"Alex, you should go participate. Look, there are a lot of people who don't know your abilities. You're famous locally in California, but not so much elsewhere. If you make a splash in the dunk contest, maybe some colleges will notice you..."

When Pierce said this, even he didn't believe it himself. In Henry Bolton's situation, is it really that they don't recognize his skills? Maybe some doubt Henry Bolton's ability, but more than that, it's the fact that people look down on Henry Bolton because he's a Chinese player.

This is a problem with no real solution. Henry Bolton played so well in his senior year; while his one-on-one skills might not be as good as Pierce's, in terms of his role on the team, there's not much difference between Henry Bolton and Pierce. The two complement each other, it's just that Pierce is flashier, since he's the ball handler.

Pierce knew very well that his friend was smart—if even he didn't believe this reasoning, how could Henry Bolton?

But Pierce really had no other way; he truly didn't know how to help Henry Bolton.

After listening to Pierce, Henry Bolton nodded. "Paul, you're right. I'm planning to enter the dunk contest. What about you?"

"Me?" Pierce blurted out, "I'm not entering. If I go, it'll just be for laughs... huh?"

Suddenly, Pierce realized—he agreed just like that?

"You're really going to enter?" Pierce's eyes widened. "I was just saying! If you enter, I'll get even less screen time!"

Seeing Henry Bolton nod, Pierce hooked his arm around Henry Bolton's shoulder and said, "Then let's enter together! The Los Angeles Flyers duo is about to take the stage!"

"I think the reporters are right—you look more like Charles Barkley..."

"You sharp-tongued guy, I challenge you to a duel!"

Chapter 4: Growth Card—Mid-Range Jump Shot Specialist

Of course I have to enter! Entering means living 15 more days, and a perfect dunk means another month! Whether it's a perfect score or not doesn't matter—extending my life by half a month is what matters.

With this golden finger, Henry Bolton's initial idea was that since he could build his own team, he should save up some money, find a group of people, and enter various streetball tournaments together. For example, bring in Pierce, find a younger student, and act as the "coach" of this small team. These two definitely wouldn't ask for a salary; at most, they'd split any prize money, which wouldn't be much anyway. The main thing is, this way, he could keep practicing.

In theory, Henry Bolton thought this was feasible, and he believed that, under normal circumstances, this might be one of the best ways for him to keep himself alive.

However, with this suddenly triggered mission, Henry Bolton wasn't sure if it was because he signed himself up, making him a "special contract player" different from ordinary contract players... Since it's a special contract, it must be different.

"Special Contract Player: Henry Bolton"... Seeing this line listed separately in the subtitles, it really was different.

He was his own contract player. Whenever he encountered something related to his basketball career, the golden finger's missions would be triggered, and as his own "coach," he needed to help himself complete the missions to get rewards... Henry Bolton felt his head was about to explode, but this was a good thing! So he decisively chose to take on this mission!

There were two options: one was to go the streetball route. If he really couldn't make it onto a college basketball team, he could just find a college with affordable tuition and play in lower-level leagues in his spare time, taking it slow... If he really managed to get noticed by a team through the dunk contest—though the odds were slim—he could at least hope a little. At the very least, he should dunk well and make a name for himself. Even if he didn't go to college and just played streetball, more people would know him.

Thinking this way, Henry Bolton felt that surviving wasn't so hard after all.

Maybe, the survival he was pursuing, from the perspective of his future memories, had already been achieved. At least he could live for a year, and live that year full of energy. For his future self, that was already a dream come true. Back then, lying in a hospital bed, all he wanted was to stand up and live like a normal person for just one day. Even one day would let him die without regrets. That feeling of lying in bed, unable to even feel pain, looking back now felt like an endlessly long nightmare.

But the dreams of Henry Bolton in this era hadn't even had a chance to set sail. To achieve his dream of becoming a world-class basketball player and leading the national team to glory... that was an enormous challenge!

But Henry Bolton really wanted to try! He never had the chance before, but now he wanted to be a good person—no, to continue his previous efforts, and work even harder to become an outstanding basketball player!

If it really doesn't work out, then he'll play streetball, play in lower-level leagues, hang on until he's old enough to be a coach, and keep living—he once said he'd be satisfied just to live a normal day, but if he can live longer, why not work for it?

Besides, playing in lower-level leagues isn't shameful at all—it's all about ability and hard work to make a living.

With memories from the future, Henry Bolton's perspective and way of seeing things had changed dramatically, but in the end, he was still an 18-year-old teenager.

A teenager's heart means charging forward without hesitation. So, even though the past three years in America had been tough—at the very least, the environment was hard to adapt to, and communicating with others was exhausting—Henry Bolton had always worked hard.

And what the memories of the future brought him... was even more courage to dream and to act!