Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Xiao Yan, come over and help me stop him.”

I told Qi An’s friend to hold Zhou Yanqing down while I immediately called the police.

Those photos, that language-they shouldn’t be associated with minors.

Because it involved minors, the police arrived quickly.

One man, one woman.

The female officer seemed new to the job; she looked a bit nervous, her hands instinctively clenched into fists.

The male officer entered the room with a stern expression. The first thing he asked was, “Who called the police?”

I stepped forward. “I did.”

His eyes narrowed until the whites were barely visible as he introduced himself. “You can call me Officer Liu.”

Before I could speak, Zhou Yanqing stood up and proactively handed over his phone.

For the first time, this usually stubborn boy shed tears. “Auntie, please don’t make things hard for me, okay? I don’t like Qi An anymore.”

He sobbed out his accusations against me. Everyone present was around his age.

Almost instantly, the scales of sympathy tipped in his favor.

I stood there with my arms crossed, silent, as those filthy messages flashed through my mind.

He was even younger than Qi An, only fourteen. At an age where he should only be worrying about his studies, why was he in a group chat discussing such depraved topics?

I had thought he sent the photos just to lead my son astray.

But line after line in that chat made my skin crawl.

Qi An huddled close to me and whispered, “Mom.”

My heart nearly stopped. I steadied my voice and asked, “Did you ever send him any private photos of yourself?”

Only when I heard his “No” did I finally catch my breath.

Qi An looked up at me. “What’s wrong? You’ve taught me since I was little that I can’t just show myself to others.”

I stroked his head. “That’s right.”

A group of children gathered around me. The female officer approached. “The behavior you’re concerned about is called ‘remote cyber-molestation.'”

Enticing or coercing minors into taking nude selfies, sending private photos to minors, engaging in sexually explicit conversations with minors…

All of these fall under remote cyber-molestation.

As soon as it came to professional knowledge, she seemed like a different person. Her gaze became firm and natural.

Officer Liu ignored us and turned to ask Zhou Yanqing, “Do you know the people in this group?”

“Yes, they’re all my friends.”

Officer Liu quickly finished reviewing the chat logs. He first tried to soothe me. “I understand your heart as a mother, but we cannot make a judgment based solely on a group chat. There is no evidence of enticement or coercion of a minor here.”

I didn’t know the specifics of the law; I just knew that as a minor, he shouldn’t be doing these things.

“We will investigate further.”

I took a step forward, my anger nearly reaching a boiling point. “Is this not enough? Those photos are right there in the group! If this isn’t enough, what is?”

Zhou Yanqing suddenly spoke up. “We’re all doing this voluntarily. No one is coercing anyone.”

“Everyone in the group is my friend. We’re having a meal together tomorrow; I’ll call them all out.”

The next day, Zhou Yanqing actually showed up at the restaurant with eleven other children his age.

There were boys and girls.

The youngest girl was only ten years old.

The female officer crouched down to ask her, “Do you know why you’re here?”

She answered timidly, “To eat with my friends.”

The officer asked carefully, “How do you all know each other?”

She answered truthfully, “We met online. We show each other the photos we take.”

“Are you doing it voluntarily?”

“Yes, voluntarily.”

After saying that, she hung her head and explained, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know we weren’t allowed to take those photos.”

Zhou Yanqing chimed in from the side.

Officer Liu handed the phone back to him and said to me with a grim face, “Minors these days know more than you think. There are no adults in this group. At most, we can only give them a verbal warning.”

The entire group chat consisted of nothing but minors.

There was no enticement, just a group formed by minors out of curiosity.

Zhou Yanqing disbanded the group chat right in front of the police, and that was how the matter was settled.

As Officer Liu got up to leave, the female officer gave me a small smile. “It’s good to stay vigilant.”