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

Monday morning, 7:15.

In front of the administration building of the First Municipal Hospital, a Coaster minibus with a red banner displaying a counterpart support program was flashing its hazard lights.

"Linye! Here!"

Ma Hao, panting heavily, shoved two things at him.

"The mountain road is 90 kilometers long and full of hairpin bends. The medical department found some concentrated menthol oil and two packs of strong motion sickness patches."

Lin Ye took the menthol oil and looked at the bloodshot eyes under Ma Hao's eyes.

"Did you fill it up again last night?"

"In the middle of the night, both of them suffered from alcohol poisoning and stomach bleeding. My arms ached from the stomach pumping."

Ma Hao rubbed his face and lightly punched Lin Ye in the chest.

"Old Sun and I will take care of things back home. Fang Rui was still full of energy when he handed over his shift this morning, so don't worry."

"Let's go back to Corey and catch up on some sleep."

Lin Ye stuffed the motion sickness patch into the side pocket of his windbreaker.

Two other medical team members also walked over with their luggage in front of the minibus.

Zhao Feng, a 35-year-old senior attending physician in general surgery, carried a locked silver portable surgical instrument case, his expression revealing the prudence unique to surgeons.

Liang Shumin, the deputy chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology, has a neat short haircut, carries a portable fetal heart monitor, and walks with a brisk pace.

"Dr. Zhao, Director Liang."

Lin Ye took the initiative to step forward and greet him.

"Captain Kobayashi, I've heard of him before."

Liang Shumin shook hands with a smile.

"Director Liu specifically instructed the medical affairs department that during this trip to the grassroots level, emergency care and emergency response will be entirely under your command as the emergency room team leader."

Zhao Feng adjusted his glasses and shook hands with him, his tone habitually serious: "The surgical department at Cangshan County Hospital is weak. I heard they even struggle with laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. When we encounter a major case, we'll have to rely entirely on the instruments we bring."

The three of them packed their luggage and got on the bus.

At 7:30, the minibus drove out of the gate of the First Municipal Hospital.

Once outside the city ring road, the wide six-lane dual carriageway narrows rapidly.

The tall buildings outside the car window gradually transformed into towering mountains.

The minibus plunged into the territory of Cangshan County. The winding cement road was built along the mountainside, with steep and precipitous mountain cliffs on the left and a river valley tens of meters deep on the right.

Rock fragments washed down by rainwater can be seen everywhere on the road, and the rockfall prevention wire mesh is bulging halfway up the mountain.

After navigating several sharp downhill bends, the wheels screeched as they rolled over the gravel.

Zhao Feng's face turned pale, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He quickly tore off a motion sickness patch, stuck it behind his ear, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and held his breath.

Holding onto the handrail, Liang Shumin looked out the window at the deep ditch and sighed, "If an ambulance were to drive on this road, any patient with unstable blood pressure would go into shock after just a couple of bumps."

Lin Ye remained silent, his gaze fixed on the upper right corner of his phone.

After turning the third ridge, the cell phone signal instantly dropped to "E", and then became a completely empty circle with no service.

Lin Ye pulled open the lining of his chest and glanced again at the list of deceased passengers transferred from Cangshan County.

Last year, seventeen lives were lost.

The ambulance would take at least three hours to drive along the 90-kilometer mountain road, navigating bumpy, winding roads.

In this long communication dead zone and emergency vacuum, there was no on-site pericardiocentesis, no abdominal compression for hemostasis, and no thoracentesis for decompression. The critically injured were simply pushed directly into the car, and even effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation could not be maintained on the way, so they could not make it to the city.

At 11:40 a.m., the minibus turned out of the canyon and drove into Cangshan County.

The streets of the county town are lined with faded, old brick houses.

The car turned the corner and stopped in front of the courtyard gate with its terrazzo exterior.

Above the entrance hangs a faded red cross sign, below which is a line of tin lettering with the gold paint peeling off—Cangshan County People's Hospital.

On the cement ground, several people had been waiting for a long time.

The car door opened, and a lean man in his early fifties wearing a dark blue short-sleeved jacket strode forward.

"Experts from the First Municipal Hospital! You've had a long journey!"

The man grasped Zhao Feng's hand, then turned to Liang Shumin and Lin Ye.

"I am Yan Mingcheng, the vice president of Cangshan County Hospital in charge of medical affairs. The mountain roads are difficult to travel; it's been tough!"

Behind Yan Mingcheng was a slightly overweight middle-aged doctor, holding a thick glass thermos filled with jasmine tea, his face beaming with smiles.

"Hello experts, I'm Guo Shusen, acting deputy director of the emergency department. We've finally got the directors from the major hospitals here!"

"Dean Yan, Director Guo, you're too kind."

Lin Ye got out of the car and glanced around the yard.

Two old Jinbei ambulances, covered in mud, were parked in the corner of the yard, their tire treads almost completely worn away.

The entrance to the emergency department is at the corner of the outpatient building, and the emergency ramp is damaged and full of potholes.

Yan Mingcheng led the group inside, his expression revealing helplessness.

"The county has a weak foundation; this building was built in the 1990s. But with a population of 300,000, the entire county relies on this place for emergency and trauma care."

Lin Ye frowned slightly as he entered the emergency room.

The hall was dimly lit, and the floor was damp.

The emergency room contained only two metal-framed beds, and the power cord of the defibrillator next to the bed was tightly tied to the back of the machine with cable ties, with the backup power already disconnected.

The two electrocardiogram monitors were covered in a thin layer of dust, and the pulse oximeter clip wires were carelessly crumpled up and stuffed outside the drawer.

Guo Shusen held his teacup and explained with a smile.

"The experts in the city may not know this, but there are hardly any critically ill patients at the grassroots level. If someone is seriously injured in a car accident, we arrange for a car to take them to the First Municipal Hospital immediately, without delaying the rescue! So these large equipment are rarely used."

Zhao Feng pushed up his glasses and pursed his lips.

Liang Shumin glanced at the ambulance; the adrenaline box inside was even a little yellowed.

Lin Ye reached out and touched the cold casing of the defibrillator.

Yan Mingcheng glanced at his watch and greeted him warmly.

"Let's go, let's not look at these things now. The guesthouse has prepared hot soup and meals, comrades, please have a welcome meal first, and we'll have a proper discussion this afternoon..."

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—!!"

A thick plume of black smoke, accompanied by a pungent diesel fumes, surged in!

A rusty hand-operated tractor crashed into the iron gate at the entrance, screeching as it sped up the concrete ramp leading to the emergency room!

"Help! Doctor, help me!!"

The old man, covered in mud, fell off the vehicle seat, his knees slamming heavily onto the concrete ground, and he kowtowed repeatedly.

"Save my son! He's been caught in a machine! There's a truckload of blood!"

A young farmer in his early twenties was lying on the tattered sacks in the back of the tractor.

The wounded man's face was ashen, his eyes were tightly closed, and his jaw was clenched so tightly around his lower lip.

His right thigh was torn apart from the groin by the agricultural machinery's drive belt. Coarse strips of cloth were haphazardly tied around his thigh, and dark red blood gushed down from the gaps in the iron plate, instantly spreading a large pool of blood on the ground!

Guo Shusen ran out the door, and after only one glance at the bloody wound and gushing blood, he was so frightened that his wrist trembled and he spilled tea all over his hand.

"This...this is a ruptured femoral artery and vein with a pelvic laceration!"

Guo Shusen's face turned ashen, and he hurriedly pulled out a stack of blank forms from his white coat.

"We can't catch this! The blood bank only has two bags of red blood cells! Don't fall, folks! Quickly sign the transfer consent form! Call the best ambulance in the hospital and get him to the First Municipal Hospital right away! Hurry!"

The old man lay paralyzed in a pool of blood, weeping bitterly.

"It takes three hours to get to the city... and the baby died on the way..."

Guo Shusen grabbed the ballpoint pen and hurriedly stuffed it into the old man's hand.

"stop!"

Lin Ye rushed forward quickly, his voice deep, cold, and resolute.

He stepped onto the tractor's trailer, and a faint, eerie blue light suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision:

【00:14:32】

Lin Ye used the heel of his right hand to locate the midpoint of the right inguinal ligament of the injured person, and used his own weight to press down firmly on the pulsating point vertically downwards. He then used his knee to brace against the pelvis to prevent displacement and perform mechanical hemostasis at the proximal end!

The gushing blood flow was instantly stopped, but the wounded man's carotid pulse was so weak that it was almost imperceptible, his conjunctiva was pale, and his fingertips were cold and clammy.

Lin Ye looked up at Guo Shusen.

"The systolic blood pressure is below 40, the carotid pulse is weak and thread-like, and the blood loss is at least over 2,000 milliliters! The ambulance won't even make it past the first bend of the mountain road before the patient suffers sudden cardiac arrest due to hemorrhagic loss on the way!"

Lin Ye snatched the transfer form from Guo Shusen's hand, tore it in half, and threw it on the ground.

"Why are you spinning him? Start resuscitation on the spot!"

"Push the stretcher! To the emergency room!"

Lin Ye pressed down hard on the pulsating point with one hand, and with the other hand pulled out a sterile tourniquet from his backpack and tightened it.

"Zhao Feng, prepare laparotomy and vascular exploration instruments! Guo Shusen, immediately halt the transfer and activate the county hospital's highest-level blood transfusion plan. Bring all type O blood from the blood bank to the bedside! Lin Ye of the First Municipal Hospital will bear full responsibility for any consequences!!"