It's all about training!

Being able to personally feel his mid-range shot getting more and more stable, and clearly sensing his progress in this area, meant he could better carry out his “survival plan.”

After sending out the letter, Henry Bolton spent the past few days training. Compared to before, when it took ages to notice any improvement, the progress over these days made Henry Bolton excited every single day.

In just five days, his mid-range shooting ability had already risen from 75 to 79! Henry Bolton considered 70 to 79 as good, 90-94 as top-tier, so 85-89 should be first-class, and 80-84 would be excellent! NBA-level excellent mid-range shooting was right within reach!

Not only was his rating improving, but he could also feel his own shooting accuracy getting better. Compared to his previous rate of progress, now it could truly be described as changing with each passing day.

Henry Bolton got up and walked out to the small living room outside the bedroom. The apartment was old, but it was pretty spacious—over 40 square meters, with a small living room and a bathroom. Just waking up, Henry Bolton saw a chubby guy playing on the computer in his living room.

That crappy computer—not only was the monitor huge, but the internet speed was infuriatingly slow, and the specs were terrible... at least, that’s how Henry Bolton saw it with his future perspective.

But for Pierce, it was a treasure!

After the dean of the nursing school at the University of Kansas, along with the basketball team manager and head coach, visited Pierce's mother and confirmed that Pierce would be attending the University of Kansas, she pretty much stopped worrying about his studies.

Since Pierce got into college, and was majoring in nursing—a field with good job prospects—his mother was very satisfied. All three sons had gotten into college and received full scholarships. As for whether Pierce could become a professional athlete like his second brother, his mother didn’t really care... mainly because, seeing Pierce’s chubby appearance, she really didn’t think he could end up a pro like her second son. Maybe he’d end up like the eldest, who had talent but lost his shot at going pro due to lack of discipline with food. So now, Pierce played video games every day. His mother had said, “Get into college and you can play as much as you want…”

The computer belonged to Henry Bolton. When he first came to study in the US, his family still had money and bought him a lot of things—computer, pager, you name it. They almost bought him a cell phone. Most of the latest game software was bought with the pocket money Pierce earned by helping his mom clean the hallways or move things. The two of them took turns playing.

The old Henry Bolton used to love playing games, but now he wasn’t interested in these games at all. The graphics—calling them pixelated was an understatement... He’d be interested when games like Red Alert, CS, StarCraft, Warcraft 2, Diablo 2, and so on came out. Those games truly changed the entire era of gaming.

Henry Bolton watched Pierce play the space exploration mecha game “Elite II.” Pierce was muttering to himself as usual. When Henry Bolton played, he rarely spoke, and it was always Pierce talking on the side. Pierce didn’t find anything odd, just wondered why he’d been playing for so long today. Normally, if there was no training, the two would fight over who got to play.

Today, there was a game between the underclassmen and Southern California High School, held at their school, so they needed the gym. Henry Bolton decided to take a day off.

But honestly, watching Pierce play was pretty fun too—mainly because the game itself was interesting. Even though the graphics weren’t as good as future games, the storylines and playability were great... Most importantly, games are always more fun with someone else, even if one is playing and the other is just watching.

By noon, feeling hungry, Henry Bolton greeted Pierce and went out to buy three pizzas for them to eat together.

After coming to the US, Henry Bolton discovered that pizza, burgers, and chicken nuggets were basically the American equivalent of cheap eats back home.

But at the same time, he saw that here in the US, a steamed bun cost five bucks each... The taste was weird, but that wasn’t important. The pizza here was also quite different from the pizza back home. Some cheap Chinese food in China became ridiculously expensive in the US, and sometimes looked totally different. He and Pierce once went to eat a giant steamed bun that cost $12 and had to be cut up with a knife and fork to share.

After buying pizza from the next block and coming back, Henry Bolton saw there was mail in his mailbox, and his eyes lit up! Could it be a reply from a new school?

But when he took it out and looked, he was a bit disappointed—it was reply letters from Adidas and McDonald's.

However, there was one reply from Adidas, and two from McDonald's!

“This fatty really entered the dunk contest?”

Henry Bolton thought about how Pierce had only dunked three times in high school... what a loyal friend!

If Pierce dunked first and then Henry Bolton dunked, with the comparison, maybe he really could get a perfect score on a dunk.

Just as Henry Bolton opened the reply from the Adidas training camp, the subtitles popped up again.

“Special contract player: Henry Bolton, you have successfully registered for the Adidas 1995 Summer High School Basketball Training Camp. Congratulations, host, your lifespan has increased by 15 days.

Special contract player: Henry Bolton, you have successfully registered for the McDonald's High School All-American Dunk Contest. Congratulations, host, your remaining lifespan has increased by 15 days.

Remaining lifespan: 404 days. Usable lifespan: 403 days.”