Chapter Five: The Nameless Ward

Relationships, not a database, confirmed the addresses. No one knew the twelfth patient. Their monitor flattened. Lin took their hand. “Then you are the person I am saving.” The nurse hesitated. “Only one person fits that address now. Rejecting it would mean Rule One demands correctness while forbidding a correct answer.” The nurse began resuscitation. Lin tore his PATIENT band in half and placed one piece on the dying stranger. 【Address exchange: PATIENT ↔ PERSON I AM SAVING.】 The system moved death toward Lin. He delayed it, wrote MEDICAL STAFF on his half, and shocked the stranger's heart. When death finally landed on the PATIENT address, that band rested on an empty bed. The empty bed died. All twelve people lived.