Retracting his thoughts, Chen Mo arrived in front of the Red Skull's vehicle.
This was a six-wheeled off-road car built with Hydra's top black technology. Its pitch-black exterior was heavy and imposing, with a sleek, streamlined body that contained surging power and astonishing speed. The reinforced chassis and six-wheel drive gave it impressive off-road capabilities.
Opening the car door, Chen Mo, holding a wooden box containing the Cosmic Cube and a long sword, sat in the back seat. "You! Soldier, can you drive?" Chen Mo pointed to a soldier standing guard nearby and asked.
The selected soldier looked at Chen Mo with fervent eyes, clearly another poor soul brainwashed by the Red Skull. Hearing Chen Mo's question, he excitedly shouted, "Yes, sir!"
Chen Mo nodded in satisfaction. "Very well, then you drive us back to the base."
Not knowing the way, Chen Mo leisurely sat in the back seat as the Hydra soldier drove them back to the Hydra base in Norway.
Hydra's Norway base was located in the southeastern part of the Scandinavian Mountains, a strategically advantageous position that was easy to defend and hard to attack.
After entering the mountainous area, the car traveled through a hidden road concealed in the dense forest and returned to the base. The car stopped in front of the base building, and Chen Mo handed the wooden box to the soldier, carrying the long sword himself as he got out of the car.
"Take it to my office."
Following the guiding Hydra soldier, Chen Mo returned to the Red Skull Schmidt's office, signaling the soldier to place the box on the table. Chen Mo scrutinized the Hydra soldier who had driven him.
This was a typical German youth, with blond hair and blue eyes, tall and strong, his young face full of reverence and fanaticism. Being able to serve and follow the orders of the revered leader "Red Skull" made him feel extremely honored and proud.
"Tell me your name, soldier," Chen Mo asked in the Red Skull's deep voice.
"John Wolf! Sir!" the young soldier excitedly replied loudly. Being asked his name by the leader was the greatest affirmation for him.
"Very well, John. From now on, you will be my guard." Chen Mo, not yet familiar with the place, found it convenient to have someone to drive and guide him. From his observations, soldier John was a pure soldier who only knew how to follow orders and had a fanatical worship of the Red Skull. Even if there were some unusual actions, he would not be suspected.
After dismissing the excited soldier John, Chen Mo began to go through the files in Schmidt's office one by one.
After a period of understanding and careful probing, especially with the unreserved trust and assistance of soldier John, Chen Mo had basically grasped the situation of the base. He was no longer in the dark, and the true strength of Hydra was fully revealed to him.
As a secret scientific research organization under the Nazis, in the hands of the ambitious "Red Skull" Schmidt, after years of development, Hydra had long ceased to be just a simple scientific research organization. In addition to its core research departments and secret bases scattered across various European countries, Hydra also possessed a vast intelligence network and a powerful mechanized army.
Internally, Hydra was more like a religion, with all matters decided solely by the Red Skull, and no one dared to dissent.
Each base primarily served as a production and research center for war weapons such as armored vehicles, tanks, and airplanes, and was equipped with large mechanized forces.
The weapons manufactured by Hydra were far more advanced than those of the United States, and the soldiers were steadfast in their beliefs and fearless in battle, making Hydra's forces extremely formidable.
Despite this, according to the original storyline, Hydra's numerous bases in Europe were all destroyed under the attack of the Howling Commandos led by Captain America. This demonstrated the power of the super-soldier serum, which elevated individual combat strength above that of an entire army.
Even without Captain America, the Allies would not have spared Hydra; the only difference would have been the cost paid.
Chen Mo did not intend to lead Hydra in a head-on confrontation with the world. He was neither the Red Skull nor Hitler and had no ambition to rule the world. Moreover, Hydra's strength was insufficient to oppose the entire world. Chen Mo was not insane enough to attempt to blow up cities around the globe like the Red Skull.
Here, he was merely a passerby. Everything he did was to enhance his own power, to deal with crises in the real world, and to better establish his own forces in the real world.
With the combined strength of the world's major powers, Hitler's defeat was inevitable, and Hydra could not escape the fate of being severely damaged and forced into hiding. Since Chen Mo did not plan to fight head-on, he naturally had other plans.
In the base control center, Chen Mo carefully examined the map of Norway hanging on the wall.
Norway, located at the northernmost part of Europe, on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula, was long and narrow from north to south, with a long and winding coastline. Despite its advantageous geographical position, Norway was weak in national power, with a simple domestic situation and a population of less than three million. With Hydra's strength, it could easily control the entire country in secret.
The Scandinavian Mountains ran through the entire length of Norway, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north. The terrain was steep, with some areas covered by glaciers. The western mountains were precipitous, reaching the coast, and the region was filled with numerous fjords connected to the Atlantic Ocean, making it a hidden and difficult-to-find place, ideal for establishing a base.
Chen Mo planned to abandon more than half of Hydra's existing bases, consolidating its forces and retaining only the three most concealed and strategically positioned bases, including the headquarters in the Alps. He also intended to establish a new, larger, and more concealed underground base connected to the Atlantic Ocean.
With Germany's defeat, Hydra's numerous bases in Europe would eventually be lost. Rather than being destroyed by the Allies, it was better to abandon them proactively and preserve their strength.
The current Norway base, although built on a mountain, is located in the southeast and not by the sea, lacking sufficient strategic depth and concealment.
After sending personnel for on-site investigation, Chen Mo chose a steep mountain peak over 1800 meters high in the northern part of the mountain range near the west coast.
To the east are snow-covered mountains, and to the west are towering cliffs and deep fjords. The base will be built deep within the mountain, using hundreds of meters of thick rock to hide and protect it. In addition to the hidden submarine and ship passage under the cliff in the fjord and the aircraft passage hidden in the mountain wall, there will be several secret passages buried tens of meters underground connecting to distant hidden locations for the movement of personnel and supplies.
This top-secret base will serve as the new Hydra headquarters, housing Hydra's core departments and the majority of its military forces. Its scale will far exceed that of other bases, making the entire project very large.
With the location selected, a large amount of resources and equipment began to be mobilized, and a large number of elite personnel were selected and secretly sent to the depths of the northern mountains. The construction of the top-secret base was in full swing.
At this time, Chen Mo was in the base control center meeting with Dr. Zola, Hydra's chief scientist, a biology and mechanical expert, and the Red Skull Schmidt's right-hand man, who had now become Chen Mo's subordinate.
"Have all the equipment arrived, Dr. Zola?" Chen Mo asked coldly from behind the desk.
"The equipment for researching the Cosmic Cube has all arrived, and the rest will be delivered soon." Dr. Zola stood in the middle of the room, somewhat at a loss. He felt that "Schmidt," who had gone out to find the Cosmic Cube, had become even more unpredictable after not seeing him for a while.
"Then start your research. I hope to see results soon. Don't make me wait too long." Chen Mo's deep, icy voice sent chills down Dr. Zola's spine.
"Y-yes, I'll get started right away." Dr. Zola said as he prepared to turn and leave.
"You forgot this." Chen Mo pushed the box on the table forward and said coldly, feeling a bit helpless inside. He wondered if he was overdoing it. Dr. Zola was his most important scientific talent, and scaring him too much wouldn't be good.
Chen Mo had tried to put the Cosmic Cube into space but found that it couldn't be stored, possibly because it contained extremely powerful spatial energy that exceeded the space's capacity.
Further research could only be done by Dr. Zola. In the original storyline, he successfully converted the Cosmic Cube's energy and developed energy weapons.
After Dr. Zola left with the box, Chen Mo picked up a document on the table with the cover labeled "Super Soldier Program."
This was what Chen Mo was most concerned about, as it related to his safety upon returning to the real world.