CTRL - Season 1

A young Zhou Zhi Ping becomes an orphan when his parents died in a car accident. After receiving training from "Santa Claus", he becomes a genius hacker. He sets up Team "Zero" that specialises in stealing and selling confidential information to help their clients solve problems. Concurrently, he is also tracking the whereabouts of "Santa Claus" to uncover the truth behind his parents' deaths.

Si Yun appears to be an Internet celebrity, but she is also a master hacker. She bears a grudge against the swindler, Zi Han, upon exposing his online scams. She attends her best friend, Kai Le's wedding. The groom, Daniel, who has once pursued her but is rejected, pesters her. Zhi Ping, who is at the hotel to track down "Santa Claus", witnesses the scene and helps her out of the predicament.

Si Yun successfully tracks down the IP address of the party who attacks her online, breaks through their firewall and finds out their location. She discovers Zi Han is the attacker, and just when he is being cornered, "Santa Claus" appears and rescues him. While Si Yun is tracking "Santa Claus" down, she encounters Zhi Ping, who is also pursuing "Santa Claus"...

To help young master Shao Guang succeed the chairman position, Zhi Ping successfully influences Director Lu to change his stance from supporting Shao Qiang to supporting Shao Guang instead. With the help of "Santa Claus" on the day of the voting, Director Lu starts to suspect that he is under someone's manipulation and that all the news about Shao Qiang are fake.

"Santa Claus" tells Zhi Ping how he has manipulated Director Lu and declares that Zhi Ping too has fallen into his trap. Zhi Ping remains undaunted. Chairman He wakes up and casts a key vote, supporting Shao Guang to succeed his position. It turns out that he already knows of Shao Qiang's unscrupulous behaviour and hires Zhi Ping to help Shao Guang. "Santa Claus" thus fails his mission.

A video of Zhi Ping supporting Si Yun into the hotel leaks online, causing Si Yun to receive malicious comments once again. He apologises to her and expresses his willingness to compensate for her ordeal. She requests for him to join her live broadcast to clear the air. Unexpectedly, they are unable to calm the netizens down. Zhi Ping gets anxious and lies that both of them are dating.

En Zhe finds out that Huang Xue Zhong is the one who has impersonated as Zero to participate in the hackers' competition. By impersonating as Zero, he hopes to attract attention and get recruited into the team. Zhi Ping tells him he will consider letting him join the team if he completes a task. In the second round, Zhi Ping uses an alias "Matrix" and works with him to advance in the competition.

Si Yun traces Zi Han's hiding place to an orphanage. Yi Ming goes to nab him but he escapes. Si Yun investigates the orphanage's Director, suspecting that he is "Santa Claus". She finds out by accident that Zhi Ping has also grew up there so she suspects that Zhi Ping and Zi Han are accomplices, shocking her. On the other hand, Zhi Ping also starts to suspect that the Director is "Santa Claus".

Zhi Ping tracks down the orphanage's Director and confirms that he is "Santa Claus". Zhi Ping asks him to keep his word and tell him how his parents have died. The Director guiltily reveals that his parents have died because of him. Zhi Ping wants him to make amends for his doing. The Director suddenly dies from poison which he has taken earlier, leaving Zhi Ping grief-stricken over his death.

Zhi Ping falls ill so he asks En Zhe to meet a client, Qiao An Na, on his behalf. An Na reveals she is being blackmailed, and if she refuses to pay, the extorter will disclose that the father of her child is someone else. She says that her husband should never find out about it. Realising that their client is An Na agitates Xiao Feng who orders En Zhe to not take up the case but she ignores him.

To find out if Zhi Ping and En Zhe are criminals, Si Yun looks for Zhi Ping, telling him that she wants to do a live broadcast to announce their break up. During the broadcast, they reveal their true feelings, especially Zhi Ping, who shared that the happiest period of his life was with Si Yun. Seeing how in love they are with each other, netizens ask them not to break up.

Zhi Ping confesses to Si Yun and is frank with her that he has low self-esteem due to his disability. He says that he does not dare to reveal his feelings for her so he asks En Zhe to pretend to be his girlfriend to make her give up on him, stunning Si Yun. To investigate more about Zhi Ping, Si Yun does not reject him immediately and suggests that they should stay as friends first instead.

Si Yun asks Zhi Ping and En Zhe out for a meal. En Zhe thinks that Si Yun is still suspicious of their relationship so decides not to attend. Zhi Ping tells Si Yun that En Zhe has something on so she cannot make it. Unexpectedly, En Zhe and Xue Zhong show up as a couple, shocking him. Si Yun takes the opportunity to know En Zhe better and is surprised to find out that En Zhe is a Wushu coach.

Knowing that a mysterious man is threatening An Na, Zhi Ping asks her to lie about being blackmailed and thus finding Zero for help. He works with her to uncover the man's identity. The mysterious man, Uncle Gui, calls An Na. She drags the time for the team to trace his location. The vigilant Uncle Gui hangs up the call so Zhi Ping only manages to trace the call coming from Si Nuo Ao's network.

Someone tampers with Si Yun's car which loses control and explodes. Zhi Ping risks his life to save her and is now unconscious. His act touches Si Yun who confesses to him and hopes that he will regain consciousness soon. Wen Dao reveals to her that he discovers Uncle Gui colluding with hackers, and decides to find him to give him a chance to explain himself. Si Yun is worried about his decision...

An Na's husband, Tian Jian, meets Xiao Feng and confesses that he has long known that You Xiang is not his biological son. He states that An Na and You Xiang are the most important people in his life, begging Xiao Feng to not take them away from him and says that he is willing to fulfil any of his requests. In a fit of anger, Xiao Feng asks for all of his assets. Unexpectedly, he agrees to it.

Zhi Ping has a new client, Zoey, who is an artiste. Just when she is about to hold a concert, her agency receives an extortion email asking for $500,000, else the extorter will reveal that Zoey has suffered from a sexually transmitted disease. Zhi Ping appoints En Zhe as Zoey's bodyguard. Zoey's spirit of pursuing her love without having any regrets inspires En Zhe to confess to Zhi Ping.

Zhi Ping is suspected of murdering Zoey and hurriedly flees. Si Yun discovers that Zhi Ping is hacker Zero, shocking her. She sneaks into his house to find evidence of his crimes. AI Emily reveals herself and shares with Si Yun the reason behind Zhi Ping becoming a hacker and that she firmly believes that Zhi Ping did not murder anyone. Si Yun thus decides to pursue the truth.

With Emily's help, Zhi Ping infiltrates into Si Nuo Ao to find evidence but realises that he has fallen into a trap and has no way of escaping. Just when he is panicking, "Ghost" appears and rescues him. Zhi Ping does not know that Si Yun is "Ghost" and asks her why she is helping him. Si Yun does not answer him directly but only warns him to stop doing illegal activities in the future.

Xue Zhong sneaks into Alex's ward to kill him. Unexpectedly, the other party overpowers him. It turns out that Zhi Ping has disguised himself as Alex. The police arrests Xue Zhong. It turns out that Zhi Ping is suspicious of Xue Zhong and not En Zhe but he puts on an act. He pretends to fall out with En Zhe and under Xiao Feng's arrangement, he disguises himself as Alex to bait Xue Zhong.

Zhi Ping successfully rescues Xue Zhong. He leads them to find En Zhe who is at her last gasp. Zhi Ping keeps his word and releases him. He sends an encrypted message to seek help from Wen Dao. Wen Dao agrees to meet him but sends his assistant, Xiao Yang, to kill him instead. Thankfully, he escapes. Recalling how Wen Dao adopts him and trains him to become a hacker deepens his hatred for Wen Dao.

Zhi Ping is heart-broken when he discovers that Si Yun is Wen Dao's daughter and that Wen Dao is responsible for his parents' deaths. Si Yun meets Zhi Ping to explain herself and he confirms her identity to be "Ghost". Zhi Ping points out that she intentionally gets close to him as she wants to nab his cybercrimes, and to think he wants to quit being a hacker and live an ordinary life with her...

Uncle Gui's son passes a letter from Uncle Gui to Zhi Ping and he finally understands the whole situation. Wen Dao arranges to meet him and even admits to his deeds. Wen Dao suggests working together to achieve the unfulfilled dreams of Zhi Ping's mother. He agrees to work with Wen Dao. Unexpectedly, Wen Dao threatens him with the lives of Xue Zhong, Xiao Feng and En Zhe, putting him in a dilemma.

Wen Dao brings Zhi Ping to his childhood home and asks him to crack the password to an old computer to access his mother's research report. Zhi Ping recalls his mother teaching him how to play the piano, which leads to him successfully cracking the password to the computer. Just when he is negotiating the terms with Wen Dao, Si Yun rushes over and asks Wen Dao not to trust Zhi Ping.

Si Yun conspires with Zhi Ping to make Wen Dao reveal his true colours, making him furious. Seeing that Zhi Ping has cracked the password, Wen Dao grabs Si Yun and threatens him. He does not expect Wen Dao to threaten him with his daughter's life. This also hits Si Yun hard. To save her, he gives in and puts his gun down. Can Zhi Ping turn the tables? How will Wen Dao's fate unfold?