Chapter Thirty: Lin Tian Makes a Killing! The God’s Permanent Skill!

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Then, after everyone had left, he suddenly bent down and gathered the scattered cards from the floor, examining them carefully.

After studying them for a while, Jordan finally noticed something strange.

There was a very obvious fingernail scratch on the queen of spades, along with a clear crease.

Obviously, the card had been held tightly in someone’s hand for a long time to end up like that.

Jordan believed this queen was the very card Lin Tian had been holding just now.

Had the kid deliberately lost to him?

Jordan’s mind began racing.

He had drawn the queen, but he had not wanted to win four million dollars from Jordan in a single night. Even more than that, he did not want everyone to think that Michael Jordan had lost from beginning to end. Was the kid afraid of making him angry, or afraid of making him lose face?

He couldn’t possibly be afraid of Jordan! When had the kid ever been afraid of him? The boy had even dared to teach him how to play basketball on the court!

So there was only one possibility—

The kid did not want him to lose face!

That was why he had deliberately lost to him and then deliberately mixed all the cards together, preventing Jordan from seeing what he had been holding.

That had to be it. After all, this was a four-million-dollar game, counting both sides.

So the kid had actually been caught in a terrible dilemma.

He wanted the money! He wanted to win! But he wanted even less for Jordan to lose face or embarrass himself in front of all his teammates. He had agonized and hesitated for a long time, finally making up his mind to do this.

At that thought, everything suddenly became clear.

Jordan felt that he had figured it all out.

That young fellow Lin Tian was actually a pretty decent kid.

Jordan did not even notice that the corners of his mouth had curved into a faint smile.

Meanwhile, Lin Tian, who had already gotten off the plane, received a message from the system.

“Michael Jordan’s emotions have fluctuated. Permanent skill acquired: Aerial Footwork!”

“Aerial Footwork, Level 1 (0/2,000): Increases the host’s finishing ability around the basket by 7%. If the host’s leaping rating reaches A-, every subsequent increase in leaping ability will grant an additional 3% increase to finishing ability!”

Whoa! This was the jackpot—a permanent skill!

Lin Tian’s eyes lit up.

There was no need to explain how formidable Jordan’s layups, finishing ability, and aerial work were.

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They were unquestionably among the greatest in league history.

The experience required to upgrade this skill was already twice that of Lin Tian’s other two skills. That alone showed how powerful it was.

An absolute treasure.

And everything had gone exactly as Lin Tian had planned.

The card Lin Tian had drawn was actually only a seven of diamonds. Jordan had never held a high jack at all.

Jordan had certainly been ecstatic after winning two million dollars in a single hand. At the very least, that should have produced five hundred experience points. But Lin Tian, whose goal had been to trigger an intense emotional reaction from Jordan, had no interest in something as trivial as five hundred experience points.

He had to find another way.

So Lin Tian had not revealed his card. Instead, he had mixed all the cards together, and while doing so, he had deliberately found the queen of spades and abused it thoroughly.

Given Jordan’s personality, he would definitely overthink things. He would surely investigate every detail, going from overwhelming joy to crushing despair, and then to emotion and surprise.

Lin Tian simply refused to believe that nothing good would come from it.

Of course, the final result left him extremely satisfied. All that effort had not gone to waste.

And what if Jordan had truly been that unlucky tonight and drawn a card lower than the seven of diamonds?

Then Lin Tian would have made a clean four million dollars, which would have been wonderful too.

Besides, losing four million dollars in an hour—and two million in a single hand—would have been enough to make anyone furious. If Jordan had not been tempted to slap himself over it, that would have meant he had an extraordinarily broad mind. Such extreme bad luck, defeat, anger, and despair would certainly have made Jordan drop something worthwhile.

In other words—

From the moment that final hand began, Lin Tian had been destined to make a fortune that night.

He was guaranteed to win.

Smiling happily as he admired his new skill, Lin Tian followed the group to the bus the league had arranged. They were headed to the hotel, where they could rest for the night. The game against the Miami Heat would not take place until tomorrow evening.

Just as Lin Tian sat down beside Wennington, a deep voice rang out.

“Big man, move.”

Wennington looked up and saw Jordan approaching. How could he dare say a word? He immediately agreed, sprang to his feet, and walked toward an empty seat farther away.

“You don’t still want to gamble, do you, Michael? I really want to sleep.”

Lin Tian had already entered his period of calm after a great haul. He had just squeezed everything he could out of Jordan and had no desire to milk him for anything more.

“Here, you little punk!”

Without another word, Jordan pulled out a check and slapped it against Lin Tian’s chest.

“I’m Michael Jordan. I don’t need anyone to let me win, and I don’t need anyone’s pity! I can afford to lose! Don’t hold back for my sake in the future!”

Lin Tian glanced at the check.

One, two, three… six zeroes.

Jordan had given Lin Tian a four-million-dollar check.

“Michael, what is this?”

Although Lin Tian understood everything immediately, he still put on an innocent expression as he looked at Jordan.

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“A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. I don’t need anyone to give me a handicap!”

Jordan snorted.

“You think you’re clever? You think I didn’t know that you hid that queen in the deck?”

In that instant, Lin Tian delivered the performance of his life.

His mouth fell slightly open. His eyes widened. He looked left and right, scratched his head, and even began to stammer, sounding nervous and guilty.

“Michael… what are you talking about? What queen?”

Shock, bewilderment, surprise, guilt, and the embarrassment of being exposed—

All kinds of emotions appeared on Lin Tian’s face one after another in less than a second.

At the same time, he thought to himself:

I should be winning an Oscar for this.

Jordan stared intently at Lin Tian for several seconds.

Only after seeing the reaction he found completely satisfactory did he nod smugly, feeling immensely pleased with himself.

“Graduated from the finest psychology program in the world? Even he couldn’t fool me, Michael Jordan! Nothing special after all!”

“Oh, right, Lin.” Jordan suddenly added, “We’ll keep matching up in tonight’s practice. I’ll keep blowing past you and keep beating you into the ground!”

Watching Jordan walk away, Lin Tian could only shake his head helplessly.

What a tsundere.

Then he looked at the four-million-dollar check in his hand and promptly put it away.

Crisp, fragrant American cash. What a delight.

Besides, Lin Tian had not lied or deceived him. Every word he had spoken had been true.

So he accepted the four million dollars with a perfectly clear conscience.

Even if Lin Tian returned the money now, Jordan would never take it back. With Jordan’s pride, he would never believe anything Lin Tian said.

Four million dollars, earned effortlessly. Wonderful.

Of course, there was one thing Lin Tian had absolutely not anticipated.

The Jordan who now sat in his seat, staring blankly ahead, had a severely crumpled queen of spades tucked inside his trouser pocket.

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