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

The two bells above the nurses' station hadn't stopped ringing.

The voices from the emergency examination area were mixed together on the landline receiver, but were quickly drowned out by background noise. The day shift nurse covered the receiver with one hand and reached for her pen on the desk with the other. The pen cap rolled to the edge of the triage book and almost fell off.

Zhou Min, the deputy director of the day shift, held her phone to her ear.

She didn't reply immediately, but raised her other hand, indicating that the nurses' station should not speak rashly.

Qin Hai looked at the landline, then at the cell phone in her palm.

Explain each one clearly.

The day shift nurses lowered their voices when speaking into the stethoscope.

"Emergency examination area, who's collapsed? Male or female? Are they awake? Are they breathing? Don't crowd around, let them disperse first."

Someone shouted something on the other end of the phone, but I couldn't hear it.

The day shift nurses frowned even more deeply.

"The family won't let us move him? Who said we were going to move him? I'm asking you, is he even awake right now?"

On the other side, Zhou Min also spoke up.

Which section of the transfer route?

After listening, her gaze immediately fell on the transfer registration board on the wall of the nurses' station.

"The person who came down from the thoracic surgery ward? Name?"

Lin Ye stopped writing.

Thoracic surgery.

Chest tube.

Shen Qingyuan.

When he was taken to the thoracic surgery ward last night, bubbles were still rising intermittently from the water-sealed bottle. The thoracic surgeons said they needed to review the X-rays to check for lung re-expansion and air leakage.

The voice on the other end of the phone was very urgent, as if the person speaking was supporting something.

Zhou Min's face darkened.

"Who's on the stretcher? Where's the doctor? Where are the nurses?"

She paused for half a second.

"Only caregivers and accompanying nurses?"

Qin Hai's expression changed.

Liu Zhenhua had just arrived at the nurses' station, still holding a folder in his hand, when he heard this, he stopped abruptly at the edge of the steps.

Zhou Li followed behind, holding her tablet, the screen still lit up with the complaint registration interface. She didn't scroll forward any further, but simply held the tablet close to her chest.

The blue text box at the edge of Lin Ye's field of vision flashed.

[Multiple risks and conflicts.]

[Inspection Area: Insufficient Information.]

[Transfer Channel: Insufficient Information.]

Priority cannot be determined at this time.

The name of the disease is not given below the text box.

There was no answer given.

Lin Ye pressed the record paper in his hand onto the nurses' station table, the corner of the paper rubbing against a dried iodine stain.

He checked on the day shift nurses first.

Who's at the inspection area?

The day shift nurse covered the stethoscope and quickly answered him.

"The imaging staff were there, the triage nurse had already gone over, and the security guard was also there. They said an elderly person slumped at the door while waiting for their examination, but still had their eyes open. Their family was frightened and wouldn't let anyone touch them."

"Did you hit your head?"

"She said she didn't fall completely and was caught by her son."

"breathe?"

"He can breathe and speak, but says he feels dizzy."

"Has anyone checked your blood sugar and blood pressure?"

The day shift nurse kept calling.

"Bring the blood glucose meter over. Also, bring the blood pressure cuff. Don't move him, measure first, check his consciousness first. Tell family members not to pull on his arms, and even if they support him, don't try to lift him up."

Lin Ye turned to Zhou Min.

"What about the transfer channel?"

Zhou Min moved the phone slightly away from her ear.

"When the thoracic surgery ward sent Shen Qingyuan to have his X-rays checked, they were passing through the transfer corridor between the inpatient building and the emergency building. The caregiver said that he suddenly couldn't breathe, the water seal bottle tipped over, and the accompanying nurse was holding the bottle up. The patient is now unable to sit up steadily."

Qin Hai had already pulled the hem of his white coat back.

"What about the thoracic surgeon?"

Zhou Min asked a question over the phone, and then answered directly after listening.

"The on-duty doctor in the ward is receiving another post-operative patient and is already on their way. The chief resident in thoracic surgery hasn't been able to get through to us yet."

Liu Zhenhua frowned.

"Those are inpatients; they should be admitted to the ward."

Qin Hai glanced at him.

"The person is stuck in the transfer channel, unable to breathe, and still has the chest tube attached to their body. You want the ward to connect them remotely?"

Liu Zhenhua's lips tightened slightly, but he didn't respond to that statement.

Lin Ye stared at the call duration on Zhou Min's phone screen.

Twenty-seven seconds.

The voice on the other end of the phone seemed to come from near and far, interspersed with the sound of flatbed wheels scraping the ground.

He asked, "What about oxygen?"

Zhou Min turned the question away.

How much oxygen is left in the cylinder?

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone.

"Can't you see the watch?"

Zhou Min's voice was even shorter.

"Have the accompanying nurse look at the chart. If she doesn't know how, she can just tell the color and the position of the pointer."

A few sounds of wheeled cart wheels scraping the ground came from over there.

Zhou Min's face turned even worse after hearing this.

"The pointer is almost at the red mark."

She paused for a moment, then added to Lin Ye's story.

"Almost empty."

The day shift nurses have also responded.

"The blood sugar test hadn't even been done in the examination area yet, and the triage nurse had just arrived. The family member kept blocking them, saying whoever touched it would be responsible."

Qin Hai raised his hand and pressed his brow bone.

"Neither side can be left empty."

"The examination area has triage nurses, imaging personnel, and security guards."

Lin Ye's voice wasn't loud, but it was more steady than before.

"Have the triage nurse check the blood sugar, blood pressure, and level of consciousness first. Don't move the patient, and don't let family members drag them away. The elderly person is awake and hasn't completely fallen; secure the doorway first."

Qin Hai looked at him.

"What about the transfer channel?"

Lin Ye shifted his gaze from the landline to Zhou Min's mobile phone.

"Shen Qingyuan has a chest tube, and it was leaking air yesterday. Now he suddenly can't breathe, the water-seal bottle is upside down, the oxygen is almost gone, and the doctor hasn't arrived yet. There's no one there who can really catch him."

After he finished speaking, his throat tightened a little.

On the registration board, there are names in the row for the inspection area.

The transfer channel is empty.

"Go to the transfer channel first."

Qin Hai did not praise him.

He simply pointed his hand toward the ambulance.

"Bring oxygen, monitors, chest tube clamps, and sterile dressings. Don't clamp the tubes randomly yet. When you arrive, check if the water seal is still there and if the connection is loose. Keep calling the thoracic surgery department until they answer."

Zhou Min immediately tucked her phone under her shoulder and gave a wink to the nurse on the day shift.

"Xiao Chen, you keep an eye on the inspection area. Report back on the blood sugar, blood pressure, and consciousness levels. If family members try to stop you, don't argue with them. Have the security guards separate the crowd and prevent onlookers from blocking the entrance."

The day shift nurse nodded and pressed the landline receiver back to her ear.

"Listen up over there, emergency patients, go to the transfer lane first. Do the examination in the examination area as I just said, report the blood sugar as soon as it comes out."

Liu Zhenhua tucked the folder under his arm.

"I'll go with you."

Qin Hai turned around.

"What are you going to do?"

"It depends on the responsibility of the shipping company."

After Liu Zhenhua finished speaking, he changed his words and lowered his voice a little.

"Let's also see if anyone missed it."

Qin Hai did not stop him again.

The nurse lifted the portable monitor off the shelf, the power cord tightening as it snapped, the plug hitting the metal edge with a sharp crack. Another nurse pushed over a spare oxygen cylinder, its old seal still on it, one of the wheels on the frame malfunctioning, making a dull thud as it turned.

Lin Ye reached out and held the oxygen cylinder.

The metal bottle is cool.

He pressed his palm against it and realized that his hands were covered in sweat.

The transfer corridor is located between the emergency building and the inpatient building.

The afternoon light slanted in through the high windows, polishing the floor tiles to a shine from the wheels of the wheelchairs. Two empty wheelchairs were piled up along the aisle, one of them with its armrest wrapped in white tape, the edges already rolled up.

Before they even reached the corner, Lin Ye heard a short, labored breathing sound.

It wasn't a shout.

It felt like every breath was stuck in my chest.

"Shen Qingyuan?"

Qin Hai called out.

The flatcar was stuck in the middle of the transfer channel.

Shen Qingyuan sat half-reclined, his face even paler than the night before. The left chest tube emerged from under his hospital gown and connected to a water-seal bottle. The water-seal bottle was held in the arms of the accompanying nurse; the bottom of the bottle was damp, and a section of the transparent tubing was held down by the stretcher railing, with a corner of the tape loosened.

The nurse accompanying the examination had sweat all over her forehead.

"When we crossed the threshold just now, the bottle tilted, and he said he couldn't breathe. I held it steady and didn't dare to move the tube."

The caregiver stood beside her, clutching a follow-up examination form in her hand; the paper was crumpled into a ball.

"I just pushed it once, just once."

Qin Hai didn't look at him.

"oxygen."

The nurse had already pushed the spare oxygen cylinder to the bedside. With a turn of the knob, a faint hiss of airflow immediately connected. Lin Ye handed over the portable monitor, wrapped the cuff around Shen Qingyuan's arm, and clipped the blood oxygen clip to his fingers.

The screen lights up.

Blood oxygen 88.

Heart rate 139.

Shen Qingyuan's lips were dry, and his voice trailed off inside his mask.

"My chest feels bloated."

Qin Hai bent down to examine the connection point of the chest tube.

"Don't speak, catch your breath first."

Lin Ye's gaze fell on the water-sealed bottle.

The liquid in the water-sealed bottle sloshed around, with very few bubbles. The section of the tubing that had been pressed against the bed rail was flattened, and there was a slight dampness near the loosened connection with the adhesive tape.

He didn't reach out or move.

They simply pushed the bed rails outwards slightly to allow the pipes to loosen from the gap.

"It's pressed down here."

Qin Hai glanced at it.

"Okay, don't pull it out, don't clamp it. Nurse, secure the tubing, lower the bottle, keep it upright. Where is the thoracic surgery department?"

Liu Zhenhua was already on the phone.

"The thoracic surgery on-call doctor has gotten off the elevator, and the chief resident has been connected and is on his way here."

Zhou Min followed closely behind, still on her phone.

"The examination area reports: blood sugar 5.8, blood pressure 152-156. He is conscious and says he feels dizzy after standing for a long time. The triage nurse asked him to lie down, but his family members held him down."

Qin Hai did not turn around.

"Keep watching them, don't let them leave."

Zhou Min repeated it to herself on her phone, then looked at Lin Ye.

"Follow this procedure first."

Lin Ye didn't respond to that sentence.

He stared at the monitor.

Blood oxygen level is 90.

Ninety-one.

It's not time to relax yet.

The on-call thoracic surgeon ran over from the direction of the inpatient building, holding a stethoscope in his hand. He first looked down at the chest tube, then at the rise and fall of Shen Qingyuan's chest.

"Who pushed me just now?"

The caregiver's face turned pale instantly.

Qin Hai interrupted him.

"Look at the people first. We'll talk about responsibility later."

The thoracic surgeon took a breath, didn't ask any more questions, and squatted down to inspect the water seal bottle and the connection.

Lin Ye stepped aside, condensing the few points he had just noticed into short sentences.

"I couldn't breathe after crossing the threshold. The bottle tilted, the tubing was blocked by the bed rail, and the oxygen was almost gone. I just connected the backup oxygen, and my blood oxygen level went from 88 to 91, and my heart rate was 139."

The thoracic surgeon paused in his work.

"Don't go for the follow-up X-ray yet. Move her back to the monitoring position. I'll decide after I review the chest tube. You can call her at the bedside for the chest X-ray."

Qin Hai nodded.

"Director Zhou, bedside X-ray."

Zhou Min has already dialed the number.

Inside the transfer channel, the flatbed carts started moving again.

This time it's being pushed very slowly.

The water-seal bottle was held low by the nurse's hands, hanging beside the bed, the transparent tubing no longer touching the bed rail. The spare oxygen cylinder followed beside it, its wheels scraping over the floor tiles as it headed back towards the emergency room.

Lin Ye followed and took two steps.

Suddenly, a landline phone rang from the direction of the nurses' station.

A sound.

Two sounds.

Before the third sound finished, the voice of the day shift nurse came through the receiver, cut off in one inch.

"Over here in the examination area, the elderly man just said he felt tightness in his chest."

The sound suddenly stopped.

The call screen was still lit up.

All that could be heard in the receiver was a hollow, static sound.