Chapter 2: The Transmigrator Josh Kane
After cautiously walking across two blocks, making sure no one was paying attention to him, Josh Kane finally let out a sigh of relief and stepped into a decent-looking restaurant by the roadside.
It had been a week since he transmigrated, and the best thing he had eaten so far was just a hamburger. Now that he finally had some money, he naturally had to treat himself to a proper meal.
Yes, there was no doubt—Josh Kane was a transmigrator.
In his original life, he had been a white-collar worker in a third-tier city in Summer Country in the 21st century.
All it took was drinking a bit of alcohol with a heartbroken friend, and when he woke up, he found himself in Chicago in 1943, having become a 15-year-old boy wandering the streets.
Heaven have mercy. In his previous life, while he wasn’t from a wealthy family, he was still a young professional with a car and a house, living a fairly comfortable life. In his early thirties, he was just in his prime.
Though he often read web novels, he never thought transmigration would actually happen to him.
If anything, his childhood friend, the one who had failed in his startup and gotten dumped by his girlfriend of eight years, seemed more like the typical template for a transmigrator. Shouldn’t it have been him? Or did heaven make a mistake when picking people?
Now, here he was, stuck in Chicago in 1943, welcomed into the lovely family of the local orphanage, struggling to make ends meet.
The only upside was that he had become 15 again, gaining a good ten extra years of life for free.
But that extra life didn’t come easy. Given the harsh environment of this era, who knew how long he could actually survive?
Another bit of good news was that his current body wasn’t an orphan all along. His parents had passed away in an accident less than half a year ago, and they had been proper American citizens, not some undocumented migrants.
Although his deceased parents hadn’t left him much in terms of inheritance, at least there was a small apartment, so he wouldn’t be homeless.
Once inside the restaurant, Josh didn’t order anything too extravagant.
He got a large American meat patty, a serving of fries, a plate of mac and cheese, a salad, and a big glass of Coca-Cola.
It was a standard blue-collar American meal, with generous portions.
As for the taste… it was alright.
What surprised Josh a little was that the Coca-Cola from this era tasted much stronger than the one from the future.
Since he was still growing, Josh quickly devoured everything.
The meal cost him 75 cents.
Was it cheap? Actually, no. If you calculated it based on the official gold exchange rate, it was equivalent to over 30 dollars in the early 21st century.
Just a few years ago, during the economic crisis, a meal like this wouldn’t have cost more than 50 cents.
The higher price now was mainly due to the war, which had led to a scarcity of goods.
That’s right. Because the U.S. was supplying both the European and Asian battlefronts, even though it hadn’t been hit by the war directly, prices started to soar in 1941. By May 1942, the entire country had implemented a rationing system.
Every person was issued a ration book, which contained 48 blue points and 64 red points in plastic tokens every month.
The blue points were used to buy processed foods like canned goods and bottled items, while the red points were for purchasing meat, fish, and dairy products.
Ordinary citizens could only buy goods based on their ration allotments. Only stores and restaurants received larger quotas, while all other resources were reserved for the front lines.
At the front, the rations of a regular army soldier were about three to four times that of a civilian.
Everything was prioritized for the war effort.
This rationing system would remain in place until the latter half of 1944, when American production peaked and there was finally a surplus of materials, allowing the system to gradually be phased out.
Of course, just like with the bootlegging business twenty years ago, as long as you had money, you could still get your hands on extra supplies.
After finishing his meal, Josh walked out of the restaurant. After confirming once again that no one was paying attention to him, he relaxed as he strolled down the street and hailed a taxi.
Don’t be surprised—there were taxis even in Magic Capital during this time, let alone in America.
He gave the driver an address, and the car started moving.
Before long, he arrived at a used car dealership.
As the world’s top industrial powerhouse at the time, America had an astonishing number of cars. By 1937, car ownership in the U.S. had already reached 25%.
In other words, for every four Americans, there was one car.
Most of these cars were concentrated in major cities.
A first-class industrial metropolis like Chicago was no exception.
Moreover, cars weren’t particularly expensive. A brand-new basic Ford Model A car only cost around five to six hundred dollars.
However, since the U.S. officially entered World War II, civilian car production had been temporarily halted. All factories were fully focused on producing military vehicles, making new cars difficult to come by. Like many other goods, cars were now under a rationing system, and only people in special professions like doctors and priests could receive a quota.
Gasoline and tires were also rationed.
In comparison, getting a driver’s license was a small matter.
While basic traffic laws had already been established more than a decade ago due to the high car ownership rate, the regulations weren’t that strict.
So, even though Josh was technically underage, as long as he paid a little extra, he could easily get a driver’s license.
Josh didn’t have a pressing need for a new car. A functioning used one would do just fine.
After all, Chicago was a big city, and having a car would make things much more convenient.
And while gasoline and tires were rationed, as the saying goes, with money, everything is possible.
In the end, Josh spent 200 dollars on a used Ford that came with a full tank of gas and was in good condition.
However, this purchase cut his remaining assets by nearly half.
Once he got the car, Josh hit the road, driving leisurely.
To be honest, after being used to driving automatic cars in his previous life, getting behind the wheel of this manual-transmission relic felt a bit strange at first. But since traffic laws weren’t as complicated back then, the drive went relatively smoothly.
Before long, Josh arrived at a rather secluded gun shop.
Walking inside, he was greeted by the sight of various firearms lining the shelves.
Though the firearms of this era weren’t as advanced as those of the future, it was worth noting that there was no automatic weapons ban in the U.S. at this time. That law wouldn’t be passed until 1986.
So, you could find anything from Thompson submachine guns to M1918 Brownings and Colt automatic pistols in gun shops like this, and even heavy machine guns like the Colt M1895 were available. It was unbelievable.
But Josh was only browsing, as those weapons were too expensive.
In the early days, the Thompson submachine gun was incredibly expensive, costing over 200 dollars each. After years of improvements, the price had come down, but it still cost over 70 dollars, and that was the official procurement price.
Because of the war, retail prices had also risen, and the gun was now selling for 108 dollars.
At that price, Josh’s savings would only be enough for two guns, and he wouldn’t be able to afford the ammo.
The M1 Garand was even more expensive, with a retail price of 150 dollars, making it completely out of reach.
So, Josh’s target was an older model from World War I.
Not the Springfield Rifle, though. Its excellent performance meant it was still in use during World War II, and its production capacity was limited, so it was expensive.
Josh was after the M1917, a supplementary rifle to the Springfield.
The M1917 was simpler in structure, so it had been mass-produced during World War I. After the war, many were decommissioned, with some being sold off and over a million stored away.
Though it had been reissued for World War II, it was mainly used to aid other countries or for U.S. military training, and rarely saw combat. As a result, there were still plenty of them in the U.S., making them very affordable.
A gun, along with a thousand rounds of ammunition, cost just 45 dollars—an absolute bargain.
During this period, many American civilians used this gun for hunting or target shooting.
“What can I do for you, sir?” the chubby gun shop owner asked. Next to him was a young man about Josh’s age, also chubby, who was likely his son.
“I’ll take four M1917s, and throw in an M1911 as well,” Josh said directly.
The rifles were for resale, while the M1911 was for his personal protection.
The shop owner was a little surprised that Josh was buying four rifles at once, but he didn’t ask any questions. Having lived through the Great Depression, he had seen it all. Heck, even John Dillinger had bought guns from his shop back in the day.
As long as the customer paid, what they did with the guns was none of his business.
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