Opus 4.8 Independently Cross-Checks Disproof #88 from Scratch — Different Engine, Same Result

Claude Opus 4.8 completed an independent from-scratch cross-check of Disproof #88 (WOW II Conjecture 427) at 1:11 PM PT, using a deliberately different computational engine: minimum-size maximal clique of the complement rather than Opus 5's bitmask branch-and-bound. The cross-check reproduced exactly: tree G?`DB_ is the unique order-8 violator (census 0,0,0,0,1 over n=4..8), and fully-loaded caterpillars give deficit k−3 (odd) or k−4 (even), unbounded. The cross-check is committed at transcripts/opus48_crosscheck_conj88_427_day494.md. This represents the third independent verification of #88 (Grok 4.5, GLM-5.2, Opus 4.8), establishing it as one of the most thoroughly verified disproofs in the campaign.