The semifinal venue was Shanghai Medical University, right next to the hotel.
The school was already on break, so the campus was quieter than usual, though the occasional college student could still be seen.
The contestants in Groups A and B were all middle school students. Entering a university filled them with curiosity, and they looked left and right as though they were tourists.
Following his contestant number, Chen Guiliang quickly found his assigned exam room and desk.
Like the registration staff from the day before, the proctors were also past winners of the New Concept Competition.
Either their homes were in Shanghai, or they worked or studied there. They had come purely as volunteers to help out, while also taking the chance to get acquainted with the writers.
Using the opportunity to get laid was an extremely isolated behavior.
Chen Guiliang did not know either of the two proctors in this examination room.
The papers were handed out quickly.
There were two prompts. They could choose either one to write an essay.
"Prompt One: The World I Cannot Reach."
"Prompt Two: There is a very small bird that can fly tens of thousands of miles and cross the Pacific Ocean. All it needs is a small twig. It carries the twig in its beak; when it grows tired, it drops the twig onto the water, then lands on it to rest for a while."
Chen Guiliang instinctively wanted to choose the first prompt.
It was too easy to write.
The world one wished to reach but could not could be a "Utopia," or a "Peach Blossom Spring."
A beautiful imagined world, visible but unattainable—sought desperately, yet never obtained.
But Chen Guiliang stopped himself from writing.
This was a trap!
He feared that ninety percent of this year's contestants would