Chasing the Undercurrent

Chang Zheng (常征, played by Huang Jingyu) is the deputy head of the criminal investigation brigade in Changwu, a small city. For years he has looked into the Zhao family, led by Zhao Xiaosheng (赵啸声), whose influence reaches into local business and the police. When prosecutor Zhao Pengcheng (赵鹏程) is murdered, every clue seems to point at Chang himself, and he has three days to find the real killer and clear his name.

Above him, a secret investigation team sent by the provincial criminal investigation corps, led by Yan Guohua (严国华, played by Li Youbin), works a parallel, hidden line of inquiry. Chang is paired with the officer Jin Yan (金燕, played by Gai Yuexi). On the other side, Zhao Pengchao (赵鹏超, played by Yang Youning), a lawyer who has returned from abroad and looks mild, takes a larger role in the family's affairs. The story also reaches back to an old unsolved case from 28 years earlier, connected to a mining accident, which ties together two generations of officers.

The series was directed by Tian Yi (天毅) and Yi Yong (易勇), produced with iQIYI and filmed in Changzhou, Jiangsu, between October 2021 and January 2022. It began streaming on iQIYI on August 25, 2022. The city and its crimes are fictional.

China Youth Daily summarized the premise as two generations of public security officers rooting out a criminal gang. Qilu Evening News singled out the many ensemble scenes and the much-discussed moment in which the family's "protective umbrella" of corrupt insiders is shown through a set of 54 playing cards. Screenwriter Liu Hongyan (刘红焰) said that twists work only if each one carries useful information, rather than reversing for the sake of it.

As for reception, Qilu Evening News reported in mid-September 2022 that the series' heat index on iQIYI was about to pass 10,000 and its Douban score stood at 7.2.