Yan Feifan’s heart sank.
That splash of red meant something was terribly wrong.
It was papilledema—a swelling of the optic disc inside the eyeball, caused by increased intracranial pressure.
Only then did Yan Feifan notice that the twitching of the burly man’s facial muscles was rhythmic.
This wasn’t a facial tic caused by pain at all. It had to be a focal seizure brought on by dangerously high intracranial pressure.
Yan Feifan also noticed the man’s gaze had become unfocused.
He quickly examined the man’s head.
After a quick inspection, Yan Feifan felt a swelling about five centimeters in diameter on the upper left side of the back of the man’s head.
Other than that, there were no other signs of head trauma.
Yan Feifan concluded that the man must have suffered an accidental blow to the head, which had unexpectedly ruptured a blood vessel in his brain.
The blood had been slowly pooling inside his skull, gradually increasing the intracranial pressure until the symptoms finally manifested.
That’s why the triage doctor had missed it, classifying him as having minor injuries.
He turned to the young nurse and ordered loudly, "Call a neurosurgeon immediately! And go tell Mr. Wan that I have a patient with a cerebral hemorrhage who needs urgent treatment."
Seeing the young nurse hesitate, Yan Feifan urged her sharply, "What are you waiting for? Go, now!"
The young nurse scurried out in a panic.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out in Yan Feifan’s mind. "Not bad. You finally noticed the patient’s abnormality and made the correct diagnosis."
"But, Yan Feifan, why aren’t you doing anything yet?"
Yan Feifan turned his head to look at Yiyi, who had appeared to his right dressed as a doctor, and said coldly, "I’ve already sent the nurse to report it."
Yiyi walked over to the man, who was now frozen like a statue, and studied him. "You know full well that in his condition, you must lower his intracranial pressure as quickly as possible."
"Otherwise, once the pressure gets too high, it will be difficult for blood to enter the brain. That will quickly lead to hypoxic damage to the brain cells, and subsequently, brain death."
"When every second counts, you just send a nurse to make a report while you do nothing yourself?"
Yan Feifan struggled, trying to defend himself. "I’m just a resident. With attending physicians around, I’m not qualified to perform this level of emergency procedure."
Yiyi shot Yan Feifan a contemptuous look. "So, to you, a person’s health and life are less important than hospital regulations?"
Yan Feifan fell silent, not knowing how to argue his case.
Yiyi pointed at the man, whose pained expression was now frozen in place, and said slowly, "Let me tell you the possible consequences of this delay of a few dozen seconds!"
"Loss of vision in one eye or hearing in one ear?"
"Numbness and impaired mobility on one side of his body?"
"Hemiplegia?"
"Paralyzed in bed, or perhaps a vegetative state?"
"Brain death, or even just... death?"
Then, Yiyi’s tone suddenly turned mocking. "Let me take another guess, Yan Feifan. The reason you won’t act probably isn’t because you’re afraid of violating hospital rules. It’s just because..."
"You’re scared, aren’t you?"
"You’re afraid your skills aren’t good enough. You’re afraid of failure, aren’t you?"
Yiyi said tauntingly, "After all, even if you’ve simulated this thousands, or tens of thousands of times in the world of your consciousness, it was just a simulation. You could always try again if you failed."
"But in the real world, you’re facing a living, breathing person."
"A man of flesh and blood who can talk and breathe won’t give you a second chance."
"So, you’re cowering. You’re backing down."
Yiyi gave him another look of disdain. "Yan Feifan, if you don’t have the guts, then just give control of the body to me."
"Are you just going to stand by and watch a life be permanently damaged, or even lost, because of your cowardice and incompetence?"
Spurred on by Yiyi’s relentless provocation, Yan Feifan’s gaze gradually hardened with resolve.
He turned and looked Yiyi straight in the eye, his voice low and firm. "After practicing tens of thousands of times in the world of my consciousness, I absolutely will not fail."
"Yiyi, if you think you’re taking control of my body, you can dream on."
As he spoke those words, the world around Yan Feifan returned to its normal flow of time.
He grabbed a Puncture Needle from a compartmentalized box full of medical instruments and tore open the sterile packaging.
The dazed man vaguely saw Yan Feifan approaching with a needle that looked ten to twenty centimeters long. A jolt of fear brought some clarity back to his eyes.
"Doc... tor..."
Hearing the man’s slurred speech, Yan Feifan quickly explained, "Your intracranial pressure is too high. I need to lower it urgently to buy time for further treatment."
"I’m going to perform a puncture through your right nasal cavity to drain some cerebrospinal fluid."
He then added reassuringly, "Don’t be afraid. It’ll only hurt for a second!"
With that, Yan Feifan inserted the long needle into the man’s right nostril.