She had arrived at some point without anyone noticing. At this moment, she stood on a piece of floating wreckage at the edge of the domain, her calm eyes carefully examining the slowly breathing grayish-white expanse before her.
Alvin did not turn around. He merely waved the data stream projection in his hand and smiled helplessly.
"Much faster than I expected."
"At this rate, in another ten days or so, this domain will be able to initially form a self-consistent cycle of rules. By then, even if Shen Yi leaves for a while, the domain will not immediately collapse."
"The millennia of accumulation by other Authority Holders do not even compare to the work he has done in a single night. It really is something to marvel at..."
"What about the Black Fog's infiltration?" Lilith asked again.
"Xilos alone is enough to handle the Purification."
As Alvin spoke, a trace of oddness entered his tone.
"Besides, there's Shen Yi. This level of infiltration does not even count as a warm-up for them."
Lilith nodded and turned her gaze toward the depths of the domain.
There, a figure stood quietly at the very center of the grayish-white shell.
Shen Yi had his eyes closed, with no sign of power leaking from his body. Yet Lilith could sense an extremely subtle but exceptionally stable pulse of rules spreading outward from Shen Yi in widening rings, like the surging tide of blood with every beat of a heart.
Each time the pulse spread another ring, the edge of the domain expanded outward by the slightest amount.
The pulse from the domain gradually became steady, like a newborn life-form finding its own rhythm of breathing.
Shen Yi slowly opened his eyes, looked at Lilith, and asked, "Why are you here? Where are the others?"