Insights Chapter 147: Opening Blind Boxes

Extras: Cross Angels

Chapter 147: Opening Blind Boxes

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

At night, inside a live broadcast room of a video website. The anchor in the live broadcast room goes by the online alias “Felin,” a young man in his twenties. After graduating from college, he worked for six months, smoothly got rid of his company’s boss, and started his own live streaming channel. This job was somewhat unstable, but fortunately, there wasn’t much work pressure.

The atmosphere in Felin’s live broadcast room was completely different from other live broadcast rooms. Other anchors were promoting products, singing, eating, and playing games. The room of this live broadcast was hung with a black backdrop, with only a single light shining from the ceiling, and a dissecting model placed in the corner, accompanied by eerie background music.

This channel has always focused on suspenseful reasoning and horror live broadcasts, making these the channel’s characteristics. Recently, Felin has been playing a blind box game, and it has been going on for eight episodes continuously with good audience feedback.

This game was originally popularized on a foreign video website and was also known as the Dark Web Blind Box. The streamer claimed to have ordered blind boxes from the dark web, and they would soon receive a box filled with strange things to record the unboxing. These blind boxes often contained strange items, such as notes with strange words written on them, bloody pliers, dolls, and even rotting flesh, bones, dead mice, used needles, and strange videotapes.

People have a natural curiosity about the unknown, and this format satisfied the audience’s curiosity. Many people sought mysterious thrills and would squat to watch the streamers unbox the blind boxes, and then speculate on the origins of those things and the stories behind them.

The viewership of such videos on the internet has always been good, often reaching millions. Felin began to imitate the unboxing format of those people and started live streaming unboxing blind boxes. Naturally, in China, he couldn’t access the dark web, so the boxes he opened were all sent to him by viewers of his live broadcast.

Felin left an address near him for viewers with stories to anonymously send things to him by express delivery. At first, Felin was worried that no one would respond, but to his surprise, he did receive quite a few things later on. Every time Felin received a blind box, he would livestream the unboxing, showcased the items inside one by one, and then brainstormed to string together a terrifying, gruesome, or thrilling story.

It has to be said that Felin’s storytelling ability was quite strong, and there were quite a few people waiting every day to watch his live broadcasts. Tonight at eleven, Felin just started the live broadcast, and there were already many people rushing in the live broadcast room. Felin had already put on protective clothing, mask, gloves, and was fully armed sitting in front of the camera.

“Today, we received a total of three boxes, let’s take a look at them one by one…” As he spoke, Felin opened the first box and took out a primary school textbook. “This is a Chinese textbook for the sixth grade upper volume printed four years ago. It seems to have been soaked in water and is very old. Let me see the name on it… seems like something Jian… only half of the book is marked, maybe the rest of the book was lost? If the owner of this book was in sixth grade at that time, they should be in high school now.”

Felin tried to identify it and then placed the textbook in front of the screen for the audience to see. After flipping through it for a while, Felin looked and said, “There seems to be some unclear bloodstains on the back of the book, not sure if it’s human blood.”

Someone in the live broadcast room commented, “I guess the next thing should be a doll.”

“Ah, today’s theme is boring, I still have a bunch of old clothes, old textbooks, old dolls at home. Can I also send them to the anchor?”

Some viewers guessed correctly, and Felin took out another worn-out teddy bear doll from the box. This wasn’t just a doll; it was a pen holder. It had been worn out for years, and Felin spent some time studying the stationery inside. After that, Felin took out a girl’s dress, a white summer dress that looked a bit old. Next was a strand of a girl’s long hair.

The audience was starting to get impatient. Many felt that today’s unboxing items weren’t thrilling enough.

“The host is out of material, don’t force it, it’s not as good as the last time with syringes, drugs, and the story about the terrifying hospital.”

“Today’s episode isn’t good, it’s just a girl’s stuff, are they going to say the girl is dead later?”

“Maybe it was bought by a pervert at some seafood market.”

Felin glanced at the number of people in the live broadcast room. Tonight’s numbers hadn’t increased, they’d even decreased somewhat. The opening was indeed a bit ordinary. He felt a bit anxious, wondering if he should skip this box and continue with other content. But a strange curiosity prompted him to continue.

Felin had received many boxes before, and sometimes, for the sake of the broadcast effect, he deliberately prepared some props and pretended to just unbox them. Once he even put a golden bear in a blind box. When he opened it, many viewers were startled. But now Felin knew that this box was handed to him by someone else, and there was definitely no tampering with it. He had seen too many boxes deliberately filled with terrifying things to create an atmosphere. Such as masks, strange numbers, eerie bloodstained nails. Compared to those, the things inside this box were too ordinary, which made him feel even stranger. He didn’t understand the purpose of the sender giving him this box.

The audience was also speculating.

“Could it be a delivery mistake?”

“It must have been sent by the girl’s parents, I wonder if they asked the daughter about sending her stuff.”

Felin continued to search. “Here are a few Polaroid photos. They’re of a girl’s feet, wearing the shoes we just saw.”

The audience became increasingly impatient.

“Hey, it’s too boring, isn’t there anyone sending some terrifying stuff via delivery?”

“Of course, it’s deceptive. Most of it is deliberately sent to provide material for the host. Do you really expect a murderer to send something to the host?”

“Haha, deliveries in China are checked, really illegal stuff can’t be sent over.”

“We’re just here for fun, if you don’t want to watch, leave! I’m just here to listen to a bedtime horror story.”

“These photos have dates on them.” Felin read out the dates. Suddenly, Felin’s expression changed. “There’s also a half-body photo inside.”

As he spoke, he placed the girl’s photo in front of the screen. She was a very beautiful girl, but Felin covered part of her with his fingers, essentially manually pixelating it, showing only the posture of the girl to the viewers in front of the camera. The photo was taken with a Polaroid, and it had faded a bit over time. The girl in the photo seemed to be asleep, her eyes closed, and her mouth slightly open.

“There’s a bit of a horror story vibe now.”

“Hiss, this girl, could she have been…”

Everyone still saw all of this as just a story.

Felin looked at the pile of things in front of him, but suddenly felt a chill down his spine. The girl in the photo looked pale, not like a living person, and the things in front of him seemed more like relics. This kind of ordinary yet eerie feeling made him uncomfortable.

Someone in the live broadcast room suddenly remembered something and posted a series of exclamation marks, “Four years ago, sixth grade in elementary school!!! That girl in the photo is Jian Yunxi!!”

Felin frowned as he looked at the comment. “This can’t be…” His face suddenly changed, and his voice trembled, “That murdered Jian Yunxi?!”

Due to the relatively recent timeframe, many people still remembered that incident.

Four years ago, near Changxi County in Penang, a sixth-grade girl named Jian Yunxi went to school as usual. It was raining that day, and Jian Yunxi woke up a little late. Her mother had been blaming her and, since she was in a hurry to go to work, she didn’t watch her daughter enter the school gate but left her about eighty meters away from the school gate.

This action filled the girl’s mother with endless regret. It was this eighty-meter distance, without surveillance and with few people around, that led to the girl’s disappearance. The family reported it to the police, and the police issued a missing person notice. Because the girl was wearing a white dress at the time and was also in the town’s Little Angels Choir, the media referred to it as the Little Angels’ disappearance case.

Three days later, the girl’s corpse was found by a ditch near the county town. She wasn’t wearing clothes, and her schoolbag was missing. The girl lay on the ground, some soil covering her. At the time, the corpse had been stabbed several times, and due to blood loss, it was pale. There was a cross-shaped wound on her chest…

When this incident was mentioned, the entire live broadcast room erupted.

“Oh my, I’m getting goosebumps.”

“That’s right, I’ve seen the photos in the missing person notice. Jian Yunxi was indeed wearing such a white dress at the time.”

“Is this true or false?”

“Could someone deliberately have sent these things for delivery? If it’s a prank, it’s too disgusting.”

“But wasn’t the murderer caught in this case? It seems like they’re deceased?”

“Was that really the murderer? Didn’t that person’s mother keep protesting their innocence?”

At that time, Felin was in his senior year of high school and didn’t follow social news much; he had only heard about a girl being murdered. He quickly searched for the news at the time and, looking at the accompanying photos, Felin was so scared that he stood up from his chair.

The dress in front of him was indeed exactly the same as the one the girl had been wearing before she disappeared. The girl’s face in the photo was also identical to the one in the missing person notice. So this was the most terrifying box! He regretted doing this blind box live broadcast a bit.

Felin’s hands were trembling. “I’m sorry, everyone, thank you for watching tonight’s broadcast. I will call the police to investigate what happened today.”

He ended the broadcast, and Felin searched around again. There was no delivery number on the box, and there was a piece of paper attached to the outside of the box, printed with his phone number and name. This box had been placed on the receiving shelf by someone. He quickly dialed 110.

The spring was warm, and the weather was getting hotter. The morning sunlight poured in from the window, another sunny morning. Gu Yanchen got up early, got up to wash, slipped past the dog, made breakfast, and returned to the bedside.

Shen Junci was still asleep, so Gu Yanchen sat on the bed, looking down at him. Shen Junci was wearing a white long-sleeved pajama top, sleeping soundly on his side. His hand emerged from the blanket, and a segment of his white jade-like collarbone was visible, with a noticeable red mark on it.

Gu Yanchen reached out and gently touched his hair. Shen Junci’s bangs had grown a bit lately and were a bit messy after a night’s sleep. His eyelashes drooped, breathing shallowly, extremely quiet, but there was a hint of redness in the corners of his eyes. Gu Yanchen knew how that bit of red got there. When kissing, he was always very careful, and he was usually very gentle. But even if he was careful, he would occasionally accidentally hurt him.

Shen Junci would grit his teeth and not say a word, and sometimes Gu Yanchen would feel his body trembling. He would then reach out to his face and realize he was crying. He asked if he needed to be gentler, Shen Junci would silently take his finger into his mouth and gently bite it with his canine teeth.

Who wouldn’t like to see a cold and lonely beauty crying on the bed?

Looking at Shen Junci’s sleeping face, Gu Yanchen began to feel like there was a claw scratching inside his heart again. He reached out to pull up the blanket, and Shen Junci moved lightly. Gu Yanchen asked, “Did I wake you up?” 

Shen Junci opened his eyes and looked at the time. “It’s time to get up.”

Since his promotion, their work had become much busier, and there was definitely a lot of work waiting for them today.

“You can lie down for another five minutes,” Gu Yanchen suggested.

Shen Junci sat up. “No need, I have to get up in the morning and evening.”

“Then go wash up, I’ve made breakfast,” Gu Yanchen said.

After washing up and changing clothes, Shen Junci sat at the table drinking milk. He felt it was troublesome to change clothes at the City Bureau, so he had put on his medical examiner uniform this morning. To cover up the kiss mark, he even deliberately wore a tie.

Gu Yanchen remembered what happened last night and asked him, “Is it still hurting?”

Shen Junci shook his head, then explained, “I like moderate pain.”

Gu Yanchen’s gaze towards him changed slightly.

Shen Junci quickly explained, “Don’t misunderstand, it’s not that kind of special liking. I just feel that those pains are a part of me as a person and can give me a sense of being alive.”

He wouldn’t pursue that kind of pain, nor would he reject it when it erupted. He seemed indifferent, but sometimes he couldn’t control his tears, especially when the pain was severe. Tears would uncontrollably flow down, this physiological condition seemed to be called lacrimal incontinence.

Shen Junci wouldn’t reveal this in front of others, but he had no reservations about it in front of Gu Yanchen. Gu Yanchen looked at him in his medical examiner uniform, saying these things seriously, and just wanted to push him back onto the bed. Sensing something, Shen Junci stopped drinking his milk and lowered his gaze. Medical examiner Shen asked sideways, “Early in the morning, are you thinking of doing something bad?”

Gu Yanchen didn’t avoid it. “Thinking of you.”

“Are you trying to keep me from going to work? I’ll confiscate the tools of the crime later,” Shen Junci teased.

Gu Yanchen hugged his waist through the medical examiner uniform and asked back, “What will you play with after they’re confiscated?”

“Good point, then probation,” Shen Junci replied.

Gu Yanchen whispered in his ear, “My whole person belongs to you.”

Shen Junci was quite satisfied with this answer. He leaned over to kiss him, intentionally biting Gu Yanchen’s lips lightly. This kiss tasted like milk.

Jokes aside, the two of them didn’t end up being late for work. Before leaving, Gu Yanchen reminded Shen Junci to remember to take his medicine. When the car arrived at the City Bureau, Gu Yanchen dropped Shen Junci off at the entrance to the medical examiner’s appraisal center.

Before Shen Junci went upstairs, he saw Qi Yi’an coming down carrying an investigation box.

“Case solved?” Shen Junci asked.

Qi Yi’an said, “Teacher, the Sub-bureau applied for support from us. There was a sudden death at night, and they wanted us to help determine the cause of death. The other medical examiners are all busy…”

Shen Junci was afraid that he lacked experience and said, “Then I’ll go take a look with you.”

Medical examiner Shen skipped going upstairs and followed Qi Yi’an’s car directly. Gu Yanchen, on the other hand, went up to the criminal investigation building. There were already quite a few people at the criminal investigation team coming to work, all greeting him, “Good morning, Captain Gu.”

Gu Yanchen nodded to each of them. Just as he sat down, Captain Shao Zhen’en came over and said, “Captain Gu, early this morning, the duty detective here at the City Bureau received a case… It’s a bit strange.”

As he spoke, he handed over a stack of documents and briefly explained what happened in the live broadcast room last night to Gu Yanchen.

After flipping through them a few times, Gu Yanchen asked, “Jian Yunxi’s case? Can we find the delivery man?”

Shao Zhen’en said, “The box was delivered to the collection point by the sender themselves. We checked the surveillance and only captured their back. Currently, we can only confirm that it’s a man.”

Gu Yanchen then asked, “What about the items?”

Shao Zhen’en replied, “They’ve been handed over to the appraisal center. There were bloodstains on the items, so the authenticity should be determined soon.” He paused for a moment before adding, “The photos and information in the case file match very closely.”

Gu Yanchen couldn’t help but suspect that these items were indeed remnants of Jian Yunxi, rather than fabricated by someone.

Looking at the case file in front of him, Gu Yanchen furrowed his brows. The case from four years ago had long been closed, and the perpetrator at the time had already passed away. Previously, these pieces of evidence had eluded discovery, but now they were found in a blind box belonging to a livestreamer.