They crossed the uneven grassy slopes and the rattling stream, and came to the opposite side of the narrow black stone bridge. Yan Junli opened the car door first and sat in.

"Let's settle down around here today and stay for the night."

"The navigation says there is a hotel at the intersection not far ahead." Li Hong said while looking at the mobile phone navigation, "It's just a little smaller." ”

"Do you expect to live in such a poor and remote place?" Yan Junli shrugged, "Let's go." ”

This small hotel at the junction is only two storeys high, next to a petrol station. Yang Wenbin looked around, although the hotel was a little smaller, but after walking in, he found that it was still quite clean. Behind the counter sat an old lady with gray hair, and in front of the counter stood a slender woman.

The woman's back seemed to be a little familiar, and Yang Wenbin felt so for a moment.

"Hello, we booked." Yan Junli stepped forward and said to the old lady.

The old lady raised her head and pushed her fingers through the reading glasses on the bridge of her nose, "What room do you want to book?" Now there are not enough rooms, there is only one standard room, and this young lady has just ordered a standard room. ”

Yang Wenbin and Yan Junli subconsciously turned their heads to look at them, and the woman also happened to turn her head to look at them. At this moment, both parties were stunned. The woman opposite them did not wear makeup, a pair of willow eyebrows were just rightly bent, and a pair of Danfeng eyes were bright, with long hair and a shawl, and a light-colored dress, which had a natural charm and beauty.

This was a far cry from the last time they met, but Yang Wenbin still recognized it at a glance.

"Poppy!"

"Doctor Yang?"

Both of them were surprised, and Li Hong was even more stunned, "You, you are a poppy?" Oh my God, it's a big gap from what we met before. ”

"Why are you three here?" Poppy was surprised.

"Investigate the case. What about you? Yang Wenbin asked.

"Work." Poppy replied ambiguously, "I didn't expect to meet you here, it's really ......"

"It's fate, isn't it?" Yan Junli raised his eyebrows and bumped Yang Wenbin's shoulder, getting an unceremonious roll of the latter's eyes.

"So, several, how are your rooms going to be decided?" The proprietress behind the counter probably got a little impatient and asked.

Yang Wenbin was about to speak, but was preempted by Yan Junli's loud voice, "We want a standard room!" ”

Yang Wenbin glared at him, "A standard room? ”

Yan Junli had an upright face, "I slept with Xiaohong." ”

Li Hong obviously hadn't reacted yet, "Huh? So what about Dr. Yang? ”

Yan Junli laughed, took the room card from the proprietress and pulled Li Hong up and ran, "Then I don't care!" Please ask Dr. Yang to figure it out by himself! ”

"Hey, you!" Yang Wenbin stood in place and was extremely embarrassed, as if he was not going to stay. Just as he turned around, thinking about whether to change the hotel altogether, Poppy suddenly said in the back,

"Doctor Yang, where are you going? Let's go, go upstairs. ”

"Huh?" Yang Wenbin coughed dryly, trying to hide his embarrassment, "But ......"

"What is it?" Poppy smiled slightly, less demonic from the last time they met, and more natural charm. She reached out and patted Yang Wenbin on the shoulder, "Standard room, two beds." What are you afraid of, I won't eat you again. ”

After Poppy finished speaking, he went upstairs without looking back, as if he was sure that Yang Wenbin would definitely follow. Yang Wenbin looked at her back and reluctantly followed.

"Where did you go when the skeleton thing was over?" As soon as Poppy opened the door, Yang Wenbin asked bluntly.

"You're really not interesting at all. It's the same as before. Poppy shook his head, walked to the table and poured two glasses of boiled water, one cup was handed to Yang Wenbin, "What's the matter, did you miss me after I left?" ”

Yang Wenbin frowned, he didn't plan to talk to the woman in front of him, "No." It's just that from the position of the person concerned, I feel that I need to ask. ”

"Work." Poppy shrugged his shoulders, but didn't mean to explain, "You have your job, I have mine." ”

"Then you came here this time to work, what kind of work needs to go to such a poor and remote place?" Yang Wenbin asked.

"Then what kind of case needs you to come to such a remote place to investigate?" Poppy asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow.

Yang Wenbin sighed in his heart, knowing that if he didn't explain the reason clearly, the other party would not give the truth.

"From this intersection to the east, there is a very old manor. The couple at the estate disappeared last week, initially by the police in City B, but they were never found. Then just yesterday, Yan Junli and I received a call from a little boy asking for help at the same time, and Yan Junli's director suspected that it was a murder case, so we came to investigate. We came back from that manor just now, and we did find some clues, and we should have a bigger harvest when we visit again tomorrow. ”

"But how did that little boy know about your phone number with Yan Junli?" Poppy asked.

Yang Wenbin looked at the poppy from the corner of his eye, hesitating to tell the truth to this woman. Poppy's expression was very natural, not so much that she was deliberately clichéd, but that she was like a giant python with confidence, quietly and patiently waiting for Yang Wenbin to send the truth into her mouth.

"The boy told us later." Yang Wenbin said, "The person who called us was a young man named Xia Baiyan. ”

Poppy's eyes lit up obviously, and she immediately turned her head to look at Yang Wenbin, "Xia Baiyan? Are you sure? Do you know who this is? ”

Yang Wenbin sighed and nodded, "Well, we have dealt with him and have been played very badly." ”

"So, you know he's the Joker?" Poppy asked.

Yang Wenbin nodded slowly.

"I don't know why it came to us, but since the first case I investigated with Yan Junli, this name has been with us." Yang Wenbin took a deep breath, "That feeling is very bad, it's like-"

"It's like there's always someone watching you." Poppy interface.

Yang Wenbin looked at her in surprise and nodded a little heavily, "It's like ...... We don't know anything about it, and it already knows everything about us. ”

Poppy smiled and opened the conversation,

"Clowns are very strange in Western culture. Clown performances have appeared in Egypt as early as 2500 BC, and its purpose is to entertain the public, so the performance is honest and funny. But strangely, 80% of people's first impression of a clown is not funny or funny, but weird. Have you ever seen a clown's face? With a white face, red lips, exaggerated eye makeup and a huge nose, it's like coming from another world. Some say it's because clown shows have been a shadowy, reflection of social reality from the very beginning. Human beings' own pathologies, including overeating, lustful thoughts, anger, ...... So, that's what the 'Joker' has been doing, collecting the darkness of humanity, using it and turning it into a joke. ”

Yang Wenbin was a little creepy when he heard it, "...... Joke? ”

"The death of mankind, the blood, the corpses, the hatred of the heart...... For them, it's just a joke. "They are happy offenders, and they kill or incite others to kill just because they feel pleasure, and there is no other reason for them to do so." ”

Yang Wenbin couldn't help but say, "How is it possible-"

Poppy nodded, completely extinguishing the little hope left in Yang Wenbin's heart, "There are indeed such people in the world, and with all due respect, there may be much more than you think now." The Joker is a secret organization that is active internationally, and no one knows when they were founded or who they are. I also know very limited to what they like to be active behind the scenes of some homicides, through which the 'dark web' is connected to each other. ”

"The dark web?" Yang Wenbin obviously hadn't heard of the term.

Poppy looked at the doctor helplessly, "What age is it now, you should know a little bit about modern things." ”

This sentence made Yang Wenbin blush a little, but before he could open his mouth to refute, Poppy continued to speak.

We also call it the dark web or the deep web, which generally refers to the deep web on the Internet that cannot be searched by standard search engines. Poppy said, while stretching out his hand to gessy, "Let me tell you this, if all the networks in the world are a huge ocean now, Baidu, Google, Sogou and other search engines are cruise ships on the sea." Cruises can help you grab any web page on the surface of the sea, but you can't dive into the water. If the web page we can browse at will now is the surface of the sea, the dark web is the bottomless deep sea under the surface of the sea. ”

Yang Wenbin frowned and nodded as if he didn't understand.

"Access to these hidden deep networks often requires specific 'keys'. It's the same with the Joker's network, if you can't get the 'key', you can't get in. Poppy sighed, "And that's what I'm doing this time." ”

"Get the key to the dark web?" Yang Wenbin asked.

Poppy nodded and said, "It all started more than ten years ago. We've been tracking down the Jokers since a long time ago, but we've been unsuccessful. The Joker is very cautious and will never give away any information easily, but luckily, there was a woman who knew the 'key' at that time and we caught her. But no matter how hard she was tortured, she just didn't reveal the slightest information. Half a month later, she fled and disappeared. Then, just a few days ago, my boss suddenly learned that the last place she disappeared was around here and sent me to investigate. The woman was probably dead, otherwise she would not have revealed her whereabouts easily with her caution. But if you can find her traces, there is hope that the 'key' will be recovered. ”