Chapter 325: Discovery of Antimatter_1

Jiang Yu's fleet, upon docking, saw a massive object not far from Pluto in the dim light—it was Pluto's moon, Charon.

In terms of the ratio between a planet and its satellite, Charon was too large, with its diameter nearing half that of Pluto's.

Even in such dim conditions, its presence could not be ignored.

The newly established base on Pluto was quite rudimentary, housing just over a thousand military personnel.

This base seemed more like a statement of the Solar System State's presence and its determination to develop the peripheral planets of the Solar System.

At the same time, the first "Blind Zone Two" was completed at this base. It was an upgraded version of "Blind Zone No.1," with an area as large as a football field, and there was no need to wear protective suits.

The energy consumption was quite high, so a small nuclear power plant was built specifically for this system.

Jiang Yu visited the construction site and found it much more pleasing than the cramped "Blind Zone No.1."

There were two "Blind Zone Two" facilities in total; one here and another being constructed in the Science City of the Jupiter Civilization Circle.

Ai Qi smiled and said, "With such a large area, it's enough to relocate entire departments here to work."

Especially those departments that required secrecy.

Jiang Yu, however, said, "It's still not large enough. Only when the entire base can be covered will it be worthy of the Solar System State's investment in this technology."

By now, the Solar System State's investment in the project had far exceeded the total investment in constructing the Saturn Civilization Circle.

And the cost of building "Blind Zone Two" was almost the same as that of a mid-sized Space City, so even with the current relatively flexible budget, Jiang Yu was reluctant to build more.

Given the limited area of the base, Jiang Yu roughly toured the facility, gave an inspirational speech to boost morale, and then embarked on his journey back.

Before departing, Jiang Yu gave one last reminder to Ai Qi beside the shuttle's gangway, "Though your task is arduous, in the future, the entire Solar System State will be your support!"

Ai Qi smiled and replied, "I understand, and I will surely meet the expectations!"

As Jiang Yu's plan to build up the Solar System State's armed forces progressed step by step, Ai Qi could feel Jiang Yu's determination as well as the prospects of this future military force.

Perhaps, they would indeed possess the strength to fight the Trisolarans.

The return trip to Jupiter for Jiang Yu would take a year and a half, which made him eager to further increase the speed of the spaceship; hence, he decided during the return journey to increase investment in the nuclear engine research facility.

Although the maximum speed of the nuclear engine could only reach 15% of light speed, the acceleration and deceleration processes could be shortened—it meant making the nuclear engine more explosive!

This research had been ongoing, but the results were disappointing, with little to no breakthroughs thus far.

However, that's the nature of technology—you never know how much money needs to be spent before a breakthrough occurs.

For a crucial national asset like the nuclear engine, any breakthrough would be worth the investment, no matter how costly.

During the long return journey, Jiang Yu's health complications flared up again, knocking him out with pain. Only after undergoing surgery to remove the out-of-control tissue did he "come back to life."

Recovering from this episode of complications took Jiang Yu almost half a month.

During this time, he received good news: He Shanqi, using the Huan Mu Xing Particle Collider, had discovered dark matter!

Previously, when the Solar System State had achieved a breakthrough in the application of antimatter, it had caused a major stir in the human world, signaling a new chapter in fundamental physics.

Just as the discovery of nuclear energy once did, it would lead to a series of theoretical and technological revolutions in the future.

This discovery of dark matter caused even more excitement than antimatter in the human world.

That's because while there were some feasible ideas about how to use antimatter, when it came to using dark matter, people only had a very vague concept.

The PDC immediately demanded that the Trisolarans disclose their technology and theories on dark matter, and indeed, the Trisolarans released a batch, but nobody could understand it, as there was a huge theoretical gap between current human technology and the application of dark matter.

The Trisolarans suggested that the PDC progress step by step, warning that knowing some things too early could cause confusion in humanity's theoretical systems.

They also advised the Solar System State to thoroughly research antimatter before moving on to dark matter.

However, the Solar System State Academy of Sciences believed that both substances should be researched in parallel to save time and effort.

While the entire Science City of the Solar System State was in jubilation, He Shanqi couldn't bring himself to be happy, as he was searching for curvature, and even discovering dark matter couldn't cheer him up.

Jiang Yu could only give He Shanqi a direction on this matter; he really couldn't offer more help.

Upon returning to the Jupiter Civilization Circle, Jiang Yu's group headed straight to Science City, where Jiang Yu met with He Shanqi's team and gave them a generous reward.

No matter what, their discovery was extremely important, and no amount of recognition would be too much.

After meeting everyone, Jiang Yu took He Shanqi to the newly operational "Blind Zone No.2.2."

The vast space had been divided into three levels by steel floors, each level being only about three meters high, which felt somewhat oppressive for modern humans who commonly stood around two meters twenty in height.

But it couldn't be helped; they needed to make use of every inch of space.

Numerous construction robots were busily decorating the three levels with simple finishes.

He Shanqi explained, "In the future, this will be our secret office, where all discussions and calculations about the Lightspeed Spaceship will take place.

"And as per your request, the research on antimatter and dark matter will also be conducted here—soon this place will become crowded!"

Jiang Yu nodded, "Our cutting-edge research will now be kept secret from the Trisolarans."

He Shanqi appeared puzzled, "Is that necessary?"

"Absolutely necessary!" Jiang Yu said. "It's not that the Trisolarans covet our research findings, but once we begin to maintain secrecy, they can only guess how far we have come.

"This is crucial; our understanding of the Trisolarans' technology level is almost entirely based on guesswork.

"In the future, they will have to guess our level too, and we will have achieved a preliminary strategic balance."

He Shanqi nodded, not pursuing the subject further but spoke with some dismay, "It seems we're still far from finding curvature!"

"No rush," Jiang Yu said with a smile. "Didn't you say it would take thirty years to find curvature? It's only been a few years."

"What if we can't find it after thirty years?"

"Then I'll find someone else to look for it," said Jiang Yu, pausing and looking at He Shanqi.

"It seems curvature really exists," He Shanqi said, somewhat resigned. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be so sure."

Jiang Yu laughed, "Tell me about the uses of dark matter and antimatter."