She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 366

“The truck inspection could have been fooled,” Loyce said grimly, pointing at the monitor. “There are fresh tracks from a large iron cage being moved on the ground, right behind the kitchen, leading into the mountains. If that bear gets startled, the consequences will be unthinkable.”

“Bear, bear, I saw it!” Zelie, who had followed Loyce into the surveillance room at some point, kept repeating what she had seen.

Her presence immediately aroused the suspicion of the soldiers in the room.

The lieutenant looked at Zelie and then turned to Loyce. “Was it Zelie who told you she saw a bear? You can’t trust her word. We’ve run background checks on everyone working here. Zelie has a history of mental illness; she isn’t all there. She doesn’t even understand half the things she says.”

Loyce’s brow furrowed. “I’ve already determined she isn’t lying. You need to contact Lucian right now!”

But the lieutenant still found the idea preposterous. He stood up and said, “Loyce, these monitors are watching the students at all times. If we spot any unusual activity, we’ll immediately notify the soldiers on the mountain to handle it. Stop making a fuss over something a mentally unstable woman said.”

Loyce’s eyes flickered to the insignia on the lieutenant’s shoulder. Army. She glanced at the other soldiers in the room. All of them were Army, without exception.

It suddenly all made sense. If these had been Lucian’s men, the soldiers he had trained, they wouldn’t have been so foolish.

Any more words would be a waste of breath. These arrogant men would never believe her judgment. Loyce clamped her mouth shut, turned on her heel, and walked out.

As soon as the door closed behind her, a wave of laughter erupted from the surveillance room.

“A bear? We’ve practically turned over every inch of soil and dug up every cockroach and earthworm. How could there possibly be a bear? Hahaha…”

Loyce had come here merely to assist with the Ace Class students and wasn’t carrying anything for self-defense, let alone something to take down a bear. She turned to the simple-minded woman beside her. “I need a weapon. You know, something to fight bad guys with.”

Zelie thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile. “Yes!”

She took Loyce’s hand and led her to one of the manor’s recreation rooms. Since Victory High School had booked the entire manor, the rec room was deserted.

Inside the range, she efficiently strapped a few sharp boning and carving knives to her outer calf and waist with strips of cloth. Then she slung the compound bow and a quiver of arrows over her back. The bow had a heavy draw weight, but for Loyce, whose hands were trained for the precision of a scalpel and whose body was conditioned by rigorous training, it was perfectly manageable.

Fully equipped, she followed the tracks and swiftly disappeared into the dense woods behind the manor. This forest was some distance from the student activity area. Not fully developed by man, it was deeper and more primitive than she had imagined. The light was dim, and the air was thick with the scent of decaying leaves and damp earth.

After a short distance, Loyce slowed her pace, moving silently through the forest. Her steps were light and silent, her sharp eyes scanning the ground, tree trunks, and bushes.

Soon, she found them: fresh, massive paw prints pressed deep into the soft mud. Broken branches on bushes were torn in an unnatural way, and tree trunks bore clear scrape marks streaked with dirt and brown fur.

The trail led directly toward the core of the student activity area. It was very fresh; she could even faintly smell the unique, gamy scent of a large predator in the air.

Loyce’s heart sank. This bear must have been starved for a long time to be moving so quickly toward a source of food after waking up. It was getting closer and closer to the students.