Chapter 51: Chapter 51: The Night Woman’s Curse

"Get down!" Shen Feng roared, grabbing Firefly and pulling her behind a large, jutting rock.

DA-DA... PFFT... DA-DA-DA... PFFT... DA-DA-DA-DA...

The machine guns, which had been there for who knows how many years, instantly fired a string of bullets. Although there were dud rounds mixed in, their power was still terrifying, carving grooves into the massive rock.

After a few seconds, the guns stopped firing. Shen Feng, however, knew that the two automated defense turrets were still aimed at their rock, ready to attack at any moment.

The moment they stepped out from behind the cover of the rock, they would be met with a deadly hail of bullets!

Meanwhile, not far off in the forest, two farm robots with flashing green lights were steadily approaching. It would only be a few minutes before they reached them and ground them to pieces!

Although Shen Feng had the ability to petrify his skin, he wasn’t naive enough to think he could stand against the farm robots.

The blades on those things could shred even steel!

And the storm of heavy machine-gun fire was just as unstoppable.

His petrified skin could, at best, block pistol and submachine gun rounds at close range, and even then he would be riddled with wounds.

Facing a torrent of heavy machine-gun fire, he would likely be severely wounded, or even killed!

They were caught between a rock and a hard place, trapped with no way out.

Shen Feng’s brow furrowed. He took out a mirror and used its reflection to peer at the building. He immediately saw that although the metal door was locked tight, it was still operational.

It was using a smart lock!

Their only sliver of hope now was to open that door and get inside. Otherwise, they were both dead!

He would have to risk it.

Shen Feng pushed his power to the limit, petrifying the surface of his skin as much as he could without impeding his movement. He said to Firefly:

"Stay here and don’t move. I’m going to run through the gunfire and unlock the door. If the guns stop targeting you, run immediately! Just get out of their range!"

Firefly had just seen the bullets send stone chips flying and immediately replied:

"No! Even if you were made of stone, you’d be shattered! Are those two the Holy Spears? Why are they attacking us? How can they see us?"

Everything here was beyond her comprehension, yet it aligned with the ancient legends she knew.

Firefly had dreamed countless times of entering ancient ruins, but she never imagined that when the day finally came, it would be a death trap!

Shen Feng glanced at the approaching farm robots and said quickly:

"These things use an infrared bio-recognition system to identify human bodies. As soon as they confirm an approaching human, they open fire! My backpack is bulletproof, but it can’t protect my whole body. I’ll do my best to shield my head and go open the door. You have to wait for the right moment and run!"

But Firefly persisted, asking again:

"What’s infrared bio-recognition? What’s infrared? Does it let them know we’re human?"

Shen Feng was getting anxious. With every second counting, he had no time to give the young woman a science lesson!

He explained in a few quick words:

"Infrared is heat! Once it detects a temperature profile that matches the biological definition of a human, it shoots to kill! There’s no time! I’ll count to three!"

Firefly’s expression suddenly turned dead serious as she asked:

"Do they attack fire? If something was there, say, a torch giving off light, would they shoot it?"

Shen Feng said impatiently, "No! They make a judgment. As long as it doesn’t fit the definition of a human, they won’t shoot. Besides, a large, bright fire would create a blind spot in their recognition systems. Too bad we don’t have anything to start a fire, we can’t possibly..."

Before Shen Feng could finish his sentence, he suddenly froze.

With a serene expression, Firefly took off her clothes!

"You..." ’Are you crazy!?’

Just as Shen Feng was about to speak, he saw Firefly looking at him as magnificent, dazzling patterns surfaced all over her body. They covered her skin, emitting a soft white glow that he could feel was scorching hot, like a flame!

The patterns were both dazzling and mysterious, like naturally flowing light, so bright that Shen Feng could barely keep his eyes open.

"The people of the Crow Tribe wanted to capture me, perhaps simply because I am a Night Woman." Firefly looked at Shen Feng calmly and stepped out from behind the cover of the rock.

"Fire..." Shen Feng quickly raised a hand to grab her but realized the heavy machine guns on the roof hadn’t fired.

Firefly took another step, completely exposing herself to the barrels of the heavy machine guns. She spread her arms, and the patterns on her body erupted with a brilliant light, like a blazing sun!

"A Night Woman is a cursed Witch. The more curses we endure, the more energy we possess... but this energy will also take our lives! In truth, we are very similar to the Barbarians... Now go!"

Firefly’s voice, speaking from within the light, seemed to hold an endless sorrow.

Shen Feng gritted his teeth and shot off like a bolt of lightning toward the entrance of the building ahead.

The automated defense turrets’ recognition systems were now blinded by the intense light, and they did not attack Shen Feng.

Shen Feng rushed to the door, closed his eyes, and desperately tried to sense the metal door’s control system.

He knew Firefly wasn’t some cursed Witch; it was clearly a completely new form of radiation-induced mutation.

And from the sound of it, the more radiation she absorbed, the more light she could emit, but at the cost of damaging her own body.

Firefly hadn’t been exposed to much radiation on their journey, so the light would probably fade soon. When it did, they’d face the machine guns’ barrage again, and the farm robots were about to arrive!

After his previous practice with the computer, Shen Feng had gotten the hang of using his Silicon-Based Brain. The sensation of a beam of light bursting from the crown of his head quickly came over him, and he began trying to connect with the metal door’s control system.

After only a few seconds, the light radiating from the patterns on Firefly’s body began to dim. The cold arrogance of the so-called "Witch" was gone from her face as she hurried toward Shen Feng, saying as she walked:

"Hurry up! I don’t think... I don’t think I can hold on!"

’What is wrong with you!?’ Shen Feng thought. ’Charge all day to run for ten seconds!?’

Though he was complaining frantically in his head, Shen Feng kept his eyes closed as his consciousness desperately searched the darkness for the signal from the door’s smart control system.

By now, Firefly had reached Shen Feng’s side. The light from her body had dimmed by more than half, and she looked panicked.

Above them, the two heavy machine guns had slid along their rails, aiming their barrels at the two suspicious objects, apparently trying to identify them.

’Got it!’

Shen Feng felt his consciousness instantly enter a vast space. In the center stood a structure—the metal door’s control system!

He immediately converted his Silicon-Based Brain’s brainwaves into Javelins and sharp swords, charging at the control system and beginning to wreak havoc.

In the blink of an eye, he had mostly destroyed the control program and completely corrupted it.

At the same time, the light from Firefly’s body weakened until only the splendid patterns remained, giving off little heat. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The heavy machine guns overhead instantly chambered their rounds.

The two farm robots had also come up behind them and opened their intake hatches!

PING!

The metal door rumbled open!