.”

Sierra paused for a moment, and then entered the password.

As soon as she unlocked it, the photo gallery popped up. Elliot must’ve taken the photos on the sly. They were a little blurry, but the video he shot was much clearer.

The room was massive, easily several hundred square feet, and every inch was crammed with cages, so many that it felt suffocating.

Huge black bears were forced to lie flat in iron cages, so cramped that they couldn’t even turn around. Right beneath their bellies sat a stainless-steel basin.

Elliot said, “I went with Hank to patrol the mountain today. There’s this facility less than 0.3 miles from the village. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was just the village’s pig farm.

“But Hank was acting super suspicious, and honestly, who builds a pig farm with zero windows? The whole thing was built like a prison. So I snuck a look inside, and turns out, the whole place was packed with bears.”

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Chapter 159

Elliot knew he wasn’t exactly the most dependable guy, but he sure wasn’t an idiot.

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He said seriously, “Remember that villager who got his leg chewed off by a bear? I’m telling you, there’s no way these people are running a legit bear farm. They’re straight-up wild, snatched right off the mountain!”

After Elliot finished, he thought he’d have to go through a whole song and dance to get everyone to believe him.

But to his surprise, everyone just looked furious. None of them looked even remotely surprised.

“Why isn’t anyone surprised?” Elliot turned to Sophie and asked.

Sophie explained, “We were just up on the mountain. That bear from yesterday? The villagers took it away.”

Elliot felt a chill run down his spine. Before he could say a word, there was a sudden knock at the door.

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12:29 Sat, Jan 10 R