The scroll pulsed in Ne Job's hands like a living creature.
Silver wax. Metal rings.
Scribed with an authority that hadn't been invoked since the heavens still used stone tablets instead of cloud servers.
Princess Ling whispered the obvious:
"…That thing is humming."
Ne Job held the Audit Summons at arm's length.
"It's vibrating like Taiyi's questionable rice cooker."
Taiyi Zhenren gasped.
"HEY. My rice cooker is perfectly—okay, it does scream at night, but that's not the POINT—"
Yue cut in sharply.
"We need to open it somewhere safe."
Everyone stared at her.
"Yue," Princess Ling said, "there is no place 'safe' enough for that."
"Exactly," Yue replied. "So we pick wherever has the least paperwork."
Ne Job blinked. "That's… brilliant."
Ling squinted. "And terrifying."
Xian massaged his temples.
"The location with the least paperwork is the Void Storeroom. Everything placed there gets accidentally deleted from the system."
Ne Job's eyes narrowed.
"So it's like the recycling bin of Heaven?"
"Worse," Yue said. "It's the recycling bin that never empties."
---
1. Descent Into the Anti-Office
The Void Storeroom wasn't a room.
It was an abyss with walls.
The air tasted like abandoned to-do lists.
Faint echoes of forgotten documents bumped against the darkness like sleepy jellyfish.
Ne Job held the Summons scroll tight as they descended the spiral walkway.
Yue kept her eyes scanning the shadows.
Ling walked beside them with a bat that glowed faintly pink.
Taiyi Zhenren trailed behind, loudly complaining.
"Back in my day, the Audit Summons would simply burst into song and force you into a training montage—"
"No one," Yue snapped, "asked."
When they reached the bottom platform, a single lantern flickered to life.
A sign dangled from the rafters:
"VOID STORAGE: DO NOT OPEN ANYTHING IN HERE."
—Management
Ne Job nodded like he had just been given a meaningful blessing.
"Perfect place to open something."
Yue pinched the bridge of her nose.
---
2. Opening the Summons
Ne Job broke the wax seal.
The world didn't explode.
Instead, the metal rings snapped apart and sealed themselves mid-air, forming a floating circle.
Lines of silver script spiraled outward like constellations coming into focus.
A voice—calm, flat, ancient—filled the room.
"Ne Job.
Intern.
Unclassified Resonance Anomaly."
Ling whispered: "That's not flattering."
The voice continued:
"You are summoned to the First Archive.
Claim your probationary authority.
Or reject it.
And be erased."
Taiyi raised a hand.
"Okay but can we negotiate a—"
"No."
The metal circle widened.
A doorway tore open—not a physical door, but the absence of space itself.
An outline shaped like an office door, carved from negative matter.
Behind it:
Shelves without ends.
Structures made of memory.
Ink suspended like stars in a midnight ocean.
Ne Job's breath caught.
"What… is that?"
Bao's voice came from the top of the stairs—weak, but steady.
"That, kid… is the First Archive. Where every rule was born. Even the ones Heaven pretends they never made."
Ne Job blinked.
"…Like the rule about interns not being allowed near cosmic printers?"
Bao nodded gravely.
"Yes."
Yue stepped forward.
"Ne Job, be careful. The First Archive is older than the Bureau. Older than the Court. Older than—"
Taiyi interrupted:
"—older than the time I accidentally invented karaoke!"
Everyone ignored him.
Ne Job clenched his fists.
"I'll go in."
Ling frowned.
"You sure? You didn't even read the fine print."
"I never read fine print," Ne Job said proudly.
Yue stared.
"That's… not a brag."
---
3. Threshold of the Impossible
As Ne Job stepped through the doorway, his foot sank into something that felt like solid fog.
The world blurred.
Ink stars swirled around him.
Ceiling-less shelves rippled like waves.
Paper cranes with glowing eyes fluttered past in silent formation.
The Archive wasn't empty.
It was listening.
A voice echoed—this time inside his head.
"Welcome, Unfinished Record."
Ne Job halted.
"…Am I unfinished because I'm an intern?"
"Yes."
He squinted.
"Rude."
A corridor of floating steps emerged beneath him, forming a path.
He stepped forward—
And the Archive flickered.
For a heartbeat, he saw himself—
But older.
Wearing a coat of black-and-silver.
A pen behind one ear.
A blade made of shredded documents at his back.
A title glimmered faintly:
Audit Warrior: ???
Ne Job stumbled.
"What—"
The vision vanished.
The Archive shifted again.
This time Yue's voice sliced through.
---
4. Yue's POV: The Door Slams
Yue saw the instant Ne Job crossed the threshold.
The doorway snapped shut like a jaw.
"NO—!"
She lunged—
SLAM.
The door flattened into a single silver sheet, then dissolved into dust.
Ling grabbed her shoulder.
"Yue—YUE. He's inside. We can't break the Archive."
Yue's pulse hammered.
"Then we wait."
Bao's voice traveled from the shadows of the stairway.
"No."
He descended, leaning on the railing.
"We prepare."
Taiyi blinked.
"For what?"
Bao's silver-blue flame flickered.
"For his choice."
The abyss vibrated once—like a heartbeat felt through stone.
Ling swallowed.
"That wasn't the Archive."
"No," Bao said. "That was something else waking up."
Yue shivered.
The Archive wasn't the only ancient thing stirring.
Ne Job wasn't the only one being summoned.
---
5. Back Inside — The Archivist Appears
Ne Job walked deeper.
The ink stars formed a constellation ahead—shifting into the outline of a tall figure.
A robe of blank parchment.
A face made of unread text.
Eyes barely visible, like footnotes come alive.
They spoke:
"State your purpose."
Ne Job inhaled.
"Uh… I'm here to begin Audit Warrior stuff?"
The Archivist tilted their paper head.
"Purpose accepted."
The shelves trembled.
"Identify your mentor."
Ne Job blinked.
"My… what?"
The room shook harder.
Ink bled sideways.
"Every Audit candidate has a mentor.
This is tradition."
"Oh," Ne Job said. "Is it Bao?"
"NO," the Archivist boomed.
Ne Job frowned.
"…Taiyi?"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT."
Ne Job shrugged helplessly.
"Then who is it?!"
Silence.
Then—
A second doorway opened behind the parchment figure.
Silver flame. Indigo flame.
Twisting together.
Ne Job's eyes widened as a silhouette stepped through the smoke.
Not Bao.
Not Taiyi.
Not anyone living.
The Archivist bowed.
"Your mentor arrives."
The figure stepped fully into the light—
A towering presence.
Calm.
Sharp.
Carrying an ancient ledger strapped across their back like a greatsword.
Their voice was steady thunder:
"Ne Job."
"I am Qi-Yun."
"First Auditor."
Ne Job's stomach flipped.
"…Oh.
I'm dead."
Qi-Yun smirked.
"Not yet."
"But your training will get you close."
---
End of Chapter 182.