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

As dawn broke, the outline of a massive facility began to emerge. There were no signs, no guards, not even walls, yet an unsettling silence hung in the air.

“That was… the last containment center,” Lin Xiaoyu said softly. “A place that never existed in official records. Code name: ‘Cradle’.”

“There are still children inside.” The boy clenched his fist, his eyes resolute. “I can feel their breathing… they’re waiting to wake up before the song stops.”

Su Ting took a deep breath, picked up half of the broken mask from the ground, and gently handed it to him: "Going on stage again?"

He took the mask, but instead of putting it on, he gently placed it at his feet and crushed it.

“This time I don’t need to disguise myself,” he said. “I want them to see my face.”

Dora quickly pulled up a map and swiped her finger across the screen: "I'll hack into the outer security system. But there might be 'Silence Type II' devices inside—those devices can directly freeze the emotional areas of the brain."

“Then let’s sing as we run.” Su Ting flicked his wrist, reactivating the short sword’s electrical current. “Anyway, right now, the thing we’re least afraid of is making a sound.”

Lin Xiaoyu smiled and took out a faded little flag from her backpack, on which a crooked sun and a smiley face were drawn.

“I drew this when I was five years old.” She raised the flag. “My mother said that as soon as the sun rises, we should shout her name loudly.”

“Then let’s shout together,” the boy said, taking her hand. “Let’s shout until the whole world hears it.”

The group gathered at the end of the dilapidated street, facing the "cradle" hidden in the mist.

Su Ting looked back—more and more people emerged from the ruins, holding cell phones, musical instruments, and fragments of broken memories, converging into a silent yet surging river.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

The boy nodded, opened his arms as if to embrace the entire dawn.

"Then... let's do it one more time."

He gently parted his lips, and the first note fell:

The stars will cry for us.

The wind will carry away loneliness…

Chapter 1531 Same Number

Though the voice was soft, it was quickly picked up by millions. The singing rose in layers, like a surging tide, causing the earth to tremble slightly.

They started running.

Footsteps shattered the ruins, songs tore through the mist; every step seemed to redefine the word "human."

Just as they were about to reach the "Cradle" gate—

The heavy metal door slowly opened.

There were no gun barrels, no enemies, only rows of children sitting quietly. They were dressed in identical white clothes, their eyes open but lifeless, and their wrists were branded with the same numbers: S-0001 to S-0999.

In the front row, a thin girl raised her head, her lips moving slightly.

No sound was emitted.

But her lip movements were clearly visible:

"You're back."

The boy suddenly stopped in his tracks, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Mmm." He knelt down and gently took the girl's cold hand. "I'm back. Would you like to hear a song?"

The girl nodded very slowly.

He took a deep breath, leaned close to her ear, and softly hummed the first line of that lullaby.

In an instant——

A glint flashed in the girl's eyes.

Immediately afterwards, the second child blinked, the third grabbed the hem of his clothes, and the fourth... hummed a note softly.

Su Ting held his breath and whispered, "They're... learning to speak?"

"It's not about studying," the boy said with a tearful smile, "it's about remembering."

The walls of the entire "cradle" began to shake, and a hidden broadcast system suddenly activated, emitting a hoarse recording:

[Experiment Log No. 3742: Emotional suppression success rate reached 98.6%. The only variable—S-1000 escape. Conclusion: All maternal memory carriers must be destroyed.]

[Execute command: Complete silence.]

[Additional Instruction: If S-1000 returns, play the reserved audio—Mother's last words.]

After a burst of static, a gentle, soft female voice slowly rang out:

"Baby... if you hear this, it means you've grown up. Mommy is sorry for not being able to protect you. But they can't lie to you forever, because love... can never be erased."

Remember this song; it's our secret code.

Wherever you are, as long as you sing it... your mother's spirit will come to accompany you home.

The singing stopped abruptly.

Everyone stood frozen in place.

The boy knelt on the ground, hugging the old player from which the recording originated, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Lin Xiaoyu stepped forward, gently patted his back, then turned to look at Su Ting, her eyes blazing with fire.

“Now you know?” she said through gritted teeth, “They didn’t just steal our voices…they also pretended to be gods.”

Su Ting slowly drew his knife and pointed it deep into the "cradle".

"Then smash the altar."

She strode into the hall and called out to all the children:

"Listen! Your names are not numbers! Your mothers did not abandon you! They have been waiting! Waiting their whole lives!"

She knelt on one knee and looked directly into the girl's eyes:

Would you... call me "sister"?

The girl's lips trembled violently, and her throat made gurgling sounds, as if every muscle was fighting against the shackles of years of silence.

finally--

A broken yet clear syllable escaped her lips:

"sister……"

"Sister...sister..."

More children opened their mouths, trying with difficulty like newborn chicks.

Su Ting nodded, tears streaming down his face, laughing loudly:

"I'm here! I'm here!"

Just then, a long-dormant monitor in the corner suddenly lit up.

Chapter 1532 The Real Key

In the black and white image, a woman in a white lab coat appears, her face pale, locked in a secret room. She raises her hand and places it on the screen, her voice weak yet firm:

"S-1000, if you see this... I am your mother's research assistant. She said that when you bring back the song, I should tell you—"

"The switch isn't inside the machine; it's where the heart beats."

The boy suddenly looked up and stared at Su Ting's chest.

She also looked down at the same time—there, where her heart was beating, a faint golden light was faintly emerging.

“Sister…” he said softly, “you are the real key.”

Su Ting froze, her fingers unconsciously reaching for her chest. The golden light flickered slightly with her heartbeat, like a star hidden within her flesh and blood.

“Me?” she murmured. “How could that be… I’m your sister, not some experimental subject, not some ‘key’…”

The boy suddenly grabbed her hand, tears welling in his eyes: "You forgot? When we were little, you could always hear me singing, even if I was humming softly in a shelter three thousand kilometers away—only you could hear me! The system blocked all frequencies, but your ears were never silenced!"

Lin Xiaoyu gasped: "You mean... she's not an ordinary Awakened One? She's a natural Resonator? The kind that theoretically only exists in the atavism of maternal genes—'Mind Listener'?"

“It’s not just about hearing sounds.” The boy stared intently into Su Ting’s eyes. “You are the only one who can make the song penetrate the ‘silence protocol.’ The last thing your mother said… ‘The switch isn’t in the machine, it’s in the heartbeat’—she was referring to your heartbeat! Your very existence is the true activation key to the Matrix!”

Dora suddenly rushed to the monitor, her fingers flying across the remaining terminal: "Wait! This video has a hidden path! That woman... she carved something on the wall! Zoom in! Zoom in again!"

The screen shook violently, finally focusing on a corner of the wall behind the woman in the white coat.

A line of extremely small characters appeared:

If S-1000 returns, please transmit the 'Mother's Song' to the B-7 resonance chamber. Awaken the dormant primordial neural network.

They are still waiting.

“B-7?” Su Ting looked up sharply. “Isn’t there only one main hall here? Is there an underground structure?”

“Of course there are.” The boy’s voice lowered. “The ‘cradle’ is three-dimensional. Above ground is a cage, below ground is a graveyard—they buried all their failures there, including…the very first children.”

His voice trembled slightly: "My first brothers and sisters."

Su Ting suddenly stood up, his blade flashing as he pointed at the slowly closing metal door at the end of the hall: "Lead the way."