Under the pressure of the situation, Ronan's mind became increasingly active. He tried to refine the judgment in his heart into something clearer, so he could inform Yan Xian and Gou Ye, his superiors.
But before he could put it into words, the transfer vehicle diagonally ahead—the one Ronan had judged to have an "intact core configuration"—suddenly came apart amid several hundred meters of violent impacts and scraping.
At the instant it broke apart, a muffled explosion even erupted from the transfer vehicle. The blast wave blew the shattered vehicle body out of the rock wall it had cut into. Its outer shell split apart, parts and fragments flew everywhere, and figures were flung from inside...
Behind his metal faceplate, Ronan's eyelids twitched violently. He also sensed a disturbance in Yan Xian Lieutenant's state of mind. The helmeted head beside him began swaying from side to side more frequently, clearly distracted by the scene before them.
Of course Ronan was affected too. What he "saw" clashed hard with his deeper sensory judgment. But his brain quickly defeated his eyes, and his mouth moved first as he gasped and rasped, "'Freeze-Life' unit is fine!"
Yan Xian Lieutenant tilted his head toward him, then gave an unexpected reply. "Yes, it's fine."
"Huh?"
Ronan's read on Yan Xian Lieutenant's mindset had clearly been wrong, but his most critical judgment had struck dead center. After the aftermath of the "explosion" dissipated, the situation became increasingly clear.
The transfer vehicle had indeed exploded, but its core section—the compartment carrying the "Freeze-Life" unit—remained largely intact. At most, it had been blackened by smoke and fire. It had instead used the opportunity to break free of the vicious flames catalyzed by the "Pterodactyl" acid bombs, as well as the negative effects of the completely out-of-control vehicle power