Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

This mission is in western Texas, where it's hotter and mostly desert, quite desolate.

The Mysterious Bureau offered them a car, but Zhao Hao refused. He only asked them to take them to a city near the mission location, and he didn't need their help afterward.

In fact, from the moment he was selected as a candidate, he gradually became wary of the black-clad agents interfering in his mission and getting too close to him.

These people are all native to America. Although they have joined the Mysterious Bureau, they are more likely to be American officials, and there may be spies or something.

However, when they arrived at their destination, Zhao Hao and Xi Luo were somewhat bewildered.

Although we were already very close to the mission area, it was still difficult to find the place since we were in an unfamiliar place.

Zhao Hao simply flagged down a car to ask for directions, then stood by the roadside giving a thumbs-up and waited.

The sun had already set when a half-finished pickup truck arrived.

The car owner was a very burly man, wearing a blue denim vest, revealing his tattooed shoulders, and wearing a turban with a long beard.

"Hey, what trouble have you run into?" he asked gruffly, giving Zhao Hao and Xiluo a very unrestrained look.

"Hello man, I'd like to ask how to get to Desiwa town?" Zhao Hao asked.

"Desiva? We're going that way anyway, get in!" The bearded man bent down and opened the passenger door. He also readily beckoned Zhao Hao and the other man to get in.

Zhao Hao thanked Xi Luo and happily got into the car.

The bearded man drove recklessly, never letting up on the accelerator, with upbeat music blaring in the car. He sped along, making a constant clanging and rattling noise.

Ciro was a chatterbox, and he kept praising the car owner, the bearded man, as a good person.

As a result, the bearded man got angry and said to Zhao Hao, "Can you please shut up, buddy? You keep nagging about such a small thing. You're more talkative than my grandma. He's giving me a headache."

Xiluo was stunned. His infallible "praise group" tactic had stopped working?! How could there be anyone in this world who didn't like to hear compliments?!

It's all about personal taste. People who don't like something will find everything they say unpleasant.

Siro's high charm rating had no effect here.

He introduced himself as a great Italian, and both "Italian" and "great Italian" hit the bearded man's hated spots. In addition, Ciro's physique was too thin, like a chick, which made him very unpopular with the bearded man.

On the contrary, Zhao Hao's muscular body was pleasing to the eye, and the bearded man talked to Zhao Hao almost the entire way, never speaking to Xiluo.

The bearded man was quite talkative, introducing many local customs and highlighting a local beverage.

He also said that if Zhao Hao had enough time, he could go with him to participate in the Desiwa bull riding competition.

It's about riding a wild bull without any saddle or harness, and seeing who can last the longest.

Zhao Hao had seen it on TV; it was called riding a mad bull, and those cowboys were thrown into the air by the bulls! There were even cowboys being chased and butted by the bulls.

However, Zhao Hao was worried that if he used too much force, he might break the cow's ribs.

He won't be able to experience these kinds of entertainment that ordinary people enjoy anymore; what a tragedy for Superman!

It was past midnight when the three of them finally arrived in Desiva, a small town that wasn't very big. There were only a few main streets, and the permanent population was probably less than 10,000.

No buildings on the street are more than four stories high, since land is cheap here and there's no need to build tall buildings.

Zhao Hao and Xiluo stayed overnight at a motel and arranged to meet the bearded man at the bar the next day. He treated him to a drink as a thank you.

"So our task is to find something?" Ciro asked, holding a stack of documents.

Zhao Hao reached out and took the file, then turned it around and handed it to him, saying, "That's right, it's about finding something, but you've got the file upside down..."

"Oh~"

The Bureau of Mysteries has received intelligence about an unregistered artifact suspected of appearing near Desiwa Town. This artifact is quite dangerous and needs to be found as soon as possible. Therefore, Zhao Hao, along with Xiluo and two other candidates, is tasked with handling it.

Zhao Hao and his companion didn't know much, only that they needed to find a large jar. Moreover, the jar was dangerous; if opened, it could easily cause a major regional incident.

But we don't know its name or what it looks like. We just know that this thing exists, which makes things a bit tricky!

Zhao Hao planned to see if he could utilize the local forces in the underworld for help.

Although this is a small place and there may not be any superhumans here, it doesn't mean there isn't an inner world.

By opening a passage to the inner world or making contact with some beings in the inner world, one can obtain a great deal of help.

Some local spirits or spiritual beings are similar to the land and mountain gods of China. You can learn a lot about local affairs from them, and if you get along well with them, you can even get direct help.

In fact, Lulu, the little fairy Zhao Hao and his friends once saved, is similar to this, but she's from the Free City area and doesn't have jurisdiction over this area.

The next morning, the bearded man came to tell Zhao Hao and his friend not to go to the bar. His brother's family was having a barbecue party and invited the two of them to come and have some fun.

Texans love barbecue, especially the kind with big chunks of meat; it creates a really great atmosphere. Zhao Hao remembers watching some American video program in his past life—a group of big guys always grilling all sorts of large pieces of meat, it looked incredibly tempting!

At the family barbecue, Ciro was still the least popular one because he wasn't a big drinker.

However, when he took out his personal instrument and sang while playing it, he managed to salvage a lot of his goodwill.

While everyone was enjoying their meal and drinks, Zhao Hao asked the bearded man if there were any local legends or customs.

Believe it or not, it was worthwhile.

It turns out that the town of Desiwa had a mine more than a decade ago, and at that time there was a custom of offering food to the spirit of the mine every spring to bless the mining operation.

However, it has been gradually abandoned in recent years because the mineral resources in the mine have been depleted, while oil has been discovered in a nearby town. As a result, many locals have gone to the neighboring town to make a living.

Texas produces one-third of Aramco's total oil, which is very abundant.

After the pleasant gathering, Zhao Hao took Xiluo and got into his monster jeep, driving towards the distant mine.

Now that we know there's a custom of sacrifice here, things will be much easier.

Just like the Celestial Empire had a mature process for summoning gods and commanding ghosts, Amei's place also had one, but it was much simpler and not as elaborate as the once glorious Song Dynasty's Illusionary Spirit Realm, where all sorts of deities had many rules and regulations. This place was much more rudimentary.

At the entrance of the mine, Zhao Hao took out some spiritual materials, drew a magic circle, and began to consume spiritual energy to summon the "spirit of the mine"!

After about three minutes, the magic circle reacted, indicating that the spirit in the inner world was responding. This showed that the sacrifices made by the townspeople over the years had indeed been entrusted with a master.

Before long, the magic circle began to change. The spiritual and extraordinary materials began to "melt," merging with the rocks on the ground, then expanding and transforming into a three-meter-tall rock giant, its rock muscles as sculpted as a statue!

Truly rock-solid muscle definition~

"Who is calling upon the mighty rock spirit Aggras?" This guy's voice was quite gruff.

"Hello Aglas, I'd like to ask you a few questions," Zhao Hao said directly.

"You summoned Aggras? I can answer your questions, but you must defeat me?"

"Oh? Is there going to be a fight?" Zhao Hao started to flex his wrists, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

But the stone man said, "I won't bully you. If you beat me in three matches, I will help you."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hao was quite disappointed that it wasn't a fight.

"Tell me, what do you want to compete in?"

"For our first event, we'll have a stone-rolling contest. Whoever can roll the stone ball from the bottom of the hill to the top wins!"

Zhao Hao took a look and saw that the stone ball was about 1.5 meters long. It must weigh more than a ton.

"Alright! Let's begin!"

As soon as Zhao Hao agreed, the stone man Aglas grabbed the large stone ball and ran up the mountain like the wind.

Holy crap! Zhao Hao never expected this seemingly honest guy to be so shameless.

Since that's the case, don't blame me for breaking the rules.

Zhao Hao used a giant golden handprint to catch the stone ball and threw it like a shot put.

The stone man Aglas was still secretly laughing to himself, having tricked the human, when he heard a buzzing sound above his head, and then a large stone ball flew over and crashed into the soil on the uphill slope with a "thud"!

"The second item! The second item!" Aglas exclaimed in exasperation.

"The second challenge is to arm wrestle with me, but without using psionic energy!"

"Okay! Come on over!"

The two sat down in front of a stone platform and each extended their hand.

Zhao Hao's arms were already quite thick, but the stone man's arms were probably as thick as a normal person's thigh!

A shameless smirk crept across Agras's stone face.

Then it shouted "Start!", "Bang!"

Before it could even react after shouting "Start!", its arm was broken. Zhao Hao slammed it onto the stone platform, shattering it!

The scene fell silent for a moment.

After a few seconds, Xiluo whispered, "Why are you making such a fuss over nothing? Why did you provoke him?"

Aggrass was stunned for a long time, realizing something was wrong. This human superhuman in front of him didn't seem to be at the level of Black Iron 2 or 3 stars that he had initially thought he was at!

But it still wouldn't accept it!

It also has a trump card!

It pressed the severed arm against the stone wall, and the arm quickly grew back.

It said, "For the last event, we'll have a sculpture contest! Whoever can carve this stone wall into a bull first wins!"

It is the spirit of rocks, and controlling the deformation of stones is practically instinctive for it. In just a moment, it can transform this stone wall into a cow.

"If you lose, I won't help you anymore." It was planning to use the materials Zhao Hao had summoned as a cover.

"Begin!" Without waiting for Zhao Hao's reply, it shouted "Begin!" and pressed its hand against the stone wall, transforming it into a relief of a bull in just two seconds. It was incredibly lifelike and realistic.

"Hahaha, I won! I..." It suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Zhao Hao didn't move at all, his hands were in front of his chest, and he looked a little impatient.

Behind it, an infinite surge of spiritual energy appeared, an indescribable power that caused it to instinctively submit.

It realized that it seemed to have gone too far today.

It immediately forced a smile: "Look, you're taking this seriously. I was just joking! So, what do you want to ask? We Texas elves are the most enthusiastic! I'll help you out to the end!"

Behind it stood the massive Stone Demon Mountain, which held up the five-meter-high mine ceiling and occupied almost the entire space.

Da Shan silently watched the short man in front of him who dared not turn around!

Chapter 355 Caravan Open-Air Cinema

The spirit of the rock became docile, shrinking to the size of a meter, and even conjured up a pair of large, "watery" eyes, squatting obediently in front of Zhao Hao.

"Boss, please spare me! I didn't mean to harm your sacrifice. I'm just really scared!"