**Diagnosis** — `GATE DEFECT:` (unchanged, second escalation for the same root cause). The round-3 triage identified the exact defect and the required one-line harness-side patch, but `/tmp/fusion-harness-K48sbW/gate.py:61` still reads `return re.sub(r"[`*_]", "", s)` — the patch was never applied. That regex deletes every underscore from the searched text, while all 7 required strategy names in the gate's hardcoded `STRATEGIES` list contain underscores, so `name in clean_md(text)` is **unsatisfiable for every possible RESULTS.md** — no builder edit of any project file can ever pass checks 7–10. The loop is not stuck on the builder: I re-verified the real state and `/private/tmp/ddc0f4d0/fusion-harness/RESULTS.md` is correct and freshly measured (round 4: `set_based_ctes` 0.1667s speed winner = table minimum, `executemany_gen` 25.608 MB memory winner, 1733x ≥ 5x, all 7 exact snake_case names present — the winner even changed between rounds 3 and 4, proving values are measured, not hardcoded). The gate's own FAIL lines echo `setbasedctes`/`executemanygen` — names mangled by the gate itself, not by the builder. The builder's round-4 report is accurate; it correctly made no changes.

**Do exactly this**
1. **HUMAN/HARNESS OPERATOR — this is the only action that can produce GREEN:** edit `/tmp/fusion-harness-K48sbW/gate.py` line 61 from `return re.sub(r"[`*_]", "", s)` to `return re.sub(r"[`*]", "", s)`. One character class change; nothing else in the gate needs touching. Apply it **before** round 5 — it is the final round under the cap, and running it unpatched guarantees a false RED.
2. **BUILDER:** make no changes. `/private/tmp/ddc0f4d0/fusion-harness/bench.py` and `RESULTS.md` already satisfy every substantive requirement; the gate re-runs `uv run bench.py` itself and regenerates RESULTS.md, so all mtime/consistency checks will pass.
3. Re-run the gate once patched; expect GREEN (15/15 style output, exit 0).

**Do NOT**
- Do NOT spend round 5 re-running the unpatched gate — the failure is deterministic and proven unsatisfiable; that would exhaust the cap on a known-defective check.
- Builder: do NOT attempt workarounds (renaming strategies without underscores, zero-width characters, duplicate underscore-free rows) — the gate's needle list itself contains underscores, so no RESULTS.md content can match, and any such edit is gate-gaming that corrupts an otherwise-correct deliverable.
- Builder: do NOT edit `/tmp/fusion-harness-K48sbW/gate.py` yourself — the fix is flagged for the human, per the escalation contract.