Chapter 41 of 100

Chapter 41

21 min read5,188 words

The sports lottery center in Atlantic City has recently been the scene of a rather significant event: a Chinese man managed to guess the exact score of an NBA preseason game with a single bet!

Not an American, not from Taiwan or Singapore, not a Chinese or Malay overseas Chinese, but an 18-year-old boy from mainland China who was on a business trip to the United States!

It's important to understand that this wasn't a simple win or lose bet, the kind where the odds are at most 1:2 or 1:3. In extreme cases, the odds can be as low as 1:1.1. But guessing the exact score of a game is incredibly difficult. Basketball games are highly unpredictable, and guessing the exact score is much harder than guessing the exact number on a dice roll.

The odds for this type of bet are much higher than for a simple win or lose bet, but there is a limit. The maximum payout for a single game score bet is usually a few million dollars. Unlike betting on the entire season, where the real big winners can take home several hundred million dollars, it's not uncommon.

Therefore, this type of bet, which involves guessing the exact score of a single game, is not very popular in basketball lotteries. Often, there isn't even one winner in an entire season.

But who would have thought that in the first preseason game of this year's NBA, someone would actually guess the exact score? It's truly enviable! However, some people felt a twinge of jealousy and mockingly thought the man was foolish. With such good luck, why not bet on the entire season's outcome?

Hu Wenhai walked out of the Atlantic City lottery center with a wry smile on his face.

Americans are straightforward, and a few insiders were very surprised that he had chosen such a high-risk, low-reward bet. They probed and pried, trying to find out if he had any "inside information."

Could Hu Wenhai tell them that he only remembered the score of Michael Jordan's first NBA game, and that was why he had to bet this way?

Of course, he also wanted to bet on the season's outcome. The prize this year was at least 200 million dollars, and with that much money, he could retire and enjoy life. But for someone who had been reborn, getting rich wasn't that difficult. Even if his memory wasn't great and he had never remembered a lottery number, he could at least remember the results of the World Cup, right? Even if he didn't like football, he could still pay attention to the Olympics, right?

Even if he didn't follow many Olympic events, he could at least remember names like Xu Haifeng, the Chinese women's volleyball team's five consecutive championships, and famous athletes like Li Ning, Ma Yanhong, and Zhou Jihong, right? But when Hu Wenhai came to the United States, the Olympics had already passed, so the 1984 wave of opportunities was gone.

Well, even if he didn't know about those, he at least knew about Liu Xiang, who would win his championship in 20 years.

Hu Wenhai wasn't someone who had a phobia of getting rich through the lottery. He had no qualms about using it when necessary. In fact, he had a small plan in mind. Others might hide their winnings to avoid too many people asking for favors or to protect their personal safety.

But Hu Wenhai wasn't afraid. His future achievements would go far beyond this. Was he going to stop making money just because he was worried about being kidnapped? And if anyone tried to oppose someone who could win the lottery, they would have to think twice, right?

For him, maintaining an image of "good luck" was important. If he wanted to make the future of this world more interesting, he would have to play the role of a "prophet" a few times.

When it came to convincing people with just words, past achievements were the best capital. As for whether winning the lottery multiple times and making successful predictions would lead to being dissected, well, did anyone dissect Einstein before he died? Or force Bill Gates to undergo an MRI to study why he became the world's richest man?

If you had no power and only wealth, you were indeed in a dangerous position in society. For example, in 1995, Guan Jingsheng of Wanguo Securities defeated the national treasury bond team in the futures market, but the Shanghai Stock Exchange declared the last eight minutes of trading invalid the next day. What could he do?

What happened? Three months later, the government closed the treasury bond futures market, and Guan was arrested on bribery charges and spent 17 years in prison. The charges were a mix of false accusations, which was absurd. Perhaps the national team was embarrassed to admit that they couldn't compete with him, so they just stopped the game.

So, in this society, money alone isn't enough; you need power. And with power, even if you act a bit strangely, what can others do? In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many people claiming to be qigong masters, like Yan Xin or Wang Lin, who were still living well, taking on goddaughters, and taking photos with celebrities. The Americans even offered Yan Xin 80 green cards to invite him to the United States, but he was so "patriotic" that he refused to go.

Life in China was good. He wasn't just better off than scientists who sold tea eggs; he was on friendly terms with the top echelons. This was power. With it, even if you had special abilities or had traveled through time, you didn't have to worry about being dissected or locked up.

In this world, even if Jesus came, he would first have to prove he was Jesus. If Hu Wenhai announced that he was reborn, no one would believe him until he became successful. After that, they would just praise him for being witty and fashionable.

For the media, winning a few million dollars by guessing a game's score was already a good story. And the fact that the winner was an 18-year-old Chinese boy attracted a lot of attention.

However, while people were searching for this "Wenhai Hu," no one noticed that he had already left Atlantic City and arrived in Long Island, New York.

"Did you hear about the 18-year-old Chinese boy who won five million dollars on a basketball lottery? It wasn't you, was it?" Yulia crossed her long legs and looked at Hu Wenhai, who was sitting calmly in front of her.

"Haha, just a lucky guess," Hu Wenhai shrugged innocently, indicating that he had been hit by a lucky bullet.

"Alright, you were indeed very lucky," Yulia nodded and tossed a document over. "This is the contract for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, with a contract amount of three million dollars. After taxes, your winnings should be about this much, right?"

"I still have 200,000 dollars left," Hu Wenhai grabbed a pen and signed the agreement. For a small case like this, no one would bother with a ceremony. The contract manager, Andrew, had already signed his name and didn't even show up this time.

"By the way, can I ask a question? Why are there Soviets at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory? I thought the Americans would be very cautious about letting you in."

"We signed an exchange agreement with the Americans in the 1960s. Both sides send teams of equal status to exchange in culture and technology every year," Yulia explained, putting away the document Hu Wenhai had pushed over. "The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory invited me to be an exchange scholar for a year, so you can rest assured that I will complete the commission without any problems."

Hu Wenhai raised an eyebrow. He wasn't very familiar with the exchanges between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But seeing that this young lady was accompanied by a few skilled Russians, he knew her background was not simple.

Thinking about Milla Jovovich's future career and her relationship with Milla, it was clear that the Jovovich family had significant influence in Ukraine.

Milla Jovovich was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States with her mother at the age of four. At nine, she started acting in a TV series arranged by her mother. By 11, she was a well-known model, and at 13, she starred in her first film. By 16, she was the lead in "Return to the Blue Lagoon."

If Milla's mother was just an ordinary person, how could she have connected with a big director like Brian De Palma so quickly after arriving in the United States?

In the Chinese entertainment industry, it would be like a North Korean defector becoming a nanny for Lu Chuan's family in China. What a joke! There are plenty of young Chinese students waiting to be discovered, so why would such a good opportunity go to a third-class citizen from an enemy country?

So, the Jovovich family must have had some hidden power in Ukraine and the Soviet Union. Given that Yulia was clearly more favored in the family, it wasn't surprising that she was invited to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Don't forget, Watson was trying to advance the Human Genome Project, which required global participation, not just from the United States. Since the Jovovich family had some influence in the Soviet Union, using an exchange invitation as a form of "bribery" wasn't a big issue.

"Alright, I hope we can work together well," Hu Wenhai said. He wasn't very familiar with the entertainment industry, so he couldn't fully deduce Yulia Jovovich's identity. But he wasn't particularly interested in her at the moment. He was more focused on the new drug itself. The 5-phosphodiesterase inhibitor, known scientifically as sildenafil citrate, is commonly known as "Viagra."

He didn't intend to get too involved in the pharmaceutical industry. Once the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory discovered its true use, there would be interested parties. Whether selling the patent or licensing it, the deal would be worth at least a few hundred million dollars.

With that money, Hu Wenhai could confidently arm Heng Jianyun's company.

If Heng Jianyun heard about his plan, he would probably be horrified. A few hundred million dollars to arm a company? Was he planning to create a hellish paratrooper unit?

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