Puzzle or not i think you need more hints/feedback on how the angel/devil fights as well as the backwards text encounters work. They dont give enough feedback for you to tell if your on the right track and have just had bad luck.
My running theory for the divine fights is you need to roll a string matching the number displayed by them, but i've also seen just a single 0 displayed and i'm pretty sure i rolled a blank for that encounter.
The cost of failing divine encounters in particular is a failed run which means you are just not engaging with those encounters unless
A) you have had a run thats already about to die off
B) You have a run thats so far ahead loosing 5+ cargo isn't a concern for you