The 1980s: AI Helps Me Become an Official

Chen Lifeng opened his eyes. The mottled water stains on the ceiling looked like an abstract painting. He stared for three seconds before realizing it wasn’t the ceiling of his company’s conference room.

A stack of handwritten pages lay beside him, the handwriting in pen a little messy: “Report on the Economic Development of Our County in the First Quarter of 1985.”

“Chen, Director Liu is asking for the report!” someone called from outside.

Chen Lifeng sat bolt upright. Memories surged into his mind: his name was Chen Lifeng, a clerk in the government office of a county somewhere in northern China, and he had transmigrated.

He instinctively called out in his mind, “DeepSeek, are you there?”

“I am,” replied an emotionless electronic voice. “Host detected transmigrating to 1985. You have been switched to ‘History Mode.’ How can I help you?”

Chen Lifeng took a deep breath, picked up the blank pages, and smiled faintly.

In his previous life, he had worked like a beast at a major tech company and died at his desk. This time, he would live differently.

He cleared his throat and said in his mind:

“Come on, help me write a report that’ll keep the county magistrate awake all night.”