Shadow Dragon: The Fallen Angel Is My Teacher-Chapter 197: Doc, Kidnapped

I took my eyes off Patricia and looked back at Lyra.

Lyra stood there, staring at the woman she had just saved. For a moment, she looked younger than she actually was. Her shoulders were tense, her fingers curled slightly, as if she didn’t quite know what to do with them.

She opened her mouth.

"Then, I will start—"

"No," I said, cutting her off.

Lyra blinked and turned toward me.

I reached into my pocket and took out a set of documents, then handed them to her. The papers were thick, neatly organized, and sealed with a simple identification rune.

She took them reflexively.

"What are these?" she asked.

"A machine blueprint. I want you to create this machine before you operate on another cyborg to lower their severity level," I replied.

Her brows knit together.

"This..." She flipped through the pages slowly. "This is a machine to perform the operation?"

"Yes."

She kept reading, her pace slowing as she reached the later sections.

"But why is it needed? This will take a lot of time to build. It’ll be faster if I perform the operations myself for now. I already know the process—"

"The machine will be faster in the long run," I said, cutting her off. "And this machine isn’t for them."

She looked up.

"...Then who is it for?"

"It’s for you. This machine will be used to reduce your Severity Level," I said.

The room went quiet.

Lyra’s expression changed instantly. The confusion vanished, replaced by something sharper.

Displeasure.

"I don’t need my sanity to do the operation. Other people are more important than wasting time on a machine needed for me."

"I will take my research back if you don’t do what I ordered."

My voice carried the power of the [Slave Mark].

Lyra stiffened.

Her breath hitched, and her fingers tightened around the documents.

"Wh–what was that?" she asked, her voice unsteady.

"It’s the contract we made. Now, either you do what I said, or I will use the power of that contract to force you to comply," I said calmly.

She stared at me.

There was no immediate fear in her eyes. No submission.

She opened her mouth, clearly intending to refuse.

Before she could speak, someone else did.

"Director Lyra," Patricia said quietly, "I think we should follow Doc’s words."

’Doc?’

I tilted my head slightly but didn’t say anything.

Patricia stepped forward, hands clasped tightly in front of her.

"He’s right," she continued. "Creating a machine will be better in the long term. You won’t always be able to do everything yourself."

Lyra looked at her.

For some reason, Patricia’s words seemed to land differently.

The tension in Lyra’s shoulders eased just a little.

She looked down at the documents again.

After a few seconds, she nodded.

"Fine. I’ll do it," she said.

From that day on, Lyra began working on the set of instruments needed to perform automatic operations.

Time passed.

Slowly, steadily.

More and more "humans" appeared in the facility. People whose Severity Levels had been lowered. People who could think again. Speak again. Feel again.

It was obvious that Lyra was still performing operations manually, even while building the machine I had ordered her to create.

I sighed quietly as I watched another stretcher being wheeled past.

’As long as she finishes the machine within three weeks, that’s enough.’

If I pushed her too hard, she would go berserk.

Insane people were unpredictable like that.

As I walked through the facility, people greeted me openly. Smiling, laughing, and acting far more alive than would before.

"Hello, Doc."

"How are you today, Doc?"

"Do you want some grape juice, Doc? I just got one from Malica Café!"

I ignored them and kept walking.

’Why are they calling me Doc?’

Someone beside me chuckled.

"Are you wondering why they’re calling you that?"

I glanced sideways.

Patricia was walking next to me, matching my pace easily.

I didn’t respond.

She smiled anyway.

"You’re curious, right?"

I continued walking.

After a moment, she spoke again.

"It’s because you’re like a doctor to us. Because of you, we can call ourselves human again," she said.

"It was Lyra who did the operations," I replied.

"But it was you who created the technology," she said, smiling brightly.

I clicked my tongue.

"I didn’t do it for your sake. I’m going to patent that technology and sell the service to the City."

She laughed softly.

"Don’t be shy, Doc. Just accept it. If you only wanted money, you could’ve used other technologies. I know you’re hiding a lot more."

"I used this one because it’s the most profitable," I said flatly.

Patricia just giggled, as if my refusal was cute.

...

Another week passed.

Basic Machine Force Mastery: 6% → 8%

I stretched my arms and leaned back from the workbench, letting out a slow breath.

The increase was slowing down.

Day by day, it became harder to raise my mastery, as if something was interfering with my training.

It felt wrong.

Like I wasn’t actually training as much as I thought I was.

"Lord of Shadow," Yuna called.

I turned.

She stood nearby, her expression unusually grave.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Please write a note to the Director. Write exactly what I tell you," she said.

I frowned slightly, confused by her behavior, but nodded anyway.

Over the past few days, the frequency of her strange actions had been increasing. Sudden silences. Short instructions. Warnings without explanations. Normally, she would at least give me some context.

Still, I chose to follow her words.

I picked up a sheet of paper and wrote a short note.

[If something happens to me, rescue me within six hours.]

After finishing, I used one of the "hands" to send the letter directly to Lyra’s lab. Once it was gone, I returned to my workbench and began working again as if nothing had happened.

A few minutes later, Patricia arrived.

At this point, she had more or less claimed the position of my personal assistant without asking. Not that I had formally objected.

She stood quietly nearby while I worked. Hours passed in silence before she finally spoke, her tone light.

"Don’t worry."

I paused and looked up. "Yes?"

"I read the note you wrote."

"That’s an invasion of privacy," I said flatly.

"That’s not the point," she huffed. "What I’m trying to say is, even if you didn’t ask us to save you, we would still do everything in our power to do so."

I didn’t respond.

Her voice softened.

"What you’ve done... it gave hope to this city. The Severity Level Reduction Technology isn’t just another invention. It’s like a ray of light in a place that’s been dark for too long."

I stayed silent, continuing my work.

A solemn smile appeared on her face. It wasn’t her usual playful grin.

"Aren’t you curious?" she asked.

"About what?"

"Why I thanked Director Lyra even though she turned me into a mindless cyborg. Why the others are doing the same."

"..."

"I thought you would ask. But you never did."

"I can guess what happened," I said.

Her eyes widened slightly.

Ignoring her reaction, I spoke calmly.

"L Corp didn’t have sane humans. Even Director Lyra, who was still technically ’human,’ had gone insane from experimenting on herself. This is the only Corp where almost everyone was turned into a cyborg."

"That’s—"

"However," I cut her off, "Sector L has the highest number of humans among all sectors. That’s strange. One would think Lyra would’ve kidnapped every human under her jurisdiction for experiments. But she didn’t."

Patricia fell silent.

"...Why?" she asked quietly, even though she already knew.

"She never forced any of you for the experiments. You volunteered."

She nodded after a long pause.

"Yes. Everyone in L Corp wanted to save the City. That’s why we created Lantern Technology. But that wasn’t enough. The only way to truly save people was to bring sanity back to cyborgs."

Her hands clenched slightly.

"To do that, we needed knowledge. And that would be only born out of experiments. Of trials and errors."

It reminded me of medicines created in ancient times. Of poisons tested through living bodies. Of progress bought with suffering.

Patricia continued, "Director Lyra refused to touch normal humans. Even if it was for salvation, forcing them would’ve been hypocrisy. That’s why we volunteered instead."

I had said it once before.

Lyra was one of the better Rank 4 Mechanics.

And yet, Sector L was the lowest-ranked sector.

The reason was simple.

Even insane, she didn’t exploit her people like other Corporations.

The money earned from Lanterns went back into welfare, infrastructure, and survival of people.

Of course, it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.

Lyra had been insane for a long time.

That was why she experimented on anyone who entered L Corp. She had forgotten her original purpose.

Seeing my silence, Patricia added, "We were like plague victims. Waiting to die. Infecting anyone who came close. But you brought the medicine. You saved us from this wretched plague."

She smiled brightly.

"That’s why we call you Doc."

I snorted, earning a soft chuckle from her.

...

Patricia’s POV

Patricia never thought her life would turn out like this.

For the first time in years, things were getting better.

She had regained her sanity.

So had many of her coworkers.

They now possessed technology capable of reducing the Severity Level of cyborgs. Something no other Corp had even attempted seriously.

Even Director Lyra was close to regaining her sanity.

Patricia smiled as she worked, organizing Caelum’s lab.

She remembered how he forced himself to act cruel sometimes. How he tried to sound cold. How obvious it was that he didn’t mean any of it.

He checked on workers who had recovered. Asked if they were feeling alright. Told them to report anything strange.

He was different.

Most knowledgeable mechanics treated humans as components.

Replaceable, infinite, and disposable components.

Theoretically, humans could always be produced.

If a human was ruined, just use another one.

That belief was why no one bothered researching how to restore sanity to cyborgs.

No one except Lyra.

And now, Caelum.

As Patricia arranged tools, the door slid open.

Lyra entered.

"I’ve completed the machine. Now—"

She stopped.

Her gaze moved around the room, eyes still holding that faint glint of madness.

"Where is he?"

Patricia turned.

"He hasn’t come yet."

Lyra froze.

For a few seconds, she didn’t move at all. Not even her fingers twitched. Then she slowly lifted her head, eyes narrowing as if several thoughts were aligning at once.

"Alice, start searching for Rune Sage. He has been kidnapped," she said calmly.

"Understood," the Corporation’s AI answered.

"What?" Patricia’s eyes widened. "How? No—are you sure he’s been kidnapped? He might just be running late. That’s not impossible—"

"Rune Sage always comes to the lab on time," Lyra said, cutting her off.

Her voice was flat, and certain. "He knew he was being targeted by other Corps. That’s why he was always precise with time. It was his way of telling us that if he ever didn’t show up exactly when expected, something was wrong."