Chapter 13: “Borrowing” a Car
_
Josh and Margaret stayed in the new house for an afternoon, but in the end, Josh did not stay there that day.
Although he had already received the key and the house was well-equipped, the problem was that the fridge and everything else were empty. The nearest restaurants were quite far away. So without a car, it was inconvenient. Although Josh had stolen a luxury car, that thing couldn’t be seen in public in the short term. It could only be kept as a collection or used in special situations.
As for the new car, although Margaret had already arranged for someone to take care of it, it wouldn’t be delivered until tomorrow at the earliest.
So seeing that it was almost time, the two returned to the city. After having dinner together, Margaret finally sent Josh home.
“Won’t you invite me up for a bit?” Margaret leaned against the steering wheel, smiling as she asked, watching Josh leave the car.
“Uh, you understand, madam. I live alone, so my place is a bit messy… Of course, if you don’t mind…” Hearing Margaret’s teasing, Josh couldn’t help but scratch his head. He didn’t mind having something happen with this beautiful woman, but his apartment was a bit messy. He had been busy making a living and hadn’t cleaned up much.
As someone from China in his past life, he wasn’t used to bringing a woman he had just met back to his place in this situation.
“Haha, just kidding. Go back and rest well. I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow morning.” Seeing the young man’s shy and awkward expression, Margaret laughed happily.
Although they had only met for a day, it was clear that Josh made an excellent impression on her, even giving her a feeling of first love.
In their previous interactions, Josh’s behavior was a bit too mature. He pays attention to all the little details that make Margaret feel comfortable but also a bit heartbroken.
After all, in her eyes, a 15-year-old boy must have experienced a lot to understand so much about how to interact with people.
Only now could she see a hint of embarrassment in Josh as a teenager.
“How about this afternoon? I have some things to take care of in the morning.” Seeing that Margaret didn’t pay too much attention to it, Josh breathed a sigh of relief and said.
Early this morning, he retaliated against the thief who stole his car and then met Margaret to look at houses together. It completely disrupted Josh’s original plan.
Although it was about his own life, what was more important was the arms deal with the Mother of Dragons.
The only problem was that it was already late today, and he no longer had a car, so he could only wait until tomorrow. Whether it was this era or the future, American stores generally close relatively early. Usually, they close around five or six o’clock, with only a few communities possibly closing a little later, but generally not after nine. Gun shops typically belong to the former category.
So if Josh wanted to buy a gun now, it was already a bit late.
Therefore, he planned to get a car today and buy a gun tomorrow. Although Margaret said she would arrange a new car for him tomorrow, it didn’t prevent Josh from getting a few more cars, especially unregistered or “stolen” cars, to facilitate special situations, such as going to the suburbs without a car.
Anyway, the space in the trading system was large enough. Although the system space was not infinite, the massive space of one thousand cubic kilometers was enough to accommodate an metropolis.
And the time inside the system space was stagnant, so there was no concern about things deteriorating.
Even without trading partners, Josh could make big money through smuggling in such a huge space. Customs wouldn’t be able to find anything fishy even if they stripped him to the bone.
However, Josh was currently weak, and the risk of doing this was too high.
After all, judges needed evidence, but colleagues in this line of work didn’t.
As long as they suspected you of snatching their business, they had enough reason to take action against you.
In this commercially primitive era, disappearing a few people would not attract any attention.
“Okay, I’ll come over at one in the afternoon.” Hearing that Josh had something to care for, Margaret didn’t ask too many questions and suggested another time.
Josh had no objections to this.
After reaching an agreement, the two officially parted ways.
However, after watching Margaret’s car disappear from view, Josh turned around and walked in another direction.
After a dozen minutes, Josh arrived at a parking lot and then sneaked in unnoticed by the guards.
The rest was simple. He just put whichever car he liked into the system warehouse.
Some people might wonder why he could just take the car without the key.
But, in this era, as long as you could open the car door, you could quickly drive the car away without a key.
Because the car keys in this era were simply used to unlock the car door and serve a simple anti-theft function.
And starting the car was done with a one-button start, which people from the 21st century are very familiar with.
Yes, a one-button start, instead of using a car key to start the car.
The only difference is that the premise of the one-button start of future cars is that the starter must have an electronic key with chip recognition, which is not required for the one-button start in this era.
The first generation of car starters did not need a “key.” Before 1927, cars used a crank start, just like tractors in the 80s and 90s.
After the invention of electronic ignition in 1927, a one-button start was possible.
The kind of mechanical key start that later generations are familiar with was invented by Chrysler after 1949.
That’s why when Josh was stealing a car from an old warehouse and locking up Joe and Mike in the car, he poured a jug of coffee into the old Ford’s gas tank.
But he insisted on having the Cadillac V16 car key simply because he didn’t want to damage the window.
Otherwise, he could smash the window and drive away.
However, Josh didn’t want to use violence on such a rare and valuable car with only over 4000 units worldwide.
But it didn’t matter as much for temporary spare cars.
Just find a place with no one around, break the window, and drive away.
So when he entered the parking lot, Josh didn’t choose carefully and simply “borrowed” seven or eight black conventional model cars. Then, he avoided the guards at the parking lot gate and left quietly.
The whole process went smoothly, but Josh wouldn’t be complacent about it. He didn’t think that he could steal whatever he wanted just because there was a system warehouse.
After all, other places wouldn’t be like parking lots with almost any defense. Even if Josh was discovered, he would, at most, be suspected for a while.
Chapter 13: “Borrowing” a Car
_
Josh and Margaret stayed in the new house for an afternoon, but in the end, Josh did not stay there that day.
Although he had already received the key and the house was well-equipped, the problem was that the fridge and everything else were empty. The nearest restaurants were quite far away. So without a car, it was inconvenient. Although Josh had stolen a luxury car, that thing couldn’t be seen in public in the short term. It could only be kept as a collection or used in special situations.
As for the new car, although Margaret had already arranged for someone to take care of it, it wouldn’t be delivered until tomorrow at the earliest.
So seeing that it was almost time, the two returned to the city. After having dinner together, Margaret finally sent Josh home.
“Won’t you invite me up for a bit?” Margaret leaned against the steering wheel, smiling as she asked, watching Josh leave the car.
“Uh, you understand, madam. I live alone, so my place is a bit messy… Of course, if you don’t mind…” Hearing Margaret’s teasing, Josh couldn’t help but scratch his head. He didn’t mind having something happen with this beautiful woman, but his apartment was a bit messy. He had been busy making a living and hadn’t cleaned up much.
As someone from China in his past life, he wasn’t used to bringing a woman he had just met back to his place in this situation.
“Haha, just kidding. Go back and rest well. I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow morning.” Seeing the young man’s shy and awkward expression, Margaret laughed happily.
Although they had only met for a day, it was clear that Josh made an excellent impression on her, even giving her a feeling of first love.
In their previous interactions, Josh’s behavior was a bit too mature. He pays attention to all the little details that make Margaret feel comfortable but also a bit heartbroken.
After all, in her eyes, a 15-year-old boy must have experienced a lot to understand so much about how to interact with people.
Only now could she see a hint of embarrassment in Josh as a teenager.
“How about this afternoon? I have some things to take care of in the morning.” Seeing that Margaret didn’t pay too much attention to it, Josh breathed a sigh of relief and said.
Early this morning, he retaliated against the thief who stole his car and then met Margaret to look at houses together. It completely disrupted Josh’s original plan.
Although it was about his own life, what was more important was the arms deal with the Mother of Dragons.
The only problem was that it was already late today, and he no longer had a car, so he could only wait until tomorrow. Whether it was this era or the future, American stores generally close relatively early. Usually, they close around five or six o’clock, with only a few communities possibly closing a little later, but generally not after nine. Gun shops typically belong to the former category.
So if Josh wanted to buy a gun now, it was already a bit late.
Therefore, he planned to get a car today and buy a gun tomorrow. Although Margaret said she would arrange a new car for him tomorrow, it didn’t prevent Josh from getting a few more cars, especially unregistered or “stolen” cars, to facilitate special situations, such as going to the suburbs without a car.
Anyway, the space in the trading system was large enough. Although the system space was not infinite, the massive space of one thousand cubic kilometers was enough to accommodate an metropolis.
And the time inside the system space was stagnant, so there was no concern about things deteriorating.
Even without trading partners, Josh could make big money through smuggling in such a huge space. Customs wouldn’t be able to find anything fishy even if they stripped him to the bone.
However, Josh was currently weak, and the risk of doing this was too high.
After all, judges needed evidence, but colleagues in this line of work didn’t.
As long as they suspected you of snatching their business, they had enough reason to take action against you.
In this commercially primitive era, disappearing a few people would not attract any attention.
“Okay, I’ll come over at one in the afternoon.” Hearing that Josh had something to care for, Margaret didn’t ask too many questions and suggested another time.
Josh had no objections to this.
After reaching an agreement, the two officially parted ways.
However, after watching Margaret’s car disappear from view, Josh turned around and walked in another direction.
After a dozen minutes, Josh arrived at a parking lot and then sneaked in unnoticed by the guards.
The rest was simple. He just put whichever car he liked into the system warehouse.
Some people might wonder why he could just take the car without the key.
But, in this era, as long as you could open the car door, you could quickly drive the car away without a key.
Because the car keys in this era were simply used to unlock the car door and serve a simple anti-theft function.
And starting the car was done with a one-button start, which people from the 21st century are very familiar with.
Yes, a one-button start, instead of using a car key to start the car.
The only difference is that the premise of the one-button start of future cars is that the starter must have an electronic key with chip recognition, which is not required for the one-button start in this era.
The first generation of car starters did not need a “key.” Before 1927, cars used a crank start, just like tractors in the 80s and 90s.
After the invention of electronic ignition in 1927, a one-button start was possible.
The kind of mechanical key start that later generations are familiar with was invented by Chrysler after 1949.
That’s why when Josh was stealing a car from an old warehouse and locking up Joe and Mike in the car, he poured a jug of coffee into the old Ford’s gas tank.
But he insisted on having the Cadillac V16 car key simply because he didn’t want to damage the window.
Otherwise, he could smash the window and drive away.
However, Josh didn’t want to use violence on such a rare and valuable car with only over 4000 units worldwide.
But it didn’t matter as much for temporary spare cars.
Just find a place with no one around, break the window, and drive away.
So when he entered the parking lot, Josh didn’t choose carefully and simply “borrowed” seven or eight black conventional model cars. Then, he avoided the guards at the parking lot gate and left quietly.
The whole process went smoothly, but Josh wouldn’t be complacent about it. He didn’t think that he could steal whatever he wanted just because there was a system warehouse.
After all, other places wouldn’t be like parking lots with almost any defense. Even if Josh was discovered, he would, at most, be suspected for a while.
