Courtyard House: My Long and Hard Body Makes Me Play with All the Women in the Courtyard

He finished speaking, turned around, and took a step forward—

His entire being turned into dust along with the space around him, as if he had never existed.

Only a small blue data ball remained in place.

The gray sparrow immediately stepped forward to scan it.

"This is a guide, the core coordinates to the next stage. Shall we set off?"

"Let's go." Su Ting clenched his fist.

At that very moment, an unusual light suddenly flashed across the distant starry sky, accompanied by a familiar electronic sound.

That is……

"Hello?" A tired but determined voice came from the communicator.

"Lin Jin?" Noah's eyes widened. "You're still alive?"

"Hello?" A tired but determined voice came from the communicator.

"Lin Jin?" Noah's eyes widened. "You're still alive?"

"Ha, you think I'm that easy to kill?" The voice on the other end raised, but it was tinged with suppressed pain. "But I have to say this first—don't rush to find the core fragment. Listen to me, that thing can't be touched right now."

"Why?" the gray sparrow asked nervously. "What do you know?"

“I…” Lin Jin paused, as if there were explosions and hurried footsteps in the background. “I am not in your timeline. I am in another timeline—the remaining space after the ‘collapse of the corridor,’ which is the wreckage area after the system completely collapsed. Every corner here once belonged to the core area of ​​the ‘original laboratory’… and everything you thought was destroyed has actually survived.”

"What do you mean?" Su Ting frowned. "Didn't she destroy those experimental data herself?"

"What was destroyed was the version you perceive, not the actual memory carrier." Lin Jin's voice was slightly distorted, but still clear and powerful. "I saw... things you didn't see."

After a burst of electrical noise, his voice suddenly rose:

Chapter 968 What did you say?

"That man named Qin Ran—he's not entirely an enemy, but he's not your friend either. His goal is to bring back a certain future, and that future isn't the end for saving you, but... a new beginning."

"What's new?" Leah pressed.

Lin Jin did not answer, only his heavy breathing could be heard. After a few seconds, he suddenly chuckled: "I can't hold on much longer. The data stream here is devouring the consciousness of the entity... If you still want to find the answer, go to the 'Eye of the Ancients,' which is the first place of slumber of the original system."

"What did you say?! 'Slumber'? Wasn't it already..." Before the gray sparrow could finish speaking, the signal was cut off.

After a few seconds of silence, everyone heard a faint but clear echo coming from the distant star field.

[The old days never slept, fate's wheel turns. Variables are approaching, a time for choice.]

“It seems we have no choice but to go.” Noah slung his gun over his shoulder and glanced at the data coordinates in his hand. “The Eye of the Ancients is 300 kilometers away from here. After passing through that dark energy rift, we will enter a hidden area.”

“The problem is,” Leah clenched her fist, “we have no idea what else is hidden inside.”

“Whatever's inside, we have to get through it.” Su Ting spoke, his eyes no longer filled with confusion, but with an unprecedented determination. “I need to know the truth. Whether it's my mother's purpose, or my own… reason for being.”

Gray Sparrow nodded and projected the newly analyzed information onto the spatial projection: "The path to the Eye of the Ancients has been calculated, but warning—the gravity coefficient there is unstable, and there may be a risk of spatial misalignment."

“Let’s take the gamble,” Leah grinned. “Anyway, we’ve been living in a gamble since the moment we were born, haven’t we?”

“That’s right.” Su Ting took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

The group embarked on the path leading into the depths of the stardust, and behind them, the data sphere from Qin Ran hovered for a moment before slowly shattering into countless blue points of light, like the most hidden stars in the night sky quietly disappearing.

In the distant void, a voice, both strange and familiar, resounded:

"The game... has only just begun."

The path of stardust is not smooth.

After passing through the dark energy rift, the group felt as if they had stepped into a time rift. The surrounding space was like fragmented memories, constantly flashing with technological remnants and images that did not belong to this era—collapsed but still functioning data towers, lingering images of consciousness floating in a vacuum, and the whispers of artificial intelligence left behind from who-knows-when.

"Did you hear that?" Leah suddenly stopped. "What's that sound...?"

Everyone held their breath.

The wind seemed to be absent in this deathly silent space, yet my eardrums felt as if they were being subjected to invisible tremors. The images were not drifting aimlessly, but were repeating scenes from long-past history—like fragments of forgotten emotions, piecing together past laboratory life, personnel disputes, and a momentous betrayal.

The gray sparrow reached out and touched a transparent data panel that was floating in the air, and an image flashed by.

A figure appeared in the center of their line of sight.

The man in black robes stood with his hands behind his back, his expression as cold and indifferent as a knife. It was a frame of recorded footage.

He was standing in front of the core control panel of the laboratory, with a woman beside him. She was looking down at something, her long hair partially obscuring her face, only a glimpse of her pale cheek could be seen.

Chapter 969 What is she manipulating?

“It’s ‘Mother’!” Su Ting blurted out, his eyes freezing instantly. “That’s my mother! She’s not dead?”

The information Lin Jin had mentioned earlier resurfaced in his mind.

“Those experimental data are not the versions you know, but real memory carriers.”

Noah slowly drew his magnetic gun from his waist: "Isn't this the key clue? What is she controlling? Is she an enemy or an ally?"

“She is the answer.” Su Ting’s tone was calm, but his fists were clenched tightly. “I need to know what her choice is.”

The scene abruptly ended, a slight ripple appeared in the air, followed by a cold voice:

"It's late."

Everyone turned their heads at the same time.

A figure clad in metallic armor hovered silently in the space in front, its eyes flashing with an eerie purple light.

Leah frowned: "Who are you? Did Qin Ran send you?"

The figure smiled dismissively: "Qin Ran is merely a link in this play. The real chessboard lies deeper within."

Noah scoffed, "Talking nonsense is no substitute for a good fight."

The other party showed no anger, but simply raised one hand, and the surrounding images instantly surged into a sea, enveloping the group.

[Welcome to Memory Retrieval Mode] A mechanical voice suddenly rang out.

The scene changes with the interplay of light and shadow.

The group felt as if they were in a magnificent hall, once the core observation post of the Eye of the Ancients, its walls inlaid with countless monitoring crystals. In the center stood a black cube, radiating an indescribable aura of energy.

"You have reached the target point," the voice said again. "But here's the problem..."

A series of illusory figures appeared all around, each dressed in a researcher's uniform, their faces filled with struggle and despair.

"Are you willing to pay the price for the truth?" they asked in unison, their voices sounding mechanically synthesized. "Because—some memories, once awakened, can never be relived."

Leah gritted her teeth: "We've come this far, there's no turning back."

Su Ting gazed at the cube before him and slowly approached: "Tell me—everything about 'Mother'."

The surface of the cube suddenly began to flow, as if it had come to life, and slowly opened an eye constructed of data.

In that instant, everyone's consciousness was sucked into the torrent of memories.

"Hello, little mice." A familiar laugh echoed from the depths of the darkness.

Lin Jin leaned against an old terminal device, his body covered in scrapes and burns. He stared at the images being simultaneously transmitted on the screen, muttering to himself:

"You've finally gotten in."

Heavy footsteps could be heard not far away.

Qin Ran appeared in the dim light, looking at him with a complicated expression: "Why are you still here? How much longer do you think your consciousness can hold on?"

Lin Jin smiled, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth: "As long as some truths can surface, even if it's just for a second of clarity, it's fine."

Qin Ran remained silent for a moment, then slowly extended a hand, a faint light shining from his fingertips.

"Then you must not... forget your promise."

Lin Jin looked out the window.

There, there is an endless starry sky.

Within that constellation, inside an inconspicuous asteroid, a long-dormant terminal trembled slightly.

Its outer shell peeled off, revealing the core interface hidden deep underneath.

A brand new signal channel was slowly activated.

"Are you alright?" Leah's voice rang out. "You almost scared me to death just now."

Chapter 970 Initial Commands

Noah shook his head and said with a wry smile, "It feels like I just had a nightmare."

“It’s not just a dream.” Gray Sparrow stared at the abnormal information chain that popped up on the projector. “We saw ‘Mother’s’ last speech deep in our memories… and that unreleased ‘initial command’.”

Su Ting's face was pale, and his hands trembled slightly.

“She said… ‘If humans are unwilling to evolve, we will replace them.’”

The air became silent for a moment.