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

He Jianjun's name has been entered into the new personnel list, but the contact number and current whereabouts are still blank.

Song Lan, a day shift worker in the Infection Control Department, dragged the night shift schedule of Ruicheng Logistics to the center of the screen.

Ruicheng Logistics is responsible for transporting patients and moving equipment within the hospital. Employees are scheduled by an outsourced company, and many of them do not have hospital employee numbers.

She dialed the duty phone number at the bottom of the night shift schedule. The person who answered the phone identified himself as Jiang Lixin, the on-site supervisor of Ruicheng Logistics stationed at the First Municipal Hospital.

What time did He Jianjun leave this morning?

"The shift ends at eight o'clock, and after signing, he leaves." Jiang Lixin had just finished speaking when he added, "Did he not deliver the items properly? Old He is a bit slow, but he wouldn't forget anything."

"Put those things aside for now," Song Lan continued, "We can't get through to He Jianjun on his phone. Do you have any records of him being discharged from the hospital?"

Lin Ye also retrieved the access control records for the four commonly used exits of the hospital.

Du Guoping could be found in the east employee passage, but He Jianjun's name never appeared.

A line of light blue text appeared at the edge of my field of vision.

Key gaps: outsourced transportation, logistics loading and unloading channels, and actual discharge time.

"Do you have a shuttle bus after your night shift?" Lin Ye moved the record from the east passageway aside. "After He Jianjun signed out, which exit did he use?"

Jiang Lixin paused for a moment, and the sound of papers turning could be heard beside him: "The company has paper return forms. He signed it at 8:06, and wrote 'taking the shuttle bus' afterward. The bus departed from the logistics loading and unloading area at 8:15 and took him to the Chengnan dormitory."

Ma Hao immediately added two times to the watch and then asked, "Could you send me the license plate number and driver's phone number now?"

"Yes. Tell me what happened first, so I can explain to my subordinates. They thought we were going to dock their pay when we suddenly showed up."

Avoiding the patient information, Song Lan asked him to send the pick-up and drop-off records, the passenger list, and He Jianjun's dormitory room number all at once. Jiang Lixin responded and promised to send them back within five minutes.

Lin Ye reported the surveillance camera number at the logistics loading and unloading area to Song Lan: "The employee access control can't find him, but the shuttle bus leaves through the logistics entrance. We need to check the vehicle registration and the footage there together."

Song Lan turned and contacted security, asking the staff on duty to retrieve the logistical access records from 8:00 to 8:30. She reported the license plates, number of passengers, and departure times that needed to be verified.

A few minutes later, Jiang Lixin's message arrived first.

A white seven-seater van departed at 8:15 AM, carrying five people including the driver. He Jianjun was listed first on the list, with the destination listed as the Chengnan Staff Dormitory. The other three night shift workers were from the cleaning and patient transport departments, respectively, and their respective job descriptions and handover records were also sent along with the list.

The security footage quickly picked up where they left off. At 8:13, He Jianjun came out of the logistics building carrying his work clothes and put his water bottle in his car first. The gatekeeper chased after him with the shuttle bus schedule, and he turned back to sign it. Two minutes later, the bread truck drove out of the loading dock.

"The discharge time matches up." Ma Hao filled in the footage time and company records into the form. "The person should be in the dormitory."

Song Lan glanced at the names of the other three people: "Register these people in the car first, and then check who has been to the relevant areas separately. We can't just put them in the contact list because they rode in the same car as He Jianjun."

Ma Hao responded and moved the names that he had originally planned to write in the same column to the area awaiting approval.

Jiang Lixin had already asked the dormitory manager to knock on the door. He Jianjun's phone was charging on the bedside table and on silent mode. He was sleeping soundly and it took quite a while for the knocker to wake him up.

The call that came back was made from the administrator's mobile phone.

He Jianjun spoke with a nasal tone, still sounding like he had just woken up: "My phone isn't broken, how did you find my dorm to look for me?"

"Your number has been unanswered," Song Lan identified herself. "Last night around 10 PM, did you and Du Guoping go to the emergency CT scan lane together?"

"I went there. The oxygen cylinder was by the wall, and the person on the other end of the video called for someone to return it. Old Du pushed it in front, and I held the cylinder. He signed the papers when we got there."

"How long were you stopped in the passageway?"

"It only took a few minutes, I put it away and left." He Jianjun immediately followed up with, "What exactly happened? Did you also contact Lao Du?"

Song Lan shifted the focus back to last night: "There's a risk of infectious disease in the relevant area, so we need to verify your protective measures and departure route from the hospital. What kind of mask were you wearing? Did you use any gloves?"

"I wore a disposable medical mask and gloves while pushing the bottle. After returning to the logistics building, I threw the gloves into the medical waste bin and washed my hands before changing my clothes."

"Did you go anywhere else in the hospital after changing your clothes?"

"I didn't go. I took the company shuttle back to the dormitory, and no one got off along the way. I live on the second floor, room 206. When I came back, my roommates had already gone to their day shift, and there was no one in the room."

Jiang Lixin confirmed over another phone call that the dormitory manager had asked He Jianjun to stay in the room and put his mask back on. Song Lan reported the dormitory address and contact number to the local CDC, who then arranged for personnel to come to the room for assessment and sampling.

Upon hearing the words "sampling," He Jianjun's voice immediately became anxious: "I'm perfectly fine now, I don't even have a cough. I even have a shift scheduled for this afternoon, do you want to go?"

"Don't go back to work this afternoon," Song Lan replied. "Do you have a fever, cough, chest tightness, or fatigue right now?"

"No, not at all. I just got off the night shift, does being sleepy count?"

"Sleepy doesn't count. Take your temperature first, and tell the dormitory manager the result. Follow the instructions from your local authorities for further arrangements; don't try to take a bus back to the hospital on your own."

After the phone call ended, Ma Hao changed He Jianjun's current whereabouts to "Chengnan Staff Dormitory, to be assessed by the local authorities".

Song Lan called Du Guoping back. Local personnel had found him outside the Chengnan Bus Station and were verifying the situation. Du Guoping is currently being assessed as an exposed individual; local authorities have not yet initiated passenger tracking for bus route 17, but the bus number information remains in the route log.

Ma Hao stared at the five-person passenger list sent by the company, raised his hand to rub the back of his neck: "None of the four night shift workers on the shuttle bus are in the hospital's access control system, but they're all on the company's list. If I hadn't found the oxygen cylinder return slip, I still wouldn't have been able to get back to He Jianjun."

Song Lan saved the night shift schedule in a separate folder: "Separate the company schedule and the hospital schedule, and clearly state the source."

The intercom on the desk suddenly rang.

As soon as Ma Hao answered the phone, Zhou Min's voice came through: "Is Song Lan there?"

Song Lan picked up the receiver: "Yes."

"The municipal CDC just returned the second official result. Gao Limin's re-collected sample showed clear amplification of both targets, and the conclusion was positive for novel coronavirus nucleic acid. Shao Dequan's sample showed a single target abnormality, and it is still being re-extracted and retested."

The printer was still feeding paper, but Ma Hao's hand was still on the mouse.

Zhou Min then instructed: "Gao Limin will continue to be isolated for observation, and Gao Yuan's symptoms and tests will be reassessed by the fever clinic's day shift. The existing lists should not be merged for now. The routes of Xu Wenliang and Gao Limin should be retained separately, and common locations should be listed separately."

Song Lan agreed.

The fever clinic also informed Gao Yuan at the same time.

Gao Yuan remained in the separate observation station, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt wrapped in a thin blanket provided by the hospital. The attending physician relayed Gao Limin's results to him via intercom.

There was a few seconds of silence on the intercom. When Gao Yuan spoke, he asked about his own inspection.

"My multi-sample test last night came back negative. Does that mean I'm not infected?"

"That test checked for common pathogens on the panel, which is different from the items reviewed by the municipal CDC this time," the attending physician replied over the intercom. "You still have a fever and live with your father, so you'll remain in the observation area. The fever clinic will take a new sample, and the testing and follow-up arrangements will be determined jointly by the infectious disease department and the local authorities."

Gao Yuan held his father's X-ray slip, looked down at it for a few seconds, and asked, "My dad has hearing problems. Will he be able to understand the results when the doctor tells him?"

"The bedside doctor has already explained that we will communicate with your family again regarding the subsequent transfer and treatment. Please keep your phone accessible and make sure you wear your mask properly."

Gao Yuan folded the retrieval slip back into its original crease and put it back into the file bag. He couldn't see his father through the two doors, and he didn't ask to go over again.

On the administration building side, Shao Dequan's entry was still marked as "single target abnormality pending review." Song Lan clicked on his family information; Shao Kai's location was listed as the eighth floor, orthopedics department.

"Keep adding to the outsourced personnel list." She forwarded the family information to Lin Ye and Ma Hao, "The ward's information also needs to be re-verified."

Ma Hao turned to a new page and wrote down a name first.

Shao Kai.