Chapter 178: Maafa Incense

The Next Day

Shen Yu stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his clothes.

He stared at his reflection.

Then sighed.

"Damn."

"Even if I never enter another horror dungeon again..."

"I might actually have a career in the modeling industry."

He gave himself a self-deprecating smile before leaving the villa.

He headed toward the underground elevator.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened.

Shen Yu stepped inside and pressed the button for Floor -8.

The elevator descended.

A moment later, the doors opened to reveal the Defense Team’s warehouse.

Rows upon rows of strange dungeon items stood behind reinforced glass.

Shen Yu walked deeper inside.

His destination was an item he’d been interested in for a long time.

Maafa Incense.

He stopped in front of its display case.

Then pressed his finger against the touchscreen.

A number appeared.

1200.

Shen Yu’s eyes widened.

"1200 points..."

"So that’s why Captain Ho told me to check the warehouse."

An S-Rank dungeon awarded around 100 points.

An SS-Rank dungeon...

"1000 points."

His gaze sharpened.

"Then an SSS-Rank dungeon must..."

He stopped himself.

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"What am I thinking?"

"If I can survive an SSS-Rank dungeon, the rewards alone would probably be enough."

He looked back at the incense.

A prompt appeared.

[Exchange Maafa Incense?]

[YES / NO]

Shen Yu pressed YES.

Clink.

The glass panel slowly opened.

Inside was a strange black-and-red wooden base.

Three blood-red incense sticks rested upon it.

They looked nothing like ordinary incense.

The red material resembled hardened blood clots that had somehow coagulated into strange, twisted shapes.

Shen Yu reached inside and picked them up.

The instant the incense touched his palm—

Cold.

An unnatural cold spread through his hand.

It felt less like holding incense and more like gripping a block of ice.

Shen Yu examined it carefully.

"Cursed incense..."

"Burned for demon gods?"

He didn’t immediately experiment with it.

Instead, he looked back at the touchscreen.

The number had changed.

1200 → 200

He had spent nearly everything.

Shen Yu sighed.

Then he left the warehouse.

"Finally."

Shen Yu curled his fingers around the Maafa Incense.

Even after holding it for several seconds, its coldness hadn’t faded.

He had no idea what would happen when it was actually burned.

That could wait.

For now, he returned home.

The moment he opened the door—

"Shen Yu!"

Yang Jin rushed toward him.

Her arms were already open.

She looked like a newlywed wife who had been waiting all day for her husband to return.

But when she got close enough to smell him, her expression suddenly changed.

She stopped.

Her nose wrinkled.

"Shen Yu..."

"You smell strange."

Shen Yu blinked.

"Strange?"

"Didn’t you say I smelled good last night?"

Yang Jin frowned.

"The smell isn’t coming from your body."

She pointed toward his chest.

"It’s coming from there."

Shen Yu’s expression changed slightly.

"The chest?"

Yang Jin nodded.

Her eyes narrowed.

"It’s the smell of burning blood."

A strange silence filled the room.

Shen Yu slowly looked down at his chest.

He remembered the Maafa Incense.

The cursed incense he had just purchased.

Yang Jin took a cautious step backward.

"So..."

She stared at him.

"Do I dislike it?"

Her voice lowered.

"Or..."

"Am I afraid of it?"

Shen Yu immediately became interested.

He reached into his storage space and pulled out the Maafa Incense.

The moment the blood-red incense appeared, Yang Jin immediately took several steps backward and covered her nose.

"Where did you get that thing?"

"From the base warehouse."

Shen Yu turned the strange incense over in his hand.

"They said it can suppress supernatural phenomena, so I bought it."

His eyes shifted toward Yang Jin.

"Judging by your reaction, it seems to have a pretty decent suppressive effect."

"Ugh!"

Yang Jin took another step back.

Her beautiful face was filled with disgust.

"That thing is horrible."

"Horrible?"

"Yes."

She pointed at the incense with obvious reluctance.

"It’s probably made from the bones of demons or some other high-level supernatural creature."

"When it’s burned, it releases a special kind of foul odor."

"To humans, it might not seem like much."

"But to supernatural beings like us..."

She shuddered.

"It’s like someone burning an old corpse."

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow.

"An old corpse?"

"Exactly."

Yang Jin nodded.

"When demon bones are burned, lower-level supernatural creatures won’t dare approach."

"As for stronger ones..."

"They’ll usually wait until the smell disappears before making a move."

Shen Yu fell silent for a moment.

He finally understood the principle behind the Maafa Incense.

It wasn’t really about killing supernatural creatures.

It was deterrence.

Burn the remains of powerful supernatural beings and release their scent.

Lower-level entities would be frightened away.

Higher-level entities might be strong enough to ignore the deterrence, but they would still avoid approaching while the terrible smell remained.

In other words—

The incense bought him time.

"Not bad."

Shen Yu nodded.

"At least now I understand what it does."

Yang Jin curled her lips.

"The demon gods really are an unrefined bunch."

Shen Yu ignored her comment.

"Tch."

After all, it was still only a dungeon item.

And compared with his current strength, it wasn’t particularly impressive.

But there was only one way to know its actual value.

Shen Yu took out a lighter.

Click.

A flame appeared.

He directly lit the Maafa Incense inside the villa.

The moment the flame touched the blood-red incense—

Hiss...

The three incense heads suddenly released thin strands of black smoke.

The smoke curled upward before gathering behind the incense holder.

Slowly—

It formed the shape of a skull.

Shen Yu’s expression became serious.

He looked toward Yang Jin.

"Jin."

"Help me see how long this thing can last."

Yang Jin covered her nose.

"So disgusting."

She glared at him.

"You’re taking three baths tonight."

Shen Yu’s mouth twitched.

"Fine, fine."

Buzz...

The moment he finished speaking, the entire villa suddenly trembled.

The walls twisted.

The furniture blurred.

The familiar living room rapidly transformed.

White walls spread outward.

Cold fluorescent lights appeared overhead.

A hospital room began replacing the villa.

Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.

Yang Jin’s supernatural aura was already affecting the surroundings.

But—

The area filled with the black smoke of the Maafa Incense remained completely unchanged.

The hospital transformation couldn’t advance into it.

Shen Yu’s eyes lit up.

"It works."

But the Maafa Incense wasn’t completely unaffected.

The burning tip slowly twisted.

As the supernatural transformation continued pressing against it—

Whoosh!

The glowing ember suddenly shot forward.

The black smoke around it surged violently, as though a fuse had just been ignited.

"Twenty-eight..."

"Twenty-nine..."

"Thirty."

Shen Yu watched carefully.

At exactly thirty seconds—

The burning tip vanished.

The black smoke dissipated.

And the entire room finally transformed into a hospital room.

Shen Yu looked at the incense in his hand.

"Thirty seconds."

"The Maafa Incense can only resist a boss-level supernatural entity for thirty seconds."

On the surface, its performance wasn’t particularly impressive.

After all, he had spent 1,000 points on it.

Only thirty seconds?

But after thinking about it carefully—

Shen Yu’s eyes gradually brightened.

"Thirty seconds at the right moment..."

"That’s actually very useful."

He remembered the Memory Train.

The frozen carriages.

The grease-covered compartments.

The final form of the old man.

If he’d possessed this incense back then, it could have bought him precious time.

Thirty seconds could be the difference between life and death.

In a horror dungeon—

Sometimes escaping didn’t require hours.

It only required thirty seconds.

"Not bad."

Shen Yu smiled.

"Besides, I got it for free."

Gurgle...

The flame finally disappeared.

The Maafa Incense burned out completely, leaving behind a strange red branch with three forks.

Shen Yu carefully examined it.

Fresh blood slowly seeped from the three branches.

The blood coagulated into dark-red scabs.

His eyes narrowed.

"Interesting."

"It seems to regenerate."

The three branches continued releasing tiny drops of blood.

Slowly—

The incense began returning to its original form.

"So that’s how it recharges."

Shen Yu rubbed his chin.

"Looks like it can be used again in two days."

He stared thoughtfully at the strange object.

"If that’s the case..."

"During a dungeon, I can probably only use it once."

He nodded.

"Still."

"At least I have another means of protecting myself."

Shen Yu leaned back against the sofa.

With his current strength, he had no idea what would happen if he encountered one of the national team’s captains.

He wasn’t arrogant enough to assume he could defeat them.

"What would my odds be?"

He shook his head.

There was no point worrying about something that hadn’t happened yet.