Her colleague Jun laughed. "Probably a glitch. Or a virus."

She clicked unzip.

"Qun xing" — "many stars." A group of artists, unannounced. No press release. Just a password-protected RAR file.

And Lin Wei? She kept the RAR file on a hard drive labeled “Winter Stars.” Every December 13 after that, she’d listen to track 07 alone in her apartment, watching fog creep across her window, grateful that some gifts come locked — not to keep you out, but to make the opening feel like magic.

The next day, KKBOX officially announced the surprise compilation. The password 聚 trended on Weibo. Fans unraveled the puzzle together, sharing theories about each anonymous track.

Inside were 12 tracks, all untitled, numbered 01 to 12. No metadata. No album art. But the artists’ folders were there — some of the biggest names in Mandopop, plus three indie newcomers she’d never heard of.

But Lin Wei was a music journalist. She couldn’t resist. After an hour of digging, she found the password hidden in a KKBOX Taiwan Instagram story — a single Chinese character: 聚 (gathering).