American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

However, Josh did not go out directly. Instead, he took off his coat, took out a leather jacket from the system's inventory, put it on, and then put on a hood... Heaven knows when he prepared this.

After making all the preparations, Josie took out the Thompson she had just bought from the warehouse and walked out.

"Who are you? Oh, sir, let's talk this out!" Hearing the commotion, the two men in the warehouse immediately looked over alertly and shouted.

But upon seeing the Thompson in Josh's hand, the two immediately raised their hands and their tone softened.

Josie was quite satisfied with the two men's attitude. "Look," she thought, "aren't these Italians rather friendly? They're nothing like the bad characters in the movies."

"Don't worry, I just need a car. Where are the car keys?" Josie asked the middle-aged man with a receding hairline through his mask.

“Oh no, sir, you can’t take this car. Mr. Sgapas wants it, and if you take it, he won’t let us off the hook.” The middle-aged man with the receding hairline immediately became anxious when he saw that Josie wanted the keys to the two Cadillac V16s.

"Segapa? Who's that?" Josie couldn't help but be curious when she saw Mediterranean's attitude.

“Mr. Sgapa is a high-ranking member of the Moretti family, in charge of the entire red-light district business in Chicago’s East Side,” Mediterranean replied. “This is the car he wanted; it’s just temporarily here with me. Someone will come to pick it up this afternoon. If you take it away, none of us will survive.”

“The Moretti family? Who are they?” Josie asked.

"Sir, you're new to Chicago, aren't you?" the slightly chubby young man next to him said.

"What if it is? What if it isn't?" Josie retorted, though in a way, he had indeed just arrived in Chicago.

"The Moretti family is one of the biggest Mafia families in Chicago. Anyone who's been in Chicago for a long time can't possibly not know this name. My friend, let me give you a piece of advice: if you want to stay in Chicago, you'd better not offend them," the slightly overweight young man said with a fawning smile.

"Oh? That does sound impressive. Tell me, what are the major powers in Chicago? Besides Al Capone, I don't really know anyone else," Josie said thoughtfully.

“Hehe, Mr. Capone is certainly worthy of our respect, but that was more than a decade ago. Now, Chicago is ruled by the Moretti family, the Clementi family, and the Wenzi family, and perhaps the Triads as well.” The slightly chubby young man briefly described the power dynamics in Chicago to Josie.

Although Josh had no intention of joining the underworld, he listened with great interest. The other person's eloquence was quite good, giving Josh the illusion of listening to a storyteller.

"I didn't expect someone like you who steals cars to be so well-informed. What's your name?" Josie asked after the other person finished speaking.

“My name is Joe Barbaro, you can just call me Joe, and this is Mike. Sir, now that we’ve met, we’re friends, so I can’t let you come for nothing. As long as you don’t touch this car, feel free to take whatever you want from this warehouse. Oh, and there should be quite a bit of money in Mike’s safe, you can take that too.” Joe’s chubby face beamed like a chrysanthemum that had been sitting overnight as he faced Josie, who was holding a Thomson.

“You’re a very sensible person. It’s just a pity that I want this car. I’ll say it again, hand over the car keys.” However, Josie changed her tone, clearly not taking the other party’s warning seriously.

Josie's words immediately made Joe and Mike's faces fall. It turned out that all the things they had said just now hadn't been taken seriously by this guy at all.

“Sir…” Joe wanted to say something more.

“Shut up. Either give me the keys or die right here. Don’t think I’m easy to fool. The fact that this car is here means you’re either part of the Moretti family or working for them. Even if I take something else instead of the car, do you think you’ll just let it go?” Josie sneered. “So what if I’m a member of the Mafia? I’m robbing the Mafia.”

Admittedly, having ties with the Mafia is not a good thing, but the feud began the moment they stole his car. Not taking the Cadillac wouldn't make much difference except to make things easier for these two guys.

Moreover, the person Josie wanted to get revenge on was Joe, who stole his car. How could he possibly let him get away with it?

If he didn't want to attract the police, Josie was even tempted to just shoot those two.

So Josie doesn't care whether she offends the Mafia or not.

More importantly, he had been half-covering his face with his coat since he entered the Italian street, and now he was completely covered up. With the tracking and reconnaissance technology of this era, as long as he didn't show his face, no one could find him.

Faced with the threat of a gun, Mike, though unwilling, could only slowly take out his keys from his pocket.

"Also, take out the car key and the safe key, and tell me the combination." Josh pointed to his old Ford.

"You'll regret this!" Faced with the gun, Mike had no choice but to obey, but he didn't forget to utter a harsh threat.

"I don't know if I'll regret it, but if you say another word, I'll make sure you don't even have the chance to regret it," Josie said disdainfully.

"Now, you two get in the car!" After getting the keys, Josie opened the Ford's door.

After the two obediently got into the car, Josie closed the door and locked it.

Car door locks in this era were basically the same as house locks; they could be locked from the inside or the outside.

If a person locked inside doesn't have a key, they can't get out unless they break a window.

But if they dare to smash the window, Josie, though she has never killed anyone, wouldn't mind taking a shot.

After locking the two men up, Josie shamelessly added a pot of coffee to the Ford's gas tank right under their eyes.

After doing all that, Josie began searching the warehouse.

His main search targets were, naturally, the desk and the safe.

When the safe was opened, there wasn't much money inside, only a few hundred yuan.

However, there were quite a few ration coupons.

There were gasoline, candy, alcohol, and coffee, all of which were ration coupons already under control. The quantity wasn't large, but it was enough for at least four or five people.

In these extraordinary times, these things are far more valuable than money alone.

Without any hesitation, they pocketed these ration coupons.

He searched the desk again but didn't find anything good, except for an M1911, the same model he had bought before.

Following the principle of "plucking feathers from a passing goose," Josie also put it away.

Then, in a corner of the car where the two of them couldn't see, Josie collected a lot of tires from the warehouse and put them into the system's inventory.

At that time, only two companies, Big Beard and Little Beard, had significant production of practical synthetic rubber, and all American tires were made of natural rubber.

Furthermore, with Southeast Asia, a major rubber-producing region, blocked by Japan, the United States now only has South America as its source of rubber. This led to tires becoming a more important strategic resource than gasoline during wartime.

Finally, having finished looting, Josie drove away from the warehouse in his Cadillac, amidst the resentful gazes of the two Italians in the Ford.

Chapter 9 Hitchhiking

Once they were out of the warehouse and on the road, Josie took off her hood.

Although it was a convertible, Josie had already raised the soft top before leaving the house, so as long as he pulled up his collar, it would be impossible for people outside to see his face clearly.

And Josie didn't drive the car home directly.

After all, a Cadillac V16 in this era was far too conspicuous. If Josie drove this car home, it would be tantamount to telling the Mafia that he had stolen it.

So Josie drove straight out of the city.

Then, he found a deserted woodland not far from the city, parked the car, took out a set of clothes he had never worn from the system warehouse, changed into them, and burned the original clothes.

perfect.

Let the Mafia search. Turn Chicago upside down and see if they can find it.

The only problem is that without this Cadillac, he has no other means of transportation.

The distance from the city center is now several kilometers, which is neither a lot nor a little.

Josie didn't want to go back.

So after leaving the woods, he went to the roadside to hitch a ride.

The hitchhiking culture in the United States had already emerged in the 20s when cars began to become more common, so it's nothing new.

Of course, there are risks involved, but this is the outskirts of Chicago, and professional highway robbers generally don't operate in places like this.

If you're unlucky enough to run into them, the guns in Josh's system inventory aren't to be trifled with.

However, even with the prevalence of hitchhiking culture, not all car owners are happy to participate.

The first few cars completely ignored Josh's waving.

Fortunately, his luck wasn't so bad. A dozen minutes later, a car that had just passed him suddenly slowed down and stopped.

Josie quickly ran a few steps to catch up.

This is a very nice convertible, similar to Josh's Cadillac V16—of course, just like the previous Josh, the top is up, since the weather is still quite cold, and if you had the top up, you'd be freezing.

The goddess logo on the front of the car reveals its identity: Packard.

Few people in the 21st century have heard of this name, as the brand ceased operations in 1958.

However, in the United States during the 20s to 40s, Packard was a renowned luxury car brand, just like Cadillac.

This brand doesn't have just one logo; instead, depending on the production time and model, there are three types: the Flying Wheel Goddess, the Swan, and the Crystal Goddess. Among them, the Flying Wheel Goddess is the most numerous and represents its peak period.

For example, this Packard 8 is a very classic model.

While its price isn't as high as the Cadillac V-16, it still costs over two thousand dollars, making it a true luxury car.

However, when Josie got a good look at the driver, she found that the car was beautiful, but the person inside was even more beautiful.

That's right, the driver was a woman, and an extremely beautiful young woman at that.

With her snow-white, delicate skin, vibrant red lips, exquisite features, and the iconic golden curls of this era, coupled with a smooth fur coat, she exudes elegance and grace—a true contemporary American beauty.

"Hello, handsome young man, are you in some trouble?" The beautiful woman in the driver's seat asked Josh with a smile.

Actually, she was originally going to ignore Josh, but a casual glance revealed Josh's face, and she involuntarily stopped the car.

There's no way around it; although she looks a bit young, Josie's looks and figure are truly stunning.

The Germanic features include golden-brown hair and light blue eyes, along with delicate facial features and no freckles.

Although he is not yet 16 years old, he is already nearly 1.8 meters tall and has a very upright posture.

The only drawback was that her predecessor was slightly lacking in nutrition and exercise, making her look a bit thin, but this actually gave Josie a more feminine beauty—of course, this feminine beauty was similar to her brother's, not the kind that comes from eating peaches.

Therefore, in any era, having a good appearance is never a bad thing.

This beautiful young woman also noticed Josh's handsomeness; otherwise, she wouldn't have stopped her car in such a place while traveling alone.

"Good afternoon, beautiful lady. I'm sorry to bother you, but I've been pranked by my friends and left in this desolate place. I hope you can give me a ride." Josie politely asked for help.