American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

American Comic Dimensional Trading Device Author: Interstellar Dust

Summary:

When Josie woke up from her dream, she found herself transported from the 21st century to Chicago in 1943, becoming a poor street kid.

World War II? For Josie, who was not yet an adult, it was too far away.

As an orphan, the most important thing for him is how to survive in this era.

Fortunately, he has a dimensional trading system. In this era, he can make a good living as a time-traveling reseller.

However, a few months later, Josie, whose life had just improved somewhat, fell silent as she looked at Captain America singing and dancing with a group of girls on the stage of a war fundraising performance.

It's over, Barbie Q.

This is actually Marvel!

Chapter 1 Gold Trading

Chicago was still cold in February.

Although it was 1943, the world war was raging in Europe and Asia.

However, as a remote rear area far from the battlefield and also one of the most important industrial cities in the United States, Chicago still maintained a peaceful and prosperous atmosphere.

During the day, the streets are bustling with traffic, the shops are full of dazzling arrays, and gentlemen and ladies come and go, making it just as lively as it is in the 21st century.

If it weren't for the occasional war posters plastered on the streets, it would be hard to believe that the largest and deadliest war in history is taking place on the other side of the world.

But none of this had anything to do with Josie.

At this moment, he was wearing a coat that didn't fit his body properly as he walked through the busy street and went into a roadside shop.

"Take a look at what you need!" The elderly shopkeeper inside the hall said without looking up, accompanied by the crisp sound of the doorbell.

This is a general store. You can find everything from small items like scissors and cutlery to larger items like radios and vinyl records, all neatly arranged in their respective places.

However, Josie wasn't there to buy things; she was there to sell things.

"I heard you buy gold here!" Josie walked straight to the counter and asked the old shop owner who was fiddling with an old radio.

Upon hearing his words, the old shopkeeper raised his head slightly, glanced at him, and was slightly surprised to see that he was a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old, but still nodded.

Without hesitation, Josie took a pocket from her coat, placed it on the counter, and opened it to reveal the gold jewelry inside.

"Huh? It looks a bit like Native American craftsmanship, but not quite. Where did you get it?" The old shopkeeper asked with some surprise when he saw the gold jewelry in the bag.

"What? Do Native American crafts get more money?" Josie didn't answer, but asked in return.

"No, it doesn't really fit the mainstream aesthetic." The old shop owner shrugged. The mainstream aesthetic here is undoubtedly that of white people. The rough Native American craftsmanship wouldn't attract the attention of those wealthy ladies, so the only fate for this gold was to be melted down.

"How much can you offer?" Josie asked again. He didn't care about craftsmanship or anything like that, because he knew it wasn't Native American gold jewelry at all.

"Don't rush, child! Wait a moment!" the old shopkeeper reassured him, then slowly turned around and began searching.

Seeing this, Josh wasn't in a hurry, because he had inquired before coming that this was a well-known old-established general store in the neighborhood, and also a pawnshop.

What he was selling was gold, not any illegal items.

Well... if we follow the law Roosevelt enacted ten years ago, buying and selling gold privately is indeed illegal, and this law will not be completely repealed until more than twenty years later during the Nixon era.

But in fact, since World War II, this law has not been as strict as it was at the beginning.

In addition, the large influx of refugees during the war led the US government to turn a blind eye to private gold transactions, so small-scale gold transactions were actually quite common.

Of course, the safest way is to sell the gold to the bank at a price of $35 per ounce, which is about 28 grams per ounce.

But doing that would be too much of a loss.

Because the price of gold in the private market has already risen to $50 per ounce.

A difference of fifteen dollars is not a small amount.

After all, the purchasing power of the US dollar was extremely strong in this era.

In a big city like Chicago, a typical restaurant meal with coffee, meat, and vegetables costs about fifty or sixty cents, and a large hamburger costs about twenty cents.

In other words, for an average person, even if they eat out every day, fifteen dollars is enough to eat and drink to their heart's content for more than a week.

The gold Josie brought this time wasn't a huge amount, but it wasn't a small amount either—ten ounces. That's a difference of a full one hundred and fifty dollars, which is equivalent to two or three months' income for an average person.

Despite the fact that the average income in the United States had reached over a thousand dollars in 1943.

But what exactly is per capita? Those who know, know.

In reality, an annual income of seven or eight hundred US dollars is already considered a high salary for ordinary people in the city.

Why did so many American youths enlist in the military during World War II?

Isn't it because the military pays high enough salaries?

The basic monthly salary for a private is fifty dollars, and each rank increase ranges from ten to twenty dollars. Basically, once you reach the rank of sergeant, you can get one hundred dollars a month, not including various subsidies.

So one hundred and fifty dollars is definitely not a small amount of money.

Josie didn't have that much gold, so she was naturally reluctant to give up such a large difference to the Bank of America, and was willing to take a little risk.

Fortunately, the old shop owner didn't cause any trouble and quickly returned with some tools, including a measuring cup, water, and a balance.

"The purity of this gold isn't very high, only about 80%, so I can only offer it for forty," the old shopkeeper concluded after using a bunch of tools to measure the gold's specific gravity.

"Deal!" Josie wasn't too surprised by the old shopkeeper's conclusion, because the purity of this gold couldn't possibly be too high. After all, the metallurgical level of that world wasn't advanced, let alone barbarian gold that couldn't even be refined into steel.

So Josie readily agreed to the price offered by the old shop owner.

“Very good, 9.8 ounces in total. I won’t shortchange you, I’ll just say 10 ounces. Here’s four hundred dollars, take it, kid!” Seeing that Josie readily agreed, the old shopkeeper didn’t hesitate. He turned around, took out a roll of dollars from the counter, pulled out two bills, and handed the rest to Josie.

Josie took the dollar bill, untied the rubber band, and found eight fifty-dollar bills, exactly the right amount.

After all, the United States has not yet entered the era of credit cards, so large amounts of US dollars are not uncommon, unlike in the 21st century when it is difficult to see fifty-dollar bills on the market.

"Give me this fifty dollars in change, five dollars would be best, ten dollars will do too!" After counting the money, Josh checked its authenticity and pushed the fifty dollars back.

While not uncommon, the high purchasing power means that it's still inconvenient to be without some cash on hand.

The old shop owner didn't say much, just nodded, and then exchanged it for a roll of five dollars.

After counting the money and confirming that everything was in order, Josie re-tied it, put it in her pocket, and prepared to leave.

"You can come to me again next time you have stock. Old Hawke has a good reputation in this area!" The old shop owner's voice came as we were leaving.

“Of course!” Josie was slightly taken aback when she heard this, nodded, and then went out the door.

Chapter 2 The Transmigrator, Josie

Once outside, he carefully walked two blocks, and only after confirming that no one was paying attention to him did Josh breathe a sigh of relief. He then entered a nice restaurant on the side of the road.

He'd been in this world for a week, and the best thing he'd ever eaten was a hamburger. Now that he finally had some money, he naturally had to treat himself to a proper meal.

Yes, that's right, Josie is undoubtedly a time traveler.

Originally, he was just a white-collar worker in a third-tier city in China in the 21st century.

It turned out that he had just had a few drinks with a friend who was heartbroken from a breakup, and when he woke up, he was in Chicago in 1943, and had become a 15-year-old boy wandering the streets.

Thank goodness, although Josie wasn't from a wealthy family in her previous life, she was still a middle-class young woman with a car and a house, living a comfortable life. In her early thirties, she was in the prime of her life.

Although I often read online novels, I never really thought about time travel.

But my childhood friend who used to drink with me failed in his business and was dumped by his girlfriend of eight years. His life was pretty of a failure. Shouldn't that be the typical template for a time traveler?

Or did God accidentally choose the wrong person?

Now, after 43 years in Chicago, I've happily joined the Qidian Orphanage family, where I'm struggling to make ends meet.

The only advantage is that I became 15 years old, gaining more than ten years of extra lifespan.

However, lifespan isn't so easy to secure, given the environment of this era; it's hard to say how long one can live.

Another piece of good news is that the original owner was not always an orphan. Her parents had passed away in an accident less than six months ago, and they were both legitimate American citizens, not undocumented immigrants.

Besides, although his deceased parents didn't leave him much property, they at least provided him with a small apartment so that he wouldn't be without a place to sleep.

Once inside the restaurant, Josie didn't order anything particularly extravagant.

A large American patty, a serving of fries, a serving of macaroni and cheese, a salad, and a large glass of Coca-Cola.

A standard American blue-collar meal, with a generous portion.

As for the taste... well, it's just so-so.

What surprised Josie was the Coca-Cola of this era; its flavor was much stronger than that of Coca-Cola in the future.

Because she was at an age where she was growing, Josie quickly finished the entire meal.

After finishing the meal, I paid the bill, which cost seventy-five cents.

Is it cheap? Actually, it's not cheap at all. If calculated according to the official gold exchange rate, this cost is equivalent to more than thirty US dollars in the early 21st century.

If this had happened a few years ago during the economic crisis, such a meal would have cost no more than fifty cents.

The reason why prices are high now is simply because resources were scarce during the war.

Indeed, because of the need to support the battlefields in both Europe and Asia, even in the United States, a country that had not experienced the war, prices began to soar in 1941, and a nationwide rationing system was implemented starting in May 1942.