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

The elevator goes up.

The monitor on the flatbed cart beeped intermittently.

Blood oxygen 93.

Heart rate 138.

The numbers aren't much better than before.

The woman followed behind the flatbed cart, no longer carrying the bag of anti-inflammatory medicine.

She was only holding her phone.

The screen lit up and then dimmed, dimmed and then lit up again.

There was a note jumping up above.

mom.

She didn't answer.

Nurse Zhao saw it but didn't urge her.

"Listen to the doctor first. If your family asks, just say they're at the operating room door. Don't relay the wrong information."

The woman nodded, her lips pressed together until they turned white.

"His mom will definitely ask if he had a tooth pulled."

The oral and maxillofacial surgeon was walking ahead when he heard this and turned to look at her.

"It's not a tooth extraction."

The woman immediately looked up.

The doctor kept his words brief.

"Drain the pus first. The airway has already been damaged; if the infection goes further in, the person can't handle it."

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the phone.

"What about the teeth?"

"Teeth are one of the sources, we'll deal with that later. Right now, save your life."

This statement is more direct than the words "surgical risks".

The woman didn't ask any more questions.

The circulating nurse was already waiting at the operating room door.

The anesthesiologist handed over the airway first.

"Difficult airway established. Blood oxygen saturation around 93%, tubing secured. Avoid kinking the tubing during bed rotation."

The circulating nurse immediately looked at the bedside.

"Both attraction and oxygen levels are keeping up."

The ENT doctor handed the tracheostomy kit to the person inside.

"Keep it on hand, don't accept it."

Senior doctors from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery also arrived.

He didn't exchange pleasantries; he started by watching the film.

The film bag still carried the chill of the CT room, and a crease had been pinched at one corner.

He flipped to the key section and looked at it for less than half a minute.

"Pull in the area under the jaw, at the floor of the mouth, and beside the pharynx. Open."

The woman standing at the door shrank back upon hearing the word.

"Open now?"

The senior doctor closed the film bag.

"Should we not open it now, but wait for it to go downhill?"

His tone wasn't harsh, but his question left her speechless.

The signature board was delivered to her very quickly.

The paper reads: Emergency incision and drainage, debridement, possible continued airway management, and close postoperative monitoring.

The woman stared, her eyes wide.

"Can I make a phone call?"

The circulating nurse placed the pen beside her.

"Okay, but don't call for too long. The person is already at the door."

The woman dialed the number to the patient's mother.

Her voice trailed off as soon as the call connected.

"Mom, it's not a tooth extraction. The doctor said there's pus inside my neck and they need to drain it immediately."

I don't know what was said on the other end of the phone.

The woman closed her eyes.

"I'm not trying to scare you. He was already unable to speak just now."

She didn't explain further.

He held the phone to his ear and wrote his name in the signature section with his other hand.

The first stroke was crooked again.

This time, she didn't stop.

Lin Ye stood outside the operating room door and added the signing time to the record.

8:34 PM.

The family members signed a consent form outlining the risks associated with emergency incision and drainage.

He did not go into the operating room.

This is not his platform.

What he can supplement is every point in time, every set of values, and every person present, from the red zone to the CT scan, and then to the operating room door.

Qin Hai stood next to him, holding his phone in his hand.

"Who's taking over over the red zone?"

Nurse Zhao pushed the oxygen cylinder back to the door.

"Dr. Sun is here. The nurses' station knows you're outside the operating room; just call if you need anything."

Qin Hai nodded.

"After they go in, we'll return to the red zone. We'll leave this to the specialists."

The woman panicked when she heard "back to the red zone".

"Doctor, you're not here anymore?"

Qin Hai looked toward the operating room door.

"The oral and maxillofacial surgery, otolaryngology, and anesthesiology departments take over the case. The emergency room brings people to the proper entrance; it's not that we standing outside can reduce the risk."

The woman held her phone, as if she hadn't fully understood.

Nurse Zhao continued even more directly.

"They're doing the work inside. You wait outside, answer the phone if you hear anything, and listen carefully to what the doctor says when he comes out."

The woman nodded.

The operating room door closed.

The light on the door turned on.

The three red words "Under Surgery" cast a somber light on the corridor.

Lin Ye lowered his head and continued writing.

He had just written "the airway tube accompanies the patient into the operating room" when the blue text box at the edge of his field of vision jumped.

[Infection source control: In progress.]

Upper airway risk: Continuous monitoring.

[Publicly disclosed evidence: CT scan showed abscess formation, airway compression, and a persistently elevated heart rate.]

Lin Ye pressed the pen tip onto the paper.

On the record sheet, there was a blank line after "entered the operating room".

No one spoke outside the operating room.

The woman sat on the edge of the bench, her phone still pressed against her palm; the call had already ended.

She stared at her signature.

The ink wasn't completely dry yet.

After about ten minutes, the operating room door opened a crack.

The circulating nurse came out to get something.

The sound behind the mask came very quickly.

"Pus has come out. A considerable amount, and it has a strong odor. It has been cultured, and they are still cleaning it."

The woman suddenly stood up.

"pus?"

The circulating nurse didn't say much.

"The doctor is still working. Please have a seat and don't block the door."

The door closed again.

The woman stood rooted to the spot, as if nailed to that single word.

脓。

She thought it was just swollen gums in the afternoon.

That evening, she asked if she could get an IV drip of anti-inflammatory medication first.

Lin Ye heard the tip of his pen scraping across the paper.

8:52.

During the incision and drainage, the circulating nurse reported that pus had been drained and cultured.

Qin Hai glanced at the record.

"Don't write 'a lot,' wait for the official intraoperative record. Just write that pus has been drained."

Lin Ye crossed out those two words and rewrote them.

Pus has been drained.

Qin Hai then looked away from the paper.

"Don't draw conclusions from emergency room records as if they were surgical records."

"Um."

The woman heard them talking and turned her head.

"Doctor, is he all better now?"

Qin Hai did not continue speaking as she expected.

"The pus being drained is a sign that things are moving in the right direction. It doesn't mean you're cured."

The woman's face paled even more.

When the oral and maxillofacial surgeon came out, his gloves had been changed, and there were still traces of disinfectant on his cuffs.

He took off his outer gloves and walked up to the woman.

"The infection under the jaw and floor of the mouth is quite severe, and there is considerable pressure inside. After the incision was made, a stream of pus came out. It has been drained now, and we will continue with debridement and anti-infection treatment. We also need to monitor the airway and edema."

The woman's two hands were clasped together.

"Will I die?"

The doctor didn't avoid her.

"It's better now than it was at the entrance to the red zone, because the airway has been blocked and the pus has started to drain. But the infection isn't over yet. We'll be closely monitored tonight, and if necessary, the patient will be transferred to the intensive care unit."

The woman's tears fell.

She didn't cry out loud.

He just wiped it with the back of his hand and then gripped the phone tightly again.

"The doctor this afternoon said that going tomorrow is also fine."

The oral and maxillofacial surgeon remained silent for two seconds.

"Many toothaches can wait. This one can't."

He looked at the phone in her hand.

"If anyone has a toothache, a swollen back of the neck, can't open their mouth, can't swallow saliva, or has a muffled voice, don't wait."

The woman nodded.

Halfway through the order, she suddenly bent down.

It's not about bowing to anyone.

My legs are weak.

Nurse Zhao reached out to support her.

"Sit down. If you collapse, we'll have to save another one."

The woman was helped back to the bench, her hand pressed against her eyes.

"I never imagined a toothache could be like this."

Nurse Zhao did not comfort her.

"In the emergency room, the scariest thing is 'unexpected' events."

Another half hour passed in the operating room.

When the second report came in, the patient's blood oxygen level was maintained at around 95, and the heart rate dropped to over 120, but was still fast.

The anesthesiologist said the airway was temporarily stable.

The ENT doctor said that the swelling around the pharynx needs to be monitored.

The oral and maxillofacial surgeon said that the drainage has been placed, and anti-infection treatment will continue. The patient will not be transferred back to a regular ward after the surgery.

Lin Ye broke down each sentence into time points.

The last line on the record sheet reads, "Entering the effective processing procedure, with close monitoring thereafter."

The blue text box lit up at the edge of the field of vision.

[Stage Feedback: The risk of upper airway obstruction has been temporarily relieved.]

[Infection source control: The process has begun.]

[Subsequent risks: airway edema, spread of infection, sepsis.]

Lin Ye looked at the three lines of text.

He closed the notebook and pressed his fingertips against the edge of the paper.

The operating room door opened again.

The circulating nurse pushed the patient out.

The patient still has tubes in place.

The neck was covered with a thick layer of dressing, and a drainage tube was attached from the edge of the dressing, with turbid liquid flowing down inside.

When the woman saw the tube, the last shred of hope on her face vanished completely.

"This...this is what happened because of the toothache?"

The oral and maxillofacial surgeon is holding onto the side of the stretcher.

"This is caused by an infection."

An anesthesiologist is monitoring the patient.

"Go for close monitoring first. Don't break the tube or compress the drainage during the process."

Qin Hai took the records from Lin Ye's hand and read them through.

"Can."

He handed the folder back.

"Back to the red zone."

Just as Lin Ye was about to nod, the nurses' station called Nurse Zhao's cell phone.

Nurse Zhao answered the phone, and after listening for less than three seconds, her brows furrowed.

"Director Qin, there's a call from the ICU."

Qin Hai stopped.

Nurse Zhao handed over the phone.

"Liang Shumin's son arrived at the hospital and is at the entrance of the intensive care unit. He said his father is still on medication after the surgery and asked why an X-ray wasn't taken first."

The red light outside the operating room was still on.

The murky liquid in the drainage bag dripped down drop by drop.

Qin Hai took the phone.

"Tell him to wait. We're coming right away."