American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

Unlike now, we don't have to be so careful when exchanging gold.

As for whether having a few more people around him will cause unnecessary trouble, there's no need to worry too much.

After all, the whole world is at war right now, and major U.S. port cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York have gathered a lot of visaed refugees who can only live in specific refugee camps. Although Chicago is essentially an inland area, its port can be connected to Europe via the Lawrence River.

This is also a major reason why there are so many immigrants from Italy and other European countries in Chicago.

Therefore, if Josie spends a little more money, she can easily grant refugee status to the Unsullied and then legally obtain U.S. citizenship.

After careful consideration, Josie ultimately rejected Daenerys's proposal.

“I’m sorry, Daenerys, your suggestion is good, but I also hope you understand how important the trading machine is to us. I still think it’s not appropriate for anyone other than ourselves to know about its existence, because it’s a risky move for us, even if the risk is negligible,” Josie said, shaking her head.

“You’re right, I was a bit too hasty.” After hearing what Josie said, Daenerys thought about it and realized she was right, so she didn’t say anything more.

After disconnecting from Daenerys, Josie breathed a sigh of relief and with a wave of his hand, a heavy gold nugget appeared in his palm.

"Mmm!" Looking at the gold bar in her hand, Josie couldn't help but kiss it. Gold, ah, it's such a wonderful thing.

After admiring the gold for a while, Josie got up, packed her things, looked at the sky outside, and seeing that it wasn't too late, decided to go out for dinner.

Although there was still some bread at home, he had been eating that stuff for almost a week, and he definitely didn't want to eat it again anytime soon.

Although I've already spent most of the US dollars I exchanged this morning, I still have a few dozen dollars left, so there's no need to deprive myself of them.

Josie straightened her clothes, checked the M1911 she had bought during the day, loaded it, put it in the system warehouse, and then leisurely went out the door.

"Mr. Kahn!" But just as he was coming downstairs, he was stopped by a man in uniform.

Josie recognized the clothes the other person was wearing; they were from the property management company.

"Is something the matter?" Josie asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Mr. Kahn, this is your property management fee bill for the past three months. We didn't bother you before because of your parents' passing, but so much time has passed, don't you think?" It turned out that the other party had come to collect a debt, but their attitude was quite good.

What surprised Josie was that she didn't expect that property management fees already existed in the United States at this time of year.

Of course, this can only be attributed to Josie's lack of experience.

In fact, the concept of property management fees appeared in Britain as early as the 1860s and soon spread to the United States.

Although it is only the 1940s now, the United States already has a very well-developed system in this regard.

Although Josie was somewhat surprised by this, she still accepted the bill. Fortunately, the property management fee was not expensive. After all, this was just an ordinary apartment building. The monthly property management fee was forty-two cents, which would only be a little over one dollar for three months.

He immediately took out the money.

When Josie took out her money, the other person showed a relaxed smile.

Property management companies are not afraid of homeowners not paying their property management fees, because property management companies in Europe and America are known for their power. When homeowners accumulate a certain amount of debt, they can file a lawsuit and auction off the homeowner's house directly through judicial proceedings.

Before Josie transmigrated, she had just read a news article about a Chinese-American female PhD who had a conflict with the property management company and maliciously refused to pay property fees. As a result, her multi-million dollar house was auctioned off at a low price, and she even violently resisted when the police came to deliver the judgment, and was shot dead.

However, just because the property management company isn't afraid doesn't mean that the employees who collect property fees aren't afraid. If they don't collect the money or are complained about by the owners, it will affect their bonuses. So, naturally, they'd rather avoid trouble.

"By the way, does your property management company offer agency services for selling houses?" After paying the money, Josh gave the other party a ten-cent tip and then asked.

"Um, Mr. Kahn, are you planning to move out?" Josie asked, somewhat surprised by her words.

“Yes, that’s right. This place is a source of sadness for me, you know, so I’m going to leave.” Josie said, feigning sadness.

However, it is true that he does not intend to continue living here.

After all, the apartment was too small, the safety level was average, and someone had died there—although it was the body's parents, Josie still felt uneasy.

Before, we had no money and no other choice.

If all the gold in the system's warehouse were sold, it would be enough to buy a six-bedroom house in an upscale community, if not a luxurious mansion.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Josie has to buy such a big house, since he's all alone and doesn't need it.

Moreover, he has to keep most of this money for operating capital.

Therefore, he only plans to rent a more upscale apartment in the short term.

“I see. The company does indeed have a real estate sales agency business, and small apartments like this are easy to sell these days. If Mr. Kahn needs one, I can help you make the connections,” the other party said, nodding.

"Then I'll trouble you. Let me know if you have any news." Qiao Xi nodded, but didn't say how to let him know, because there was no need. Although the apartment was very ordinary, there was a security guard at the entrance of the building. The guard could see when he was home and when he came in and out, so there was no need to worry about not being able to find him.

After reaching an agreement with the other party, Josie left the apartment.

Then, my mood, which was initially quite good, instantly turned sour.

The spot where his newly purchased used Ford should have been parked is now empty.

Chapter 6 Little Italy

On a Chicago street in the evening, Josie stood disheveled in the wind.

I had only been home for a few hours when my newly bought car was stolen.

This was something he had never experienced before.

In his previous life in the safest country, China, he had never encountered or even heard of his car being stolen.

But the situation is different in the United States. In New York City alone, there were more than 2,000 car thefts from January to March 2022...

If this is the case in 2022, one can imagine how rampant car theft must have been in the United States in the 1940s.

So it's no surprise that Josie, who was completely unprepared after buying the car, fell victim to the scam.

So what should you do if you find your car has been stolen?

Call the police?

Josie shook her head as she looked at the police officers patrolling the roadside in the distance.

Stop joking. Even 60 years later, the car theft case solving rate in the United States is not high, let alone in this era.

Moreover, the corruption among American police in this era is rampant; without money and power, you can't expect them to accomplish anything.

Finally, there's one very important issue: Josh bought the car at noon, but didn't even have time to register it...

So even if Josie was very unhappy, she could only accept her bad luck.

If you don't have a car, then walk!

Josie had originally planned to drive around Chicago to see what "fun" places there were at night, but now she could only grab something to eat nearby and head straight back to sleep.

Without a car, Josie would never wander around America at night in this era, not even with a gun.

Soon, it was the next day.

After tidying up, I went out again. Instead of walking, I booked a taxi in advance and went back to the grocery store from yesterday.

Upon entering, he discovered that the person standing behind the counter was not old Hawke, but a young woman in her early twenties.

"Good morning, what can I do for you?" the young girl asked warmly as Josh entered.

"Isn't old Hawke here?" Josie asked instead of revealing her true intentions.

After all, Old Hawke was the shop owner, and the girl in front of him couldn't possibly make the decision about accepting gold.

"You're looking for my grandpa? Wait a moment, he's working in the back, I'll go call him." The girl didn't care about Josh's attitude and turned to go into the back of the shop. She was old Hawke's granddaughter and often came to help out. She had seen many mysterious customers like Josh and was used to it.

Old Hawke came out soon after, and was quite surprised to see Josie again.

"We meet again, young man. Still the same golden one?"

“Yes, your prices are quite reasonable, so I decided to get a few more, but I don’t know if you can handle it,” Josie nodded.

“Hehe, young man, I know what you’re worried about, but don’t underestimate old Hawke. This shop has been here for decades. Although it doesn’t look big, there are quite a few priceless items here. See? Although they’re all second-hand, the little bit of gold you exchanged yesterday wouldn’t even be enough to buy one of the watches in this cabinet.” Old Hawke said with a smile, pointing to a watch cabinet on the side.

If Old Hawke hadn't mentioned it, Josie wouldn't have noticed. But after taking a closer look at the watch cabinet, he knew that what Old Hawke said was true.

There aren't many watches in the watch cabinet, only seven or eight, but each one is in excellent condition.

Although he didn't know much about watches—after all, he couldn't afford high-end watches in his previous life—it didn't stop him from recognizing the brands of these watches.

Patek Philippe, Rolex, Breguet... Although it is now the 1940s, these famous watches are worth at least thousands of dollars today—provided, of course, that they are all genuine.

However, even if only half of it is real, its value would exceed that of the gold that Josie owns.

Josie could only sigh inwardly at her own ignorance.

“120 ounces, the purity should be about right!” Since old Hawke was so confident, Josie didn’t hesitate any longer. Just like yesterday, she took out a small bag and put it on the counter.

Twelve gold nuggets, weighing over 3.4 kilograms in total, sounds like a lot.

But in terms of volume, it's actually not that much, considering the weight of gold.

A 10-ounce gold nugget is smaller than a Snickers bar.

So even though Josh was taken from the system, it didn't arouse any suspicion.

“These are nice items. I’ll take them all. Same price as yesterday, how about it?” Old Hawke said with a smile, picking up a gold nugget and weighing it in his hand.

“Okay!” The price offered by the other party was indeed quite fair, so Josh naturally had no objections.

Soon, the 120 ounces of gold were exchanged for four thousand eight hundred US dollars.

Upon receiving the money, Josie couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

After stuffing the thick wad of banknotes into his pocket—which was actually directly deposited into the system's warehouse—Josh said goodbye to Old Hawke and walked out of the grocery store.

After turning two street corners and making sure no one was paying attention or following him, he wanted to call a taxi so he could go to the car dealership to buy another car.