The Synesthesia Beacon Is the Greatest Invention in the Universe!

"Take me with you."

Robin looked Jingxing straight in the eye, her tone as serious as if she had already thought the matter over many times.

Jingxing popped the last bite of his energy bar into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed. Sugar spread from his stomach, making his mind work a little faster.

"If we want to leave here, we need to prepare first." Jingxing paused. "And where do you plan to go once we're out?"

"The place where my singing can reach the whole planet would naturally be the capital." Robin tilted her head, glancing toward the two security guards by the camp entrance. "But we need to make thorough preparations. We'll need a map and supplies. Most importantly, we also need to find out how the minefields around the camp are laid out."

Jingxing nodded. When they first met yesterday, someone had mentioned a minefield to the south, but nobody had said anything about the other directions. They couldn't just boldly assume every other way was safe.

"Then how about this?" he said. "I'll use sketching practice as an excuse to walk all around the camp and memorize the terrain and the locations of the minefields. You take care of the supplies."

"No problem." Robin nodded. "They've restricted my movements and the supplies sent to this camp, but as long as I'm the one asking, they still wouldn't dare withhold anything."

"All right, let's split up for now." Jingxing tucked his drawing board under his arm and headed toward the camp as if nothing had happened.

Robin stayed where she was, preparing to practice her vocals.

That afternoon, the wind swept sand and dirt through the mountain pass, whipping the tents until they flapped noisily.

Jingxing sat in his tent, continuing the sketching practice he hadn't finished that morning. This time, though, his subject was the general surroundings of the camp.

After lunch, he had made a point of circling the camp, and the sights around it were now firmly etched in his mind.

To the east was a sparse woodland, the lowest-lying area; to the west was an exposed mountainside with the best visibility, making it the worst direction for an escape; to the south, needless to say, was the minefield; as for the north...

Jingxing had just finished mixing his paints when someone suddenly lifted the tent flap.

Glenn walked in. He still wore his gray-green combat uniform, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms and dried, cracked mud on his boots. His gaze swept over the tent, falling first on the easel, then on Jingxing.

"Am I interrupting?"

Glenn's sudden politeness put Jingxing on guard. He put down his brush and stood up. "Can I help you?"

Glenn didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked around the tent before pulling over a folding stool and sitting down.

"I saw you two having quite a pleasant chat this morning."

"We certainly did. Talking to Miss Robin was like basking in a spring breeze. It really lifted my spirits."

"Then can you tell me what you talked about?" Glenn's gaze sharpened instantly.

"Of course." Jingxing looked completely unconcerned. "I'm a painter, and she's a singer. Naturally, the common subject we could discuss was art."

The air fell silent. Glenn raised an eyebrow as if he had heard a joke. "Art?"

"Yes."

"Miss Robin and you?"

Jingxing nodded.

A faint smile slowly tugged at the corners of Glenn's mouth, though it didn't look like a smile at all. "Mr. Jingxing, I admit you helped the camp out this morning, and you don't look like a bad person. But that doesn't mean you can take me for a fool."

Jingxing looked up. "What do you mean?"

Glenn folded his arms. "While studying at Paperfold University's Harmony Academy, Miss Robin became a student of Ms. Cashi, a famous singer from Penacony. After graduating, she came to the Epsilon Galaxy to begin a tour. Her very first album reached No. 1 on the galaxy's major music charts. Over the course of her few years in show business, she has worked with the galaxy's top directors, designers, musicians, and art consultants."

"And now you're telling me you were talking about art? She'd discuss art with a student who just graduated?"

Jingxing couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Aren't you looking down on me a little too much?"

Glenn spoke as though it were obvious. "What else? You two aren't on the same level. How could you possibly have anything to talk about when it comes to art?"

Jingxing sighed. He had no choice but to reason with this muscle-headed idiot from the company. "Mr. Glenn, do you know what school I graduated from?"

"Doesn't your ID say the Klimt Constitutional Republic Central Academy of Fine Arts?" Glenn didn't know why he was asking.

"The Klimt Constitutional Republic spans more than a dozen galaxies, and my alma mater happens to be its best art academy."

"As it happens, I was the top student in the oil painting department." Jingxing spoke calmly, as if he had no intention of showing off.

Silence settled over them. Glenn forcibly swallowed the words "Don't lie to me," which he had prepared long ago.

Remembering the surprise on Robin's face yesterday when she saw the ID of the man before him, he cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment. "...Sorry. I was ignorant. Please forgive my rudeness. I'll take my leave."

Jingxing waved a hand. "It's all right."

Without another wasted word, Glenn turned and left.

Jingxing listened until Glenn's departing footsteps had faded away completely, and only then did he let out a slight sigh of relief.

He really is a vicious dog raised by the company. His nose is keener than anything, he muttered inwardly.

Jingxing opened his sketchbook again and began drawing the scenery around the camp with a pencil.

Although it was a landscape taking shape on the paper, a three-dimensional map had already formed in Jingxing's mind.

Just then, two soft knocks came from outside the tent.

"Mr. Jingxing, the supplies you requested have arrived," a logistics worker called from outside.

Jingxing got up and pulled open the flap.

A young man in coarse clothes stood at the entrance, holding a bulging bundle. He lowered his voice and said, "Miss Robin told me you're an honored guest and need peace and quiet to paint. Everything you need is in here."

Jingxing took the bundle. It was heavy in his hands. Robin had acted even faster than he expected, and her efficiency was astonishing.

He took a closer look at the young man who had made the delivery. He wore no company insignia, and his clothes were almost indistinguishable from those of the locals in the camp. Presumably, Robin had deliberately chosen this local.

"Thank Miss Robin for me." Jingxing accepted the oilcloth bundle without a change of expression.

The young man bowed, then quickly retreated into the shadows.

Jingxing returned to the tent and unwrapped the bundle—a map, newspapers, more newspapers, and still more newspapers. It looked as though Robin intended to bring him up to speed on the major events that had happened on this planet from before the war to the present.

As he leafed through the newspapers covering current events on the planet, he couldn't help marveling inwardly, The Synesthesia Beacon really is the greatest invention in the universe.

Without the Synesthesia Beacon, Jingxing would probably have been no different from an illiterate man right now.