021 Gene Chest, Hulk!
The lifeboat was only 80 meters away from Lin Mu, and with Lin Mu's current physical limit and burst speed, he could run a maximum of 150 meters on the sea surface, which was already more than enough for him!
Lin Mu accelerated instantly, his feet slamming down as he stepped on the sea surface and kicked up visible white waves, using brute force speed similar to Marines who have barely mastered Soru, and rushed straight toward the lifeboat.
Although the Marines on the lifeboat discovered the terrifying scene at the very first moment, how fast could Lin Mu possibly be?
A distance of only 80 meters took no more than three seconds, and before those Marines could even raise their rifles or shout warnings, Lin Mu had already landed heavily on their lifeboat!
"Ding, kill Sergeant Marine and gain 5 experience points!"
"Ding, kill Corporal Marine and gain 3 experience points!"
...
"Ding, kill Sergeant Marine and gain 8 experience points!"
"Ding, kill Sergeant Marine and gain 6 experience points!"
With the continuous beeping sounds of the Six Paths System echoing one after another, Lin Mu's total experience value directly exceeded 1,000 after he eliminated all the Marines on the lifeboat, meaning that he could now level up at any time!
Forcibly suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin Mu remained clear-headed and knew that this was not the right moment to level up, because the most important thing right now was to find a doctor for Zhizhi first.
At present, the warships of Marine Division 42 and Marine Division 45 had already been completely destroyed and breached by Lin Mu alone, while the warship of Marine Division 48 had escaped ahead of time and avoided total annihilation.
Except for a very small number of Marines who had originally been dispatched to encircle Lin Mu from the 42nd and 45th Divisions, almost all of them had now turned into Lin Mu's experience points, including the highest-ranking officers of the 42nd and 45th Divisions!
This time, Lin Mu could be said to have truly caused a huge uproar throughout the West Blue Marine branches!
It was completely foreseeable that after today's incident, the name Troyson D. Lin would spread rapidly and become widely known across the West Blue, just like the early notoriety of certain rising pirates.
However, these things were not what Lin Mu needed to worry about right now. After calmly throwing several Marine corpses into the sea to avoid attracting attention, Lin Mu boarded one of the lifeboats and headed toward the nearest town marked on the nautical chart, hoping to find a doctor there to treat Zhizhi's injury on its tui.
...
Two days later, on a small uninhabited island, Lin Mu sat quietly on the beach by the sea, while Zhizhi, although one tui was still wrapped in bandages, happily jumped around using its two front paws and one good tui.
From time to time, Zhizhi would accidentally fall flat on its face, roll like a puppy, gnaw at the mud, and end up with a mouthful of sand. After spitting the sand out with a series of "bah bah bah" sounds, Zhizhi would immediately resume bouncing around cheerfully as if nothing had happened.
After leaving the battlefield where he clashed with the Marines, Lin Mu had gone to a nearby town and found a veterinarian who treated animals often brought in by pirates and hunters.
Fortunately, the injury on Zhizhi's tui was not serious at all, and according to the vet, it only needed a few days of rest and recovery.
After hearing this result, Lin Mu finally felt relieved, and then deliberately brought Zhizhi to this quiet and uninhabited island to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"I accumulated over a thousand experience points during the battle with the Marines, and I can level up at any time now. Everything is finally ready, so now is the moment!"
Lin Mu thought silently in his heart, and then decisively chose to upgrade.
"Congratulations on being promoted to the third level, and obtaining a qualification to choose a treasure chest. May I ask whether you wish to choose a genetic treasure chest or an item treasure chest?"
Faced with the system's calm and mechanical inquiry, Lin Mu did not hesitate in the slightest and answered decisively: "Gene treasure chest!"
In terms of true long-term value and rarity, the genetic treasure chest was unquestionably far more precious than the item treasure chest. Unless such items were dropped directly by defeated enemies, Lin Mu would never voluntarily choose the prop treasure box.
Unless, of course, one could open something ridiculously powerful like an infinite gem or an absurd artifact, but if one thought about it carefully, the probability of such a thing happening was absolutely negligible.
Compared with those illusory and unrealistic possibilities, Lin Mu firmly believed that choosing tangible and powerful mutant genes was far more reliable and practical.
After Lin Mu confirmed his choice, a vague phantom of a treasure chest slowly appeared in the void directly in front of him, floating silently in midair.
Immediately afterward, the treasure chest creaked open in front of Lin Mu's eyes, and a dazzling white light surged out from within, shooting straight into Lin Mu's body without giving him any chance to react.
After the white light entered his body, an intense and tearing pain that he had already experienced twice before instantly erupted from every single cell in his body. Even though Lin Mu had already made mental preparations, the pain was still unbearable, his face turning deathly pale as his body trembled violently. He couldn't even let out a scream from his throat.
Zhizhi, who had been playing nearby, immediately noticed something was wrong. Although Lin Mu had reassured it beforehand that everything would be fine, Zhizhi's small eyes were still filled with deep worry. It hurried back to Lin Mu's side and gently rubbed his cheek with its soft and fluffy big tail.
The pain that was so intense it felt as if it pierced directly into the soul arrived suddenly and left just as quickly, completely dissipating after roughly half a minute.
Fortunately, it only lasted for half a minute. Otherwise, Lin Mu genuinely did not know whether he would be able to survive such torment again.
Although the pain had already subsided, Lin Mu's body had not yet fully recovered its ability to move. However, his eyes were already shining brightly with excitement and disbelief.
Because whose genes he had obtained, Lin Mu already knew at the very instant the white light merged with his body!
What he obtained this time were the genes of the Hulk!
After confirming this fact, Lin Mu could not help but feel that his luck was unbelievably outrageous to obtain such an absurd and terrifying gene.
Unlike certain mutants who were born naturally enhanced, the Hulk was a being whose genetic evolution was triggered by extreme radiation and later refined through limitless rage.
Although the mutant system Lin Mu possessed was primarily based on mutants from the X-Men universe, it also clearly included other overwhelmingly powerful existences, including top-tier figures such as Superman and the Hulk.
Lin Mu had already known this information when he first obtained the system, but he truly did not expect that he would directly acquire the Hulk's genes so early and so smoothly.
The Hulk was not only incomparably powerful in brute strength, but also an almost indestructible existence whose physical defense reached an outrageous level!
Unlike Wolverine, who relied primarily on terrifying regenerative ability to survive lethal injuries, the Hulk relied on his own monstrous defense, vitality, and rage-fueled endurance to withstand destruction.
Of course, Lin Mu also understood clearly that the Hulk gene he obtained could not possibly be complete, and would definitely be restricted by his current level, just like how Quicksilver's speed was limited before.
But even so, with such terrifying defense layered together with Wolverine's insane recovery ability, Lin Mu firmly believed that there were probably not many individuals in the entire pirate world who could truly kill him anymore!