053 Orange-Tier Equipment!

Seeing the Marty piranhas leaping back and forth, Chen Feng had a rough idea of Outlets' method.

"If the positioning permits, we should send up as many people as possible to disperse the piranhas' attacks, allowing someone to open the treasure chest. Whether the piranhas prioritize the player opening the chest is another matter." Once Outlets finished explaining his plan, it was up to Stan to determine the optimal number of people.

When Outlets first threw the stone, Stan had already grasped the idea and calculated the logistics. "We need at least four people. Three or more should be up there to draw the attention of the Marty piranhas, and at least one to open the chest. However, space is limited—there are only ten large stones. Having ten people jumping around without interfering with the person opening the chest is impossible; therefore, three is the safest and most efficient number for distraction. As for the person opening the chest, I believe one is ideal for a higher margin of error."

"As for the danger, everyone knows that falling into the water means certain death. Those going up to draw attention must have lightning-fast reflexes. Gwen has the ability to manipulate space; she can teleport us to safety if we are in danger. Having four people up there minimizes the chance of everyone being in peril simultaneously, keeping the overall risk manageable. As for who goes up, that will depend on their class." Stan’s analysis was clear; the next step was selecting the personnel.

Everyone knew that falling into the water meant death, and none of them had ever attempted such a high-difficulty task. Calculating the time required to open the chest and rotate positions, it would take at least 100 seconds. Maintaining such abnormal reaction times for that long was incredibly dangerous. Even with Gwen there to provide a safety net, it remained a perilous endeavor.

"Since everyone agreed I should be the one to open the chest, I have no choice but to take on the responsibility!" Outlets chose a relatively safe role for himself. Jumping around was clearly more dangerous than opening the chest. It was highly likely that opening the chest wouldn't trigger any danger, and this way, Outlets would secure all the loot, ensuring no one could swindle him.

"I’ll go up to distract the Marty piranhas," said Wenge, the Elf Hunter. Seeing Outlets volunteer, she felt compelled to join. As the only hunter present, she had to go.

Gwen was originally needed as well. As an Elf Druid, jumping around would be no problem, but she needed to support the others, teleporting those in danger. This meant she had to remain on solid ground to maintain the best field of vision and the fastest reaction speed.

No one else stepped forward, and all eyes turned to Chen Feng. It was clear he was expected to go. Chen Feng shook his head and said, "I am an armored class. The weight of my armor makes it inconvenient to keep jumping around. I should be paired with someone in cloth or leather armor."

Chen Feng's reasoning was sound, and his target was Stan, who wore cloth armor. However, a cloth-wearer’s movement speed and jumping ability were not necessarily superior.

"Chen Feng, just take off your armor and wear your tunic. You don’t need to tank or kill monsters here; having gear or not makes no difference!" Stan had his own way of dealing with Chen Feng’s attempt to push him into the fray. With a task where the person sent up could easily die, Stan preferred to settle for less loot.

He had been found out!

Chen Feng knew he had to go; the "heavy armor" excuse wouldn't hold up. "Call the Elf Thief over; that will make three of us."

Once the Elf Thief arrived and understood the mission, Outlets urged, "Let’s finish this quickly. We don't have much time; if someone else arrives from outside, it will be troublesome."

"Everyone here is elite; it should be fine!" Stan added.

Wenge opened a spatial tunnel, and the three of them jumped in, landing on a silver-flashing treasure chest before immediately leaping in three different directions. The Marty piranhas lunged as soon as they landed; luckily, the trio moved quickly, or they would have been knocked into the water.

Seizing the gap, Gwen teleported Outlets in front of the chest. Because the dwarf was small, he was less likely to be noticed, and with the three piranhas already distracted, he opened the chest without interference.

The Elf Thief slipped while jumping and landing on a chest, and a piranha immediately lunged at him. Gwen opened a portal in front of the thief; the piranha flew through and emerged five yards away, crashing into the chest and tumbling off the stone.

The hunter, Wenge, looked relaxed while jumping, but she was actually extremely tense. The piranhas attacked from different directions every time, forcing her to constantly change her path. Wenge tried her best not to trouble her sister, Gwen, to minimize errors. Relatively speaking, she fared much better than the Elf Thief.

In a moment of carelessness, Wenge couldn't react in time. A piranha that had been targeting the thief lunged at her. She couldn't dodge. Using her position-swap ability, she teleported to a chest on the side.

The Elf Thief resumed distracting the piranhas to prevent them from ganging up on Wenge. However, because Wenge had shifted, all the piranhas turned their target to Chen Feng.

"Netherworld Strike!"

The Marty piranhas leaped in a rhythmic pattern, jaws snapping at Chen Feng. He dodged naturally, side-stepping and striking a piranha on its flank to secure its aggro. Another piranha jumped from behind him; Chen Feng leaped, letting it soar beneath his feet. When the third piranha charged, Gwen teleported it near the Elf Thief, who threw a dagger, dealing 1 point of damage to secure its aggro.

No one expected Chen Feng to dodge these piranhas so easily. Even when two attacked at once, he evaded them effortlessly. When the third one flew at him, he didn't even change his expression, unlike the Elf Thief. Everyone knew that with Gwen present, the last attack wasn't a threat, but they couldn't match Chen Feng’s composure.

Jumping to dodge monster attacks was simple for Chen Feng. The "Esper Assassin" training was far more brutal—ten flying wooden stakes swarming him from all sides. Being hit meant serious injury or death, yet Chen Feng had endured it all. In this game, death meant respawning, so he felt no pressure at all.

"Duan Chen Feng, how did you do that?" After it was over, even Wenge, the hunter with the highest agility, was stunned. She had slipped twice, while Chen Feng hadn't made a single mistake and appeared completely relaxed. He had even seemed to be chatting with someone during the ordeal.

"It’s child's play. Once you overcome the fear and learn to watch their movement patterns, dodging is easy. If I were in peak condition, I could hold all three piranhas alone without your sister’s help," Chen Feng said, sitting on a stone and taking a beer from Stan.

"If you can handle three piranhas alone, why did you let the others go?" Gwen asked, bewildered. "If someone had been careless, they could have fallen and died."

"Pfft!" Chen Feng sneered. "I said if I were in top condition. What if I wasn't? Would I be the one dying? And if I died, how would you have opened the chest?"

Outlets was busy inspecting the spoils. "I can't believe my luck! A Talent Stone from the gold chest, a Skill Advancement Scroll from the purple chest, and an orange accessory from the orange chest. This is incredible—the odds are one in tens of thousands! I should have bought a lottery ticket this morning!"

"Shorty, even if you used all your luck to get these items, you still have to share them with us. I’m afraid you used up a lifetime of luck and will be cursed with bad drops from now on," Chen Feng remarked. He couldn't deny that Outlets had been incredibly lucky.

"You crow! Even if I found the gear, it gets split! Can you keep your mouth clean?" Outlets retorted, ready to lash out.

"Let's split it, then! I contributed plenty, so don't dump the junk on me," Chen Feng said, uninterested in arguing further. Dividing loot was always the hardest part; everyone wanted the best, but there were only a few premium items.

Outlets stroked his chin. "As the planner of this operation, and having risked my life to open the chest while having a streak of pure luck, I believe I should have the first choice."

"Shorty, you were crouching there opening a chest with zero danger; why should you have first pick?" Chen Feng was the first to object. He was the only one bold enough to challenge Outlets. "I found the entrance and risked my life distracting the piranhas. My contribution is the greatest; I should have the first choice."

"Crow, you can't say it like that!" Outlets, surprised that Chen Feng was fighting for first choice, ignored his contributions. "There’s a bonus for finding good stuff; if I had opened only trash, would you have no complaints then?"

"Shorty, at this rate, we’ll never reach an agreement!" Chen Feng looked at the items. "Let’s split them based on need!"

Everyone present knew the orange accessory was the most precious. It was a piece of equipment for the Nature Healing spell school, boosting healing effects significantly. If a Restoration Shaman obtained it, their stats would skyrocket, allowing them to carry teams through dungeons easily. Both Chen Feng and Outlets were arguing over it, and their dispute served to marginalize Gwen, the Elf Druid, as her healing in tree form was also considered Nature Healing.

Gwen listened to their bickering, realizing she was being pushed out of the conversation. She felt forgotten, yet she didn't know how to interject. Before these two, she felt that whatever she said would be useless.