Chapter 3: Dimensional Trading System
Josh Kane had the shopkeeper help load the guns into his car. After paying for everything, he drove away.
However, after taking a few turns, Josh pulled over, ran his hand over the guns and bullets, and everything instantly disappeared. Only then did he calmly resume driving.
Half an hour later, Josh finally arrived home. He was fortunate enough not to encounter any trouble along the way.
Perhaps it was because many of the unemployed youths had enlisted in the military, but the security in Chicago during this time seemed to be relatively good. At least in the week since Josh had arrived, he hadn’t witnessed any major crimes.
He hadn’t even seen the kind of scenes depicted in gangster movies, where the mafia would take to the streets with their Thompson submachine guns.
Of course, just because Josh hadn’t seen it didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
After all, whether in the past twenty or thirty years or the next, this was a period of rampant growth for the American mafia.
If Josh had arrived a few years earlier, those scenes of gangsters wearing trench coats, donning fedoras, and brandishing Thompson submachine guns would have been a common sight.
Now, the reason such things were rarely seen was due to two main factors: one, the neighborhoods Josh frequented had good security, and in this era of racial segregation, there weren’t many Black people visible on the streets.
The second reason was the war.
And don’t think that war has nothing to do with the mafia.
In fact, they were deeply intertwined.
One reason, as Josh had surmised, was that many of the unemployed youths who once roamed the streets had joined the military to make money, significantly reducing the mafia’s pool of fresh recruits.
The second reason was that most of the mafia was now preoccupied with making money.
Why do people join the mafia? Isn’t it all about making money in the end?
And during wartime, what’s the easiest way to make money?
Smuggling!
Actually, it couldn’t even be called smuggling anymore; it was more like transport.
During the war, in order to support the European front and due to the enormous risks of maritime shipping, the U.S. had almost completely lifted its shipping restrictions to Europe.
As long as you had the guts, any Liberty ship loaded with goods could return from Britain, Europe, or Asia with tens or even hundreds of times its original value.
Compared to struggling to carve out territory on American soil, wasn’t this a far better way to make a fortune?
Thus, during the years of World War II, most of the American mafia was busy with "foreign trade."
Of course, that wasn’t all of them, but those who remained either couldn’t make it to the top or were involved in matters unrelated to ordinary people.
In conclusion, during wartime, security in white neighborhoods was significantly better than before the war.
Back at home, Josh locked the door and sat down in a chair.
"System, connect to Daenerys."
As his voice fell, a virtual screen appeared before Josh.
This was his most important asset for survival in this era and his golden opportunity: a system from some unknown high-dimensional civilization, called the Dimensional Trading System.
The system's function was simple: it had a dimensional beacon that would randomly be sent to an unknown world, selecting a host.
Josh could then trade with the host of that beacon.
Additionally, the system would generate a new dimensional beacon every year, seeking out new dimensions.
Besides this, the system had an extremely powerful storage function, which explained why the guns in his car had disappeared earlier—they had been stored in the system.
The first world that the system's dimensional beacon had connected to was one from a TV series that Josh had watched in his previous life: Game of Thrones! And the host was none other than the famous Daenerys Targaryen.
The ten ounces of gold that Josh had traded earlier had been part of his first transaction with Daenerys.
The items he had used for the trade were a .38 revolver and a copy of The Prince that had been left behind by his late father.
This time, the M1917 rifle Josh had prepared was also for trading with Daenerys, hoping to exchange it for more gold—though silver would be acceptable too.
"Josh, did you get the items?" The once-dim screen lit up, revealing Daenerys in simple attire, but her face was clean and beautiful, her silver hair shining.
The moment when the dimensional beacon bonded with Daenerys occurred during the sixth season of Game of Thrones, when she had been captured by the Dothraki. After burning the Dothraki leaders with fire, she had secured the loyalty of the Dothraki horde and was preparing to return to Slaver’s Bay to suppress the rebellion.
When she finally reconquered Slaver’s Bay, it would be the time for her to lead her three dragons, the Unsullied army, and the Dothraki horde across the Narrow Sea to launch a counterattack on Westeros.
"Of course, take a look. This is a rifle, and it has far greater power and range than a handgun." With a wave of his hand, Josh summoned an M1917 rifle from the system’s storage and began explaining the operation of the bolt-action rifle to Daenerys. Of course, he couldn’t give a live demonstration—firing a gun would certainly bring the police to his door.
"Excellent. Is it the same price as last time?" Daenerys was unconcerned, having already used a handgun before. She understood the power of this weapon, knowing that even the weakest person could easily kill a trained soldier with it. It was far superior to a crossbow.
"Definitely not. Handguns have low power and are cheaper, but rifles are different. They have immense power. Trust me, Daenerys, the best armor and shields in your world probably won’t withstand a shot from this at its effective range." Josh shook his head, and he wasn’t trying to deceive her.
Though the M1917 rifle had been mostly phased out of the U.S. military and was now primarily used for training, that didn’t mean it was a poor weapon. In many countries, it was still a highly sought-after rifle. In fact, a few years later, large quantities of these rifles would still be in use among the Chinese soldiers during the Korean War, where they gave the overconfident American forces a harsh lesson.
This rifle had a high muzzle velocity, strong bullet energy, long range, and flat trajectory. Its accuracy was far superior to more well-known rifles like the Japanese Type 38.
Moreover, the bullets used by various nations during World War I and World War II were all full-power cartridges, which had overwhelming penetration capability.
Although Game of Thrones was set in a fantasy world, apart from the legendary and now-extinct Valyria, the metallurgy in most human kingdoms wasn’t advanced. The previously traded low-purity gold had already made this abundantly clear.
So, Josh was convinced that no armor or shield on Westeros could withstand a shot from this rifle.
"Oh? What price do you propose?" Seeing Josh’s confidence, Daenerys became more intrigued.
Although the handgun had impressed her, the classic .38 revolver’s power was well-known. It might have been able to penetrate leather armor at close range, but steel plate armor was a different story.
"Three times the price!" Josh boldly declared. "And don’t think it’s too expensive. That last handgun only came with fifty rounds, but this time, I’m including a hundred rounds of ammunition with each rifle."
When Josh had bought the guns, he had received a thousand rounds, but now he only planned to offer a hundred with the rifles, saving the rest to sell separately.
This was a monopoly, and he wasn’t afraid that Daenerys wouldn’t buy. Without ammunition, even the best rifle was no better than a stick.
"If this rifle’s power is as you claim, that price seems fair." Daenerys nodded.
Gold wasn’t an issue for her once she returned to Slaver’s Bay. The wealth amassed by the slavers was vast.
If the rifles were as powerful as Josh claimed, equipping her Unsullied and Dothraki armies with these miraculous weapons, combined with her now fully grown dragons, who in all of Westeros would be able to stop her?
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