"I'm outside the Holy Land now, with two palaces hunting me, yet that universe is as quiet as if nothing happened. What do you think the people in the shadows are waiting for?"
Alvin fell silent for a moment.
He thought it over carefully before saying, "For you to let your guard down?"
"For me to show an opening," Shen Yi corrected him.
"The more I think everything's fine, the more they'll think their moment is coming."
"As long as nothing happens to me, they won't dare move. The moment something does, they'll swarm in like fish smelling blood."
"So you want to..." Alvin had begun to understand.
"That's why I said I need you to do a few things for me," Shen Yi said.
"Go on." Alvin grew serious.
"First, pull back the defenses around the Mechanical Divine Domain," Shen Yi said.
"Not too far. Just enough for the right people to notice."
"The more alarmed things look on your end, the more those people will think that if even you, Alvin, are pulling back to protect yourself, I must be in serious trouble."
Alvin's brow twitched. "You want me to play along?"
"It's not all an act," Shen Yi said.
"My hands are tied here. If you leave everything you have out in the open and someone makes a move, you'll be the first to suffer."
"That's true." Alvin's voice grew grave.
Shen Yi continued, "Pulling back will make you look weak to outsiders, but it'll also give you real protection."
"And the second thing?" Alvin asked.
"Second, pass a message to Lilith for me," Shen Yi said.
"Tell her to take a few Authority Holders she trusts and wait in the Broken Universe I conquered before."
Alvin hesitated. "You want her to defend that star region for