Punishment

This novel is adapted from the original screenplay of the same name by screenwriters Liu Hongyan, Ding Liangcheng, and Xunjian, with Zhang Chenggong as script supervisor.

In Changwu, a small city and the front line of a dangerous battle, Chang Zheng, deputy captain of the criminal investigation squad, is swept into a web of turmoil after pursuing the powerful Zhao family for years. Prosecutor Zhao Pengcheng is brutally murdered, and every clue points to Chang Zheng. He has three days to find the real killer and prove his innocence. The Binjiang Provincial Criminal Investigation Corps sends a secret team to investigate the Zhao family. Yan Guohua, known as the “godfather of the police force,” devises a two-pronged approach, one overt and one covert, and secretly helps Chang Zheng uncover that Zhao Pengchao, the Zhao family's fourth son, is the mastermind behind a series of new conspiracies. As the truth comes to light, it reveals not only a cold case from twenty-eight years ago, but also the mystery of Chang Zheng's origins.