After Henry Bolton said this, the subtitles before his eyes changed once again, a prompt sounded, and a cold, robotic electronic voice echoed in his mind...

"Ding... Basketball Domination System initializing..."

"Basketball Domination System activated. The host's goal is to become the basketball dominator, leading your own players to conquer the world of basketball."

"What does this mean?" Henry Bolton was momentarily stunned.

Mainly, he hadn't expected this golden finger to be about this kind of thing at all. To become the ruler of the basketball world, in his mind, that was someone like Jordan, Magic Bird, or Russell. But he never thought it meant he had to become a head coach!

"Lead your own players to conquer the basketball world? Lead your own players? Isn't that what a coach does? Does this mean I have to become a coach? I'm only 19, how can I be a coach? Is this telling me to go to a sports university and become the best coach in the world? Well, I guess that's a path... But damn, I only have one year left to live! How could I possibly finish four years of college and become a head coach?"

Henry Bolton thought about how those universities didn't want to give him a chance, how he kept hitting walls everywhere, and he had already started to consider giving up basketball, going back to college in his home country, becoming an office worker or maybe selling fish.

But now, he's different. He has memories of the future, and what's more, his perspective is led by those future memories. Most importantly, he only has one year left to live... So he has to accomplish something to make himself live longer.

The golden finger must be able to help somehow. If it can't help at all, then forget it—just live happily for a year with the mindset of someone who remembers the future. After all, he's already experienced two years lying in a hospital bed waiting to die. If he can live energetically for a year, that's not so bad.

At this moment, the subtitles quietly changed again.

"The host's basketball career is about to begin. Mission activated: Become the head coach of a team or form your own team, and sign one player."

"So it really wants me to be a coach? But how can I be a coach now? Even elementary schools wouldn't want to hire me! At my age and with my abilities, where could I be a coach? Start a team? Where would I get the money?"

Henry Bolton couldn't help but complain wildly, almost turning into Pierce, because the system really didn't give him any cheats! It just gave him a mission, and there would probably be a reward for completing it, but he didn't have the means to do it!

To become a basketball coach through college, the best choice would definitely be a sports academy in the world's strongest basketball country, the United States, but he wouldn't live to graduate!

A dead end again!

Suddenly, Henry Bolton had a flash of inspiration, and a magical idea popped into his head. As soon as it appeared, his heart started pounding!

Not knowing how to communicate, Henry Bolton tentatively asked in his mind, "Can I sign myself? I'll form my own team, and... hmm, I'll call it the Ri Tian Gang! I'll sign myself!"

After he asked this, the previously calm subtitles suddenly started to distort, then tremble, and finally... the screen glitched! It startled Henry Bolton!

Could it be that he broke the golden finger?

Wait, does this mean he might not only have one year left to live?

Just as this thought appeared, Henry Bolton saw that in the upper right corner of the subtitles, even though the screen was glitching, the "remaining lifespan" hadn't changed. Even if the system crashed, it seemed determined to drag him to hell with it!

After a while, the subtitles finally returned to normal, and new words appeared.

"The host has established the team: Ri Tian Gang, and is about to sign Henry Bolton as the first contracted player, becoming his personal coach. Confirm?"

It really works!

Henry Bolton didn't know what good signing himself would do, but he decided to sign first and figure it out later. He immediately replied, "Confirm."

"Ding... The host has successfully signed player: Henry Bolton. Because the host helped the system find a loophole, you have received a special reward: Growth Card: Mid-Range Jump Shot Training Enhancement Card (Top Tier)."

Chapter 3: What Kind of Future Is the Future?

Damn!

Henry Bolton kept blinking in disbelief—it actually worked!

Just as Henry Bolton's mind was freezing up, the subtitles changed again with a new prompt.

At this moment, Henry Bolton wanted to check the previous prompt again, and unexpectedly, the subtitles automatically switched back to the previous message.

Seeing the "system loophole reward" prompt, Henry Bolton finally realized that he had found a bug in this golden finger—a way to complete the mission that wasn't listed in the requirements but was theoretically possible.

So from now on, he had to pay more attention. Maybe there would be more bugs to exploit!

Right! The new prompt!

As Henry Bolton thought of this, the subtitles switched to the latest prompt he hadn't checked yet.

"Mission 1 successfully completed. Congratulations, host, your lifespan has increased by 15 days.

Player detection function has been activated.

Remaining lifespan: 380 days. Usable lifespan: 379 days."

As expected! Completing missions increases your remaining lifespan!

"Player detection function? Wait, wasn't there also a special reward growth card for finding the bug—Top Tier Mid-Range Jump Shot Training Card?"

As soon as Henry Bolton thought of this, the subtitles changed again.

"Player detection function: During games, you can comprehensively observe the on-court players' abilities in three aspects: physical fitness, shooting skills, and technical skills. By analyzing the opponent's technical characteristics, you can infer their playing style and make targeted tactical arrangements."