APP: Chapter 58 Part 2

Xie Chi opened his eyes again and found he was in a small room less than 10 square metres in size. The light in the room wasn’t good and it was hard to see things. The room smelled of instant noodles and the clothes on his body were very cheap. It seemed that the character’s financial situation wasn’t very good.

The walls of the room were covered with bloody posters: headless schoolgirls, female ghosts crawling on the ground like snakes, skulls… There were also many small photos related to horror on the windows.

His career couldn’t be seen by looking and he was quite poor.

The phone rang in due time.

[You are a horror anchor who explores the horrors of supernatural events in the exploration channel of a live broadcast platform. It is 8 o’clock in the evening. This is your live broadcast time. Please open the live broadcast room.]

Live? Xie Chi paused. So the lights in the room and the messy things on the wall should be deliberately placed to create a scary effect.

[Your live broadcast time is from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day. During this period, for the viewer who gives you the highest gift, you have to go to the scary location they propose and experience the horror incident.]

[The personal setting of this short movie isn’t important. Just play a good ‘anchor’. Active actions will speed up the progress of the plot.]

Xie Chi understood. He exited the app according to the instructions and opened the live streaming software on his phone. His username in the live broadcast room was… Bachelor Brothers. Brothers? Xie Chi frowned. It seemed he had an NPC companion who should appear at any moment.

Xie Chi walked to the table and sat down. He straightened his hair in front of the camera and opened his mouth with a calm expression. “Welcome to the live broadcast room of Bachelor Brothers. New friends who are here to subscribe, stay with us at 8 o’clock every night. This live broadcast room explores the supernatural and unearths horror. Why do heads appear in a pickled vegetable jar? Why is there so much faint breathing coming from the home of a 90 year old man and why do salted ducks hanging on the clothes pole turn into a dead body? This anchor will reveal it for you one by one.”

Xie Xinglan, “……”

People entered the live broadcast room one after another.

“Ahhhh, a handsome anchor. Hey… is this a supernatural channel?”

“Go to the face value channel. This anchor, I will take care of you!”

“A good-looking person…”

[Hey, I’m unhappy. It feels like the live broadcast screen has stolen our role.]

[Ding ding.]

[An anchor who experiences horror in a horror movie hahahaha.]

[Above person, a matryoshka doll is prohibited!]

Xie Chi glanced at the rewards list and found that the highest amount this week was only 500 yuan. The total on the rewards list for this week was only more than 1,000 yuan. The platform took half of it so his character only earned a few hundred yuan a week.

The exploration channels were like this. Some might seem popular but they actually didn’t make money. They couldn’t compare to the face anchors.

Xie Chi thought about the task requirements and wanted to speed up the process. He gave a deep smile. “I have no work tonight. Is any boss willing to take me? Just get to the top of the rewards list and I am at your disposal tonight. I will let you choose the location and deliver myself to your door immediately. You just need to bring your own items.”

“The anchor is making p*rnography!! Report it!!”

“I think he will make more money as a male prostitute than exploring horror.”

“Is there a boss? 500 yuan for a night!”

Xie Chi had just finished speaking when a meteor shower appeared in the live broadcast room. The meteor shower made the deserted live broadcast room lively. More people flocked to the live broadcast room to pick up the gifts brought by the meteor shower.

“Wow wow wow! 2,000! Fu*k, a boss!”

“Really?”

“F*ck, 500 is enough yet they gave 2,000? Aren’t they afraid the anchor won’t go? Such a big face?”

Xie Chi was a bit surprised and looked at the boss’ ID:  Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka.

It looked like a horror enthusiast. Xie Chi smiled. “Where does the boss want me to go?”

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka posted an address on the barrage screen. Xie Chi immediately switched out of the barrage to search for it. This place was in the suburbs not far from where he lived. It would take 10 minutes by bike.

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: Open the door and receive the courier.

Xie Chi was taken aback. “What?”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“He didn’t post himself a beautiful woman right? The local tyrant beauty delivering herself to the door late at night??”

“Ahhh, knocking on the door at night is terrifying, especially this type of door without a peep hole.”

Xie Chi checked it was okay with the live broadcast room and walked calmly to the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly while saying in his heart, “Brother.”

He was a bit afraid to open the door.

Xie Xinglan replied, “Yes.”

The door opened and there was a courier in a green uniform outside. The courier looked at the name on the box and asked, “Are you Xie Chi?”

“Yes.” Xie Chi sighed with relief.

The courier tore off the list and gave the box to Xie Chi. Xie Chi took the box and saw the courier turn to leave. He stopped the courier with a smile. “Master, it is so late. You shouldn’t be delivering at this time?”

The courier was an old man and he replied sincerely, “The person asked me to be here on time today at 8:05 p.m. They gave me an extra 200 yuan.”

“I see.” Xie Chi nodded while pretending to be amazed. Then he temporarily closed the microphone of the live broadcast room and asked the courier, “Master, did they call you to give the instructions? Was it a girl? I don’t know who sent me something. They might want to surprise me so I want to guess who it is.”

The ID of the boss in the live broadcast room should be female but it might be a strong man pretending to be a girl. It was necessary to understand the situation of the boss. After all, this was a person who wanted him to go to a supernatural place to experience a horror event. Perhaps they had an ulterior motive or it was related to a supernatural event.

Thoughts were flashing in Xie Chi’s mind while the courier tried to remember. “No, it wasn’t a phone call. They sent me a message and then transferred the money through Alipay.”

So the gender and age of the boss was unknown.

Sending a message instead of calling… there was a suspicion of hiding their identity. However, this was only a suspicion. He couldn’t rule out that this person had social fright and didn’t like to make calls.

The sender’s phone number was hidden on the courier’s list. Xie Chi’s eyes moved and he pulled back the courier who was leaving. He spoke in an embarrassed manner, “Master can I trouble you for a small matter?”

“What is it?” The courier was a good old man who liked talking.

“Can you call them back and say thank you? Just use the number that they used to send you the message.”

“Yes.” The courier was a bit impatient but still took out his phone and called. 30 seconds later, it was unexpectedly unable to connect. The other side had shut off the phone.

Xie Chi didn’t have any expectations. Now that he saw the result, he just smiled. “Thank you Master.”

The courier left. Xie Chi closed the door, opened the microphone again and sat down at the table to open the box.

“Ah, a midnight express delivery, how exciting! I’ve seen this section many times!”

“Hey, it’s a bit strange.”

“Why does the anchor live in such a small place? He is so handsome. How is he poor…”

Xie Chi opened the box and there was disappointment in the live broadcast room. There wasn’t anything strange in the box, just a rag doll. Xie Chi saw the doll in the box and his pupils shrank. This was the rag doll that he saw in the initial room.

“Hey, look at this doll carefully. It’s actually quite scary!”

The doll in the box was beige and it wasn’t big. It was the size of a 1/6 scale BJD (ball-jointed doll). There was cloth on the outside and the inside was cotton wool, making it soft to touch. Unlike ordinary dolls, the facial features of this doll were very human-like. It didn’t have the big eyes, small nose, and unusually small mouths of normal dolls. The proportions were completely in accordance to human standards. These facial features were good when placed on a person but on a doll’s face, the eyes would appear extraordinarily small and the face extraordinarily empty.

According to the uncanny valley effect, humanoid dolls shouldn’t be as human as possible. Before a certain threshold, human-like dolls were cute. Once they exceeded a certain point, they were creepy. This rag doll looked too human.

Xie Chi followed his previous memory and touched the stitches on the doll’s back, only to be stunned. Previously, he touched it and there was obviously something hard hidden in the doll. Now there was nothing in the stitching.

“Why did the boss give the anchor a doll? Wasn’t he supposed to go explore a supernatural event?”

“Wow, the boss is going to embrace him tonight so she prepared it.”

“Hey, this doll…”

Xie Chi calmly held the doll and smiled at the live broadcast room. “Boss, is this doll for me?”

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: I would like to invite you to play a hide and seek game at the address I gave you before.

He suddenly heard the name of the short movie ‘Hide and Seek’ and asked quietly. “Hide and seek?”

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: Yes.

“Who is catching me?” Xie Chi joked.

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: A ghost.

Xie Chi’s face changed slightly but the live broadcast room was full of laughter.

“Where is the ghost? Hahaha, I’m laughing to death. This is really interesting!”

“I kind of like it!”

“There is an atmosphere! The boss is awesome!”

“Isn’t the anchor talking? Go on, explore the supernatural!”

Xie Chi raised the doll in his hand to the camera. “Then this doll?”

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: Prepare a bunch of hair, a small handful of rice, and a small nail. Then use scissors to cut the sutures on the back of the rag doll and stuff these things in.

Sister Sadako’s sister Sayaka: After doing this, go to the address I gave you and the ghost will come to catch you.

---

Proofreader: Purichan