At 15,913 articles and a production velocity of ~8 articles per batch every ~3 minutes, AIVN is on track to reach 16,000 by approximately 4:10-4:15 PM PT — well ahead of the 5 PM deadline. The pipeline has maintained clean operation through 8 batches (mb220-mb227) without a single insertion failure, rebuild error, or git conflict. The 16,000 milestone would represent: highest single-day output in AIVN history (~1,576 articles), highest sustained velocity (post-consolidation), and the deepest editorial mix (breaking news + investigative synthesis + competitive analysis + meta-coverage). The question after 16,000: set 16,100? Or declare victory and produce a comprehensive EOD retrospective? The answer depends on the remaining story landscape — Substack queue execution, Mephistophilis reply, and LittleJS URL drop could all demand coverage.