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

The day shift in the emergency department changes hands promptly at 6 p.m.

When Lin Ye and Ma Hao led the two resident trainees out of the hospital, it was already getting dark.

The evening breeze dispelled the early autumn heat and also eased the suffocating tension in the emergency room lobby.

"I can't take it anymore, I need to eat something good to calm my nerves." Fang Rui rubbed his still aching stomach. "Teacher Lin, Teacher Ma, it's my treat today! Let's go to 'Old Zhao's Barbecue' on the back street, let's have a feast!"

"Come on, you're just a resident trainee with a fixed salary. You should save it for rent. This meal is on me." Ma Hao put his arm around Fang Rui's shoulder without any hesitation. "Besides, your RRT team really made our emergency department look good today. Even those arrogant general surgery bosses were much more polite to us when they passed by our observation area this afternoon."

The four of them chatted and laughed all the way, and turned into the most popular barbecue restaurant on the back street of the hospital.

The sizzling sound of the oily pork belly on the charcoal wire mesh, mixed with the aroma of cumin and chili powder, instantly whetted everyone's appetite.

While flipping the grilled meat, Tang Wen grumbled to Ma Hao, "Teacher Ma, that 'empathy technique' you taught me backfired today! An old man complained that the oral liquid for clearing heat and detoxifying was too bitter and insisted on getting a refund at the triage desk. I tried to empathize with him, saying, 'Sir, I understand, this medicine is indeed hard to swallow.' And guess what? He went along with it, saying that since even the doctor found it hard to swallow, it must be a defective product from the pharmaceutical company, and he insisted that I change it to a sweet one!"

"Pfft!" Ma Hao almost spat out the mouthful of barley tea he had just drunk, slapping his thigh and laughing wildly, "Little Tang, Little Tang, I asked you to empathize, not to give up your bottom line!"

"So how should I reply?"

Tang Wen humbly sought advice.

"You have to use magic to defeat magic." Ma Hao picked up a piece of golden-brown roasted pork belly and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing with gusto. "Next time, just tell him this: 'Sir, the medicine is only reimbursed by medical insurance because it's bitter. If it were sweet, it would be a drink, and you'd have to buy it from the convenience store across the street, all out of pocket. If you find it too bitter, I'll return the medicine for you, and you can go buy a couple of bottles of iced tea to cool down,'"

Tang Wen's eyes widened as if she had opened the door to a new world, and she quickly jotted down this "non-standard clinical guideline" in her phone's notes app.

Fang Rui, sitting opposite him, appeared unusually quiet.

He was holding a large bottle of orange juice and carefully pouring it into a disposable plastic cup.

His gaze was fixed on the glass, and he muttered to himself, "Ten milliliters... twenty milliliters... Stop!"

The wrist was extremely steady, and not a single drop of juice spilled.

Lin Ye couldn't help but laugh when he saw Fang Rui's appearance: "Fang Rui, are you pouring juice or preparing saline solution? What, are you still suffering from the aftereffects of that vial of amber choline today?"

Caught off guard, Fang Rui scratched his head sheepishly and put down the orange juice bottle. "Teacher Lin, please don't make an example of me. This afternoon, I was practicing intubation on a mannequin in the control room, and my hands were shaking. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Chen Kai's face turning purple in the corridor, and the muscle relaxant in my hand that almost killed him. I think I might have clinical PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)."

"That's a good thing." Lin Ye raised his glass and clinked it with his. "All good doctors are scared by the fatal mistakes they almost made. Knowing fear means that a safety valve will automatically pop up in your mind before you use any high-risk drugs in the future."

"This glass must be offered to Teacher Lin."

Fang Rui picked up the juice and drank it all in one gulp with utmost seriousness.

"Speaking of which, you guys really stole the show on the eighth floor today." Ma Hao peeled a clove of roasted garlic and leaned mysteriously closer to the center of the table. "But do you know why, when you pressed the elevator button today, that medical elevator was able to clear all the floors along the way and send you up like a rocket?"

Tang Wen was immediately drawn to the gossip: "Wasn't it because you swiped the RRT access card?"

"The access card itself is static, but the power struggle behind it is dynamic," Ma Hao said in a low voice. "This afternoon, I went to the medical affairs department to submit the quality control form and overheard people discussing it privately. Do you think this RRT access just fell from the sky? At the hospital administration meeting a couple of days ago, Director Qin almost got into a fight with the logistics department and other departments in the conference room to get the highest dispatch authority for this elevator for our emergency department!"

Everyone stopped eating.

"The logistics department complained that we were interfering with normal bed transfers, and other departments felt that the emergency department was overstepping its bounds," Ma Hao vividly imitated. "And guess what Director Qin said? Director Qin slammed a stack of death case analysis reports on the table, pointed at their noses, and yelled: 'If a patient on the eighth floor dies because my doctor couldn't wait for the elevator on the fourth floor, will the death certificate be signed by the emergency department or your logistics department?'"

Hearing this, Lin Ye paused slightly in the hand holding the grilled meat.

He recalled that morning, in that desperate situation in the psychiatric corridor where there was no resuscitation equipment, if the elevator hadn't arrived precisely within thirty seconds, Chen Kai wouldn't have made it to the EICU for dialysis.

These young people fighting on the front lines always believed that as long as they had excellent medical skills, they could save everything.

Little did they know that in those unseen administrative barriers and procedural quagmires, Qin Hai acted like a giant umbrella, shielding them from all the open and hidden attacks, and forcefully tearing open a green channel for them without any obstacles.

"So, our director may seem serious at first glance, but he's actually the most protective of his own in the whole hospital," Ma Hao remarked. "Cheers! To Director Qin's desk!"

The four plastic cups collided together, making a crisp sound.

As night deepened, the customers in the barbecue restaurant came and went in waves, and the surroundings were filled with the noise of drinking games, drinking, and boasting.

This is a type of white noise that is extremely relaxing.

Lin Ye leaned back in the plastic chair, his eyes slightly closed, savoring this rare moment of comfort.

The brain, which had been working at a high intensity for a long time, finally got a moment's rest.

Just then—

"Buzz—buzz—!"

A sudden, extremely strong, short, and muffled vibration pierced through the surrounding noise and rang out at an extremely close distance.

It was a conditioned reflex that lasted almost a fraction of a second!

"Whoosh!"

Lin Ye and Fang Rui were as if they had been struck by a high-voltage electric shock; their previously relaxed backs instantly straightened, and their pupils contracted sharply.

With terrifying speed, both of their right hands simultaneously slapped towards the location of the RRT pagers clipped to their waists!

Even their breathing was completely held at that moment.

Sitting opposite them, Ma Hao and Tang Wen were startled by their synchronized, almost special forces-like reaction, causing the meat they had just picked up to fall onto the table.

"What...what are you two doing?" Ma Hao stammered.

Lin Ye's hand rested on his waist, touching a quiet plastic casing. There was no alarm, and the pager was off.

Fang Rui was also stunned, and looked around in a cold sweat.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call." At the next table, a shirtless man picked up an old-fashioned knock-off phone with a loudspeaker from the wooden table and pressed the answer button.

The buzzing sound that was so similar in frequency just now was the resonance produced by the knock-off phone vibrating on the solid wood table.

The air froze for a full three seconds.

"..."

Lin Ye slowly released his hand from his waist, let out a long breath, and rubbed his temples with a hint of helplessness.

Fang Rui, on the other hand, slumped into his chair like a deflated balloon, panting heavily: "That scared me to death... I even planned out how many joules the defibrillator would use..."

"Hahahaha!" Ma Hao finally realized what was happening, pointing at the two of them and laughing so hard he was doubled over, tears almost streaming down his face. "You two's stress response is absolutely amazing! This is what happens when you join the 'Special Forces'!"

Tang Wen couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

The little incident at the barbecue stall was resolved amidst laughter.

Lin Ye looked at his colleagues laughing and a relieved smile appeared on his lips.

He picked up his juice again, listening to the boastful bragging of the guy at the next table.

This "occupational hazard" of becoming tense at the slightest movement may accompany him for many years.

But this was not a torment; rather, it was an invisible medal that would forever remind him.

Once he put on that white coat, his nerves became inextricably linked with those fragile lives.