The surface of the ice hole Chen Mo had carved was completely restored, showing no abnormalities whatsoever.
The seawater below the ice hole would also quickly refreeze and integrate with the surrounding ice layer. By then, there would be absolutely no difference from before.
It took several tens of minutes for the aircraft to completely eliminate all traces Chen Mo had left before it flew back and hovered quietly in the air in front of Chen Mo, before the pilot's seat.
After Chen Mo tapped out one final command on the screen, he stored the tablet in his space.
Next, Chen Mo adjusted his sitting position, leaning back completely against the chair back, assuming an unconscious posture.
The aircraft hovering before Chen Mo first extended its scanning device, emitting a red light grid to scan Chen Mo and the chair. Then it extended its slender mechanical arm and began spraying cold air onto Chen Mo.
Over ten minutes later, Chen Mo's entire body along with the chair was encased in a thick layer of solid ice, completely integrating with the surrounding environment. It looked as though it had been frozen there for seventy years.
Having completed its disguise mission, the aircraft retracted its mechanical arm and slowly descended onto Chen Mo's arm. Upon contact, the aircraft vanished in a flash, instantly disappearing into the air.
The entire control room returned to its original state, except the previously empty pilot's seat now held a frozen figure.
Chen Mo lay quietly in the solid ice, motionless, seemingly having lost all life. But his consciousness remained clear.
When the aircraft began disguising him and creating the ice layer on his body surface, Chen Mo had been secretly controlling his body to make adjustments.
All his muscles began relaxing, slowly becoming completely slack. The activity levels of various organs and tissues also began slowly weakening.
His breathing became slower and slower, weaker and weaker, becoming somewhat intermittent. His heartbeat also began gradually slowing from dozens of beats per minute to just a few. His blood flow slowed accordingly.
Under Chen Mo's control, his bodily functions dropped to their lowest levels. Cellular metabolism became extremely slow, just maintaining the most basic cellular consumption. All cells throughout his body became extremely inactive.
After Chen Mo's metabolism decreased, the heat his body produced drastically reduced. His environment was inside a glacier with extremely low temperatures—dozens of degrees below zero Celsius.
Normally, Chen Mo's powerful physical constitution and vigorous metabolism were sufficient to maintain adequate heat, completely unaffected by the low temperature environment.
But now, as he actively controlled his body to lower its activity, external cold began invading inward from his skin.
Chen Mo didn't try to stop it but let it develop. Under the cold's invasion, Chen Mo's already extremely inactive cells completely entered a dormant state. All cellular activity and energy consumption stopped entirely.
This process started from his body surface and gradually developed toward the interior. Slowly, except for his brain, Chen Mo's entire body entered dormancy. Brain activity also dropped to minimum levels. From an external perspective, Chen Mo had completely lost all vital signs—breathing, heartbeat, and cellular activity had all stopped. Only an EEG could show slight fluctuations.
Chen Mo's current state was actually no different from when Steve, Albert and others had their bodies frozen and entered dormancy. The only difference was that Chen Mo's brain still maintained weak consciousness and could sense the surrounding environment to some degree.
This was also a hibernation method that could only be used by those who had been injected with super soldier serum and had their bodies enhanced.
Ordinary people's cellular strength and activity were insufficient. If frozen like Chen Mo, their body cells would quickly freeze, cell membranes would burst, and cells would die. So if ordinary people had their bodies frozen, death would be the only outcome.
After Chen Mo and the others were enhanced, the improvement in physical constitution wasn't just strengthened muscle power—endurance, neural response, immunity, mental capacity and all other aspects were enhanced. The most fundamental reason was that cells were strengthened.
So during low-temperature freezing, their body cells just stopped all activity and consumption, entering dormancy, rather than having cell membranes burst like ordinary people, causing massive cellular death. When thawed, their cells would regain activity and return to their pre-frozen state.
However, depending on physical constitution—that is, differences in cellular strength and activity—recovery speed after thawing also varied greatly.
For Dr. Zola and Colonel John, who received improved serum enhancement, their physical constitution was only three times that of ordinary people. So when Chen Mo returned to the Hydra base that day and Albert thawed and awakened them, they remained in a weakened state for over ten minutes.
Steve, who was injected with enhanced serum, had cellular strength and activity five times that of normal people. He could quickly restore his body to optimal condition within one or two minutes after thawing and rapidly engage in combat.
As for Chen Mo, his physical constitution had now reached seven times that of ordinary people. His cellular strength and activity, as well as his ability to control his body's minutiae, far exceeded others. This was why he could autonomously enter dormancy while maintaining brain activity.
If needed, Chen Mo could autonomously emerge from dormancy. He only needed a few seconds to awaken his cells so his body could move, and a dozen seconds to completely restore to his pre-frozen state and engage in combat.
It was precisely because of this that Chen Mo chose this method to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. He didn't need to worry about anyone threatening his safety while hibernating.
His brain was still functioning, with the surrounding environment within his perception. If there were any abnormalities, Chen Mo could quickly recover from freezing and respond promptly. Even if someone really launched an attack before he emerged from hibernation, the Adamantium alloy armor on his body could ensure his safety and allow him to hold on until fully recovering his strength.
Not only that, Chen Mo, who valued his life highly, had also prepared an ultimate plan. Even if someone tried to detonate high-powered explosives to kill him while frozen, he could instantly release from his space a heavily armored fortress capable of withstanding nuclear blast impacts—essentially a large iron box—to protect himself.
This fortress had a simple structure—just a three-meter-high sealed chamber. The chamber walls were made of fifty-centimeter-thick special alloy. It could be directly retrieved from his space to cover him. The lower hatch could automatically close rapidly, completely protecting Chen Mo.
Thus, this hibernation of Chen Mo's was truly foolproof.
However, due to his special hibernation method, this hibernation couldn't continue for as long as Steve and the others.
Normal frozen hibernation completely stopped all bodily activity and could continue freezing indefinitely. But because Chen Mo retained brain activity, he still needed to consume energy. Although he reduced brain activity, it still couldn't last too long—at most one month. He had to emerge from the frozen state, otherwise once energy was completely depleted, brain cells would begin dying.
As for complete hibernation like Steve and the others, Chen Mo wasn't that bold. Although he knew the plot well, that didn't mean accidents wouldn't happen.
The Marvel world wasn't that simple. There were plenty who could threaten Chen Mo. Though they hadn't appeared now, that didn't mean he was absolutely safe. Chen Mo couldn't confidently enter complete hibernation.
However, he didn't need to wait too long either.
...
Three days later, a glacier expedition team discovered something enormous frozen in the glacier while surveying a glacier in Greenland. They immediately reported the situation.
According to their preliminary detection results, the massive steel object buried in the glacier was regularly triangular in shape, over a hundred meters long, and didn't match any known mechanical device.
This unusual situation was ultimately classified as an anomalous incident and handed to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division to handle.
Two agents were quickly dispatched to the scene. When they descended through the opening equipment had made into the cabin, the discovery before their eyes made them widen their eyes involuntarily.
That iconic black round shield and massive two-handed knight's longsword clearly told them the identity of the man frozen in solid ice on the seat, his entire body covered in black armor.
The predecessor of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division was the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Chen Mo, as a founding member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, creator and first commander of the special forces unit, a legendary figure who had almost single-handedly crushed the powerful Hydra organization—these agents who could access classified information and knew something of those events all regarded him as their idol.
And now, this hero who had disappeared seventy years ago and should have long since died truly appeared before them.
"My God!"
"Dear Lord!"
The two looked at Chen Mo's frozen, imposing figure and couldn't help but exclaim.
"Headquarters, connect me to the Colonel!"
One agent came to his senses first and immediately began contacting headquarters.
"It's three in the morning, sir."
The headquarters communications personnel on the other end reminded him, not understanding what matter required waking their superior at this hour.
"I don't care what time it is."
The agent said firmly.
"He's waited long enough."
...
Washington, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division headquarters building.
In a room styled like the 1940s, Chen Mo, lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.
Sitting up from the bed, Chen Mo surveyed his surroundings. The white walls, light green wainscoting, old-fashioned bedside lamp, and slowly rotating ceiling fan overhead all exuded a strong flavor of the last century.
Honestly, Chen Mo did miss those times somewhat. It was time to go see his old comrades.