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

Xiaoman suddenly fell silent.

She looked at Teacher Lin, then at the terminal in her hand, a resolute glint in her eyes.

“I have a plan,” she said softly, “but one person needs to… stay behind.”

"No!" Duoduo clung tightly to her arm. "You're not allowed to say such things! We agreed to go together!"

“It’s not a sacrifice,” Xiaoman smiled. “It’s a relay race. Back then, she transmitted her voice to me, and now I’m returning it—using my frequency to cover up her residual signal, making the system think that the ‘sound source’ is still operating.”

"You'll be locked up!" Su Ting said in a deep voice. "The system will use you as a new battery!"

“But as long as you escape with the teacher,” Xiaoman looked at Teacher Lin, “someone will come back tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that…and someone will come to pick me up then.”

Teacher Lin suddenly grabbed her hand and shook her head frantically.

Xiaoman gently kissed her forehead.

“Teacher, it’s my turn to be the ‘Voice of Spring’ this time.”

The footsteps approached rapidly.

Su Ting grabbed her arm: "There are still thirty seconds left! We can still leave now!"

Xiaoman broke free from his hand, stepped back in front of the resonator, and inserted the terminal into the interface.

“Take her away.” She gave them one last look. “Then… tell everyone—”

Chapter 1384 Broken Cries

She pressed the button, and her whole body was engulfed in blue light.

"—The Voice of Spring has returned."

The alarm stopped abruptly.

The blue light went out.

Xiaoman's figure fell, and she was slowly locked into the resonator by the mechanical arm.

Teacher Lin let out a hoarse, broken cry.

Su Ting, his eyes bloodshot, picked up Teacher Lin and roared, "Go!!"

The crowd rushed toward the exit.

The first rays of dawn appeared above the ruined city.

In the distance, the first ray of sunlight shone into the cracks of the Silent Tower.

A wildflower slowly blooms amidst the rubble.

The gray child suddenly stopped, turned back to look at the tower that was about to collapse, and whispered:

"Do you think... someone will come to rescue her tomorrow?"

The broken note ignited the last broken string, which was then tossed into the air.

"Of course. Because as long as there are still people who remember that song—"

"We will—"

"forever--"

"Do not--"

"silence--!"

The gray child's drumsticks still hang in mid-air, their lingering sound echoing among the ruins.

Suddenly, a dark figure leaped out from the collapsed tower opening, tumbled to the ground, and kicked up a cloud of dust.

"Who?!" Su Ting suddenly shielded Teacher Lin behind him, his vibrating blade flashing out.

The man slowly stood up, wearing a tattered sonic cloak, a cracked mask on his face, and a rusty tuning fork gun in his left hand.

"Don't you remember me?" The voice was hoarse yet familiar, as if it had been sanded. "Three years ago, you saved my life on the streets of District Seven."

Xiao Yin narrowed her eyes: "You are... 'Echo Hunter' Su Ting? Didn't you disappear after being wanted by the authorities?"

Su Ting pulled off his mask, revealing a scarred yet still youthful face.

“I disappeared, but I didn’t die.” He sneered. “I lived underground for three years, surviving by eavesdropping on the echoes of the Silent Tower. Do you know? Every wisp of sound that leaked out was calling ‘Xiaoman’.”

Duo Duo's pupils contracted: "How did you know she—"

“Because I heard it too.” Su Ting raised the tuning fork gun and pointed it into the tower. “That unfinished song… it keeps looping, whispering, pleading for help. Not just Teacher Lin, but the entire sound system is engraved with her melody.”

Su Ting stared at him warily: "What are you doing here? Trying to steal credit? Or do you want to capture Teacher Lin and exchange him for a pardon?"

“I’m here to repay a debt.” Su Ting approached step by step, then suddenly knelt on one knee and placed the tuning fork gun horizontally on the ground. “Three years ago, you let me hear the sound of rain again. Now—I should repay you with a song.”

He raised his hand and gently struck the tuning fork.

"Ding--"

A clear and melodious tremolo resounded, and a visible ripple appeared in the air.

"A resonance calibrator?" Xiao Yin suddenly realized, "You modified a tuning fork into a portable frequency generator?"

“Not only that.” Su Ting grinned and pulled out a yellowed sheet of music from under his cloak. “This is the original score of ‘The Sound of Spring.’ Teacher Lin only wrote the first two sections back then. The third section… she ‘wrote’ it bit by bit using her brainwaves during her imprisonment.”

Xiaoman was shocked: "How did you get this?"

“I climbed through three layers of the sound graveyard and dug it out from a piece of dying sound remains.” Su Ting handed her the sheet music. “It says… ‘Wait for Xiaoman.’”

Xiaoman took it with trembling hands, her fingertips tracing the symbols burned by the electric current, and suddenly tears streamed down her face.

"These are... the teacher's last words."

“No,” Su Ting said softly, “it is her hope.”

In the distance, a strange resonance suddenly emanated from the cracks in the Tower of Silence—like countless fragments spontaneously piecing themselves together, like a sleeping musical instrument being awakened by the wind.

Chapter 1385 The system has been shut down.

"It... is responding?" The gray child's eyes widened.

Xiao Yin quickly opened her terminal and scanned the frequency: "Impossible... The Sound Residue System has been shut down, so why... are sound waves still emanating from underground?"

Su Ting looked up at the collapsed top of the tower, as if listening to some sound that only he could hear.

"You think Xiaoman is the successor?" He chuckled softly. "No. She is the key. When her voice overlaps with Teacher Lin's frequency, the system doesn't shut down—it 'awakens'."

"What do you mean?" The voice cracked as the speaker frowned.

“It means…” Su Ting slowly stood up, his voice suddenly becoming solemn, “For the past ten years, all the swallowed voices, all the sealed songs, have been waiting for a ‘legitimate vessel.’ And Xiaoman is the ‘successor of voice’ personally chosen by Teacher Lin.”

Su Ting suddenly gripped the hilt of his knife: "So Xiaoman, she—"

“She’s not dead.” Su Ting interrupted him. “Her consciousness is still in the system, merging with Teacher Lin’s voice. She’s neither human nor machine now—she’s a ‘new voice source’.”

Duoduo suddenly screamed, "Then we have to go back! Pull her out!"

“It won’t work.” Su Ting shook his head. “Unless someone is willing to use a ‘real voice’ to wake her up—not a recording, not an imitation, but a voice that she can ‘recognize’.”

He slowly looked around at everyone: "Who is it that she can recognize 'it' just by hearing your name?"

Deathly silence.

Her voice cracked as she gritted her teeth: "Does yelling at her every day count?"

“Not enough,” Su Ting said. “It’s something deeper. It’s childhood, it’s tears, it’s the voice that made her laugh the first time she sang.”

The gray child murmured, "But we...none of us ever saw her when she was little."

Suddenly, Teacher Lin raised her hand tremblingly and pointed at Duoduo.

"Me?" Duoduo was stunned.

Teacher Lin used all her strength to mouth the words.

Xiao Yin immediately translated: "She said... 'birthday'... 'candles'... 'first song'..."

Duoduo shuddered and abruptly covered her mouth: "That time... was my seventh birthday! Xiaoman secretly ran into the quiet zone just to sing me a birthday song! She said... 'I can't let your birthday be without sound'!"

Tears streamed down her face: "That day, she was chased by the patrol for three blocks... she was almost arrested... but she still finished singing..."

Su Ting nodded: "That's it. In that voice, there is sacrifice, courage, and a pure 'whatever' attitude. That was the starting point for her to become a 'singer'."

"I...I'll sing." Duoduo knelt down, her hands clenched tightly. "But...I'm afraid I won't sing well..."

“It doesn’t need to be good,” Su Ting said softly, “it just needs to be genuine.”

He raised the tuning fork and tapped it gently.

"Ding--"

The sound waves spread like water ripples.

Duo Duo closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke in a trembling voice:

"Happy birthday to you……"

The voice was very soft, and even off-key.