I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

……

When Ding Huiying lay in bed and looked outside, she knew her time was up.

Her life wasn't exactly spectacular, but looking back, it was just as the book says:

[I will not regret wasting my time.]

"teacher……"

"Teacher Ding..."

"Old Ding."

At the bedside, a group of students looked sad and reluctant to part with her. Her best friend sat next to her, holding Ding Huiying's hand.

"Why are you crying?"

Ding Huiying let out a deep breath, and a faint smile appeared on her lips beneath the ventilator:

"Don't cry, everyone. I've taught countless students and drawn countless drawings in my life. I can't even count them all myself."

My whole life, I've been doing what I love, and to have so many of you... seeing me off in the end, I'm so happy.

The faint sound of sobbing could be heard from the ward.

Ding Huiying's friends were already sobbing uncontrollably.

"When I die, bury me in a cemetery, donate my living expenses to the Hope Fund, and let the country help me..."

Ding Huiying's eyes were unfocused, but she still managed to finish speaking the last sentence:

"Let the children read books, read more books, they must read more books."

You must continue your research and keep learning; science has no end… We engineers, in particular, cannot stop. If we stop, we will fall behind.

If we fall behind, we will have failed both our predecessors and future generations.

"Don't write about me, don't erect a monument, don't hold a memorial service."

She slowly, slowly stopped breathing: "...My file, the organization will handle it...please don't cause trouble."

The next second, the instruments in the ward emitted a piercing "beep," and the room was suddenly filled with cries.

"Teacher Ding!"

"Old Ding!"

"teacher!!"

……

……

Ding Huiying did not hear the crying.

She felt incredibly light, as if she were floating—a lightness she hadn't felt since she got older.

She found herself sitting in a paper car.

The driver was a ghost dressed in ancient costumes, one black and one white, but he didn't look ferocious at all; instead, he looked like a living person.

"Ms. Ding, we've come to take you to the City God Examination."

As if to answer Ding Huiying's question, one of the female ghosts smiled and spoke:

"Ms. Ding, don't be afraid. We are the messengers of the underworld who have come to take you away. As a great scholar who had accumulated immeasurable merits and perfect virtues in life, you will naturally be different from ordinary ghosts after death."

Ding Huiying turned around and saw her old and emaciated body still lying on the hospital bed.

The cries of friends, students, and comrades were completely shut out of the car; not a single sound could penetrate.

"Take me to take the City God exam?"

Ding Huiying realized something and touched the car with some disbelief:

"What power drives it to move? If, as you say, the Underworld really exists, is there any way to explain the connection between it and the 'copy'? Does the Underworld also obey the laws of physics? Is the existence of ghosts energy, or some other unobserved manifestation? In other words, can ghosts be captured and measured?"

The ghost driving the car grew increasingly stiff: "..."

The silence of the other ghost was equally deafening: "..."

They were in the same car as this person, so there shouldn't be any problem, right?

Does the underworld really exist?

Not getting an answer, Ding Huiying persisted, asking, "Since there are exams, there should be corresponding regulations."

"some."

The female ghost dressed in a white paper robe cautiously replied:

"The world of the living has its own laws, and the world of the dead naturally has its own rules."

"You have lived an upright life, and your political background check has been passed. You are among the first batch of candidates recommended for the reopening of the City God Temple recruitment."

"You still have political vetting?"

Having shed the physical burden, Ding Huiying felt as if her emotions had returned to those of her youth, filled with curiosity about everything:

"What subjects are tested in the City God examination?"

"Test your true nature."

The male ghost replied gently, "Your presence is required."

"What will you do after you get accepted?"

"Naturally, it is to manage the land and water, protect the people, and decide matters between the living and the dead."

Ding Huiying hesitated for a moment:

"After becoming the City God, can I still serve the country? I will never betray my faith or my country."

As she said those words, the two ghosts in front of her laughed simultaneously.

"able."

"The City God protects the people of this region, and these people are naturally the people of China."

Ding Huiying leaned back in her seat and let out a soft sigh of relief:

"I'll go."

Her greatest talent in this life is taking exams.

Death doesn't seem so scary anymore.

……

……

……

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he realized he was dreaming.

The fact itself amused her greatly—she hadn't dreamed like a "human" for a long time since her death.

She dreamt that she was sitting in a room with a very high dome that seemed to have no end, surrounded by nothingness.

There should be something around.

The moment this thought arose, the surrounding scenery changed.

She sat at a large desk.

How big is this desk?

Looking at the table from the side, you can't see the edge of the table at all. Looking down, you can see many twisted lines drawn under the table.

On the table was a very strange "map".

The Earth on the map was surrounded by many planets she had never seen before.

The moon is slowly approaching Earth, and countless scattered, broken meteorites are slowly coming together, though their final shape is not yet visible.

In the area representing Earth's landmass, there were scattered points of light.

Song Mo felt as if she had been in this endless, pure white space for a very long time.

That sense of déjà vu was fleeting.

The next second, the surrounding environment changed, and she reappeared in the familiar rented room, with the same furnishings and decorations as in reality.

But someone is crying.

The sound was very soft and faint, like the chirping of insects. Strangely, the crying sound came from below.

She searched for a long time before finally finding two very small things in the folds of her sleeve.

Two tiny underworld messengers, smaller than ants, one dressed in black and the other in white; one had what looked like horns on its head, and the other did not.

Two ghosts, one on each side, tugged at her clothes, making soft, whimpering sounds that could easily be ignored.

Before them, the massive structure of the late Song Dynasty resembled a towering tree.

Song Mo brought his ear closer so he could hear the two ghosts talking.

The two ghosts opened and closed their mouths, their voices broken and intermittent, like whispers across a distant body of water:

"With such thick light... I'm sure I passed the background check."

"So much merit..."

"Test for the City God, test for the City God..."

That's all that could be heard at the end of the Song Dynasty; the rest was blown away by the wind.

When the two ghost messengers saw that she didn't react, they sat on the ground and cried. After they finished crying, they looked up at her with pitiful eyes.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, people were so engrossed in their studies that they heard even more:

"What bad luck... I went to deliver a letter and got kicked out by that fat cat who's afraid of ghosts!"

"We were even chased away by the candidates' families with willow branches! They said we were wandering ghosts trying to steal souls! We just wanted to deliver exam notices!"

"Forget it, forget it, don't say anymore. Luckily, it wasn't completely destroyed and can be pieced back together."

"Sigh, the City God exam has been reopened, and it's so rare to see someone with such great merit, so why is it so hard to bring them back?"

"This is such a great act of merit that even the souls of the deceased cannot see their faces..."

The two ghost messengers were whimpering, like two petty officials who had failed to meet their quotas.

Song Mo found it amusing, yet also felt a pang of pity.

She wanted to tell them, "Stop shouting, I can hear you."

But when he opened his mouth, he stirred up a very light breeze—a breeze that seemed almost like a typhoon to the two little devils.

"Whoa... such a strong wind!"

"This is so unlucky! I'm never taking this job again!"

Suddenly, Song Mo found it extremely interesting:

Two tiny ghost messengers, in order to take her to the exam, climbed onto the hem of her clothes and prayed loudly, like two ants trying to drag Mount Tai away.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, I inexplicably respected this kind of persistence, and subconsciously wanted to go and see for myself.

Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt a pull on the hem of her clothes, as if her body was moving on its own—

The surrounding scenery changed at an extremely fast pace, so fast that everything around it turned into a gray-white line.

The next second, she opened her eyes and saw an exam table in front of her.