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

Monday night shift.

In front of the central island in the emergency red zone, Lin Ye wore a stethoscope, and below his name tag on his chest was a striking red horizontal stripe label—Head of Emergency Room A Team.

The gurney of the ambulance slammed open the door with a dull thud of rubber scraping.

"A pregnant woman in her 30s suddenly experienced severe upper abdominal pain accompanied by continuous vomiting for two hours! Heart rate 115, blood pressure 130/85!"

On the gurney, a heavily pregnant young woman was curled up in pain, clutching her stomach tightly with both hands, her hair matted together with cold sweat on her forehead.

"Transfer to bed two in the red zone! Put him on cardiac monitoring and give him oxygen!"

Fang Rui immediately stepped forward and helped him onto the bed.

Lin Ye walked quickly to the bedside and reached out to touch the pregnant woman's abdomen.

There was no obvious abdominal muscle tension, but there was extremely intense tenderness below the xiphoid process, and the pain even radiated down to the back.

"What did you have for lunch?"

Lin Ye pressed on the chest while asking questions of the family members.

"I...drank a big bowl of pork rib soup and ate a few pieces of braised pork. Doctor, could it be that I ate something bad and it upset my stomach?"

The husband was pacing anxiously beside her.

"Sister Zhao, draw blood urgently! Complete blood count, full biochemistry panel, amylase and lipase tests, plus arterial blood gas analysis!" Lin Ye ignored the family's speculations and gave the doctor's orders directly. He then turned to Fang Rui and instructed, "Bring the bedside ultrasound over."

Two minutes later.

Nurse Zhao was holding several vials of blood that had just been drawn, preparing to put them into the test kit, when she suddenly stopped.

She held the biochemical vacuum blood collection tube up to the operating light, her brows furrowed deeply: "Lin Ye, something's wrong with this blood."

Lin Ye turned his head to look over.

The blood in the test tube had only been left to stand for less than three minutes when it began to separate into bizarre layers visible to the naked eye.

Above the dark red blood cells at the bottom, floats a thick layer of milky white, turbid liquid, resembling milk.

Fang Rui gasped: "Milk blood?"

"Chelochemical blood drawn due to hyperlipidemia." Lin Ye stared intently at the layer of white fat. "Hormonal changes during pregnancy, coupled with a high-fat diet, caused her triglycerides to spike. The radiating abdominal pain below the xiphoid process is not ordinary gastroenteritis; it's gestational hyperlipidemia-related severe acute pancreatitis."

High blood lipids clog the microvessels of the pancreas, causing the pancreatic tissue to frantically secrete digestive enzymes, essentially digesting its own body.

This is an extremely dangerous acute abdominal condition in late pregnancy. Once it triggers systemic inflammatory response syndrome and changes in vascular permeability, it can lead to the death of both mother and child at any time.

Sure enough, the pregnant woman's breathing rate on the monitor had soared to 26 breaths per minute.

Deep within his vision, the countdown numbers silently appeared:

【02:15:00】

The time limit is more than two hours.

"Make an emergency consultation with obstetrics, general surgery, and ICU."

Lin Ye decisively gave the order.

Ten minutes later, the phone at the nurses' station turned into the most frantic football match.

Fang Rui gripped the receiver, his face growing increasingly grim.

"The on-call obstetrician said that the fetal heart rate is currently stable, the cervix is ​​not dilated, and there is no indication for obstetric surgery. Severe pancreatitis is a surgical emergency, and the obstetrics department cannot control pancreatic necrosis and systemic infection. They requested that the patient be transferred to the general surgery department for conservative treatment!" Fang Rui reported, covering the microphone.

Lin Ye pressed the speakerphone button and dialed the internal line directly to the general surgery on-call center.

"This patient absolutely cannot be admitted by general surgery!" The on-call general surgery chief physician sounded utterly helpless. "Mr. Lin, she's thirty weeks pregnant! Severe pancreatitis can't be controlled without strong antibiotics and massive fluid resuscitation, but all of these medications are contraindicated for pregnant women! If fetal distress or stillbirth occurs in the ward, we in general surgery can't afford the blame. Just transfer her to the ICU!"

Lin Ye cut off the internal line and then dialed the ICU.

"It's not that I'm making excuses," the second-line ICU doctor sighed on the phone. "Our department is fully equipped with critical care life support equipment, but we don't have a fetal heart monitor or any obstetric nurses. If we bring in a 30-week-old fetus, I wouldn't even be able to see if it's oxygen-deprived. The risk is too great. Have the obstetrics department perform a C-section first, and I'll bring the mother in immediately for resuscitation!"

Obstetrics is promoted to general surgery, general surgery is promoted to ICU, and ICU requires obstetrics to perform cesarean section first.

Everyone is trying to circumvent the core medical regulations and avoid the red lines of their department's practice.

In this uncertain medical environment, the safety of the fetus hangs like a Damocles' sword over every department.

The reasons are all correct and there are no flaws.

But the pregnant woman lying on the second bed was breathing more and more rapidly, and her heart rate had climbed to 125.

"Teacher Lin, what should we do? None of the three hospitals will admit us. Should we just tough it out in the ER?"

Fang Rui was sweating profusely with anxiety.

Lin Ye looked at the continuously ticking timeline [02:12:45].

If he were still that second-line resident physician, he would have no choice but to continue calling each department, pleading for vacancies, and even asking his own department head to coordinate beds with the head of the department opposite.

But he is now the lead doctor for Group A in the emergency room.

Lin Ye walked to the main control panel at the nurses' station, lifted the transparent protective cover, and pressed the red broadcast button for the hospital's emergency call system.

"Emergency Red Zone: Initiate multidisciplinary resuscitation for pregnancy complicated by critical illness. The on-call obstetrics specialist, on-call general surgery specialist, and ICU second-line physicians must arrive at the Red Zone resuscitation room within three minutes. Repeat..."

The cold, impersonal announcement echoed continuously through the corridors of the hospital building.

Three minutes later.

Three on-call doctors from obstetrics, general surgery, and ICU rushed into the emergency room's red zone, panting heavily.

The three of them had just met at the hospital bedside, exchanged glances, and were about to go over the reasons they had given on the phone again in person to clarify their responsibilities.

Snapped.

Lin Ye slammed the emergency test report that had just been sent back from the laboratory, along with the "milk blood" test tube that had not yet been destroyed, onto the stainless steel table of the emergency vehicle.

"Triglycerides are 28.5 mmol/L, exceeding the normal upper limit by more than ten times." Lin Ye's voice was not loud, but it carried a suffocating sense of pressure. "Amylase levels have completely exceeded the limit, heart rate is 125, and respiration is 28. The cytokine storm has entered a substantial outbreak phase."

The three on-duty staff members' expressions changed simultaneously when they saw the shocking vial of milky blood and the outrageous lab report.

"I know you all have difficulties practicing your professions. Obstetrics can't treat pancreatic necrosis, general surgery can't protect the fetus, and the ICU doesn't have prenatal monitoring equipment." Lin Ye braced his hands on the emergency cart, his gaze sweeping over the three of them like a blade. "But today I pressed the MDT alarm and forcibly detained the three of you in the red zone, just for one sentence."

Lin Ye straightened up: "The obstetrics department brought up the portable fetal heart monitor and assigned someone to check on the fetal heart every day. The general surgery and ICU departments jointly developed a plan for fluid replacement and pancreatic enzyme inhibition, and the patient was immediately admitted to the ICU ward."

"If this treatment plan isn't finalized today," Lin Ye said, pointing to the automatic sensor door of the emergency room, "none of your three departments will be leaving the emergency room alive."

In the emergency room, apart from the muffled ticking of the monitors, no one dared to utter a word of objection.