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

CT technician Xiao Liu was still standing at the door, his eyes fixed on the tray.

Stop staring blankly.

Lin Ye took off his blood-stained gloves.

"The brain herniation of the wounded has been temporarily relieved, but whether there is delayed bleeding under the inner table of the skull or contralateral injury, a thin-section CT scan of the head must be performed immediately."

"Okay! Push it right away!"

Xiao Liu suddenly came to his senses and quickly stepped forward to unfasten the flatbed cart's foot brake.

With everyone's help, the emergency bed was steadily pushed out of the emergency room and quickly pushed into the radiology CT room along the corridor.

Inside the server room, the white racks emitted a low self-test hum, and the high-voltage generator display showed a green standby light.

Lin Ye and Zhao Feng moved the wounded man to the examination bed, placed his head under the headrest, and gently tightened the fixation straps.

The wounded man's right temple was wrapped in a tight sterile pressure bandage, and a transparent silicone negative pressure drainage tube was leading out, with dark red residual blood slowly seeping out.

Xiao Liu sat at the control panel behind the lead glass, his hands flying across the keyboard as he precisely aligned the laser positioning line with the wounded man's orbital ear line.

"Start scanning, layer thickness 2 millimeters."

Accompanied by the deep rumble of the rotating X-ray tube, black-and-white tomographic images were displayed on the high-definition monitor.

Xiao Liu quickly scrolled through the videos using the mouse wheel.

Upon seeing the mid-brain level, Xiao Liu gasped in shock.

In the image, a sharp, translucent fracture line is visible in the squamous part of the right temporal bone, directly below which is a round bone hole with a smooth edge.

Deep within the bone foramen, the massive, high-density epidural hematoma that originally occupied intracranial space and compressed brain tissue is now reduced to a thin layer of pressure residue.

The large amount of dark red blood has been completely drained.

The midline structure of the brain, which had been pushed to the left by the huge hematoma and shifted by nearly nine millimeters, has now visibly rebounded and returned to its original position, with the shift reduced to less than two millimeters.

The right lateral ventricle, which had been compressed and blocked, has now reopened and refilled!

"The midline... the midline has returned to its original position!"

Xiao Liu's hand holding the mouse trembled slightly.

Having worked as a radiology technician at the grassroots level for over ten years, he has handled hundreds of cases of traumatic brain injury from nighttime car accidents.

In the vast majority of critically ill patients with intracranial hemorrhage, by the time their families have had time to sign the necessary documents and the ambulance has taken them to the city, their brainstem is often crushed and flattened halfway there.

He had never seen anyone who could precisely hollow out a deadly hematoma before taking X-rays, using only their hands to operate a drill and perform anatomical positioning, all from a simple single bed in a grassroots emergency room.

"Immediately package the original DICOM image and upload it to the First Municipal Hospital's remote consultation terminal via the dedicated network," Lin Ye reminded in a deep voice.

"Uploading." Xiao Liu pressed Enter.

The emergency phone's hands-free function was still on at the control panel.

A few seconds later, the crisp sound of a mouse wheel clicking came from the hands-free receiver in the neurosurgery duty room of the First Municipal Hospital.

Luo Jianping is verifying images layer by layer in front of the professional image reading screen at the First Affiliated Hospital of the city.

The entire CT control room fell silent, everyone holding their breath awaiting the verdict from this top neurosurgeon.

A full half minute passed before I heard a tapping sound coming from the other end of the receiver.

The usually cold and strict head of neurosurgery spoke with an unusually surprised tone.

"The bone foramen is located at the lateral edge of the groove of the middle meningeal artery, completely avoiding the large bifurcation of the blood vessel."

"The thickest part of the hematoma was completely penetrated, and the tip of the drainage tube did not damage the dura mater or touch the cerebral cortex."

"There is only very slight local congestion in the left contralateral region, the brainstem pericisional structure is clear, and the midline shift has been reduced to below the safe threshold."

Luo Jianping paused for a moment.

"The injured no longer need to risk their lives to be transferred to the First Municipal Hospital overnight."

"The blind puncture single-port decompression was impeccable; you pulled him back from the brink of death right at his bedside."

"Indwelling negative pressure drainage will be maintained, keeping the head elevated, and mannitol will be administered intravenously to maintain intracranial pressure. A follow-up CT scan will be performed in Cangshan three days later. As long as the drainage volume is less than 10 ml and there are no new changes in consciousness, the tube can be removed after one week."

As the voice on the speakerphone faded, Zhao Feng in the control room let out a long breath; his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

"Thank you, Director Luo!" Lin Ye said to the speakerphone.

"Alright, stop with the formalities."

Luo Jianping's voice became serious again.

"Lin Ye, you're certainly brave to be the chief night watchman in Cangshan. But remember this: tonight's success was due to your accurate assessment of vital signs, thorough understanding of the autopsy, and Zhao Feng's presence on-site ensuring aseptic technique and proper handling of the instruments. In the future, never treat taking chances as the norm when you're working at the grassroots level."

"Understood. We will resolutely adhere to clinical indications and documentation standards."

The call was disconnected.

Lin Ye and Zhao Feng pushed the examination bed out of the machine room. As soon as they reached the corridor, they bumped into Guo Shusen, who was running towards them, panting.

Guo Shusen was covered in a cold sweat.

"How's it going, Captain Lin? Has the scan come back up? Should we call an ambulance to get out of the county immediately?"

"No need to transfer it, Director Guo."

Lin Ye stopped the flatbed cart and pointed to the old farmer on the bed.

"Most of the hematoma has drained, the midline has returned to its original position, and Director Luo Jianping confirmed this by remotely reviewing the images. The patient was then admitted to the county hospital for monitoring."

Guo Shusen stood there, stunned, his gaze suddenly shifting to the old farmer on the bed.

The old man had a bandage wrapped around the right side of his scalp, and a trace of color returned to his pale face.

What shocked Guo Shusen even more was that when Zhao Feng reached out and patted the old farmer on the shoulder to call out to him, the old man's fingers twitched slightly and he made a clear, indistinct response from his throat!

The right pupil constricted in response to light, and the neurological signs improved rapidly!

Guo Shusen turned his head blankly and looked at the thin-slice CT images on the operating table inside the glass window.

The bone window, completely drained of its contents, was clearly visible and shocking on that film.

Guo Shusen's hands, hanging by his sides, trembled slightly, and his eyes reddened.

Having served as the acting head of the emergency department in Cangshan for so many years, he was used to the idea that "the more you do, the more mistakes you make, and the less you do, the better." His first reaction when faced with critically ill patients was to refuse to transfer them to another hospital.

But behind every transfer order signed, how many lives are lost silently on the dark, winding mountain road?

If Lin Ye hadn't decisively drilled a hole next to the bed to relieve the pressure, this old farmer would already be a cold corpse!

Guo Shusen turned around and glared fiercely at Xiao Liu, the CT technician next to him.

"Xiao Liu! Listen up!"

"Starting tonight, the iron door to the emergency CT room must never be locked! The machines must be kept powered on and in standby preheating mode 24 hours a day!"

"Night shift technicians are not allowed to go back to their homes in Nanguan to sleep. They must all lie down fully clothed in the duty room next door! If you can't get someone to start working within five minutes, I will report you directly to the hospital office and deduct your entire month's performance bonus!"

Xiao Liu nodded repeatedly, wiping away his sweat.

"Director Guo, don't worry, from now on I'll sleep in the duty room every day and I'll never close the door!"

After the injured were properly transferred to the emergency observation room and placed under monitoring, it was 2:20 a.m.

The bloodstains on the floor next to the emergency bed have been cleaned up, and the air is filled with the smell of disinfectant.

Lin Ye returned to the emergency room office and washed his face with cold water.

Zhao Feng sat in his office chair, took a big gulp of strong tea, and chuckled as he rubbed his aching wrists.

"Xiao Lin, to be honest, my palms were sweating when that hand drill was drilling down. I'm familiar with general surgery, like appendectomy and abdominal dissection, but grinding bone on a person's skull is a first for me."

"Teacher Zhao's technique is very steady, and he grasps the feeling of the inner plate falling into the air very accurately."

Lin Ye handed him a ballpoint pen.

"We still need to complete the signatures for the medical records and remote consultation records."

Lin Ye lowered his head and organized the duty log on the table.

However, the moment he opened the handover book...

"squeak!!"

A black, old-fashioned walkie-talkie clipped to his waist suddenly rang.

Immediately afterwards, panicked cries for help from nurses in the inpatient ward blared from the loudspeaker.

"Calling the night shift supervisor! Calling Supervisor Lin!"

"A major incident has occurred in the obstetrics and gynecology ward on the fourth floor of the inpatient department. A pregnant woman with preeclampsia in twins at 36 weeks gestation suddenly experienced tearing pain in her chest and back, her oxygen saturation dropped to 70, and she went into respiratory distress and shock."

"The on-duty doctor can't handle it anymore! Family members are causing a scene at the ward nurses' station! Requesting the head doctor on duty to come immediately!!"

Liang Shumin suddenly stood up from her office chair!

Lin Ye grabbed the stethoscope and the emergency record folder, his eyes solemn.

"Director Liang, let's go up to the obstetrics and gynecology ward."