We asked you to make an anti-corruption film, but you made one in the name of the people!

Lin Mo sat down and took a deep breath.

Then he created a new document, placed his fingers on the keyboard, and began typing.

It's not the official script, it's just an outline.

But he had too much on his mind, and he couldn't suppress it all; it all came out in one morning.

Gao Qiqiang is a fishmonger in the old factory street market. His parents died early, and he raised his younger siblings on his own.

He gets up at three in the morning every day to buy goods, is bullied by market administrators, and is extorted for protection money by thugs. He lives like a subservient grandson.

On New Year's Eve in 2000, he was taken to the police station for fighting and met criminal investigator An Xin.

An Xin felt sorry for him and gave him a plate of dumplings in the interrogation room.

That was the best meal of dumplings Gao Qiqiang had that year.

But if that were all, he wouldn't be the Gao Qiqiang he became later. He started by using An Xin's relationship to bully others and tasted the sweetness of power. Then, step by step, he went from being the one who was bullied to the one who bullied others.

He went from being a fishmonger to becoming the biggest gangster boss in Jinghai City.

He wasn't born a bad person; he was forced into that state by his environment. That's what's truly chilling—you watch him slide down step by step, and while you can understand each step, every step is a crime.

An Xin is different.

He was a passionate and idealistic policeman who believed that justice would always prevail over evil.

But reality slapped him in the face time and time again—witnesses were killed, evidence was destroyed, colleagues were sacrificed, and superiors put pressure on him.

He watched Gao Qiqiang transform from a fishmonger into a big boss, yet he couldn't do anything about it. His comrades fell one after another, and his hair turned from black to white, but his eyes never changed.

Twenty-one years later, he went from a junior policeman to a white-haired veteran, and finally sent Gao Qiqiang to prison.

The script features more than a dozen characters.

Besides Gao Qiqiang and An Xin, there is also Li Xiang, An Xin's partner, a policeman from a poor background who struggles between justice and reality and ultimately sacrifices himself.

Chen Shuting, Gao Qiqiang's wife, her death was the turning point that led to Gao Qiqiang's complete descent into darkness.

Gao Qisheng, Gao Qiqiang's younger brother, was greedy, arrogant, and self-righteous. In the end, he died by his own hand.

Uncle Tai, the old godfather of the Jinghai underworld, gave Gao Qiqiang a chance, but also turned Gao Qiqiang into a monster.

It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon when Lin Mo finished writing the last word of the outline.

He didn't send it to Director Wang immediately, but read it through first, corrected the typos, and adjusted the structure.

Then I saved it, generated a PDF, and sent it to Director Wang.

Less than twenty minutes later, Director Wang called: "Xiao Lin, come to my office."

Lin Mo hung up the phone, picked up the printed outline, and went upstairs.

Director Wang sat behind his desk, the computer screen in front of him still lit, his face expressionless.

When Lin Mo knocked and went in, he was staring intently at the outline.

"Sit down," Director Wang said, gesturing to a chair.

Lin Mo sat down and placed the printed outline on the table.

Director Wang didn't look at the printed draft, but stared at Lin Mo, remaining silent for a few seconds before speaking: "Lin, tell me the truth, how long did it take you to write this outline?"

"One morning."

"One morning?" Director Wang's voice rose half an octave. "You wrote about a character's transformation from a fishmonger to a gangster over a span of more than a decade in just one morning?"

Lin Mo nodded. Director Wang looked at him for a few seconds, then didn't ask any further questions. He picked up the printed manuscript on the table and flipped through a couple of pages.

"Gao Qiqiang." Director Wang read out the name, then looked up at Lin Mo. "Your main character is a triad boss. Are you planning to let the audience watch from beginning to end how a bad guy rises to power?"

Lin Mo shook his head: "Director Wang, he's not the main character, An Xin is."

Director Wang frowned: "Then why did you write so much about Gao Qiqiang?"

Lin Mo sat up straight: "Director Wang, if a film about cracking down on organized crime only shows how the police catch bad guys, the audience won't like it. Why? Because the audience already knows that the police are good guys and the bad guys are bad guys; there's no suspense. But if I show the audience how Gao Qiqiang became a bad guy—he used to be a good guy, but he was bullied, suppressed, and driven to the brink of despair, sliding down step by step—the audience will think, 'If it were me, would I become like that?' This kind of fear is more powerful than a simple sense of justice."

Director Wang's brow remained furrowed, but he did not refute her.

Lin Mo continued, "Moreover, the stronger Gao Qiqiang becomes, the greater An Xin becomes. It took a fishmonger twenty-one years to become a gangster boss. A policeman chased him for twenty-one years, his hair turned white, his hands trembled, and his comrades sacrificed their lives, but he never gave up. After watching the show, the audience will feel that this policeman had it so tough. He didn't just catch an ordinary bad guy, but an opponent a hundred times stronger than him."

Director Wang remained silent for a moment, his fingers tapping lightly on the table. Lin Mo knew he was weighing the pros and cons; this balance was crucial—if not handled well, the audience would feel it was glorifying organized crime, but if handled well, the drama would become a benchmark for anti-organized crime dramas.

"How do you plan to film Gao Qiqiang?" Director Wang finally asked.

Lin Mo answered decisively: "Film it about why he went down this path, how he gradually sank deeper and deeper, and his final fate. Let the audience see—this path is a dead end; once you're on it, there's no turning back."

Where is An Xin?

"Film how he persevered, how he sacrificed, how he persisted when everyone else gave up." Lin Mo paused. "Director Wang, the core of this drama can be summed up in one sentence—justice may be delayed, but it will not be absent. After watching 'Raging Storm,' viewers won't want to be Gao Qiqiang because they know that the end of that road is prison. They will remember An Xin because that white-haired policeman made them believe that there are still people in this world who uphold justice."

Director Wang looked at Lin Mo, remained silent for several seconds, then closed the outline and placed it on the corner of the table.

"Keep writing. When will the complete script be out?"

Give me a week.

"Okay." Director Wang stood up. "Show me when you're done writing."

Lin Mo stood up, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Director Wang, aren't you worried about the issue of appropriateness?"

Director Wang glanced at him, his tone calm: "The scale isn't the issue, the direction is. I've remembered what you said—justice may be delayed, but it will not be absent—just remember that when you're filming."

Lin Mo nodded: "Understood."