From the wreckage, Li Yun could sense four more people trapped inside their car. It would take Li Yun an hour to run up and down the long stretch of highway to save everyone. All the EMTs were already occupied with assisting the injured. He turned back to the crowd of spectators clamoring about how awful the accident was. He was only one person, but there might be people in the crowd that could help.

Li Yun pointed to three men and a woman in the crowd and requested them to assist gun. The four selected wondered why Li Yun had specifically pointed them out. They were not medical professionals, but Li Yun could deduce they were with high ranking in the military.

“I need you four to lead a small rescue mission,” said Li Yun. “Find a sturdy cloth and rods to make a gurney. Bring anyone who’s unconscious or immobilized to the front.”

The four spectators agreed to help as they gathered others from the crowd. Afterward, each unit ran between the lanes to search for the people still stuck in the wreckage. With that taken care of, Fan Geng returned to Li Yun’s side. But before Fan Geng could ask what to do next, Li Yun got on Fan Geng’s moped and told him to head toward the bus.

“Just got word that Qinbei will take some of the children from the bus,” said Li Yun sitting behind Fan Geng.

“Seriously! How many?” Fan Geng asked.

“Probably a dozen,” Li Yun responded. He didn’t want to mention that one child was already pronounced dead on site.

When they arrived near the overturned bus, they saw the rescue team hoisting a child from the bus. Several of the ambulances had already left. There were still eight children on the gurneys waiting for other ambulances to arrive. Some of the children cried while others remained silent from shock.

"What are we going to do?" asked the EMT while cleaning up an injury from a little girl. He was trying to determine which hospital the little girl should be sent to. Not all hospitals were equipped to handle trauma patients. Transferring a patient to the correct hospital was often more important than reaching the hospital within the golden hour. For severely injured patients with life-threatening injuries, it was often better to find a more comprehensive hospital far away than a local hospital nearby. "I just got a call, the parent wants the child to go to the nearest hospital, but her injuries are quite severe."

"Did you explain to them the situation?" Asked the pre-hospital team doctor. "We have to rush her to First Trauma Center Hospital."

"I did, but the family said they know a doctor nearby."

"That's ridiculous!"

While they were discussing the situation, Li Yun lightly tapped the children's foreheads. They were suffering from blunt trauma and fractured bones. Most injuries could be healed on their own, but the quality of life may suffer if they weren’t treated properly. Not to mention the mental trauma they may suffer in the future. The ones with minor injuries would be sent to a local hospital, but the ones with the most severe injuries should be sent to trauma centers.

Li Yun looked at the little girl who had likely passed out from the pain. She would survive, but the entire right side of her body was crushed. There was a high risk of ligament, spinal, and tendon damage, and she may become paralyzed. Unfortunately, Li Yun could not see the path of the nerves to confirm nor was he personally experienced with orthopedic and neurosurgery. He had performed watched enough live surgeries via Zuowang to perform surgery, but not on his own.

"Take the girl to Second Hospital," Li Yun told the EMT.

EMT glanced at Li Yun's badge, "But Doc, are you sure? The Second Hospital is known to have the worst trauma preparedness level. They don't even have an orthopedic department."

Li Yun was already on the phone with Chief Zhang, "Chief, can you get me permission to perform emergency surgery at Second Hospital?"

"Why Second Hospital?" asked Chief Zhang over the phone. "We are going to have a s*** show here in our own ER!"

"Isn't Chief Gao and Doctor Hao handling it fine? You even have An Luchange now," Li Yun pointed out. "Second Hospital, on the other hand, is in no position to help anyone. They were likely forced to take in a lot of the patients that other hospitals knew were hopeless."

There was a short pause over the phone. "Whatever, you're lucky we already have a cooperative agreement with Second Hospital. I'll request them to prepare a place for you."

"You're awfully quick to agree to this."

"It's not me. Dr. Burton and Dr. Redding have just arrived, and they would like to see you in action."

****

Li Yun jumped out of the ambulance taking Little Ni to Second Hospital. Fan Geng arrived a moment later on his moped. He had volunteered to help out. As much as Li Yun would like to refuse, he needed all the help he could get. Even before entering the ER, the outside management was a mess. There were people running about trying to enter the ER. The security guards couple barely keep everyone in line. As the doctors and EMTs pushed the gurney into the ER, other people tagged along. The security did their best to stop people without badges, but it seemed like everyone was wearing some type of badge. Once inside the ER, there was no space to push the gurney to its destination as the hallway was filled with people.

"F***! Who are all these people?" Fan Geng cried out.

"Parents and relatives from everyone involved in that accident, maybe some reporters and officers. We aren't handling just the patients from the accidents, we also get around 300 patients a day for colds and minor accidents," replied a doctor, but his voice was slightly muffled by the background noise. If Li Yun didn't know lip reading, it would have been difficult to communicate. "You two must be the doctors from Qinbei University Hospital. I'm Dr. Ang from the neurology department."

"What did he say!?" Fan Geng cried out again.

Li Yun ignored him while Dr. Ang pushed the gurney through the hallway without caring about hitting anyone. Anyone who was about to get hit would naturally try to avoid it. It was too useless to yell at people to get out of the way. People were chattering loudly like the open fish market during the national holidays

"We have a makeshift room prepared," said Dr. Ang showing them a room that was likely a storage room. There were two people inside the room, an equipment nurse and a technician. "It's not the OR, but it's the best we can do in this condition. Are you sure you don't need an anesthesiologist?"

"Do you even have one available?" Li Yun asked.

"Good point," Dr. Ang was surprised when the director mentioned that Li Yun only needed a neurologist, an equipment technician, and a nurse. "I'm going to take a look at Little Ni's chart and CT scans."

Li Yun nodded as he began to scrub in. Little Ni's had several blood clots and internal bleeding he needed to treat them first while Dr. Ang analyzed Little Ni's CT scans. By the time Dr. Ang returned to the makeshift OR, Fan Geng was suturing the small incisions.

"You're done already?" Dr. Ang was surprised. He was gone for fifteen minutes and returned with the CT scan reports. The nurse and technician in the room were equally surprised, but Li Yun had already removed the clots and the excessive bleeding. Before Li Yun could reply, Dr. Ang received a call on his phone. "Hello? Dr. Chang? Yes. They are here?"

Li Yun took a look at the CT scans and report while Dr. Ang was on his phone. Little Ni had translation damage to her spinal cord with severe compression. The report recommended an anterior approach to decompress and stabilize the cervical spine. The surgery was a bit tricky, but if he could repair it, she would have a better chance to recover.

"We have a bit of a problem," said Dr. Ang as he hung up the phone. "Little Ni's parents want to speak with you before proceeding with the surgery."

Li Yun remembered that Li Ni's parents knew a doctor from the hospital. "Who's Dr. Chang?" Li Yun asked.

"He's the Department Head of Internal Medicine," said Dr. Ang.

It was annoying to deal with parents and an egotistical doctor, but it was his responsibility to address any of their questions. Time to put on an authoritative aura to deal with them.