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

He turned to face the depths of the crack, and slowly charged the sonic cannons in his arms.

"Go!" he growled, "while I can still control myself!"

Chapter 1422 Hurry! Now!

Su Ting grabbed Xiao Man and pulled her up: "Quick! Now!"

The group rushed toward the crevice, and behind them, Chen Mo's mecha suddenly erupted with a blinding blue light.

He glanced back at Granny Lin one last time and said softly:

"Teacher, let me... finish singing that song you didn't finish for you..."

Before the sound had even faded, the entire mech exploded!

The shockwave pushed everyone into the crevice, and the boulder slammed shut.

In the darkness, only the echoes reverberated.

Xiaoman curled up on the ground, tears streaming down her face.

She opened her mouth softly and began to hum that lullaby:

"Moonlight falls into the lighthouse, child, don't be afraid of the dark..."

Su Ting leaned against the stone wall, looked at her, and asked softly:

"Now...who do you want to sing for?"

Xiaoman didn't speak, but continued humming softly, like a dream.

Su Ting closed his eyes, the golden patterns slowly swirling in his pupils: "Do you know? Every time you sing a note, the 'original core' underground cracks open. It's afraid of you."

"Afraid of me?" Xiaoman sneered, her voice hoarse but firm. "It shouldn't be afraid of me... What it should be afraid of is that I finally—don't want to run away anymore."

Duoduo got up, panting. The watch on her wrist had gone completely off, but she grinned and said, "Okay, Xiaoman, if you can really shatter that broken core, I'll die in peace."

Gray Boy slammed his fist into the rock wall, sending pebbles flying. "Stop talking about dying! After we blow it up, I'm going to take my drum to the south of the city and set up a stall, charging ten yuan to hear me curse the Qing Dynasty's ancestors for eighteen generations!"

Su Ting suddenly opened his eyes: "There's movement."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet trembled slightly, as if some enormous creature were turning over deep within the earth.

“The pronucleus has awakened,” he whispered. “It’s starting to retaliate—it’s trying to silence all the ‘awakened sonic nuclei’ before we arrive.”

"Including us?" Duoduo took a half step back warily.

“Including everyone.” Su Ting looked up at the darkness deep within the crack that swallowed the light. “But it has a weakness—it can only suppress ‘known frequencies.’ Xiaoman’s voice core… is an exception. The three days of voice rights her mother obtained in exchange for a ‘voice donation contract’ are the only ‘free voice’ that is not registered. It… cannot recognize her.”

Xiaoman was stunned: "So... I'm in the 'blind spot'?"

“You are a virus.” Su Ting smiled slightly. “Its firewall can’t stop you.”

The gray-haired boy suddenly slapped her on the shoulder: "Then what are you waiting for? Sing! Sing your way out of it!"

Xiaoman bit her lip, her fingers digging tightly into her palm.

She seemed to remember something, and her voice suddenly softened: "My mom... the day she gave her voice, she was smiling. She said, 'Xiaoman can talk today, that's wonderful.' But she can't say another word... not even my name."

Her voice began to tremble: "I never dared to sing again. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, I would remember her lying on the operating table, her throat emptied... and those still smiling eyes."

“But you’re not singing alone now.” Su Ting gently plucked the strings, and the broken lullaby reappeared, carrying the breath of Granny Lin, Chen Mo’s whispers, and the frequencies of countless unnamed singers, weaving together in the air.

“Your voice is the product of countless silences,” he said. “So—don’t be afraid.”

Xiaoman took a deep breath and slowly stood up straight.

She looked up, gazing into the darkness, as if piercing through layers of rock walls to see the pulsating, dark blue core.

Chapter 1423 The First Gate Is About to Open

Then she spoke.

It wasn't humming, it wasn't whispering.

It was a clear, bell-like high note.

"The moonlight falls into the lighthouse—"

Sound waves are like knives, cleaving through the darkness.

The entire fissure shook violently, and countless fine cracks appeared on the rock wall, as if some ancient seal was collapsing.

"Oh my god..." Duoduo's eyes widened, "She's really cracking the voiceprint lock!"

"Don't just stand there!" Gray Child grabbed the drumsticks and charged forward. "The first door is about to open! Before it can react, rush in!"

The ground trembled violently, and a stone gate slowly rose in front, revealing a deep passage behind it. The walls were covered with bronze inscriptions, each stroke bearing a name that had been erased.

Xiaoman staggered, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.

"Hold on!" Su Ting supported her. "You can't stop yet! The second door is a frequency maze, full of traps—only your voice can light the way."

“Then I will… keep singing.” Xiaoman wiped away the bloodstains, and her voice became even brighter.

She continued singing:

"Don't be afraid of the dark, child—"

The sound waves spread, and pale blue light paths appeared on both sides of the passage, like a galaxy spreading across the ground.

But at the same time, a low hum came from the darkness.

"Something's wrong!" Duoduo suddenly grabbed the gray child. "The light path... is moving! It's reassembling!"

Sure enough, the blue light path suddenly twisted, and several branch paths appeared out of thin air, disrupting the original path leading to the core.

"It's the 'pronucleus' interfering!" Su Ting quickly scanned his surroundings. "It's mimicking Xiaoman's frequency, creating false paths! One wrong step and you'll be pulled into the 'silent vortex' and completely lose your voice!"

"What do we do then?!" the gray child roared.

Su Ting looked down at the "Silent String," the instrument was trembling violently, as if it were wailing.

“It’s reminding me…” His eyes narrowed, “The real path isn’t on the wall, but—underground.”

He suddenly squatted down and placed the violin on the ground.

"listen!"

Everyone held their breath.

A very subtle response came from underground—like a heartbeat, or perhaps… the echo of a song.

“It’s the singers from before!” Su Ting’s voice trembled. “The fragments of their vocal cores are still resonating underground! They…are guiding us!”

"Then what are we waiting for!" Gray Boy stomped on the drumhead and slammed the drumstick into the ground. "I'll clear the way for you!"

Boom-!

A drumbeat resounded, like a thunderclap.

The drumbeats intertwined with Xiaoman's singing, instantly activating the residual frequencies underground. Those sealed sound cores seemed to awaken collectively, responding one after another.

A brand new path of light appeared, pointing straight to the end of the passage.

"Let's go!" Su Ting hoisted Xiao Man onto his back. "Don't give the original core a chance to recombine!"

The four ran wildly, the light path behind them constantly collapsing, and false paths proliferating wildly, as if countless hands were clawing at them in the darkness.

Suddenly, Duoduo's feet lost their footing.

"Watch out!" she cried out, falling into a dark crack.

The gray-haired boy swiftly grabbed her wrist, barely managing to catch her: "Are you trying to get yourself killed! Don't fall behind!"

"I didn't..." Duoduo gasped for breath, but suddenly her eyes widened. "Wait... there's something down there!"

Everyone stopped and lowered their heads.

Deep within the crack, rows of transparent containers, resembling coffins or incubation chambers, could be vaguely seen. Inside each one floated a person.

Their eyes were closed, thick tubes were connected to their throats, and their faces were contorted as if they were screaming silently.

"This is..." Xiaoman's voice trembled, "A voice core host?"

“No.” Su Ting’s face was ashen. “This is a ‘backup.’ They’ve frozen those singers whose voices were cut off here, waiting for the protocore to need energy, then extracting their remnants… They are living batteries.”

Chapter 1424 The entire passage will collapse

"You beasts!" the gray-haired boy roared, slamming his drumsticks into the ground. "I'll smash you all!"

"No!" Su Ting stopped him. "Destroying the container will cause a sonic boom, and the entire passage will collapse! And..."

He stared at the container in the very center.

Inside was a young woman, dressed in an old-fashioned nurse's uniform, her face serene, as if she were simply asleep.

Her vocal core was pure white, like moonlight solidified.

Xiaoman stared intently at her, tears silently streaming down her face.

"mom……"