BOOM—

The moment Wu Wang finished speaking, flames surged toward the heavens.

They shattered the white space, transforming it into a dark, empty Void.

But the smile never left his face. It even held a hint of excitement.

“Mortal! Have you really thought this through!”

This time, the Cherub’s voice echoed directly within the void.

Countless eyes on the Wheel within a Wheel stared down at Wu Wang, locking the three of them in a strange standoff.

Their attitude was clear.

Without becoming a so-called Divine Envoy’s Representative, one could not receive a true Audience.

Even now, Wu Wang was still on the “stairs.” He was not truly having an Audience.

“Of course. Are you going to kill me or not? I’m in a hurry, pal.”

“If you can’t, just say so. If you’re trash, go practice more!”

Faced with Wu Wang’s arrogance, the Cherub didn’t say another word.

It simply looked at the Wheel within a Wheel.

Whoosh—

The next second, a sharp pain struck Wu Wang as raging flames erupted all over his body.

He subconsciously opened his mouth to cry out, but fire surged from his throat instead.

In an instant, his skin and flesh burned black.

“There is no need to struggle. This is the Flame of Judgment. Once it touches you, it will not be extinguished until you are burned to ash.”

The Cherub’s cold voice echoed.

“Even we cannot stop it.”

Its figure, along with the Wheel within a Wheel, began to ascend on a ray of holy light, preparing to leave.

Just then, a hoarse voice called out.

“Divine Envoy… who created you and your god?”

Hearing this, the Cherub paused its departure.

It decided to use its last shred of compassion to answer the pathetic player.

“No one could have created us.”

The next second, Wu Wang’s raucous laughter rang out.

“So you believe you weren’t created? Then you’re an atheist?”

“A Divine Envoy who’s an atheist! Hahaha…”

His madness was beyond imagination. The Cherub no longer hesitated.

Players who received an Audience were exceedingly rare, and those who caught the eye of a Divine Envoy were rarer still.

It was even running out of time to choose its Representative.

But It refused to let such a maniac represent It in the conflicts and competitions to come.

Having made its decision, It turned and left.

The space fell silent once more, leaving only a single ball of fire burning with no end in sight.

“Fucking angel… isn’t this just Amaterasu?”

“I’m gonna have Naruto sue your ass when I get back…”

Wu Wang was unwilling to become a so-called Representative. He had always believed there was no such thing as a free lunch.

If simply gaining Audience Qualification could rocket a player from obscurity to fame and power, then it was impossible that everyone who received it would remain silent, just as Xiezhi had said.

They were clearly hiding something. Perhaps they gave up far more than they received.

No one would tear open their own scars just to show others how much they had bled.

He didn’t have much left to lose, but if what little he had was also taken away, Wu Wang would truly regret it.

That was why he chose to mock them and refuse.

“Why do Divine Envoys need Representatives? What does an Audience truly mean?”

Wu Wang had already found partial answers through his mockery.

Clearly, this bunch couldn’t just appear anywhere they pleased. They were like gods from another dimension, high and mighty.

But because they stood so high, they couldn’t bend down to walk among mortals, just as a three-dimensional being couldn’t enter a two-dimensional world.

Now, they needed something done in the instance worlds or the real world. Unable to enter the field themselves, they could only choose a Representative to act for them.

And players, who could travel freely between both, were the perfect choice. The power boost was just a guarantee that the Representative could accomplish their given task.

“The Audience isn’t a treasure for the players… it’s an opportunity for the Divine Envoys!”

Wu Wang finally understood.

The Audience was like a glitched window they had opened in the 【Spirit Calamity Game】. Only through this window could they appear for a brief moment to select their proxy.

If that was the case, then he didn’t even need to become a Representative. As long as he knew what they wanted, he could get in on the action too!

After all, the tasks would ultimately be carried out by the Representatives. In other words, this was a matter between players!

He could start with the pillars of those major organizations!

“Now I just have to find a way out of this damn place.”

Wu Wang wasn’t too worried. He believed the 【Spirit Calamity Game】 wasn’t truly full of bugs, otherwise, the Divine Envoys would have entered the field themselves long ago.

He had been here for what felt like a day, yet he hadn’t received a notification about the instance’s two-hour time limit. This meant time on the Mary had barely passed.

Since the instance’s clock wasn’t ticking, it didn’t matter how long he wasted here. Returning to reality would take him back to the moment he first entered.

Wu Wang had never been so grateful for the strange flow of time.

Enduring the flames, he began to explore the void.

An unknown amount of time passed. The space truly seemed to have no borders.

Just as Wu Wang was beginning to grow accustomed to the pain, a demonic streak of red tore through the darkness.

The holy light returned, but this time it was blood-red, illuminating another staircase that reached for the heavens.

A foul, fishy stench filled the air.

There were no eyes on these stairs. Instead, they were made of various skin-crawling organ tissues, exposed as if a body had been turned inside out, compressed into rectangular blocks, and stacked high.

He could even see the tissues pulsing, still retaining some grotesque vitality.

This familiar, sanity-draining feeling…

The itch on his skin, the phantom sensation of a new brain about to sprout from his own…

The rambling whispers in his ears, a chaotic symphony driving him mad…

Oh, my old friend!

Though his face was a grimace of pain, Wu Wang still forced out a taunt.

“Yo! Decided to stop playing sleeping beauty, pal? I thought I’d have to draw a mouth on my hand and kiss you to wake you up.”

“What, are you playing this Audience game too?”

Whoosh—

The next second, the Flame of Judgment—which the Cherub had called unquenchable—vanished from his body.

To be precise, it was eaten.

Wu Wang looked down. His clothes had been burned away long ago. The Red Vertical Pupil on the inside of his right hand blinked, looking exceptionally satisfied.

It had eaten its fill.

In that moment, Wu Wang understood. The rank of these Divine Envoys was nothing compared to the Abyss God.

The Cherub claimed that once the flame was lit, even It couldn’t stop it. But the Abyss God had devoured it like a snack.

Most importantly, Wu Wang had been able to look directly at the Cherub and its Wheel. It was difficult, but he had managed.

The Abyss God, however, was a being you couldn’t even glance at without exploding.

A higher rank than the Divine Envoys…

Wu Wang laughed out loud, his naked form standing in the now-scarlet space.

“Abyss God, you’re not actually a god, are you?”

He looked at the still-squirming flesh and blood stairs and approached without hesitation.

He didn’t care if the Abyss God also wanted to play the Audience game. Right now, this was his only way back to the Mary.

Once he got out, he needed to have a long talk with Xiezhi about this whole business.

If he wasn’t mistaken, there had to be players in the Abnormal Affairs Bureau who had received an Audience and become Representatives.

He could use his 【Yan Shuangying】 identity to get close to them.

He would find out what the Divine Envoys really wanted.

And then, he would have a hell of a lot of fun.

“Hey, Abyss God.”

“You wouldn’t pass up this kind of fun either, right?”

Perhaps because he had already experienced instances corrupted by the Abyss God and had even witnessed It thrash the electronics store boss, Wu Wang saw the Abyss God as another bug in the 【Spirit Calamity Game】.

A strange intuition tickled the back of his mind. The Divine Envoys’ plans were definitely related to the Abyss God!

With that thought, Wu Wang stepped onto the flesh and blood stairs.

The Red Vertical Pupil on his hand narrowed into a slight arc. It seemed to be mocking Wu Wang’s earlier audacity in taunting the Divine Envoy while also sneering at the Envoy’s hypocrisy for attacking a mere player.

But regardless, just as Wu Wang had said, It was very happy to see things become more interesting.