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

After the elevator stopped at the fourth floor, the corridor became rather empty.

Outside the emergency interventional room, a bench stood against the wall, its edges worn white. The woman's husband stood in the doorway, still clutching the uncapped pen, nib pointing downwards, the ink leaving a small black dot on the floor tiles.

The day shift nurse pulled over a folding chair.

"Sit down, don't block the door."

He heard it, but only took half a step back. His knee touched the edge of the chair, then he stood up straight again.

"She could speak just now."

He moved his throat, but the rest of his voice was suppressed by the edge of his mask, so low it was almost touching the floor tiles.

The door to the intervention room was closed. The red light above the door was on, and next to it was an old, curled-up piece of plastic wrap with the words "Family Waiting Area" written on it. In the corner trash can, there was an opened sterile pack outer bag, its plastic edges torn and crumpled.

Lin Ye stood outside the door, the folder in his hand still open.

Qin Hai leaned against the wall, his white coat plastered to the back with sweat, and the dark circles under his eyes were even more pronounced than before. He didn't look into the doorway, but simply reached out and pressed the folder in Lin Ye's hand down.

"Don't stare at the door."

Lin Ye lowered his head.

The numbers on the record sheet were very close together.

Finally, the details of the clear response, vomiting, anesthesia arrival, and transfer out of the emergency room were all made up.

Only the bottom square is empty.

Interventional room receiving status.

The blank squares seemed to glow coldly under the light.

Emergency Room Early Warning System

[Current risk: Not yet resolved.]

The record chain is incomplete.

[Key Node: Intervention and Reception Status.]

The blue text box hovered at the edge of the field of vision, with only the unfinished reception status remaining.

Lin Ye bit open the pen cap, then immediately loosened it.

The plastic pen cap touched my teeth with a soft click.

He looked up at the intercom by the door. Next to the intercom hung an old ballpoint pen, its cord twisted into a rope, with a white adhesive tape on the pen that read "Do not take away from the intervention room".

The deputy director on the day shift is answering a phone call.

"Yes, the person has gone inside. The signatures have been completed. The family members are at the door."

After a few words were spoken on the other end of the phone, her brows furrowed, and she tapped her finger on the edge of the notepad.

"I understand. Once the handover time is completed in the emergency room, you guys can rush to finish it inside. I'll handle the paperwork."

She hung up the phone and turned to see Lin Ye staring at that blank space.

"This space is still empty. Which section is missing?"

Lin Ye turned the folder around without explaining further.

"The patient's condition at the moment of entry wasn't recorded. The suction tube at the entrance was in place, but the level of consciousness was different from when the patient left the ER. If this wasn't noted during admission, it would be difficult to reconcile the information later."

The deputy director on the day shift glanced at that spot, still holding the phone in his hand.

She neither said yes nor no, and simply turned on the screen.

"I'll call the circulating nurse in the interventional unit, so this cubicle isn't empty."

The number was dialed, and it rang three times before being answered.

There was a low hum of machine tracks on the other end of the phone, and someone whispered a blood pressure reading.

The deputy director on the day shift put his phone on speakerphone and lowered his voice.

"This is the emergency room. Could you please report the status of the patient who just arrived, suspected of having subarachnoid hemorrhage and anterior communicating artery aneurysm?"

The call was answered quickly.

"The patient was admitted to the interventional room at 2:21 PM. The patient's response to calls was poor, so oxygen was administered via face mask. A suction device was on board, and suction equipment was kept at the bedside. The risk of vomiting and aspiration was high. The anesthesia team was monitoring the airway, and the monitoring system was already connected."

Lin Ye's pen had already fallen.

He pressed a small dent into the paper.

2:21 PM.

Poor call response.

Oxygen is administered via face mask.

The suction device comes with the vehicle.

Guardianship has been taken over.

He wrote quickly, but didn't include the word "safety".

There was a sudden pause on the other end of the phone.

"The imaging has begun. Director Luo told the family members outside not to turn off their phones. There seems to be a problem with the traffic ahead; he'll explain the details when he comes out."

The husband suddenly looked up.

His knee struck the chair leg, and the iron pipe scraped against the floor tiles with a sharp sound.

"What's the problem?"

The deputy director of the day shift raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulder, only once, not hard.

"Hold on tight. They're doing a cerebral angiography inside. The doctor will see where the blood vessels are having problems. Don't rush to the door or make any phone calls that might disturb them."

The husband's lips moved twice, the phone slid from his palm to the base of his fingers, and then he gripped it back.

"I just want to ask one question: Is she still alive?"

Qin Hai paused for half a second, then lifted his shoulder away from the wall.

"The monitoring is connected, the anesthesia is at the bedside, and the doctor is still administering it. That's all I can tell you."

The husband looked at the door.

The red light remained unchanged.

No human voices could be heard through the crack in the door; only the occasional low hum of the equipment inside the wall caused the door to vibrate slightly.

Ten minutes later, a second call came from the intervention room to the outside.

The deputy director of the day shift just answered the call, and the person on the other end only said a few words.

Her expression didn't change, but she hugged the notepad in her hand tighter to her chest.

"Yes, I heard you."

"The family members are right at the door."

"Understood. I won't let him know I'm safe; I'll just tell him to wait until you come out and tell him."

The phone call ended, and the husband immediately took a step forward.

"How's it going? Did you find the tumor?"

The deputy director of the day shift glanced at Qin Hai.

Qin Hai put the phone down from his ear. The nurse in the interventional room had just relayed a message to Luo Jianping, and the screen was still lit.

The message consists of only one line.

A ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm is highly suspected. Embolization is being attempted, but the condition is unstable. Please do not report back to the outside world.

Qin Hai held his phone face down in his palm.

"We've seen a problem with the blood vessels. The doctor is treating it."

The husband stared at him.

"Does 'treatment' mean it can be cured?"

Qin Hai didn't respond with that word.

He pointed to the door.

"The people inside are racing against time to handle the situation. What you need to do now is stay put and make sure your phone doesn't run out of battery. The doctor wants you to make a call, so you need to be there immediately."

The husband's Adam's apple bobbed.

"She said she had a headache this morning, and I told her to bear with it."

He raised his hand as if to slap himself in the face, then stopped in mid-air, finally only grasping the phone case. The phone screen lit up and dimmed, dimmed and lit up again, the unlock screen remaining stuck on the same family photo.

Lin Ye did not look at the photos.

He flipped the record sheet to the back and added a line: "Family members are waiting outside. Keep their phones on. They have been informed that the rescue is still underway."

He emphasized the word "still" a little.

The ink blot remained on the paper, not near the "Completed" column.

[Current risk: Not yet resolved.]

[Intraoperative phase: Continuous monitoring.]

[Record Chain: Key nodes have been completed.]

The blue text flashed once, then the last two lines faded away, leaving only the first line still visible.

Lin Ye put the pen cap back on.

Qin Hai's hand landed on his shoulder.

The force wasn't strong, but it pushed him back half a step.

"Leave the work inside the gate to Luo Jianping; don't try to get yourself involved."

Lin Ye looked at him.

Qin Hai nodded his chin toward the notebook.

"This piece of paper is yours. Don't try to portray yourself as Luo Jianping."

Lin Ye closed the folder tightly and didn't move his toes any further towards the door.

At the other end of the corridor, a nurse pushed a dressing cart past, its wheels wrapped with a piece of old duct tape, making it roll with a jarring rhythm. The metal tray on the cart clinked softly, startling the husband, who immediately turned to look at the door.

The door remained closed.

The day shift nurse jogged over from the direction of the emergency room, carrying an unopened bottle of water and a bag of glucose biscuits.

"Family member, have a drink. Don't collapse here."

The husband didn't answer.

She stuffed the water directly into his coat pocket and pushed the chair behind his legs.

"Sit down. If you fall, we'll need to assign people to help you."

The husband's knees touched the edge of the chair, but this time he didn't brace himself and slowly sat down.

The chair made a slight creaking sound. He was sitting very shallowly, his elbows resting on his knees, the pen still in his hand, the cap having fallen off sometime earlier and rolled to the side of Lin Ye's shoes.

Lin Ye bent down and picked it up.

The pen cap was covered in dust and a little black ink.

He didn't hand it back immediately, but just held the pen cap in his palm.

When the phone rang for the third time, several people in the corridor looked up at the same time.

This time it wasn't the deputy director's phone on the day shift.

The intercom by the door lit up.

The deputy director on the day shift pressed the answer button.

Luo Jianping's voice came through the device, sounding somewhat distorted.

Are the family members here?

The husband stood up abruptly.

"Yes, yes, I'm here."

"Listen to me, don't interrupt."

There were still footsteps coming from Luo Jianping's direction, as if he was taking off his gloves as he walked.

"The angiography showed an anterior communicating artery aneurysm, which matches the bleeding. We've already treated the most dangerous areas, but she's not cured. She still needs to be transferred to the intensive care unit to continue monitoring for rebleeding, cerebral vasospasm, cerebral edema, and airway issues."

The husband's mouth was open.

There was no response for a long time.

The deputy director of the day shift moved his body slightly in front of the communicator to prevent him from getting too close.

"Director Luo, family members, listen up."

Luo Jianping's voice was even deeper.

"Don't ask if he'll wake up yet. If we don't get through tonight, there's no point in talking about the rest. Even if we get through tonight, we'll still have to deal with each challenge one by one."

The husband's hand, which was holding the pen, fell to his sides.

The pen tip touched the seam of the trousers, leaving a thin black line.

"Can I see her for a moment?"

"When she's being transferred to the ICU, take a quick look from the doorway. Don't touch the bed, don't call out to her, and don't let her rush forward crying. She can't take any of that right now."

The husband nodded.

After making the call, he realized that Luo Jianping couldn't see, so he squeezed out another word into the intercom.

"it is good."

The call was disconnected.

The red light is still on.

Lin Ye wrote down what he had just said in his notes.

The pen tip stopped after "Processing Result".

He only wrote: Initial intervention, planned transfer to the intensive care unit for continued monitoring.

Luo Jianping had already discussed the remaining risks with the family members, and he did not write "success" on them again.

After finishing writing, he handed the folder to the deputy director of the day shift.

The deputy director on the day shift scanned the text, his fingertip lingering on the words "preliminary processing".

"Keep these four characters, but don't write them as if the rescue is already complete."

Lin Ye nodded.

"Do not write 'success,' only write 'preliminary processing.'"

Qin Hai hummed softly beside him.

"At least the resident trainees are starting to look like resident trainees."

Lin Ye didn't reply.

She handed him the cap of her husband's pen.

When her husband took the pen, his hand trembled, and the cap slipped out of his fingers instead of being put on.

The plastic pen cap hit the floor tiles, bounced, and rolled to the door of the intervention room.

No one bent down to pick it up.

Because the red light on the door went out.

The door to the interventional room was pulled open a crack, and the first thing to emerge was an oxygen cylinder at the front of the stretcher. The cylinder had an old label on it, the edges curled up, and it wobbled slightly with the stretcher wheels.

The anesthesiologist stood by the bedside, his hand still holding the edge of the mask.

The woman lay on the bed, her head turned to one side, her eyes closed, and a gauze pad next to her mouth. A monitor was temporarily hung beside the bed; the numbers on the screen jumped rapidly, her heart rate was still fast, and her blood pressure hadn't improved to a reassuring degree.

Luo Jianping took off his gloves, which he then crumpled into a ball.

"Make way, let's get to the intensive care unit first."

The husband took a small step forward, then abruptly stopped.

His shoe tip was pressed next to the pen cap.

"Doctor, is she alright?"

Luo Jianping looked at him, but there was no smile in his eyes.

"It's not that nothing's wrong."

The bed wheels rolled off the threshold with a dull thud.

"We pulled her back from the most dangerous spot first."

The husband's shoulders slumped.

The pen in my hand finally fell.

The pen fell to the ground, rolled twice, and stopped in front of Lin Ye's shoe tip.

Lin Ye did not move.

The blue text box is still in sight.

[Current risk: Not yet resolved.]