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

Song Mo looked down at herself; she was still wearing that dark gray T-shirt and cotton trousers.

The surrounding area was shrouded in fog, a very high and thick fog, like rows of white walls that tightly enclosed everything.

The sky was not visible overhead, and the ground beneath one's feet was a smooth bluestone brick floor.

She was sitting cross-legged behind an old-fashioned long table, the surface of which was so dark that it almost cast shadows.

There were paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones on the table, and even ballpoint pens... That's quite thoughtful.

Most importantly, he returned to a normal body shape at the end of the Song Dynasty.

Such long tables stretched out into the fog, countless in number, but behind each table was a shadow.

It was filled with layers upon layers of human figures... but not entirely human figures, there were also animals mixed in.

For example, next to the late Song Dynasty statue, there was a large blue snake coiled up.

The giant snake was a beautiful blue-green color, as thick as an adult's thigh, with its body coiled in several circles and its head held high.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

It held a bamboo pen in its mouth and twisted it as it wrote on the paper.

With each stroke of the pen, the body sways slightly, like a person shaking their head.

Further on, there was a hedgehog with white fur on its head, about the size of a millstone, lying on the table.

It also has a pen, which it holds tightly with its two front paws. The pen tip writes a few words on the paper, then stops to sniff the paper.

"Oh my god, we've never heard of a monster taking the exam to become the City God. How come the rules have been changed so easily?"

My litter of babies are still nursing, and after thinking it over, I realized that such a good thing has fallen into my lap, so why not take the exam?

"The Bai family's ancestral graves are truly emitting auspicious smoke."

—The voice was high-pitched and thin, like a middle-aged woman chatting while eating sunflower seeds.

If you don't look closely, you'd never guess that these words came from a hedgehog.

Further away, a parrot stood on the edge of a table, its tail twitching, its claws gripping a pen as it wrote rapidly.

A yellow dog had its front paws on the edge of the table, its mouth open and biting a white rabbit. The next second, it was mercilessly chased away by the underworld officials.

"This candidate, please stop harassing the other candidates and spit out the candidate number 0042513 you're talking about!"

……

At the end of the Song Dynasty, a wooden stump was also seen.

It was truly a wooden stake that had come to life, about a foot tall, with clear growth rings on its cross-section, and a yellow silk ribbon wrapped around its body. The ribbon was very old, as if it had been hanging there for decades.

There were also scrolls in front of the wooden stump, but there were no hands or pens.

It just stood there, seemingly confused, as if it hadn't figured out how it got there.

A fat black cat was lying on a wooden stump, fast asleep, looking completely uninterested in answering the questions.

The other candidates seemed unable to hear the surrounding sounds, but she could hear them clearly with a little concentration:

She heard a "thump-thump" sound coming from the wooden stump, like something was knocking on the wood.

Upon closer inspection, it was the wooden stump tapping the table with its broken branch. It couldn't speak, only making very short "oh" and "ah" sounds.

Like a toddler who has just learned to speak, wanting to say everything, yet unable to express anything clearly.

The black cat is still sleeping.

Late Song Dynasty: "..."

How come I'm hallucinating about the first year after the resumption of the college entrance examination?

She wrote "regardless of background or origin," but the wooden stump came to life and became the City God?

Who are you trying to make things difficult for?

……

……

"It's alright, it's alright. This is only the first year of the spiritual energy revival, so the quality of the fairy examinees varies greatly, which is understandable—"

After consoling himself for a while, Song Mo turned to observe the human examinees, only to see someone who looked somewhat familiar:

Shen Nanshan.

He was lying on the table answering questions, writing each stroke with great seriousness.

The other was a woman with gray hair, clear eyes, upright posture, and a pen-holding posture so perfect it was as if she were drawing blueprints.

She writes very quickly.

Song Mo glanced down at the exam paper. The first question on the paper was:

"The candidate believes that the most important thing in becoming a god is..."

This topic is neither too big nor too small.

Song Mo rested her chin on her hand, not answering the question, but instead focusing intently on the answers of the other candidates, seemingly unnoticed by anyone.

The hedgehog wrote three words: "Follow the rules".

Shen Nanshan wrote: "According to the law."

The old lady with gray hair wrote two words: "For the people".

A fox with a broken leg wrote: "Fairness, be a good official."

The giant snake wrote: "Punish evil and promote good."

Song Mo found it very interesting that every answer was different.

She even saw someone write an insincere answer, and then the ink disappeared. He wrote it again and again until he finally wrote the words "become an official".

—This is clearly not something that can be elected.

Song Mo shook his head.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe an incense stick's time, maybe a whole night.

At the end of the Song Dynasty, he was so engrossed in the feeling of dreaming that he didn't even bother to write any exam papers.

She doesn't need to take the City God exam; she's just a bystander watching the spectacle.

Suddenly, a bell rang overhead:

"Thump—thump—thump—"

The sound was deep and distant, like the tolling of a bell from hundreds of years ago, echoing through time.

After the bell rang, the scroll in front of Song Mo floated up on its own.

All the exam papers, like white paper birds, flew over the exam desk, fluttering and swirling, finally heading towards a large cauldron.

One exam paper after another flew into the cauldron, and with each paper, a glimmer of light rose from within.

Some lights were very bright, some were very faint, some flickered like candles, and some scrolls went out as soon as they flew into the mouth of the cauldron.

The light emanating from Shen Nanshan's scroll at the end of the Song Dynasty was like a basin of charcoal fire.

The old professor's exam paper had a faint, jade-like luster.

Then the scene changed.

The white mist seemed to be blown away by the wind, revealing a tall City God Temple.

The temple gate was several meters high, with vermilion lacquer and copper rings, and couplets with black characters on white paper hanging on both sides:

"How can the wicked hide in the netherworld?"

"Protecting a region ensures the people's peaceful life."

Horizontal scroll: Heaven's justice is evident.

In front of the temple was a very wide square, where a group of people, demons, ghosts, and monsters stood blankly, looking at each other with curiosity.

Song Mo stood at the back of the crowd, not pushing forward.

She heard two underworld officials whispering beside her:

"The underworld has been newly established, with ten kings of hell... What's going on? How come even these beasts can take the exam to become city gods?"

Are they going to put up clay sculptures of monsters in the City God Temple from now on?

"Heaven knows—it is said that this year's City God examination will not focus on family background, but only on character and virtue, and it will be very strict."

Not only must one's own merits be sufficient, but even one's ancestors and descendants must not commit any wrongdoings.

Another underworld official marveled:

"Although these animals have had great opportunities, they are still no match for humans. Many of them can't even read properly."

The previous one said:

"This is already an incredible opportunity. In the past, these monsters wouldn't even be able to get into the temple."

Now at least they can sit in the examination hall. Hopefully, these birds and beasts can seize the opportunity and not miss this golden chance to ascend to godhood.

……

……

Song Mo listened intently, and as she was thinking, she suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder as two parrots flew over from the left and right and landed on her shoulder.

The two parrots were very well-behaved, one a budgie and the other a lovebird. They seemed very close to Wai Songmo, chattering away.

"I'm exhausted, Baiyu is exhausted, the exams were so tiring."

"I didn't want to come. I was dragged here. It's so annoying. So annoying."

"My owner says that exams and going to work are the things I hate the most."

"Yes. I hate it the most, Hai Xi hates it the most."

Song Mo couldn't help but laugh out loud, and when she laughed, both parrots craned their necks to look at her.

There is a clear distinction between people and animals in the area; people do not approach animals, and animals do not approach humans.

The only exception was at the end of the Song Dynasty, so many people, both human and non-human, secretly watched her.

……

Song Mo shrugged, and the two parrots didn't fly away. Instead, they moved closer to her shoulder, as if they had found a comfortable perch.

"Little girl, what are you doing here?! You're so young, so small!"

At that moment, someone squeezed through from the side.

Shen Nanshan stared wide-eyed, looking Song Mo up and down several times, his face a mixture of surprise and heartache:

"You...you were so young, how could you be gone? Could you have run back? You were so young, younger than my granddaughter, how could you..."

He couldn't continue, seemingly unable to bear saying the word "death."

"Grandpa Shen, I'm still alive."

Song Mo smiled and explained, "I was brought here after I fell asleep."

"What?!" Shen Nanshan's mouth dropped open. "Living people can take the exam?"

"I guess so..." Song Mo felt inexplicably guilty.

Strictly speaking, she was a dead person.

The underworld messenger didn't make a mistake in choosing the wrong person.

Shen Nanshan's expression was even more shocked. He looked around, pointed to the parrot on Song Mo's shoulder, then to the large snake in the distance, his voice trembling:

"Then... besides people, how come even these..."

He didn't finish speaking, as if he didn't know how to say it.

"Animals can take the exam to become the City God now," Song Mo said for him.

Shen Nanshan nodded repeatedly.

Clearly, in all his years, this was the first time he had ever seen so many animals sitting in the examination hall like humans.

"I fought in wars when I was young, and I've seen everything except ghosts."

"With the revival of spiritual energy, anything is possible," Song Mo added. The old lady with gray hair also came over from the side.

She first nodded to Shen Nanshan, then spoke to Song Mo: "Little girl, I've been watching you for a long time, why haven't you written a single word?"

She spoke slowly and deliberately, her tone exactly like a homeroom teacher seeing a model student slacking off on the exam.

"...I don't know what to write."

Song Mo touched the tip of his nose in frustration, clearly not expecting that while he was observing others, this lady was also observing him:

"Anyway, I don't plan to take the City God exam."

Just as the group was chatting, the clock above their heads struck three more times, and everyone, including the demons and ghosts, fell silent.

Suddenly, the temple gate opened slowly to both sides without any wind.

The room was pitch black inside, and you couldn't see anything clearly. You could only hear a "whoosh" sound, as if something had risen up from inside the room.

It is a list.

The red paper with black characters was very long, hanging down from directly above the temple gate like a red waterfall.

The top was covered with names.

There are human names and animal names.

Song Mo squinted and saw the top few lines of text:

[First Place, Class A: Ding Huiying, appointed as the City God of Beiping, to assume office immediately without fail.]

[Second Place in Class A: Bai Qishiba, appointed as the City God of Fengtian, to assume office immediately without fail.]

……

[Sixth Place in Class B: Shen Nanshan, appointed as the City God of Jinling, to assume office immediately without fail.]

……

[Rank 8, Class C: Su Ningxiu, appointed as the City God of Suzhou, to assume office immediately without fail.]

……

[Rank 10: Da Qing, appointed as the City God of Hedong, to assume office immediately without fail.]

As soon as the list was posted, the sounds of music and drumming rang out from all directions, and paper figures drove a chariot, urging the newly appointed City God to go to his post.

"Little girl! Little girl! My home is in Building **, Apartment 1502, Guanghua Residential Area, Jiangcheng. Please, please pass on a message to my great-granddaughter: don't worry, I've gone to become the City God!"

"Okay, I'll definitely deliver the message for you. Congratulations!"

As a car drove past Song Moqian, old man Shen Nanshan clung to the window and shouted.

Song Mo replied loudly, and the other party reluctantly disappeared into the thick fog.

The next second, Song Mo opened her eyes, opened her phone without thinking, and sure enough, the trending topics were in a frenzy again.