When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

The red "passed number" marker on the queuing screen was still flashing.

The nurse who came to help later that night handed over the payment slip; the corner of the paper was folded, and the edges were damp with a thin layer of sweat.

"Li Wencheng, 52 years old, had registered for the gastroenterology emergency room. We called his name three times but no one answered. His family member next to him said he went to the toilet."

Qin Hai had just finished a ten-minute phone call with the interventional department, and his voice was still hoarse. He took the form but didn't rush to the toilet.

"Who was the last person you saw?"

The woman in the black coat in the waiting area hurriedly stood up: "I'm his sister. He said he felt nauseous and needed to go to the restroom to vomit. I thought he'd be back in a bit."

"How long have you been gone?"

The woman glanced at her phone, her fingers clenching tightly: "Ten, ten minutes or so."

Qin Hai's face darkened: "You only said it after more than ten minutes?"

The woman's voice trembled with anxiety: "He used to vomit a lot when he had an upset stomach. I called out twice at the men's restroom entrance but no one answered, so I didn't feel comfortable going in."

Lin Ye had been chased to the door of the duty room by Qin Hai, but when he heard the words "no one answered," he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Qin Hai didn't even turn his head: "Go to sleep."

Lin Ye gripped the doorknob without moving: "I'll just help you check the time."

Qin Hai scolded in a low voice, "You even need to find a reason to sleep now, huh?"

Zhou Min, the deputy director of the emergency department, had just come over from the nurses' station, still clutching an unfinished triage verification book. She glanced at the two of them and stopped them from arguing: "I'll go check over by the restrooms. Lin Ye, stay here and make sure you understand the payment time, the call number record, and the last place you appeared."

Qin Hai then relented: "Zhou Min, take two people with you, along with security guards and male nurses. Don't go into the cubicle alone."

Zhou Min slammed the triage verification book onto the nurses' desk: "Male nurse, come with me. Security guards, clear the passage outside the restrooms first. The triage desk will call out numbers normally. Don't let the people waiting crowd around and cause trouble."

As soon as he finished speaking, the security guard started walking towards the restroom, and the male nurse casually dragged the gurney against the wall.

Li Wencheng's sister wanted to go with him, but Nurse Zhao stopped her, saying, "Don't rush in. You won't be able to help and will only block the way. Hold your phone tight. Answer it immediately if he calls you."

The woman gripped her phone, her palms sweaty. "He...he won't be in trouble, will he?"

Nurse Zhao stared at her: "Don't panic. Besides stomach discomfort, has he mentioned chest tightness, dizziness, sweating, numbness in his hands, or black stools?"

The woman paused for a moment, then said, "He said he felt nauseous and his chest felt tight, saying it might be because he was hungry and hadn't eaten."

Lin Ye bent down and quickly wrote on the back of the payment slip:

Nausea, chest tightness, went to the toilet but did not return, last seen about 15 minutes ago.

A light blue notification popped up at the edge of the field of vision.

[Emergency Room Warning: Risk of incomplete closed-loop management. Find someone first.]

Lin Ye suppressed the rising anxiety and added four more words: The person has not been found.

Soon after, a security guard's shout came from the direction of the restroom: "The men's room is empty!"

The woman's face turned pale instantly: "Nobody's here? Where did he go?"

Zhou Min's voice came through the intercom, steady and clear: "Is the cleaning room next door locked?"

The security guard replied, "It's not locked!"

A few seconds later, the soft sound of a door hinge turning came through the intercom. Zhou Min's voice instantly tightened: "He's here, sitting against the wall. Tell him he's slow to react. Bring the trolley over. Don't let the family members crowd him."

People in the waiting area all looked up.

Qin Hai shoved the payment slip back into Lin Ye's hand: "Remember the location where you found it."

Lin Ye responded and wrote: Inside the cleaning room next to the men's restroom.

When Zhou Min and the male nurse helped the man out, Li Wencheng was covered in sweat, his coat was soaked, his eyes were a beat slow, and he was clutching a transparent medicine bag in his hand.

The woman rushed forward like a madwoman: "Brother!"

Zhou Min first reached out to stop her: "Don't shake him."

The male nurse had already wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his arm, and his voice clearly announced, "Blood pressure 98/60, heart rate 52."

Lin Ye didn't rush to make a diagnosis; instead, she stared at the medicine bag in his hand. Underneath several strips of blood pressure medication was a small medicine bottle with a worn-out label, only the first two characters were still legible: Digoxin.

Nurse Zhao leaned over and took the medicine bag: "Digoxin?"

The woman was stunned: "It seems to be heart medication. He used to have a fast heartbeat, and the doctor prescribed it."

Qin Hai asked in a low voice, "Have you increased your dosage recently? Have you mentioned feeling nauseous, dizzy, seeing yellowish light, or having a slow heartbeat?"

The woman was stunned by the question, and after a long while she shook her head: "He's been saying he has no appetite and feels nauseous these past few days, and that the lights are too bright. I thought it was a stomach problem acting up."

Lin Ye wrote down these pieces of information one by one, and the blue frame in his field of vision lit up again.

[Risk escalation due to incomplete closed-loop management: Patients leaving the waiting area are advised to undergo ECG, electrolyte, and renal function tests, and to clarify medication timing.]

Lin Ye looked away and pushed the medicine bag in front of Qin Hai, speaking steadily: "Director Qin, the patient is slow to respond and has a low heart rate. The medicine bag may contain digoxin. First, do an electrocardiogram, draw electrolytes, and check kidney function. Also, find out when the medication was taken."

Qin Hai glanced at him, but this time he didn't scold him. He nodded and said, "I'll write it into the record. Let's proceed according to this for now."

Zhou Min had already pushed the stretcher towards the red zone: "Don't put it back in the waiting area. The triage desk should change his status to red zone pending evaluation."

The woman followed behind, her voice trembling violently: "Didn't he not have a number? He was already on the screen just now."

Nurse Zhao stepped on the brakes of the stretcher and pointed to the payment slip in her brother's hand: "It's not that there were no numbers available. It's that the person wasn't caught."

As soon as the monitor was connected, a low alarm sounded and the heart rate dropped to 48.

Li Wencheng slowly raised his eyes, paused for a moment, and asked in a trembling voice, "Did I just fall asleep?"

Qin Hai ignored him, reached out and ripped off the ECG paper he had just spat out, his brows furrowing instantly: "Push the red zone resuscitation bed, don't throw away the medicine bag, and have the family come over to sign."

The glaring number 48 on the monitor was still flashing, and the wheels of the empty bed in the red zone made a soft rumbling sound as they rolled over the floor. The call number screen continued to scroll as usual, and no one knew that just over ten minutes ago, a patient had almost disappeared into the cleaning room next to the toilet.