Surviving here qualified him for sixty points, but if his answers were good enough, he might earn even more.
Wen Xishu had already begun writing furiously, though before that, several plans had indeed crossed his mind.
For example: psychological description.
He could describe being seized by Reed, who was radiating flames, as something like a pair of star-crossed lovers, with one consumed by jealousy and desperate to control the other.
Yes, those flames were not real flames, but the fires of jealousy and desire, symbolizing the fervor and intensity within Reed's heart.
Writing it that way would most likely strengthen his friendship with Reed.
But considering how homoerotic that sounded, and that whatever he wrote would come true, their friendship might take a turn toward Chengdu. He decisively rejected that idea.
Wen Xishu quickly thought of another approach: deconstructionism, using it to deconstruct the relationships between the characters.
This was an oil painting titled "Trust." It employed powerful symbolism. The Reed in the painting was not his actual self, but a symbol of "manipulated anger," while the black brand on his neck was a visual representation of an "external will."
Flames occupied seventy percent of the canvas. These were not realistic flames, but destructive energy foreshadowing a "loss of emotional control." The "I" at the center was not the real Wen Xishu either, but an artistic representation of an "innocent sufferer."
The true theme of the painting was not companions turning against one another, but an upright soul locked in a life-and-death struggle with some external form of mental manipulation.
The painter's brushstrokes faltered slightly around the corners of Reed's eyes, suggesting the struggle within his true self.
But just as Wen Xishu put pen to paper, he considered a possibility: the Reed in the painting was not his actual