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

Su Ting lowered his head, his fingertips tracing a very fine engraving at the base of the string. It was originally just wear and tear left by his father, but now it gleamed with a faint blue light.

"You always knew I would come."

“I don’t know,” her voice suddenly became distant. “I heard it. I heard it the first time you plucked the strings ten years ago. I heard it three years ago when you were on the run, playing that piece in the abandoned theater… I heard it all two months ago when you dreamt of a lullaby under the bridge.”

Chapter 1412 So far apart

"But how did you do that? From so far away..."

“Sound doesn’t come in through the ears,” she said. “It grows out of memory. Every melody you hear leaves a vibration in the world. I live to collect these vibrations—to weave them into songs.”

Xiaoman suddenly spoke up: "You're not waiting for Su Ting. You're waiting for a complete song."

“Clever.” Lin Wanqiu smiled. “A song that can awaken the ‘original core.’ A song that can make all the sealed voices ring out at the same time. You awakened the Silent Coffin, very good… but that’s just a spark from a match. What I want is—a prairie fire.”

Su Ting gripped the guitar tightly: "What do you want me to do?"

“Come in,” she said. “Come to the top of the lighthouse. Connect your string to my 'wick'.”

"But the 'rusty sound'..."

“I’ve blocked it out,” she said calmly. “For the past twenty years, I’ve been flashing the lights every night, not to wait for him to come back—but to disrupt the resonant frequency of the ‘scavenger’s whistle’ with rhythm. Now that you’re here, I can finally… take a breather.”

She paused, then her voice suddenly lowered:

"Open the door for me, child. My hands... I can't lift them anymore."

Su Ting took a step forward, about to rush towards the dock pier.

"Wait!" Duoduo grabbed him. "Are you crazy? What if she's being controlled by the system? What if this is a trap?"

“It’s not a trap.” Xiaoman shook her head. “She is the embodiment of the ‘Sound of Light.’ The lighthouse is her resonating chamber, and her body has long been integrated with the structure. She is not trapped in the tower—she is supporting the tower so that it doesn’t collapse.”

The gray child scratched his head: "So...she's actually half-dead?"

“Yes,” Xiaoman said softly, “but she can still sing. As long as she can still sing, she hasn’t lost.”

Su Ting shook off his restraints and walked step by step toward the plank road.

The wooden planks creaked underfoot, each step feeling like treading on a crack in time. The waves roared below, like countless swallowed voices struggling.

Suddenly, an alarm blared overhead, tearing through the night sky!

"Woo-woo-woo—"

Three black aircraft swooped down from the clouds, with huge sonic amplifiers hanging from their bellies. They were completely black and had no markings except for scarlet numbers printed on their fuselages: IX-07, IX-08, and IX-09.

"Dumbblade-IX aerial unit!" Dodo shouted, "They've activated 'Sky Clearance Protocol'! Prepare to drop 'Silent Rain'!"

The sky suddenly cracked open

Thousands upon thousands of black particles, as fine as steel needles, poured down from the bottom of the aircraft, forming an impenetrable net in the air. Each "needle" was a miniature sonic bomb, capable of releasing high-pressure shockwaves upon impact, forcibly neutralizing all vibration sources within a radius of 100 meters.

Where the "silent rain" falls, even the ocean waves are "frozen".

"It's over!" Dodo slapped her wristwatch in despair. "Not enough energy to activate the protective shield!"

"Who said we were going to hide?" The gray-haired boy laughed wildly as he rushed to the edge of the boardwalk and nailed the drum stand firmly into the wooden planks. "My drum never hides from the rain!"

He raised his mallets high and slammed them down.

Boom! ! !

With a single drumbeat, a visible ripple of sound waves was created in the air!

Immediately afterwards, Xiaoman raised her hand, and the light of the sound core surged, creating an invisible barrier that rose from the ground and forcefully blocked the first batch of "silent rain"!

Ding ding ding ding—like hail hitting glass!

"I can't hold on for ten seconds!" she gritted her teeth. "Su Ting, hurry!"

Su Ting did not turn around.

Chapter 1413 The Burnt-out Candle

He ran along the boardwalk, guitar slung over his back, his steps firm.

Behind them, the drums thundered, the sound wall crumbled, and Duoduo roared as she shoved a recorder into the ground, playing out millions of deleted clips of the city's clamor.

Ahead, the lighthouse door slowly opened.

A thin figure leaned against the door frame.

His long hair was gray, his eyes were sunken, and his skin was almost transparent, revealing faintly blue blood vessels beneath the skin, like a candle about to burn out.

But she smiled.

"You've finally come." Lin Wanqiu stretched out her hand, her fingertips trembling. "Give me the string."

Su Ting took off his guitar and handed it to him.

She took it, her fingers gently caressing the strings, as if afraid of waking her from a dream.

Then, she inserted one end of the string into a copper pipe hanging from the top of the tower—which was originally an abandoned lightning rod, but now emitted a faint blue light.

"Ready?" She looked up, her eyes flashing with an alarming light. "Listen to me sing a song... one I haven't dared to finish singing in twenty years?"

Su Ting nodded.

Lin Wanqiu took a deep breath and parted her lips slightly.

No sound.

But the whole world began to tremble.

The sunken ship on the seabed slowly rose, its rusted steel plates groaning.

The windows of the city's high-rise buildings trembled simultaneously, and cracks spread like a spider web.

The Scavenger aircraft shook violently in the air, and its alarm blared.

Even the steel needles of the "Silent Rain" twisted and disintegrated in mid-air!

"What...what is this?!" Duoduo knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face. "I heard...I heard countless voices singing in unison..."

“It’s not a chorus,” Xiaoman murmured. “It’s resonance. She’s not singing… she’s awakening all the ‘vocal cores’ that were once sealed away!”

The gray child stopped drumming, looked at the lighthouse, and asked in a trembling voice, "Old lady... how long have you been hiding?"

Lin Wanqiu smiled, her smile as radiant as a flower.

Her body began to become transparent, like a candle burning out its last drop of oil.

"That's enough," she said softly. "This song is for everyone who has waited."

Su Ting rushed forward to help her.

But she raised her hand and stopped him.

"Don't touch me," she said. "I can't take it anymore. But... the song can still be played one more time."

She looked at Su Ting, her gaze gentle:

"The rest... is up to you."

Her body transformed into specks of blue light, which flowed into the top of the tower through the copper pipes.

In an instant

The lighthouse burst forth with a blinding light!

The light was neither white nor blue, but a color that had never been named.

The beam of light shot straight into the sky, instantly evaporating the three Cleaner aircraft.

And that song continues.

Through the land, through the sea, through the wind, through every living ear.

It no longer belongs to Lin Wanqiu.

It belongs to all those who have been silenced.

Su Ting knelt in front of the lighthouse, his hands empty.

The guitar is gone.

But his fingertips were still trembling slightly.

It's like the lingering warmth of the last string.

Xiaoman walked to his side and asked softly:

"What...did she send you?"

Su Ting looked up at the night sky.

Starlight fell like rain.

A slight smile played on his lips, as if he had heard something.

Then, he spoke slowly, his voice as soft as the wind:

"It's the line after the chorus."