Chapter 138: Beneath the Glacier

**Chapter 139: Beneath the Glacier** 

Chen Mo examined the data displayed on the tablet—the ice thickness, the depth at which the aircraft was submerged, and the extent of damage to the fuselage were all clearly indicated. 

After confirming the Valkyrie's condition, he stored the tablet in his spatial storage and turned toward the icy cliff where the frozen plain met the sea. 

"You return first. Proceed according to plan," Chen Mo said as he walked forward. 

"Yes, sir!" Colonel John responded immediately, standing at attention. 

Under John's watchful gaze, Chen Mo strode to the edge of the ice cliff. After a brief glance at the waters below, scattered with floating ice, he stepped off—plunging from the twenty-meter precipice. 

*Splash!* 

His falling body deftly avoided the drifting ice chunks, disappearing into the frigid sea with a towering spray. 

Watching Chen Mo's leap, John's expression remained unchanged. He simply followed orders, turning back to board the fighter. 

The cockpit canopy sealed shut as the Hydra jet's engines reignited, spewing azure flames. Snow swirled violently under the powerful thrust before the aircraft lifted off, ascending steadily. 

Within moments, it reached an altitude of several dozen meters, pivoted, and accelerated into the distance—its thrusters tilting horizontally as it vanished beyond the horizon. 

Meanwhile, beneath the waves, Chen Mo descended along the glacial wall. 

The underwater ice formation resembled a colossal blue fortress, stretching endlessly in both directions like an impenetrable barrier between sea and sky. Its mass extended deep into the abyss, forcing Chen Mo to dive nearly twenty meters before reaching its submerged base. 

Halting his descent, he turned and swam beneath the ice shelf—an inverted world where jagged frost formed a rugged landscape, dominating his vision with its boundless expanse. 

Moving with fluid precision, Chen Mo darted forward like a fish, speeding toward the ice shelf's depths. 

To an ordinary person, his actions would be extremely dangerous. 

The ice above him was dozens of meters thick—impossible to breach for a direct ascent. The only escape was retracing his path, meaning the farther he ventured under the ice, the greater the risk. 

Not only did the distance increase the danger, but the featureless void beneath the ice offered no landmarks. It was easy to become disoriented underwater, potentially swimming farther away instead of back toward the exit until oxygen ran out, leading to suffocation beneath the ice. 

Even if one maintained their bearings, they would still need to turn back while they had sufficient oxygen. Venturing too deep meant that by the time they realized their oxygen was running low, it might already be too late to make it back out, resulting in drowning during the return journey. 

However, Chen Mo was fully prepared. Not only was his physical prowess more than enough to sustain prolonged underwater activity, but he had also specifically stocked his spatial storage with ample oxygen tanks as a contingency, ensuring he would have a sufficient air supply. 

After swimming several hundred meters beneath the ice shelf, the monotonous scenery finally changed—a massive dark metal structure came into view. 

**"The Valkyrie."** 

Back then, Chen Mo had piloted the Valkyrie to crash near this glacier, sinking it into the sea where it became encased in ice. 

However, it wasn't completely buried. As he now saw, a section of the enormous wing—over thirty meters long—protruded diagonally from the ice shelf above, its tip submerged in the water below. 

This was part of the Valkyrie's massive wing. 

Spotting his target, Chen Mo swam straight toward it. 

Circling the colossal wing—its size comparable to a tall building—he soon found a damaged opening near its base. 

Retrieving a waterproof high-intensity flashlight from his spatial storage, he switched it on. A bright, piercing beam shot out, instantly illuminating the previously dim surroundings. 

Without hesitation, Chen Mo swam toward the breach and entered through it. 

Inside the aircraft, the powerful flashlight beam cut through the darkness, allowing Chen Mo to clearly see his surroundings. 

The interior of the wing was completely flooded, with massive steel frames crisscrossing to reinforce the structure. 

Chen Mo maneuvered past the sturdy steel supports and entered the main body of the aircraft, swimming along the passageway toward the upper cabin. 

Soon, his path was blocked by a wall of ice. Beyond it lay the Valkyrie's cabin. 

With his way obstructed, Chen Mo had no choice but to pause. 

By now, several minutes had passed since he had jumped into the sea. Though he didn't feel oxygen-deprived and could hold out longer, he still retrieved an oxygen tank from his spatial storage to replenish his air supply. 

After stowing the oxygen tank, Chen Mo looked up at the ice barrier above and extended his right hand. In an instant, the King's Sword materialized in his grip. 

What followed was an excavation. Against the razor-sharp edge of the King's Sword, the dense ice yielded like soft tofu. Large chunks were cleaved away and promptly stored in his spatial storage. Soon, he had carved out a tunnel roughly one meter in diameter, continuing upward through the ice layer. 

The ice within the Valkyrie's interior was exceptionally thick. Chen Mo dug nearly ten meters upward before finally breaking through. 

With one last swing, a final block of ice was removed, fully opening the passage. Beyond the thick ice layer, there was no water—only an air pocket. 

When the Valkyrie had sunk, its overall structural integrity had remained largely intact. Seawater had flooded in through damaged sections like the wings but hadn't completely filled the aircraft, leaving an air pocket in the upper cabin. 

Over time, as the plane became frozen within the ice, the seawater below the air pocket solidified into the icy barrier Chen Mo had just penetrated, completely sealing off the cabin section. 

With the passage now open, Chen Mo sheathed the King's Sword and climbed through the opening into the cabin. 

The flashlight's beam swept across the interior, illuminating the space. After scanning his surroundings to orient himself, Chen Mo stepped onto the smooth ice underfoot and headed in a specific direction.

Arriving at the edge of the ice, Chen Mo faced a slope of approximately thirty degrees—the original floor of the cabin. Due to the aircraft's tilt after sinking, one wing had risen while the other dipped, causing the cabin floor to slant at this angle. 

Sealed beneath the sea for seventy years, the walls and floor were now encased in thick ice. Combined with the sloping surface, the path forward was treacherous—but for someone as agile as Chen Mo, it posed no real challenge. 

Yet he didn't proceed immediately. Instead, he paused at the base of the slope. 

Stripping off his soaked combat suit, he stored it in his spatial storage and replaced it with his Adamantium armor and a weathered black combat uniform. He then equipped his original M1911 pistol, Vibranium shield, and other gear, fully restoring himself to the state he'd been in when he last left. 

After confirming nothing was missing, Chen Mo stepped onto the slope and made his way toward the Valkyrie's cockpit. 

The icy, tilted floor slowed his progress slightly, but after a few minutes, he finally reached the control room. 

The scene here was much the same as the rest of the aircraft—completely frosted over. The trap Baron Strucker had set to imprison him was still in place, though the steel cage had now become an ice cage, with the severed bars frozen solid to the ground. 

Surveying the familiar yet foreign surroundings, Chen Mo cautiously approached the control panel. 

The wide pilot's seat was also covered in a thick layer of frost. 

Clearing the ice from the seat and storing it away, Chen Mo sat down. 

Then, he retrieved a black box roughly the size of a backpack from his spatial storage and tossed it into the air. 

As it flew outward, a blue light activated on its surface. In an instant, its four corners unfolded, extending mechanical arms. 

Simultaneously, thrusters at the ends of each arm ignited with pale blue flames, allowing the device to hover steadily in midair. 

This was a foldable micro-drone. 

Once the drone was airborne, Chen Mo pulled out a tablet and began operating it. 

Under his command, the drone turned and retraced his path, quickly arriving above the ice tunnel he had carved. 

At Chen Mo's signal, a scanning module extended from the drone's underside, projecting a red grid over the ice below. 

Next, a folding robotic arm unfolded from the drone's front, reaching toward the tunnel. 

In the few minutes since Chen Mo's departure, seawater had begun refreezing inside the tunnel, forming a thin layer of ice—though still slightly lower than the surrounding surface. 

The drone's slender arm positioned itself at the junction between the new ice and the original surface. A jet of white frost sprayed from its tip, rapidly thickening the thin ice until it matched the height of the surrounding area. 

The arm then moved systematically across the tunnel, smoothing and reinforcing the ice until the breach was fully repaired—seamless with the rest of the frozen surface. 

But it didn't stop there. 

The drone adjusted its output, now generating frost directly from the air and scattering it over the repaired section. 

By the time the drone finished and moved to scan Chen Mo's footprints, the tunnel was completely erased—no trace remained of its existence.