Everything went downhill from there. A Special Investigation Bureau in a different jurisdiction had reached out to the police stations all over the country with the details of a cyber theft.
Earlier, the police had traced the money influx in the Zhang conglomerate and discovered it came from an unknown source so they received a warrant to call Zhang Jun in for questioning.
The business behemoth kept his mouth shut all through the period of the questioning, claiming that the money came from one of the Zhang family's savings account overseas. On the other hand, the hackers kept prodding to uncover the source but this morning, the connection was suddenly cut off.
Not just that, the information they'd gathered from the Zhang head office building was wiped off, they inserted a back up flash drive and its contents were wiped too. This left them with just one flash drive that they didn't dare use.
Once that was gone, their entire investigation would cease since they were pretty sure that the information in the Zhang head office systems must have been wiped clean.
At that point, they had to let Zhang Jun go. No evidence meant no case and it was illegal to withhold an innocent man in the station. Well innocent until proven otherwise.
They were still cracking their brains over the new development when the news from the Special Investigation Bureau came in. The police squad in charge of the case did not dare to hope but they reached out to the SIB anyways.
It was impossible to send the files in the flash drive over since they were scared of it getting wiped out so they invited the SIB unit over. Luckily, the unit was in the neighbouring state so it didn't take long for them to fly in.
It turns out that this team has been in correspondence with the FBI abroad over a similar case. The amount that had been swiped abroad wasn't much and all clues pointed to China so they contacted the Chinese government.
The SIB had been on this case for a while so when they arrived and saw the contents of the flash drive, they knew they'd found a breakthrough. They did not fail to notice Li Shiyu's and Zhang Ye's connection to this.
When they FBI were investigating the case abroad, they'd thought the culprit was Li Shiyu but after further investigation, they discovered that the omega had no background whatsoever in hacking so they moved their focus elsewhere. No one thought to check out a bunch of kids.
After the SIB looked through the files, they decided to investigate the kids as well. They weren't hoping for much so imagine their shock when they discovered Zhang Ye had been in a hacking competition two years ago. Coincidentally, that was the same period a newbie hacker cut through the hacking world like a tsunami.
Putting two and two together, the found more clues linking this five year old with the new top hacker. They were stunned. Was this really a five year old? If they weren't investigating a crime they would have been awed by the kid's talent.
With this new found pathway, they revisited various sites and tracing the money heist was much easier. At this age, cyber footprints were actually one of the hardest footprints to wipe clean. They would always be a loophole so it didn't take long to find proof.
They needed to bring in that child and Zhang Jun. Li Shiyu could escape easily as there was no evidence of his involvement but Zhang Jun had pooled the money into the Zhang conglomerate. There was no way he could defend himself.
He Yuan stepped back after seeing the ID. The police men and SIB unit walked in.
"We have a warrant issuing the arrest of Mr. Zhang Jun for money laundering," The leader of the squad said whilst flashing the warrant. "We also need the child Zhang Ye to come with us for scrutiny." They weren't going to arrest Zhang Ye, he was a child and very much underage.
His actions were most likely influenced by the adults around him and seeing that he turned out to be the son of Zhang Jun, the men were all eyeing the alpha with disdain. Pushing your own child into such a risky affair, all for what?
Their reasoning was very off but there was no other explanation and seeing as Zhang Jun had eagerly pooled the money into the Zhang conglomerate, they all blamed him for Zhang Ye's actions.
Li Shiyu's eyes widened. "No. What do you mean you need my child and Zhang Jun?" The Zhang madam nodded along and the family head placed a hand against his palpitating chest, the older alpha did not need any more triggering occurrences at this moment.
Zhang Jun glared at He Yuan. He was going to handle the omega later. He looked over to the leader of the squad and arched his brow. "Officers, I thought we were already done with this? You all seem to have forgotten the might of the Zhang family seeing as you've been constantly coming in here laying false accusations."
The alpha was quite confident. They came last night but the evidence had 'suddenly disappeared.' They probably never had any evidence in the first place! So this was probably just a desperate attempt to faze him. They were only bluffing.
Zhang Jun's calm manner caused the others to also calm down and the family head glared at the officers. "Truly bold, do you dare think we wouldn't take actions? This is clearly defamation of character! We'd see what your superiors have to say about this." The older alpha proceeded to dial a number.
The squad leader smiled. "I'm afraid that won't be necessary, we're from the SIB and don't answer to the police."
The inhabitants of the Zhang mansion except He Yuan were all frozen stiff. The SIB? This was serious. Their eyes trailed to Zhang Jun who stood there open mouthed.
"W.. What?" The alpha squeezed out.
"We just need your cooperation and we also sincerely hope you remain silent as every wo-" The squad leader suddenly paused and his eyes trailed to a wall where three little heads were peeking from behind. "I'm guessing one of them is Zhang Ye?"
Li Shiyu's eyes widened and tears streamed down his cheeks as he rushed over to grab his son. "Leave my son alone, he's just a child!"
The squad leader raised his hands, palms facing front. "Relax, we wouldn't dare arrest a child. We're only taking him in for scrutiny and this would be in the presence of his legal guardian and lawyer."
Li Shiyu choked out at they cuffed Zhang Jun and walked him out. The alpha was too stunned to struggle. 'I.. I'm his legal guardian." He looked to the Zhang madam and family head. "Mother... Father..."
The Zhang madam rushed over to hug Li Shiyu while the family head glared at the officers before nodding at the omega. "Don't worry, I'm already contacting our team of lawyers, everything would be fine."
Li Shiyu nodded weakly and just as he was about to pick Zhang Ye up, Zhang Hua rushed over and started pulling on her brother as she cried loudly. "No! Don't take Ye Ye away. Daddy don't let them take Ye Ye." Zhang Ye was also crying as he gripped his sister.
The kids may not understand what really was going on but the reaction of their adult family members was enough to scare them.
"Hua Hua don't cry, I'm going to bring Ye Ye back okay?" Li Shiyu placated the child but this only made the little girl cry harder and pull on Zhang Ye's hands with even more force. The Zhang madam had to hold on to Zhang Hua in order to pry the little girl away.
The ring on Zhang Ye's thumb slipped away with Zhang Hua's fingers and flew to the centre of the living room. Zhang Ye became stiff all of a sudden and then looked around with clear innocent eyes, the kid was confused.
No one paid attention to the ring except Zhang Di, who had been standing motionlessly by the wall... And 888, who gasped as the ring hit the ground.
[He Yuan, get that ring.] The system said quickly. He Yuan rushed to the ring the same time Zhang Di did. The kid was closer so he reached the ring first. He Yuan scoffed as he picked up the kid and plucked the ring from his chubby fingers, slipping it into his own pocket.
The Zhang madam pat Zhang Hua's back as she glared at He Yuan. "Li Yexi, what is the meaning of this?"
He Yuan rocked Zhang Di in his arms and said sadly, "Zhang Ye and Zhang Hua both have someone comforting them, neglecting Zhang Di like this, must have made him sad."
Li Shiyu eyed He Yuan and looked at his child. "Di'er, come here, both you and Zhang Hua can come with us."
The kid in He Yuan's arms glared at He Yuan and turned to his daddy with teary eyes. "He took Zhang Ye's lucky ring."
"Why would-"
"We don't have any more time to waste." The squad leader cut Li Shiyu off. The omega nodded and turned to glare at He Yuan. He was pissed at his cousin's behaviour but handling this issue with Zhang Ye was more important. Not to mention Zhang Jun was already on his way to the station.
It was just a ring, he could get many more for his kids. He was aware that Li Yexi was only doing this to make trouble. Li Yexi was probably gloating over his predicament in his mind. No, he would not give his cousin any more reason to mock him secretly.
"Come here Di'er, we'd get it once we get back."
The kid glared at He Yuan with a manic look in his eyes. Next, he whispered in a scratchy voice, "If I don't get the ring once we return... I will kill you."
Next he wiggled out of He Yuan's arms and walked over to his daddy.