diff --git a/src/Cli/Commands/WatchdogCommand.php b/src/Cli/Commands/WatchdogCommand.php
index 3350c3a7..849baa86 100644
--- a/src/Cli/Commands/WatchdogCommand.php
+++ b/src/Cli/Commands/WatchdogCommand.php
@@ -100,9 +100,8 @@ class WatchdogCommand implements CommandInterface {
 			// ── Nginx stats ──────────────────────────────────────
 			// Each pass is a fresh process (restartDaemon re-execs), so the
 			// previous request count is kept in a state file, not a variable.
-			$rNginx = explode("\n", (string) @file_get_contents('http://127.0.0.1:' . $rServers[SERVER_ID]['http_broadcast_port'] . '/nginx_status'));
-			$rRequests = explode(' ', trim($rNginx[2] ?? ''))[2] ?? null;
-			$rRequestsPerSecond = is_numeric($rRequests) ? (new CounterRateSampler(TMP_PATH . 'watchdog_nginx_requests.json'))->sample((float) $rRequests, time()) : 0;
+			$rRequests = SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount((string) @file_get_contents('http://127.0.0.1:' . $rServers[SERVER_ID]['http_broadcast_port'] . '/nginx_status'));
+			$rRequestsPerSecond = ($rRequests === null ? 0 : (new CounterRateSampler(TMP_PATH . 'watchdog_nginx_requests.json'))->sample($rRequests, time()));
 
 			// ── CPU stats ────────────────────────────────────────
 			$rStats = SystemInfo::getStats();
diff --git a/src/Core/Util/SystemInfo.php b/src/Core/Util/SystemInfo.php
index 9e08a3c3..091d316c 100644
--- a/src/Core/Util/SystemInfo.php
+++ b/src/Core/Util/SystemInfo.php
@@ -251,6 +251,20 @@ class SystemInfo {
 		return $rReturn;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Total request count from an nginx stub_status body.
+	 *
+	 * The third line holds the accepts, handled and requests counters
+	 * (" 10 10 57 "); the request count is the third of them.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $rStatus stub_status response body ('' when unreachable)
+	 * @return float|null The request count; null when the body has none
+	 */
+	public static function nginxRequestCount(string $rStatus) {
+		$rRequests = explode(' ', trim(explode("\n", $rStatus)[2] ?? ''))[2] ?? null;
+		return is_numeric($rRequests) ? (float) $rRequests : null;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * List V4L2 video capture devices.
 	 *
diff --git a/tests/Unit/CounterRateSamplerTest.php b/tests/Unit/CounterRateSamplerTest.php
index 3b1d8509..cfe1cc73 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/CounterRateSamplerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/CounterRateSamplerTest.php
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ final class CounterRateSamplerTest extends TestCase {
 		$rSampler = new CounterRateSampler($this->rFile);
 		$rSampler->sample(1000, 100);
 		$this->assertSame(0, $rSampler->sample(2210, 221));
+		$this->assertSame(10, $rSampler->sample(3410, 341), '120 s is in range by default');
 	}
 
 	public function testACorruptStateFileIsZeroAndOverwritten(): void {
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ final class CounterRateSamplerTest extends TestCase {
 		$this->assertFileExists($rPath);
 		$rSource = (string) file_get_contents($rPath);
 
+		$this->assertStringContainsString('SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount(', $rSource);
 		$this->assertStringContainsString('new CounterRateSampler(TMP_PATH . ', $rSource);
 		$this->assertStringNotContainsString('$rLastRequests', $rSource, 'a per-process previous reading is always null');
 	}
diff --git a/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNetworkTest.php b/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNetworkTest.php
index ecc85f93..5d32a1f4 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNetworkTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNetworkTest.php
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ final class SystemInfoNetworkTest extends TestCase {
 	public function testGetStatsTakesItsBandwidthFromAggregateNetwork(): void {
 		$rSource = (string) file_get_contents(MAIN_HOME . 'Core/Util/SystemInfo.php');
 
-		$this->assertStringContainsString('self::aggregateNetwork($rJSON[\'network_info\'])', $rSource);
+		// array_replace, not `+`: the keys already exist (as 0) and must be overwritten in place.
+		$this->assertStringContainsString("\$rJSON = array_replace(\$rJSON, self::aggregateNetwork(\$rJSON['network_info']));", $rSource);
 		$this->assertStringNotContainsString("\$rJSON['bytes_sent_total'] = (", $rSource, 'the total must not be assigned per interface');
 	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNginxStatusTest.php b/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNginxStatusTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bb680c93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/SystemInfoNginxStatusTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<?php
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use XcVm\Core\Util\SystemInfo;
+
+/**
+ * SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount — the counter the watchdog samples for
+ * servers.requests_per_second. stub_status reports accepts, handled and
+ * requests on its third line; reading the wrong field would feed a connection
+ * count into the request rate.
+ */
+final class SystemInfoNginxStatusTest extends TestCase {
+
+	public function testTheRequestCountIsTheThirdCounter(): void {
+		$rStatus = "Active connections: 3 \nserver accepts handled requests\n 10 10 57 \nReading: 0 Writing: 1 Waiting: 2 \n";
+
+		$this->assertSame(57.0, SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount($rStatus));
+	}
+
+	public function testAnUnreachableOrMalformedStatusHasNoCount(): void {
+		// The watchdog passes '' when the status page cannot be fetched.
+		$this->assertNull(SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount(''));
+		$this->assertNull(SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount("Active connections: 3 \nserver accepts handled requests\n"));
+		$this->assertNull(SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount("Active connections: 3 \nserver accepts handled requests\n 10 10 \n"));
+		$this->assertNull(SystemInfo::nginxRequestCount("<html>\n<head><title>404 Not Found</title></head>\n<body>x y z</body>\n"));
+	}
+}