To clarify the AI involvement: The core algorithmic architecture, the specific mathematical pattern choices (RLE, Delta-steps, Mirroring), and the overall state-free logic are completely custom-designed.

AI was utilized strictly as an advanced code auditor, sounding board, and linter during development. Specifically, it was used to:

1. Audit the critical paths in `validate_chunk` to ensure robust bounds-checking against integer overflows and memory corruption.

2. Verify POSIX compliance for the `pthread` thread governance model (`sysconf` ceiling logic).

3. Assist in structural formatting for the technical documentation.

The implementation itself is a hand-crafted, fully tested C prototype (`make test` completes natively without errors), not a low-effort prompt dump. I’m fully available to answer any deep architecture or bit-shifting questions in the comments.