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

The young man was carried into the emergency room by two companions, his toes almost dragging on the ground. Nurse Zhao pushed over a wheelchair and told them to put him in it first.

When the wheelchair was pushed to the triage desk, the smell of alcohol hit the senses first.

The two men who accompanied him had also drunk quite a bit; one's face was flushed to the roots of his neck, and the other was unsteady on his feet. The flushed man patted the armrest of his wheelchair: "Doctor, sober him up. He tripped on the steps at the door just now, but it's nothing serious."

Nurse Zhao put on gloves and lifted the young man's eyelids to take a look.

"What's your name?"

"Liu Peng".

How big?

"Twenty-seven."

Where did you fall?

"He just bumped his head," his companion said impatiently. "He can't hold his liquor; he usually gets drunk after three bottles, but he had to show off tonight."

Sun Zhiqiang had just finished his shift and was about to go to the duty room to take a nap when he heard "drunk," so he stopped in his tracks.

"Check blood sugar, measure blood pressure, and observe. Has she vomited?"

"He threw up twice," his companion said. "Isn't it normal to throw up when you've drunk too much?"

Lin Ye walked to the wheelchair.

Liu Peng's head was tilted to the side, his breath reeked of alcohol, there was a scrape on his right temple, and a small blood clot in his hair at the back of his head. He certainly looked like he had fallen while drunk.

But his left hand was hanging outside the armrest, his fingertips twitching.

Lin Ye had just taken out a flashlight to check his pupils when pale blue writing popped up in his field of vision again.

[Emergency room alert activated.]

Patient: Liu Peng, male, 27 years old.

Symptoms: Drowsy after drinking.

High-risk: Traumatic intracranial hemorrhage.

[Probability of misdiagnosis: 91%]

[Key abnormalities: asymmetrical pupillary response, vomiting, and progressive decrease in consciousness.]

[Deterioration countdown: 58 minutes 04 seconds.]

Lin Ye's finger stopped in mid-air.

He took a breath and lowered the beam of his flashlight.

"Sister Zhao, move her to the emergency room. Order a cranial CT scan."

The blushing companion immediately exploded: "What CT scan? He's drunk, he just needs to sober up. Is this all your hospital does?!"

Sun Zhiqiang frowned as well: "Lin Ye, you're here again?"

As soon as those three words were uttered, several nurses on the day shift next to the nurses' station turned to look.

Lin Ye didn't look at them, but stared at Liu Peng's pupils.

"The right pupil is reacting more slowly than the left. He just vomited, has an injury to the back of his head, and is unresponsive. We can't just treat him as drunk."

"We can't wake him up whenever he's drunk!" another companion exclaimed anxiously. "We're in a hurry to get back; we have work tomorrow."

Nurse Zhao attached the blood pressure monitor: "Blood pressure 168, 104, heart rate 56."

Lin Ye's expression darkened further.

High blood pressure can actually cause a slower heart rate.

This is not how a normal drunk person should behave.

Sun Zhiqiang looked at his companion: "Where are the family members?"

"His parents are from out of town. We're friends."

"My friend can't sign the surgery consent form, so let's do an emergency brain CT scan first." After saying that, Sun Zhiqiang looked at Lin Ye and asked, "Are you sure you want to push it forward now?"

Lin Ye put the flashlight back into his pocket.

"Sure."

The blushing companion reached out to block the wheelchair: "No way! He has no money, and his phone is locked. Don't try to scam us."

Nurse Zhao's face darkened: "Get out of the way."

"So what if I don't allow it? Are you all going to portray being drunk as being mentally ill today?"

Lin Ye looked up at him: "If he's just drunk, you can yell at me after the CT scan. I'll take it."

The man was taken aback.

Lin Ye continued, "But if he's bleeding in his brain, and you manage to stop him for a few minutes now, but he doesn't wake up later, can you handle that?"

His companion's lips moved, but he didn't respond.

Liu Peng suddenly vomited and fell forward.

Nurse Zhao reacted quickly, grabbing his shoulder with one hand and grabbing a curved tray with the other. The vomit smelled of alcohol, and a little blood seeped from the cut on his lip.

Sun Zhiqiang's expression changed.

"Recommend the CT scan."

This time, no one stopped them.

The radiology staff in the CT room looked at the application form differently.

"Another ER expedited call today?"

Lin Ye handed over the application form: "Head injury, altered consciousness, suspected intracranial hemorrhage."

The cameraman glanced down, stopped cursing, and turned on the camera.

When Liu Peng was taken inside, his two companions were standing at the door, already half-sober.

The one blushing was still muttering to herself, "It's just that he drank too much..."

Nurse Zhao looked at him coldly: "The thing we fear most in the emergency room is your 'It's just...'"

Another companion had already started going through Liu Peng's phone, trying to find his parents' phone numbers. The screen was locked; he tried his birthday and several commonly used numbers, but none of them were correct.

"What's Pengzi's mom's number?" he asked anxiously, his voice trembling. "Don't just stand there, ask in the group!"

The one who had blushed stiffened and looked down to scroll through the chat history. The person who had just complained about the hassle of checking was now practically unable to hold their phone steady.

Lin Ye didn't interrupt, his gaze returning to the monitor.

Heart rate 56.

My blood pressure is also high.

The numbers on the screen jumped up and down, no matter how trivial the matter was described by the person at the door.

But the monitor won't listen to explanations.

Scanning begins.

Images appear layer by layer on the screen.

Sun Zhiqiang stood beside the forest, his hands in the pockets of his white coat, his knuckles white from tension.

Lin Ye stared at the screen.

There are 49 minutes left in the countdown.

When the imager was slicing the image to a certain layer, the mouse suddenly stopped.

He flipped through two more pages, his voice lowering.

"Right-sided epidural hematoma."

Sun Zhiqiang took a step forward.

The imaging technician adjusted the window width, making the hematoma outline clearer.

"The volume is not small, and there is a trend of midline shift."

Outside the door, Liu Peng's companion couldn't understand the words, but he saw that Sun Zhiqiang and Lin Ye's expressions had changed.

The one whose face was flushed had a dry throat: "Doctor, he...he wasn't drunk?"

Lin Ye picked up the phone and dialed the neurosurgery on-call number.

Before the call was connected, Liu Peng suddenly twitched on the examination bed.

The monitor emitted a piercing alarm sound.