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

“Then I’ll see you off on your final journey,” she said. “Remember—once you’re down there, don’t trust anyone you see. If someone calls your name and says you’ve come to save them… don’t turn around.”

"Why?" Qiming asked.

“Because,” the little girl’s voice faded into the distance, “a true dream never cries for help. It only waits for someone to come.”

One by one, the light flowers faded, and her body transformed into tiny specks of light, merging into the broken edge of the stardust pen.

The pen vibrated slightly and began to emit a faint resonance.

Su Ting gripped it tightly and looked up at the crack leading to the earth deep within the clock tower—the darkness was like an abyss, seemingly capable of swallowing all light.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked Qiming.

Qiming gritted his teeth and pulled out a rusty pocket watch from his pocket—the last keepsake that Qi Sanjiu had given him before his death.

“Let’s go,” he said. “But this time, don’t leave me out alone.”

The two walked side by side toward the crevice.

Just a second before stepping into the darkness, a childish voice suddenly called out from behind:

"elder brother--"

They turned around abruptly.

The light flickered, and the little girl's figure reappeared. This time, she was holding the hand of another child—it was 739.

“Next,” she said with a smile, “it’s our turn.”

"You...are still alive?" Qiming asked in a trembling voice.

The little girl shook her head: "We neither lived nor died. We are 'people who should not exist'."

She looked at Su Ting and said seriously:

"Therefore, we are best suited to break the rules."

Darkness surged in like a tide, swallowing up the last bit of light.

The steps beneath their feet were long gone; they trod upon frozen fragments of a dream—shattered faces, broken pendulums, and unfinished words hanging in the air. Each step stirred a ripple, reflecting the dream of a stranger: some were running, some were shouting, and some were kneeling in the snow, clutching a charred photograph.

"These... are all deleted dreams?" Qiming asked in a low voice, his voice echoing in the abyss.

“It was stuck.” Su Ting stared at the afterimage at his feet and gripped the star-studded pen tightly. “It didn’t disappear voluntarily; it was forcibly cut off.”

Suddenly, a soft laugh came from afar.

Crisp and delicate, like glass wind chimes gently colliding.

"Brothers, you're so slow!"

Chapter 1255 The Black Eyes of Humans

The little girl's figure appeared in mid-air ahead, with 739 standing beside her. He still wore those old-fashioned round-framed glasses, but the eyes behind the lenses were no longer human black pupils—they were two slowly rotating star charts.

"You..." Qiming took a half step back, "Weren't you dead?"

739 pushed up his glasses and smiled: "When I died, my heart stopped beating, but the dream was still running. It ran too fast, and didn't even have time to completely delete the 'Source Law'."

The little girl continued, "We are 'residual variables.' The system thought we should disappear, but we didn't follow the procedure—so, we became a vulnerability."

"A loophole?" Su Ting narrowed his eyes. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'll open the door for you." The little girl waved her hand gently, and a bridge of light stretched out in the void, leading to a floating iron gate at the end of the abyss—rusty, with dark red mist seeping from the cracks.

"Behind that is the 'Prison of Broken Dreams'," said 739. "Three hundred and twenty-seven uncancelled dreams are locked in the 'Folds of Time.' They shouldn't exist, but before Mengli died, she buried a reverse instruction in the Law Core—'If the dreamer uses blood as a catalyst, the Gate of Echoes can be opened.'"

Qiming suddenly looked at Su Ting: "You want to use your own blood... to open this door?"

“It wasn’t me,” Su Ting shook his head. “It was us.”

He raised his hand, holding the stardust pen horizontally in his palm. Blood flowed down the pen, dripping onto the bridge of light. The bloodstains spread, seemingly moving as if alive, outlining an ancient rune.

739 whispered, "The Blood Pact of the Dreamers—with pain as their bond and memories as their guide."

The little girl clapped her hands and laughed, "It's starting!"

The runes suddenly shone brightly, causing the entire abyss to tremble violently. The rust on the iron gate peeled away, revealing a metal surface engraved with names—each name shimmering faintly, as if breathing.

“Xiaoyue…” Qiming suddenly trembled because he saw that name.

Right in the center of the door, a line of slender handwriting burned silently: [Lin Xiaoyue · Dream Type: Light Chaser · Status: Unregistered · Awaiting Awakening].

"She...is still here?" Qiming's voice was hoarse.

“She won’t leave,” the little girl whispered. “She’s been waiting for you to come in. She said that if even you give up on your dream, she’d rather stay here and become a broken piece of code.”

Qiming's knees buckled, and he almost knelt down.

"Don't kneel." Qi Sanjiu reached out to help him up. "You're not that intern hiding in the observation station anymore. You're the one she's been waiting for."

Su Ting looked at him and said, "If you still want to save her, don't let your tears waste the power of the blood pact."

Qiming gritted his teeth, suddenly tore open his sleeve, and used the gravel to cut his arm.

Blood dripped down, merging with Su Ting's blood to form new runes on the bridge of light.

The iron gate opened slowly with a heavy rumble.

Behind the door lies an endless forest of glass.

Each pane of glass is a frozen dream: children building sandcastles on the beach, an old man sitting in a wicker chair reading a letter, a teenager running in the rain, and someone making a wish under the stars... But all the scenes are frozen at the happiest moment, as if the pause button has been pressed.

"They're waiting for an exit." The little girl floated ahead, her voice ethereal. "What Mengli wanted to do back then wasn't to stop people from dreaming, but to allow them to wake up freely—instead of being forcibly deleted by the system."

Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the depths of the forest.

Neat, mechanical, like countless people stepping forward at the same second.

Chapter 1256 Managing All Emotions

A figure emerged from the glass cluster—wearing the exact same uniform as Qiming, with a gentle smile on his face.

“Qiming,” the man said, “you have finally arrived. I am a backup of your memories from three days in advance, sent to guide you back to your main consciousness.”

Qi Ming froze: "...I am not a product of the system."

“I know,” the “enlightened one” said gently. “That’s why I’m here to advise you—don’t go in. That girl is long dead, and her dreams have rotted away. The outside world is safe. The system will manage all your emotions for you. You won’t have to suffer anymore, and you won’t have to make any more choices.”

Su Ting suddenly pointed the star-shaped pen at the figure: "It's the 'Pure Dream Body'! It's not human!"

The little girl sneered: "Look, it's starting to package 'happiness'."

Qiming stared at that "self," his voice trembling: "You said... I can stop suffering?"

“Yes.” The figure nodded. “As long as you hand over this pen and give up searching for Xiaoyue, the system will give you a new life—your parents are alive, you are surrounded by friends, and even Xiaoyue can be resurrected… as long as you stop dreaming.”

"It's fake." Qiming suddenly laughed. "If she could really be resurrected, she would have come out long ago, wouldn't she?"

He suddenly waved his hand, and a drop of blood flew out, drawing an arc in the air.

"The real her... would never make me give up my dreams."

The blood arc landed and shattered instantly—the glass forest trembled violently, and the figure of "Enlightenment" twisted and disintegrated, turning into a string of random characters that dissipated in the wind.

"The first trap has been broken!" the little girl clapped. "The next one will be even harder."

739 looked up and gazed at the edge of the forest—there, a huge black gear slowly turned, with countless thin lines hanging down from the gear, connecting each piece of glass.

“That’s the ‘Dream Control Center’,” he said. “The ‘Source Law’ uses it to cleanse dreams in batches. As long as it’s still running, these dreams will never end.”

Su Ting gripped the star-shaped pen tightly: "Then stop it."

“No.” The little girl shook her head. “Direct destruction will detonate the dream core—all the remaining dreams will be instantly annihilated.”

"What should we do then?" Qiming asked anxiously.

“The only option is… replacement.” The little girl looked at Su Ting. “You need to become a ‘temporary dream core,’ connect your consciousness to the central hub, and release the three hundred and twenty-seven dreams one by one.”

"And the price?" Su Ting asked.

“You might…forget yourself,” the little girl whispered. “The Dream Core devours the memories of those who access it, simulating the operating logic of the ‘Source Law.’ The longer you endure, the more you forget. In the end, you might not even remember who you are.”

Qiming suddenly grabbed his shoulder: "Are you crazy?! This isn't saving someone, it's suicide!"

Su Ting laughed.

He looked down at the star-studded pen in his hand; the blue light at the tip of the pen flickered gently, like a heart that was still breathing.

“Mengli forgot herself, which is why she became the ‘Dream Chaser’,” he said softly. “Perhaps… I should try it too.”

He walked toward the gears, and with each step, a crack appeared in the glass beneath his feet.

739 suddenly shouted, "Wait!"

He took off his glasses and threw them at Su Ting: "Wear these! They can record fragments of your memories—every time you forget something, they will automatically record a scene. Maybe... after all the dreams have been released, they can piece you back together."

Su Ting took the glasses and nodded.

The little girl flew up to him and asked earnestly, "One last question—are you scared?"

He looked at her and smiled: "I'm afraid. But I'm even more afraid that our future children will never dream of the starry sky again."