As Chen Mo pressed the communicator button, in another office not far away, the old-style communicator on the desk that had been silent for years suddenly rang.
Sitting at the desk was a tall, upright blond middle-aged man. His temperament was calm and elegant, his bearing extraordinary. A pair of deep blue eyes were filled with the composure of one who had seen through worldly affairs, giving the impression more of a wise old man who had weathered life's vicissitudes.
However, with the ringing of the desk communicator, his previously calm eyes suddenly fluctuated violently. His whole person became extremely agitated, no longer maintaining his previous calm composure.
Standing up from the chair all at once, a trace of reminiscence appeared on the middle-aged man's face.
"Seventy years—have you finally returned?"
...
Not long after Chen Mo pressed the communicator, familiar yet somewhat hurried footsteps sounded from nearby.
The footsteps stopped outside the door. Chen Mo could sense the rapid heartbeat and somewhat heavy breathing of the person outside.
After two seconds, the office door was slowly pushed open, and the middle-aged man from before walked in somewhat anxiously.
Seeing the middle-aged man's familiar figure, a smile couldn't help but appear on Chen Mo's face.
"Eddie, long time no see."
Looking at Chen Mo sitting at the office desk, Albert's originally anxious and excited mood suddenly calmed down.
"Master, you've returned."
Albert bowed slightly toward Chen Mo, his face full of warmth and kindness.
"Would you like me to brew you a cup of coffee?"
Chen Mo couldn't help but recall that familiar coffee aroma, a rich fragrance seeming to linger at his nose.
"Of course."
Chen Mo nodded readily.
Since he had already returned, there was no rush. He hadn't had old Eddie's brewed coffee in many years and really did miss it.
Soon, Albert returned to Chen Mo's desk carrying freshly brewed coffee. Chen Mo noticed that placed on the tray was precisely the set of exquisite pure silver embossed coffee pot and matching cup and saucer he had always used before.
Looking up at "old" Eddie who was seriously pouring coffee into the cup, Chen Mo couldn't help but show a smile.
This coffee set was precisely the one they had used back in Liverpool.
After Chen Mo left, Albert had continued to carefully preserve it. Later, whether going to the New York martial arts school or coming to Hydra's Norwegian base, Albert had always kept it with him, ensuring Chen Mo could drink his personally brewed aromatic coffee at any time.
Deep brown coffee poured from the slender spout, falling into that exquisite pure silver coffee cup with rolling steam, and a rich coffee aroma drifted out accordingly.
Chen Mo picked up the coffee cup, leaned back comfortably against the chair back, raised the cup to his lips, and contentedly took a sip. That familiar taste bloomed again on Chen Mo's tongue.
While Chen Mo drank coffee, he learned from Albert about the current situation of this world.
Seventy years had passed since Chen Mo last left.
After Chen Mo's departure, all of Hydra had been managed by Albert, with Dr. Zola and Colonel John assisting.
Hydra's absolute loyalty and devout faith in Chen Mo made Albert's rise to power exceptionally smooth, with no one jumping out to seize power.
All hidden dangers and unstable elements had long been completely cleaned out by Chen Mo. What he left Albert was an immensely powerful, loyal, and united massive organization.
Following Chen Mo's orders, they had remained deeply hidden in the shadows. No one knew of their existence, yet their influence spread throughout the entire world.
Norway, where the top-secret base was located, was even more completely controlled by Hydra in secret. The entire country of Norway could be said to be their headquarters.
Besides this, Hydra's tentacles had also reached the upper echelons of various countries. Almost every nation's political figures included their personnel, especially so in European countries.
Apart from Norway, which was completely controlled from top to bottom, Hydra's infiltration of many countries had reached the level of being able to influence national politics.
Who would have thought that Hydra, hidden in the shadows and unknown to anyone, possessed the terrifying ability to influence the entire Earth's situation.
Combined with the powerful technological forces they controlled, if Hydra were still controlled by an ambitious person like Red Skull Schmidt, it would be a huge disaster for the entire world. Because with Hydra's terrifying power, ruling the entire world wouldn't be difficult.
Fortunately, Hydra had always been under Chen Mo's control, and his ideal was world peace!
Actually, over these seventy years, Hydra's technological development speed hadn't been fast. Dr. Zola's research seemed to have hit a bottleneck. Aside from energy weapons, Hydra's overall technological strength hadn't widened the gap with various nations—rather, it had been continuously narrowed over these seventy years. Even so, they still maintained a technological lead of twenty years ahead of other countries.
The specific situation in this area still required Dr. Zola to personally introduce. He just wasn't here at the moment.
Before leaving back then, Chen Mo had injected Albert with improved super soldier serum. Originally over sixty years old, under the serum's enhancement, old Albert's appearance had not only reverted to around his forties and gained physical capabilities three times that of ordinary people—his lifespan had also greatly increased.
But this wasn't immortality after all. His body would still slowly age, just several times slower than ordinary people.
And now, seventy years later, his appearance hadn't changed much. He still looked under fifty.
As it turned out, besides Albert, Dr. Zola and Colonel John had also later received serum enhancement. When Chen Mo left him the super soldier serum, he had also told him about the enhancement effects—lifespan consumption could be paused through freezing. So the three of them took turns freezing, with only one person outside managing Hydra at a time, rotating every twenty years.
Twenty years wasn't too long for them, whose lifespans had greatly increased through serum enhancement.
Albert remembered Chen Mo had once said he would return after seventy years. So he chose to be the first to remain outside. That way, the next time it was his turn would coincide with Chen Mo's stated return time. He wanted to personally welcome Chen Mo's return.
Since being unfrozen ten years ago, he had been waiting for this day to come.
Until today, he had finally waited.
Chen Mo hadn't only given Albert several enhancement serums back then—he had also given him the formula for the improved serum. The original batch of Hydra members' loyalty to Chen Mo was utterly unwavering. Chen Mo didn't intend to let them simply age and pass away with time.
Following Chen Mo's instructions, after Hydra's development stabilized, Albert gradually gave them serum enhancements and froze them. Now, this powerful super soldier legion slept in the freezing chambers below the secret base, waiting at any moment for their leader to awaken them.
When that time came, they would take up arms once again and fight for the god they believed in!
Chen Mo had bestowed upon them a new name: Winter Soldiers.
However, Chen Mo had no intention of awakening them this time. The reason he enhanced and froze them, aside from not wanting these loyal subordinates to die in vain, was also to prepare in advance to deal with potentially powerful alien forces like the Chitauri that might invade Earth in the future.
Not just the original batch of Hydra members—although Chen Mo had left, he still remained Hydra's spiritual symbol and object of faith. Later recruited Hydra soldiers, as long as they passed tests and inspection, were sufficiently loyal to Chen Mo and Hydra, would receive enhancement at appropriate times and be frozen, becoming members of the Winter Soldiers.
Hydra had its own complete system for selection, cultivation, and verification testing, sufficient to guarantee each Hydra member's loyalty. And selection for Winter Soldiers was even stricter—their loyalty was beyond question.
Chen Mo was very satisfied with Hydra's development. As for technological development, Chen Mo had anticipated this long ago. If it were so simple that powerful technology could be obtained just by spending time researching, everything would be too easy.
He could completely stay in the Underworld world for hundreds or thousands of years—after all, he possessed infinite life. But in the end he'd probably only obtain some advanced ordinary technology. Those powerful technologies from films weren't so simple to research.
Many technologies were unique to a particular film world. Black technologies like super soldier serum, spatial portals, Transformers, and Gundams absolutely couldn't be researched just by spending time. This was also the meaning behind Chen Mo's constant traversing through world after world—obtaining each world's top technology and treasures to strengthen himself and enhance his power.
And his primary objective for this traverse was the Iron Man suit!
"How is S.H.I.E.L.D. developing now?"
Chen Mo asked after taking another sip of coffee.
"Their current public name is the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, supervised by the World Security Council, specifically responsible for handling various unusual incidents occurring internationally. The current director is Nick Fury."
Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. exceeded everyone's imagination. Albert knew S.H.I.E.L.D.'s situation intimately.
"The S.H.I.E.L.D. in the shadows is led in rotation by Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter, Steve, Howard, and Dr. Erskine. They faked their deaths and went into hiding in the decades after you left. Most are now in cryogenic sleep. Howard is currently responsible for S.H.I.E.L.D. on the outside."
Hearing this, Chen Mo couldn't help but show a slight smile. It was hard to imagine how that unreliable fellow Howard managed S.H.I.E.L.D.
"What is Howard's son doing now?"
Chen Mo asked the question he was most concerned about.
"Tony Stark, a weapons genius and playboy. After Howard faked his death when Tony came of age, he inherited Stark Industries and continued to develop and expand it."
"Right now he's..."
Albert paused, pulled out a smartphone from his pocket, quickly operated it, then looked up at Chen Mo.
"Picking up women."