Leaving Tony Stark and Dr. Yinsen to continue improving the iron suit in the laboratory, Chen Mo secretly returned alone to Hydra's Norwegian headquarters base.
The third-generation arc reactor had been successfully manufactured. It used replaceable palladium metal plates to provide energy, with higher energy output efficiency and longer operational time.
Furthermore, when the energy was depleted, replacement was very convenient—they just needed to prepare enough palladium metal plates. It was no longer like the second-generation arc reactor, which required manufacturing an entirely new reactor when energy ran out.
Additionally, the electromagnet in Tony's chest had been improved. It no longer needed cable connections, making installation much more convenient. Tony Stark could now replace and install it himself, no longer requiring Pepper to reach into his chest to change it for him.
The more convenient and efficient energy supply was solved, but the suit's rapid deployment system wasn't yet complete.
The new rapid equipping mode required major modifications to the suit. Many modules needed redesigning to add transformation functions to meet the suit's automatic assembly requirements. At the same time, they had to ensure the suit's connections were secure and overall defensive power maintained.
Although his highly developed brain gave Chen Mo thinking, memory, and analytical abilities far beyond ordinary people, in terms of the suit's specific improvements and design, he still fell short compared to Tony Stark—the iron suit's inventor and weapons manufacturing genius.
The iron suit was a complex system. Wanting to perform overall major modifications and upgrades involved extremely complicated elements.
Every system required corresponding adjustments—transmission system upgrades, module relayout throughout the body, corresponding improvements to shock absorption and buffering systems and enhanced composite armor.
All this demanded very systematic and deep understanding of every part of the suit, the ability to make overall modifications to all systems and layouts according to requirements.
Currently, only the iron suit's creator, Tony Stark, could accomplish this.
Chen Mo relied more on the vast scientific data stored in his mind provided by Hydra, and the foresight brought by knowing future plot developments.
As long as he identified the iron suit's shortcomings and improvement directions, Tony Stark could easily resolve these issues.
The iron suit was unlike any previous weapon, with nothing to reference. Every new function added would face many problems.
Chen Mo could point out deficiencies and improvement directions, provide corresponding partial advanced technologies, but the specific design, overall technical modifications, and ultimately applying them to the suit—all this required Tony Stark, the iron suit's inventor, to implement. After all, only he understood the iron suit most thoroughly.
It was like a house. Tony had designed and built the main framework. Chen Mo knew what the house would ultimately look like, could point out various shortcomings, offer suggestions and some modification plans, but actually modifying the main framework had to be done by Tony Stark, the original designer.
Of course, once the entire house was finally built, having participated in the entire process, Chen Mo would understand it thoroughly too. Building it again or making some minor modifications would pose no problems.
But the rapid dressing system clearly wasn't something Chen Mo could complete. The design involved was too complex and precise, and it was a field Chen Mo had never touched. Hydra's technology contained no information in this area either, so this could only rely on Tony.
After telling Tony Stark all his ideas about the rapid automatic assembly system, Chen Mo left the villa alone.
He couldn't help much with what came next. He could leave it to Tony. He had other matters to attend to.
During his battle with Obadiah, Chen Mo discovered that his left arm—originally severed by Crossbones Brock Rumlow—had been fitted with a bionic mechanical prosthesis that could transform into a sonic cannon.
Chen Mo had seen this mechanical arm in a movie.
In the Marvel-produced superhero film Black Panther, the arms dealer Ulysses Klaue, who had infiltrated Wakanda and stolen large quantities of vibranium, had his left arm equipped with just such a prosthetic sonic cannon.
According to Chen Mo's understanding of the plot, this prosthetic sonic cannon was modified from a sonic weapon he'd stolen from Wakanda.
But at this point, he shouldn't have lost his left hand yet. This sonic cannon was just a weapon to him. The news of Obadiah losing his left hand had clearly made him see a business opportunity. He'd modified the sonic cannon and sold it to Obadiah at a high price, making a killing.
Unfortunately, although Obadiah obtained this powerful sonic cannon, it still couldn't threaten Chen Mo. In the end, he couldn't escape being eliminated.
But Ulysses Klaue and Wakanda had thus entered Chen Mo's sights.
Norway, at the northernmost end of the Scandinavian Mountains, dozens of kilometers from the western fjord coast, beneath a towering,险峻 peak perpetually covered in ice and snow, hid a massive underground base. This was Hydra's headquarters—the Zero Top-Secret Base.
In Chen Mo's spacious office, he sat behind his desk, rapidly browsing through all the information about Ulysses Klaue and Wakanda that Albert had sent him on his tablet.
Ulysses Klaue's situation matched what Chen Mo knew.
Many years ago, Ulysses Klaue infiltrated the mysterious kingdom hidden in the jungle—Wakanda—and stole large quantities of vibranium from there.
Now, besides smuggling and selling arms, he spent most of his time searching for and stealing ancient vibranium weapons passed down through history with the help of an elite mercenary named Erik Killmonger, selling the precious vibranium at high prices.
The mysterious kingdom of Wakanda had actually attracted Hydra's attention very early on. They'd conducted multiple covert investigations, understanding them thoroughly. Hydra was definitely the organization in the world that understood Wakanda best.
Even Ulysses Klaue, who had personally entered Wakanda, understood Wakanda far less than Hydra did.
In fact, besides Ulysses Klaue, very few people in the world knew of Wakanda's existence.
Even those who knew only thought it was an extremely poor and backward African nation focused on hunting and farming.
Even various nations' intelligence agencies and the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division didn't know that hidden beneath its poor, backward exterior, the Wakandan kingdom's technological capabilities far exceeded any country or organization on Earth. It was the most technologically advanced nation in the world.
According to intelligence Hydra had obtained, over ten thousand years ago, a massive meteorite fell to Earth at what was now Wakanda's location. This meteorite was composed entirely of vibranium, forming a vibranium vein buried deep underground.
As early as the previous Wakandan king's reign, they had secretly sold small quantities of mined vibranium abroad.
Back then, the vibranium Dr. MacLean used to create Chen Mo's original adamantium alloy shield, and later to research adamantium alloy, was mostly obtained from them.
Using the enormous funds from selling vibranium, they sent domestic elites to developed countries for higher education, learning advanced scientific knowledge.
After completing their studies, they returned to Wakanda. With their mastered advanced knowledge and using powerful vibranium, they developed technology.
Over several decades, Wakanda's technology developed rapidly, soon surpassing all Earth's nations, particularly in vibranium processing and stealth technology.
They could process hard vibranium into soft, form-fitting material that maintained excellent flexibility while possessing powerful defensive capabilities—the Black Panther suit.
Using vibranium, they developed many very advanced technologies, weapons, and equipment.
After other nations' satellite technology developed, to remain hidden, Wakanda even concealed the entire nation. The modern metropolis with towering buildings appeared to the outside world as merely primitive jungle. Wakanda consistently appeared on the international stage as a poor, backward third-world country.
Wakanda was composed of five major tribes, each with its own duties. The Border Tribe was responsible for guarding the kingdom, preventing outsiders from entering Wakanda.
Border Tribe members usually disguised themselves as farmers and hunters, living on Wakanda's borders to deceive the outside world, concealing Wakanda's truly wealthy and powerful reality.
Though they appeared to be just a group of backward tribespeople wrapped in blue cloaks, their equipment was actually very advanced.
The cloaks the Border Tribe warriors used to wrap their bodies were actually vibranium cloaks with protective and stealth functions.
When activated, the cloaks could form an energy shield with very powerful defensive capabilities, sufficient to withstand attacks from bullets and bombs.
According to Hydra intelligence department analysis, Wakanda's technological level in some aspects even exceeded Hydra's. And Hydra's technology already led the current world by over twenty years. This showed how high Wakanda's technological level was.
However, in an actual fight, Wakanda would definitely not be Hydra's match. Though they'd developed many advanced technologies relying on vibranium, Hydra was no less advanced, and their foundation was much stronger.
Many of their technologies were built on vibranium's foundation. Almost all powerful weapons and advanced equipment had core components made of vibranium.
Sonic cannons that could fire shockwaves and conduct sonic attacks, vibranium cloaks that activated energy shields, Black Panther suits, aircraft—all inseparable from vibranium.
However, while Wakanda had high-performance vibranium, Hydra had the even more powerful Tesseract.
Energy weapons' attack power exceeded sonic weapons. And with the Tesseract as the energy foundation, the various aircraft and vessels they'd developed—whether in quality, performance, combat capability, or quantity—all exceeded Wakanda's.
The combat quality of Hydra Legion soldiers far surpassed the Border Tribe. Whether in will, conviction, discipline, or combat competence, they were incomparable.
And the Winter Soldiers sleeping underground in the base, once awakened, could crush Wakanda. Destroying their nation would be just an overnight affair.