The pickup truck and the Heihi Maru ran for three hours, only slightly reducing their speed at dawn. They had to slow down; one of the Heihi Maru's boilers was already malfunctioning, and if it couldn't be cooled down in time, it might have to be scrapped. It was only supposed to run at ten knots, but it had been running at twelve or thirteen knots all night, severely exceeding its capacity. The pickup truck, while not at high speed, was also overloaded. The earlier explosion of the heavy bomb had damaged the hull and caused flooding in the cabins, which also needed to be addressed.
Just then, the soldier in the command center who was observing shouted, "Airplane!"
The sound initially made Zheng Xuechang's heart jump, but he quickly relaxed again. It turned out to be an airplane, anchore
