American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

Eisenhower was a military man, but he was also a politically astute politician; otherwise, he wouldn't have become president. So he understood very well what this meant.

Therefore, after confirming the authenticity of the series of authorization documents held by Josie, he decisively issued a series of documents and passes to Josie in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the European Theater, and even granted Josie the right to mobilize troops below the regimental level, and specially dispatched several logistics officers to cooperate with Josie.

This is the allure of capitalist conglomerates.

Of course, this was also because the Commander-in-Chief of the European theater was Eisenhower.

If it were Emperor Maitreya in the Pacific theater, the situation might be different. That guy was too arrogant and conceited. He defeated the Japanese and then forgot who he was, and he didn't take anyone seriously at all.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have suffered such a severe setback in his later years.

Having received the "personal approval" of Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Josie did not stand on ceremony. He immediately borrowed a reinforced transport battalion from Brigadier General Ross and even requested several sets of field rain gear. He then transported clothing, food, and soap to the Rhine camp to recruit people.

Although Josie hasn't been to the Rhine camp yet to see the situation there, Ophelia already knows about it.

The conditions inside were extremely poor. The prisoners had no clothes to change into except for the ones they were wearing when they entered. Although the camp was close to the Rhine River, the American guards strictly prohibited anyone from leaving the barracks. As a result, there wasn't enough water in the camp, let alone any change of clothes.

The only situation is better than in the original timeline: at least the prisoners in the Rhine camp now have temporary houses to live in, instead of living directly in the open.

Because the Rhine Camp in the original timeline was built in April, when the weather in Germany was already mild, or even hot, the US military didn't even provide them with barracks.

Now, the war ended before winter arrived, and the temperature is very low, so it's impossible to leave the prisoners in the open, otherwise they would all freeze to death.

But that's about it; everything else is just as bad.

Since Josie wanted to recruit people, she couldn't just bring back a bunch of dirty people who looked like beggars.

Moreover, his primary target was not the men's camp, but the women's camp.

Yes, the Rhine camp held not only male prisoners of war, but also not only soldiers.

This group also included civilians who had spontaneously resisted the U.S. military, government civilian employees, Nazi Party members, female assistants of the IDF, hospital staff, and other diverse individuals, although their relative numbers were not as large as those of military prisoners of war.

The reason for coming to the women's camp first was not because Josie wanted to provide any special services, but because the American personnel who were to arrive later needed the most basic living support.

Therefore, hygiene, medical care, and catering staff are the most important, and women are obviously more suitable for these jobs.

Moreover, women in this era are obedient and less likely to cause trouble.

As for the engineers, movers, and other personnel needed later, the American employees can come and choose them themselves after the transport team arrives. We can't let Josh do everything, otherwise what's the point of having those employees?

The transport battalion soon arrived at one of the main camps, which was also the only all-female camp among all the Rhine camps.

After all, the majority of the prisoners were male, with women being relatively few.

However, this number is only relative to the large number of men; the actual number still exceeds 100,000.

After verifying their credentials, the transport team drove into the camp.

Soon, the American officer stationed at the camp came out with his men; he was a colonel and regimental commander.

"Excuse me, Colonel Ward, there are supplies on five trucks, which are a token of our appreciation to your regiment. We would like you to arrange for them to be unloaded and distributed." Although Josie held an extraordinary position, she could disregard a colonel.

However, he understood the importance of social etiquette, so when dealing with outsiders, even if the other party was just an ordinary soldier, Josie would be very approachable.

For things like this that require the other party's cooperation, Josie would always prepare some small gifts.

Anyway, it doesn't cost much money, and you'll get their gratitude in return, so why not?

Colonel Ward was indeed somewhat dissatisfied with Josie's decision to transport people.

As the garrison officer of the women's battalion, his life during this period could be described as more imperial than that of an emperor.

Any female prisoner could appear in his barracks at night if he wanted to.

If it weren't for concerns about the impact, he could throw a big party in his own barracks without any problem.

Josie's actions amounted to stealing food from his bowl.

Josie doesn't need many people, just two thousand.

However, the requirements are quite high.

Female prisoners aged 18-40 are required, along with medical, clerical, and health personnel, as well as some educational staff who can act as translators.

These are the cream of the crop among the female prisoners—after all, most urban women are capable of doing these jobs.

However, upon hearing that Josie had specially delivered five truckloads of supplies to their regiment, Colonel Ward's dissatisfaction vanished immediately.

Colonel Ward was overjoyed, especially when he saw the fresh vegetables, fruits, cigarettes, and even several cases of liquor that the soldiers were unloading from those vehicles.

"Mr. Kahn, you're too kind. We will definitely help you with the selection process and meet your needs!" Colonel Ward said warmly, shaking hands with Josie.

It's the dead of winter now, and even the well-supplied US military has a hard time finding fresh vegetables and fruits. The logistics department usually just prepares some canned fruit for them.

Not to mention alcohol. The war had just ended, and food was scarce all over the world. Alcohol was a luxury item everywhere.

As for cigarettes, although each soldier is provided with seven packs per week, in modern Germany, cigarettes have become a more valuable form of currency than money, and no one would complain about having too many.

For these stationed US troops, any one of these supplies is more valuable than the female prisoners in the barracks.

"Ophelia, it's up to you. After you've chosen the girls, take them to the river to wash up, and then distribute their clothes!" Josie nodded and then instructed Ophelia beside her.

In addition to the borrowed transport reinforcement battalion, Ophelia also brought a group of people, mainly doctors and nurses.

Even if it's free labor, Josie only wants healthy people; what's the point of having sickly people?

It's not that Josie is cold-blooded, but that in this era, human life is just so worthless.

Especially as a German from a defeated nation, Josie had no right to sympathize with them, nor did she want to be that outcast.

Ophelia nodded, and then, with the cooperation of the camp's garrison, she began selecting people while having field shower facilities set up and water boiled.

Meanwhile, Josie and Colonel Ward sat down at a table under the eaves of a nearby barracks, drinking, smoking cigars, and chatting while watching this unconventional "talent show."

Especially the scene when the selected female prisoners took off their clothes and walked into the shower tent... tsk tsk.

It was in such a scene that Josie realized why, throughout history, prisons and prisoner-of-war camps in various countries have been the most prone to scandals.

In an environment where one can easily control everything about others, it is indeed not an easy thing to maintain one's own humanity.

Chapter 118 Anemia

“Boss, something’s not right.” Just as Josie and Colonel Ward were drinking and commenting on the prisoners of war, Ophelia suddenly came to Josie’s side and said.

"What's wrong?" Josie asked. Colonel Ward, who was standing next to her, was also a little puzzled. Could it be that this woman wanted to seek justice for these prisoners of war or something?

“We have discovered that there is widespread anemia among the prisoners of war here,” Ophelia said.

Josie and Colonel Ward were speechless.

“You know the situation in this POW camp, is anemia really that strange?” Josie smiled apologetically at Colonel Ward, then whispered to Ophelia.

Just as he said, there was no food or clothing in this POW camp, so is it strange that people are anemic?

“Of course it’s strange, boss. Even if they’re starving and destitute, they should be suffering from malnutrition, not anemia. These are two different things!” Ophelia immediately explained when she saw that Josie had misunderstood her.

Now it was Josie and Colonel Ward's turn to be dumbfounded.

Is there a difference between anemia and malnutrition?

“Malnutrition can indeed cause anemia, but it’s not inevitable. And I’ve asked around, and most of these prisoners of war haven’t been imprisoned for very long. The military isn’t completely starving them. For some of the healthy ones, it shouldn’t be to the point of anemia… But the current situation is that the number of anemic people has exceeded the normal range,” Ophelia explained again.

Now Josie understood, but why was this happening? Did the guards at this camp sell prisoners' blood?

But when Josie looked at Colonel Ward beside her, she found that he also looked confused.

"Oh, right, I made another discovery!" Seeing the two women's confused expressions, Ophelia ran back to the line of female prisoners and quickly directed two soldiers to bring a naked female prisoner to the two women. Then she pointed to the woman's groin area and said, "Look here!"

Josie and Colonel Ward looked in the direction she pointed and found two small, punctured scabs.

"This... could it be a vampire bat?" Colonel Ward muttered to himself upon seeing the wound.

"Colonel Ward has seen vampire bats?" Josie asked, taken aback.

“Of course, I’m from Texan, and they do have these things there, though they’re not very common. I just didn’t expect to find them in Germany. Haha, maybe that’s where the vampire legend comes from!” Colonel Ward said with a laugh.

However, Josie looked at Colonel Ward with a strange gaze.

"Uh... what's wrong?" Colonel Ward found Josie's gaze rather strange.

“Colonel Ward, it’s true that there are vampire bats in Central America and Africa, but there are absolutely no vampire bats in Europe. These things only live in the tropics and cannot adapt to the environment in Germany at all, let alone in the dead of winter like this. Besides, the legend of vampires has nothing to do with vampire bats,” Josie said, shaking her head.

"What's going on? Could it really be the work of vampires?" Colonel Ward scoffed, but then he saw Josie's extremely serious expression, and his own expression slowly changed as well.

“Ophelia, you’ve been in Europe for so many years, have you ever heard of the existence of vampires?” Josie asked Ophelia instead of answering Colonel Ward.

That's right. If it were in the original world, Josie might have been like Colonel Ward and wouldn't have taken the vampire legends too seriously.

However, Josie is now in the Marvel universe, not the ordinary world of her previous life.

Although vampires have never appeared in the Avengers movies, that doesn't mean they don't exist.

The most famous is the Blade series—although this series is not part of the Avengers series, it doesn't mean that it's impossible for it to appear.

Besides the Blade series, Doctor Morbius, also from Marvel, can be considered a different kind of vampire.

Moreover, judging from Josh's previous experiences, this world is very likely a Marvel universe that incorporates many movies and TV shows that he knows or doesn't know.

This also means that it's not impossible for vampires from works like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula's Year One, Underworld, and Twilight to actually appear.

To be honest, if it were a Blade or a vampire like those in Underworld, Josie would welcome it, because those are weaklings who can be killed using technology.

But if it's something like Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula's Inception, or Twilight... Josie thinks she'd better go back to America sooner rather than later.

"I have heard rumors, though. Although I am Austrian, I was actually born in Hungary, where there are indeed similar legends. There are also some in Romania, but I don't think I've heard of them in Austria. Also, before Hydra's defeat, when Red Skull sent Reinhardt to collect supernatural artifacts, he seemed to have investigated these two countries as well, but whether he found anything, I don't know," Ophelia replied after tilting her head and thinking for a moment.