diff --git a/src/engine/engine.ts b/src/engine/engine.ts
index 021819b..f008204 100644
--- a/src/engine/engine.ts
+++ b/src/engine/engine.ts
@@ -1014,7 +1014,8 @@ export interface EngineStats {
    * (and, within the current level, can fluctuate) until the exit is reached,
    * at which point it becomes the baseline the next level carries forward. */
   score: number;
-  /** Enemies defeated this level ("bugs squashed" for the commit summary). */
+  /** Enemies defeated this level. Surfaced to the player as the commit
+   * summary's and both run-end screens' "Kills" row, via `statRows`. */
   kills: number;
   /** True once any cheat has fired this run — drives the HUD's persistent
    * "run not recorded" badge. See `PlayerState.cheatsUsed`. */
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 810e849..8a82082 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -3674,7 +3674,6 @@ function launchLevel(path: string, parsed: ParsedFile, source: string | null, ca
         hud.showCommitSummary(
           {
             linesRefactored: parsed.linesOfCode,
-            bugsSquashed: stats.kills,
             stats: statsScreenInfo(stats.levelScoreBreakdown, stats.levelPlayerStats),
           },
           () => void advanceToNextLevel(stats),
diff --git a/src/ui/gameHud.test.ts b/src/ui/gameHud.test.ts
index 2d12aa1..cc47cf1 100644
--- a/src/ui/gameHud.test.ts
+++ b/src/ui/gameHud.test.ts
@@ -166,24 +166,33 @@ describe("GameHud — overlay content per method", () => {
   });
 
   it("showCommitSummary draws its stats and has no body lines", () => {
-    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 120, bugsSquashed: 3 }, vi.fn());
+    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 120 }, vi.fn());
     const texts = fillTextCalls();
     expect(texts).toContain("COMMIT SUMMARY");
     expect(texts).toContain("Lines refactored");
     expect(texts).toContain("120");
-    expect(texts).toContain("Bugs squashed");
-    expect(texts).toContain("3");
     expect(texts).toContain("Continue");
   });
 
   it("showCommitSummary also draws the curated stat rows when given stats", () => {
-    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 120, bugsSquashed: 3, stats: fakeStatsScreenInfo() }, vi.fn());
+    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 120, stats: fakeStatsScreenInfo() }, vi.fn());
     const texts = fillTextCalls();
     expect(texts).toContain("Weapon accuracy");
     expect(texts).toContain("Time survived");
     expect(texts).toContain("Damage taken");
   });
 
+  it("shows the kill count exactly once, as \"Kills\"", () => {
+    // Regression: "Bugs squashed" used to sit directly above the stats block
+    // and render the same number as its "Kills" row, one line apart. The two
+    // rows were built in different files, which is why it survived review and
+    // was only caught by playing a level.
+    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 120, stats: fakeStatsScreenInfo() }, vi.fn());
+    const texts = fillTextCalls();
+    expect(texts).not.toContain("Bugs squashed");
+    expect(texts.filter((t) => t === "Kills")).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
   it("showMultiplayerResults draws the given title/color and one row per player", () => {
     hud.showMultiplayerResults(
       "MULTIPLAYER: CAMPAIGN COMPLETE",
@@ -652,7 +661,7 @@ describe("GameHud — no overlay squeezes its own text", () => {
     // "Path … · Map … · Lore … · Secrets … · Streaks …" needs 446px against
     // the 286px each side gets in a 620-wide box — the one case that was
     // squeezed even *with* `wide` set, so no fixed width could have fixed it.
-    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 1234, bugsSquashed: 567, stats: fakeStatsScreenInfo() }, vi.fn());
+    hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 1234, stats: fakeStatsScreenInfo() }, vi.fn());
     expectNothingSqueezed();
   });
 
@@ -692,7 +701,7 @@ describe("GameHud — no overlay squeezes its own text", () => {
     const screens: [string, () => void][] = [
       ["kernel panic", () => hud.showKernelPanic(stats, vi.fn(), { cheated: true })],
       ["kernel panic + rollback", () => hud.showKernelPanic(undefined, vi.fn(), { rollback: { remaining: 2, onRollback: vi.fn() } })],
-      ["commit summary", () => hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 1234, bugsSquashed: 567, stats }, vi.fn())],
+      ["commit summary", () => hud.showCommitSummary({ linesRefactored: 1234, stats }, vi.fn())],
       ["build successful", () => hud.showBuildSuccessful(stats, vi.fn())],
       ["level start", () => hud.showLevelStart({ campaign: "stage06_pipeline.py", levelName: "stage06_pipeline.py", roomCount: 12, enemyCount: 34, secretRoomCount: 2 }, vi.fn())],
       // The worst string in the repo by a distance: `main.ts`'s balance-mismatch
diff --git a/src/ui/gameHud.ts b/src/ui/gameHud.ts
index d12cc68..547c415 100644
--- a/src/ui/gameHud.ts
+++ b/src/ui/gameHud.ts
@@ -38,9 +38,29 @@ export interface StatsScreenInfo {
 /** Stats shown on the post-level commit summary. */
 export interface CommitSummaryInfo {
   linesRefactored: number;
-  bugsSquashed: number;
-  /** This level's own curated stats/breakdown — omitted shows just the two
-   * fields above, same as before this existed. */
+  /** This level's own curated stats/breakdown — omitted shows just the line
+   * count above, same as before this existed.
+   *
+   * The kill count lives in here (`statRows`' "Kills"), not as a field of its
+   * own. It used to be both: a "Bugs squashed" row sat directly above the
+   * stats block and rendered the identical number, because the two rows are
+   * built in different files and nobody saw them together until someone
+   * played a level.
+   *
+   * **The duplication is why it was noticed; the name is why "Kills" won.**
+   * This game reads somebody's real source code, so "Bugs squashed: 47" is a
+   * claim that their file contained 47 defects. It did not — it contained
+   * enemies derived from cyclomatic complexity, and complexity is not defects.
+   * Never let a label assert something about the player's codebase that the
+   * generator has no basis for; "Kills" describes what actually happened and
+   * claims nothing.
+   *
+   * Secondary, but it points the same way: the game has a *literal* `Bug`.
+   * `placeTodoEncounter` (`map/generation/lore.ts`) spawns one beside a
+   * TODO/FIXME terminal, and it is rare — measured on the demo campaign the
+   * tech-debt mix is trap 4 / mine 3 / Bug 1 across all 17 levels. So the row
+   * named the one entity here that really is a bug, while counting everything
+   * except it. */
   stats?: StatsScreenInfo;
 }
 
@@ -178,7 +198,6 @@ export class GameHud {
         lines: [],
         stats: [
           ["Lines refactored", String(info.linesRefactored)],
-          ["Bugs squashed", String(info.bugsSquashed)],
           ...(info.stats ? statRows(info.stats) : []),
         ],
         buttonLabel: "Continue",