While Natasha went to deal with the future S.H.I.E.L.D., Su Ming began his own operation.
He was investigating Element Zero—Zerium, Zero Matter.
However, it was better known by another name: Dark Matter, the cloud-like, endlessly churning element that made up Dormammu's Dark Dimension and even his very body.
Zero Matter was also currently the only magical substance that could be explained through science.
Sometimes called the neutron element, it referred to an element whose atoms contained only neutrons and no protons, or matter composed purely of neutrons.
In 1926, Polar Bear physicist Andrey von Andropov was the first to discover this substance and coin the term. At the time, even the concept of neutrons did not yet exist. Andropov placed Element Zero at the very beginning of the Periodic Table of Elements, representing its proton count as being even lower than hydrogen's.
Only after neutrons were discovered did Element Zero mainly come to refer to nuclides formed from clusters of many neutrons.
Of course, it possessed a dark nature. Once it entered the human body, a person would gradually be assimilated by it, developing symptoms such as split foreheads and blackened eye sockets.
While gaining a series of magical abilities, they would draw ever closer to Dormammu's domain, until they completely lost their minds, turned into Zerium itself, and were swallowed by the Dark Dimension.
Su Ming did not care if Leviathan wanted to commit collective suicide, nor did he care if they worshipped an evil god. But if they were going to play with Zerium, that was not only unacceptable—it also happened to fall within the Sorcerer Supreme's jurisdiction.
If Leviathan had truly dug this stuff out of the ground, then he had to deal with it. After hearing Zheng Xian's words, Su Ming had been unable to relax