The story takes place in the present day in a typical industrial city. Its landscape includes both an old machinery district and a newly built government center, creating a society where traditional manufacturing and the modern bureaucracy intertwine. The civil service exam is an important path for the city’s young people to change their fortunes, while the discipline inspection and supervision system, the core department overseeing those in power, is both secretive and fraught with tension. Currents of intrigue run beneath the surface of officialdom, and intricate webs of connections tie everyone together. Every decision affects the interests of many different parties. Against this backdrop, an ordinary person enters the system and faces the clash between ideals and reality, and the choice between principle and compromise. Every step he takes could set off a chain reaction and alter the course of his own life and the lives of others.
