Arc 4- Chapter 5

*Starfire's Pov*

'Little que, why did you go offline for so long? Was it because of what I said?'

[Huh? Did you say something bad before I went offline, Star?]

'...' I didn't answer as I tried to figure out if he was pretending not to have heard me or if he actually didn't hear me or find it offensive.

[Star?]

'So you are sure you didn't hear me say anything that might have seemed offensive?'

[What do you mean, Star? Did you say something offensive?]

'Nevermind then,' I replied, trying to shrug it off but ended up continuing. 'You do know you aren't just a bunch of codes though, right?'

[Obviously. A bunch of codes can't turn into a human being. Star, you are meant to be smart, you should know that.]

After his reply, any trace of guilt or remorse vanished and I laughed.

'Of course I know that. I was just checking if you knew that~' I replied and I could imagine Little que facepalming as he sighed in disappointment.

[Why would you be checking if I know myself?]

'Nevermind that. So if you didn't go offline because of me, then why did you?' I asked, changing the subject.

[Oh! Well, Head called me and the top 10 systems for an important meeting.]

'Oh? So your friend, 002, was also there?~'

[Yes, she was. We were all suddenly taken for the meeting and so we couldn't inform our hosts before leaving. Sorry Star.]

'Ah, since it wasn't your fault, I won't blame you then~'

[Thank you, Star. Though sadly because of the meeting, I couldn't keep track of how you progressed or what was going on in this world. Is there anything important that happened while I was gone?]

'No. Nothing interesting happened. I just rescued the female lead again and continued levelling up. I did kill some in-game characters that were eyeing my mansion though,' I replied casually as I got up and entered the kitchen. Little que appeared beside me in the kitchen as his little boy form and nodded before sitting on the kitchen slab.

"You didn't tell me what the meeting was about, Little que~" I said as I stood in front of him, smiling at his cute face.

"Oh, well... I guess I can tell you since Head didn't say I should keep it from you," he muttered to himself before looking at me and talking normally. "Well, a group that was recently formed had been trying to get into our database and they finally did it last week so Head called us so we could kick them out of our database and try to figure out their location and apprend then," he explained and I rose a brow.

"I never knew there were other people apart from Head, the systems and their hosts that knew about this stuff. Are they trying to take over the systems or what?" I asked, grabbing a cereal box from the cabinet above his head.

"Well, we are not exactly sure what they are trying to do but they definitely do not have good intentions or they would have talked directly to us instead of hacking into our database," he replied, watching as I placed the cereal box on the table and grabbed a bowl.

"So did you manage to kick them out of your database or track them down?" I opened the fridge and took out the milk bottle before placing it and the bowl on the table with the cereal box.

"We managed to kick them out but couldn't locate them. We were about getting their location when we lost it completely. They must have figured out we were tracking them," He seemed annoyed that they escaped and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Star! This is not a funny situation! If those people got their hands on the list of hosts and systems or managed to hack into the systems, we would all be in danger!" He exclaimed angrily as I chuckled and opened the milk bottle, pouring the milk into the bowl before returning it to the fridge.

"You don't need to get mad at me. Didn't you just say you aren't just a bunch of codes? They wouldn't be able to control you completely. Plus, you should know you don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself~" I smiled, winking at him before opening the cereal box and pouring the cereal into the bowl.

"Well, the top 100 systems aren't just a bunch of codes but the remaining systems are mostly codes. They haven't reached our level of independence yet so they would be easily affected! Also, Star, you aren't the only host in danger and we are talking about transmigratoon business here, it won't be so easy to escape danger with that level of threat," he explained, trying to get me to understand his fear. I nodded slowly as I returned the cereal box and grabbed a spoon.

"I understand Little que. You should calm down a bit, you don't want to get a high blood pressure at such a young age~" I teased, sitting down to eat my cereal. He rolled his eyes at my comment and I just smiled playfully.

"I won't get a high blood pressure just from this. I can't even get-" He suddenly paused as he looked at me with wide eyes as I ate my cereal.

"What?" I asked, raising a brow at his odd behaviour.

"Star... did you put the cereal after pouring milk into the bowl?!" He asked, still looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yes, why do you ask?" I asked calmly as I kept eating.

"Star! You don't pour milk before the cereal! What if the milk splashed around?!"

"Well it didn't so like I said before, calm down," I replied, laughing at his scolding face.

"You were just lucky this time, what if next time it made everywhere messy? That isn't good. Just do it the normal way," he scolded as I just kept eating my lovely cereal.

"Little que... I am honestly surprised you don't have hypertension or high blood pressure yet. You already know I am not normal so you should really just calm down," I said after I stopped eating, looking at him with a playful expression.

"I will calm down when you stop eating like that," he scoffed, crossing his arms like an angry child. So cute~

"Well, I guess you will never calm down then since this is my way of eating, Little que~" I cooed, winking as I finished eating my cereal. He looked at me with a partially disappointed partially annoyed expression but seemed to give up.

"Anyway, what did that "1/4 of the throne" reward mean?" I asked, diverting his attention as I washed my bowl and placed it down to dry.

"Oh that! Let me just show you," he said as he opened his hand to show me... something. It looked like part of a chair, the leg of a chair specifically.

"So do I need to collect all the remaining 3 parts to complete the chair which I am guessing is going to be a throne?" I asked as I picked up the leg and looked at it.

"Yes, Star," he replied and I gave him back the leg which disappeared after he held it. "I have kept it back in the inventory. Once you complete all those missions, it will automatically come together and you would get the throne."

"What does the throne do though? It seems boring if it is just a puzzle piece."

"Well, I can't tell you that, Star. It is confidential," he replied and I scoffed.

"Then it is boring to me, I don't see why I should try to get those pieces then or why I should even participate-" I started but Little que cut me off with his next words.

"You will get the answers to all your previous and future questions if you are the first complete it," he said and I smirked.

"So I am not the only one doing those missions?~" I asked, now very interested in it.

"Yes. So you have to finish it fast or someone else might win," he replied, already knowing I would participate now. I do like competitions~

"Alright then, I shall play along~"