diff --git a/auditor/checks/inference.ts b/auditor/checks/inference.ts
index f3f0ec3..8103e9d 100644
--- a/auditor/checks/inference.ts
+++ b/auditor/checks/inference.ts
@@ -426,14 +426,22 @@ async function runModeRunnerInference(
       error: "unparseable", diagnostic: (e as Error).message, model,
     };
   }
-  const content: string = body?.response ?? "";
+  const content: string = typeof body?.response === "string" ? body.response : "";
   const parsed = extractJson(content);
+  // Number-coerced extractors so a non-numeric upstream value (string,
+  // null, NaN) collapses to 0 instead of poisoning downstream
+  // arithmetic. Caught 2026-04-27 by kimi_architect self-audit —
+  // optional-chaining + ?? only catches null/undefined, not type drift.
+  const num = (v: unknown): number => {
+    const n = typeof v === "number" ? v : Number(v);
+    return Number.isFinite(n) ? n : 0;
+  };
   return {
     parsed,
-    latency_ms: body?.latency_ms ?? 0,
-    enriched_chars: body?.enriched_prompt_chars ?? 0,
-    bug_fingerprints: body?.sources?.bug_fingerprints_count ?? 0,
-    matrix_kept: body?.sources?.matrix_chunks_kept ?? 0,
+    latency_ms: num(body?.latency_ms),
+    enriched_chars: num(body?.enriched_prompt_chars),
+    bug_fingerprints: num(body?.sources?.bug_fingerprints_count),
+    matrix_kept: num(body?.sources?.matrix_chunks_kept),
     error: parsed ? undefined : "unparseable",
     diagnostic: parsed ? undefined : content.slice(0, 200),
     model,
diff --git a/auditor/index.ts b/auditor/index.ts
index c56f301..05a5972 100644
--- a/auditor/index.ts
+++ b/auditor/index.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,16 @@ async function runCycle(state: State): Promise<State> {
       if (state.audit_count_per_pr[prKey] >= MAX_AUDITS_PER_PR) {
         console.log(`[auditor]     PR #${pr.number} reached cap (${MAX_AUDITS_PER_PR} audits) — daemon will skip further audits until reset`);
       }
+      // Persist state immediately after each successful audit so the
+      // increment survives a crash. Pre-2026-04-27 the cycle saved
+      // once at the end (main.ts:140), which lost the count if the
+      // daemon was killed mid-cycle. Fix lifted from kimi_architect's
+      // own audit on this very file. saveState is idempotent + cheap
+      // (one JSON write), so per-audit cost is negligible.
+      try { await saveState(state); }
+      catch (e) {
+        console.error(`[auditor]     saveState mid-cycle failed: ${(e as Error).message} — count held in memory`);
+      }
     } catch (e) {
       console.error(`[auditor]     audit failed: ${(e as Error).message}`);
     }