A research team has an application that needs to be submitted to him for his personal approval.
Along with their application, they sent a condensed version of their research report.
Upon seeing the contents of the research report, Chen Ming immediately noticed this was the application from the group that had applied for research facilities a few days ago.
Judging from the contents of their research report.
They conducted several batches of experiments on the Space Station using the equipment they had previously applied for.
They successfully analyzed a special substance that objectively exists within the corpse of Plane Nightmare, but was only discovered by them now. This group calls it Negative Matter.
According to the report, this research team believes Negative Matter can be seen as a special form of Antimatter.
But it does not annihilate upon contact with normal matter; instead, it fuses.
This fusion changes the properties of the fused entity, with no structural changes, but overall it becomes more resilient. Almost anything becomes the same way, and it is extremely valuable for research.
This intrigued Chen Ming greatly. Most members of the research team he was collaborating with had gone for rest, with only a few night-shift workers processing the data left from daytime work.
Chen Ming had the time to go over personally.
Anyway, there were no results on this side for a while, so visiting the Space Station wouldn’t take much time.
After greeting some people, Chen Ming used Spiritual Energy to reach the Plane Nightmare Space Station directly.
He headed to the newly expanded area of the Space Station and found the research team working in the laboratory within that area.
The team, notified of Chen Ming’s arrival, was already waiting at the laboratory entrance.
After Chen Ming indicated that there was no need for such formality, the team leader instructed the members to continue their tasks, taking Chen Ming to their usual workplace to demonstrate their research results.
Some materials, including a kilogram of pure iron block, soil of the same weight, and other materials, fused with Negative Matter and stored in vacuum isolation layers.
Alongside, identical materials stored in vacuum isolation served as the control group.
By examining the data left on the control console, Chen Ming could easily discern that the properties of the materials in the experimental group, compared to the same materials in the control group, had undergone changes in mass — infinitesimal, but real.
Additionally, next to this console was a detection device that the team manufactured with Dusk’s help, used for detecting Negative Matter.
The detection target was the entire Space Station.
According to the results displayed by the device, the entire Space Station had been thoroughly permeated by Negative Matter.
Yet, Chen Ming was unable to perceive this material specifically, no matter how much he tried to use his senses, he couldn’t sense the existence of Negative Matter.
Additionally, mere data on paper was far from conclusive.
So Chen Ming turned to the team leader and asked, "How did you discover it?"
The leader shook his head and said, "It wasn’t us who discovered it; this material actively sought us out."
"We had just applied for a batch of materials a few days ago, only to find that they started changing within days of being transported from elsewhere."
"We initially thought it was a problem with the materials. Applying for another batch yielded the same problematic results — identical issues."
"Then came the third batch of materials. This time, we had the cargo ship wait outside the Space Station. We personally went up to test that there was no issue before having Dusk — not us — deliver the items, but..."
"We began to suspect that Plane Nightmare might have a nearly unobservable material similar to Antimatter."
"We borrowed some equipment from other teams for further testing and confirmed the existence of this material."
Chen Ming lowered his head, looking at the Space Station’s floor, activated his Spiritual Energy, and personally sensed the materials constituting the Space Station’s structure.
He found it was indeed as the leader stated; the physical strength of all materials on the Space Station had changed.
Negative Matter truly exists, and it has already fused with the entire Space Station.
Even if he couldn’t directly sense this Negative Matter, it undoubtedly exists.
Chen Ming suddenly turned his gaze to the adjacent control group stored under vacuum isolation layers.
"Negative Matter cannot propagate in a vacuum, right?"
"Yes, that’s why we placed these items here for comparison."
"Alright."
Chen Ming felt somewhat at ease.
Because thus far, the Plane Nightmare Space Station has only ever transported items from outside to inside, never taking anything out.
So, the Negative Matter carried by Plane Nightmare should only exist within this Space Station.
The most would be a little on the Shimmering Civilization’s ship that Chen Ming disconnected from Plane Nightmare.
However, Chen Ming hadn’t traveled anywhere with that ship; it was also kept on the Plane Nightmare Space Station as a research subject.
"As for your application..."
The leader promptly said, "We hope to reach the ground for a slightly larger scale of experimentation."
"You see, the Space Station has already merged with this Negative Matter for so long but completely hasn’t caused any incidents, so we think it could be temporarily considered non-dangerous."