Through Worlds With A Glitched System

　　[Hello, the Doomsday Survival System LOVE has successfully merged. Warning, a large number of zombies will soon descend upon City A. Host, please evacuate immediately! Head to the safe center in City C!]

　　Sitting dazed on the bed, Mollian knocked on her forehead after hearing the cold, mechanical voice that suddenly appeared in her mind, feeling utterly bewildered at the moment.

　　It had been three years since she transmigrated into this world, and her golden finger had finally activated, but—

　　“System, open your eyes wide… though I don’t know if you even have eyes, but take a good look at this world. Does it look like there are zombies here？!”

　　Wait, come to think of it, this world has quite a messy variety of races. Could it be that zombies really exist？

　　Mollian briefly fell into deep thought, but soon, the system’s chaotic mechanical voice shattered her musings.

　　[Warning! A large number of zombies will descend—code error, incorrect host binding detected, applying for unbinding… unbinding failed! System has already merged!]

　　Her mind filled with the chaotic mechanical clamor of the system, Mollian slowly yawned and went to the bathroom to freshen up.

　　Splashing cold water on her face, Mollian gazed calmly at the reflection in the mirror, lost in thought.

　　The girl in the mirror had black hair and dark eyes, the same face she had on Earth, but the pair of perky fox ears on her head made it clear that she had changed races.

　　Today… marked exactly three years since she had crossed over to this world.

　　She still couldn't quite understand it—she had just gotten off work, returned from her internship company to her rented room, and gone to sleep. Why, after waking up, had the place she lay changed from a soft bed to a lush, grassy hillside？

　　At the beginning of her transmigration, she eagerly anticipated the arrival of her own golden-finger system. Based on her extensive reading experience, protagonists always received a newbie starter pack upon crossing over!

　　However, after surviving for a month in that forest, her golden finger still hadn't arrived!

　　So, starving and utterly desperate, Mollian had no choice but to blindly follow a mercenary group into a nearby town. Relying on her decent looks, she found work as a waitress at a restaurant and, half a year later, transitioned to become a kitchen assistant…

　　"Life, huh." Mollian shook her head and sighed, the memories of her arguably tragic demise striking her once more on the very day the system came online.

　　Fortunately, after being tempered by three years of working life, Mollian had long since forged a heart that remained unshaken even if Mount Tai were to collapse before her. So, after just a brief sigh, she changed into her work uniform and prepared to head to the restaurant where she worked.

　　In the meantime, she tried talking to the system in her mind again.

　　“Hello, are you okay, system？”

　　【Hello, host. LOVE is currently contacting the terminal system to explain the situation. There is no need for the host to worry about LOVE's functional health.】 The system's calm, unfluctuating voice sounded again.

　　Mollian let out an indifferent "Hmm," and said, "So, can you unbind from me？ Having something like you in my head… well, it feels pretty weird, to say the least."

　　She couldn't shake the feeling that her peaceful life would be affected by this.

　　【Apologies, host. System LOVE has received a reply from the terminal system. As this system has achieved 100% fusion with the host, LOVE cannot unbind from the host without completing the ultimate task.】 The system answered in a very rigid, by-the-book manner.

　　"Huh？" Mollian couldn't understand. "But you bound to the wrong person, didn't you？ And completing a task… So, what is the task？"

　　She was a little curious.

　　System: 【Save the world.】

　　Mollian：“......”

　　Speechless for a moment, yet still clinging to a faint glimmer of hope, Mollian asked again, "So, if I complete the mission, will I get any rewards？ Like, sending me back to my original body or something？"

　　System: 【Sorry, host. The LOVE system does not currently offer time-travel services.】

　　Mollian: "…Then there's no way I can save the world. If it really comes down to it, just unbind when I pass away."

　　Save the world… In this world, being able to die peacefully of old age would already be a stroke of luck from the heavens.

　　To encourage the host to complete the mission, the system opened its mall, displaying various items inside.

　　【You can exchange and use any of the props inside~】Breaking from its previously flat tone, the system's voice now ended with a stiff, forced upward inflection, 【With the support of these props, basically every host has been able to successfully complete the mission~】

　　Mollian squinted her eyes, carefully examining the transparent panel that had appeared out of thin air before her. The products displayed on it ranged from food and household items to cold weapons and firearms, and even included this world's magic potions, alchemical materials, magitech devices, and so much more—the sheer variety was astonishing.

　　But…

　　"So why can these things only be exchanged with crystal cores？" Mollian made a reasonable guess based on the apocalyptic novels she had read, "These crystal cores couldn't be the kind of things found in zombies' brains, could they？ Where am I supposed to find them for you？"

　　【Don't worry, Host. The system mall has a slight delay; the exchange currency will soon switch to the universal currency of this dimension.】

　　Mollian breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."

　　But soon she realized something was off—she wasn't actually planning to save the world, so how often would she really use the system mall？ At this thought, she sighed again and gave the system a heads-up.

　　“But I really can't save the world. It's been three years since I arrived in this world, and aside from flipping woks, I haven't done anything else. I'm not even skilled in magic or anything like that, so I truly can't accomplish your ultimate task.”

　　The system fell silent for a moment, revealing a hint of melancholy for the first time: 【It's alright, Host. The erroneous binding occurred due to the excessive aging of the LOVE system's internal mechanisms. It doesn't matter if the host can't complete the task; it won't affect you in any way. It's just that LOVE will have all its performance points deducted and won't be able to upgrade.】

　　Mollian felt reassured: "That's good, as long as it doesn't affect me."

　　After saying that, she changed her shoes, ignored the system playing the erhu in her mind, stretched lazily, and set off for the restaurant where she worked.

　　Passing through the old, cramped stairwell, Mollian easily pushed open the heavy wooden door. With a creak—"squeak"—faint light seeped in, and dust stirred up in the hallway tumbled and drifted in the slender threads of morning sunlight.

　　The morning in Thorn Chestnut Town was as bustling and noisy as ever. Today was a bright, sunny day; normally at this hour, the sun would just be peeking over the eastern hills, but today, the scorching sun was already high in the sky.

　　Mollian paused at a rather unfamiliar breakfast stall. She had basically tried all the breakfast options around here. Compared to returning to the reliable old stalls she had visited many times, she actually preferred to try something new.

　　Although most of her such attempts would end up stepping on a landmine.

　　The owner of this little stall was a rabbit beastman. Mollian couldn’t quite tell the specific breed, but the long ears on her head looked truly beautiful, with smooth white fur that shimmered with a faint golden glow under the sunlight.

　　The stall sold only one type of food: steel-toothed rabbit meat pies.

　　Listening to the stall owner enthusiastically describe how fresh the rabbit meat she personally raised was, Mollian glanced hesitantly at the cheerful, twitching rabbit ears atop the owner's head. In the end, she still ordered five pies.

　　Having lived in this world for three years, she had actually grown accustomed to beastfolk selling magical beasts of similar species. Still, sometimes she felt an indescribable, peculiar unease.

　　It was a complicated feeling, akin to watching cartoons in the past and seeing Donald Duck actually eating duck meat.

　　Thistlethorn Town belonged to the Norlani Empire on the continent of Cacabia. It was a relatively poor border town, with its main residents consisting of a majority of beastfolk, a smaller portion of giants and goblins, and the smallest portion being other races that occasionally blended in.

　　Every day on her way to work, Mollian's eyes were never quite satisfied. She would unconsciously glance at the ears or tails of passersby, guessing their races to reinforce the knowledge she had gleaned from encyclopedias during her leisure time.

　　She blew on the steaming hot pie wrapped in oiled paper and took a big bite. The outer crust was a pan-fried wheat pastry, crisp and fragrant, while the inside was tender rabbit meat that had been roasted, still rich and juicy with delicious broth. The bursting juices were scalding hot yet incredibly savory.

　　Having devoured all five pies in one go, Mollian arrived at the restaurant entrance, licking her lips contentedly. She decided she'd buy breakfast from this stall for the next three days.

　　Today, the restaurant's cleaning duty was handled by a red-tailed squirrel beastfolk. Clearly new to the job, her clumsy, huffing-and-puffing mopping movements looked awkward. Her large tail dragged behind her—while the mop swept the floor ahead, her tail swept it from behind. Every now and then, she’d even trip over her own tail.

　　Mollian let out a brief chuckle but quickly regained her usual calm expression. After greeting the clumsy little squirrel, she slipped into the kitchen, tied on her apron, and began her day's work.

　　The restaurant where she works isn't particularly large by the town's standards, but since there are only a few dining establishments in the small town, the competition isn't very intense. As a result, business is generally quite good every day. However, today was exceptionally busy. Waitstaff calling out orders came and went constantly, and the kitchen soon became a bustling scene of intense activity.

　　The temperature in the air kept rising, mingling with the pungent aromas of seasonings and meat, creating a somewhat stifling atmosphere.

　　"It seems someone spotted a unicorn over in the Dark Camphor Forest, so many mercenary groups have come to hunt it," the head chef at the neighboring workstation speculated, skillfully tossing his wok, as he guessed the reason for the restaurant's booming business.

　　"Wow, how many years has it been since one of those things appeared near our town？" a young waiter who came to pick up the dishes exclaimed in awe. "I've lived this long and have never seen a unicorn!"

　　A unicorn？ Mollian recalled that the encyclopedia she was browsing yesterday happened to cover this type of magical beast—wild yet kind-hearted, typically residing in forests far from human settlements. A single unicorn's horn could fetch at least 1,500 gold coins.

　　If given the chance, she would very much like to catch a glimpse of one. However, mercenaries usually seal their prey into storage scrolls and rarely take them out to show off.

　　Mollian regretfully slumped her shoulders, sprinkling the last pinch of bellflower powder into the nearly completed dish in the pan. After a few more stir-fries, she plated it, shook the small bell nearby, and took a sip of herbal tea to rest while waiting for the dish to be picked up.

　　In the afternoon, the restaurant's guests gradually left. Past the peak dining hours, few people came in to eat, and the once-packed front hall now had only a scattering of patrons.

　　Mollian carried her meal tray to a corner table and began her lunch for the day. Other chefs either went home to eat or dined elsewhere, but Mollian always ate at the restaurant because it was free.

　　Her body had a large appetite, often prompting the boss to tease that it was surprising for a fox tribe member, typically known for small appetites, to have such an outlier like her. Mollian always felt the boss was subtly hinting that she consumed too much of the restaurant's ingredients, but there was no helping it. She had already been trying to eat less intentionally, but eating too little left her easily hungry, unable to last until the end of her shift.

　　After paying rent, her remaining salary was meager, barely enough to afford a full meal at an outside restaurant. She could ha