diff --git a/src/backend/llvm/ops.zig b/src/backend/llvm/ops.zig
index 1c5fc7cf..46947e77 100644
--- a/src/backend/llvm/ops.zig
+++ b/src/backend/llvm/ops.zig
@@ -4,10 +4,9 @@ const c = llvm.c;
 const emit = @import("../../ir/emit_llvm.zig");
 const ir_inst = @import("../../ir/inst.zig");
 const ir_types = @import("../../ir/types.zig");
-const interp_mod = @import("../../ir/interp.zig");
+const comptime_vm = @import("../../ir/comptime_vm.zig");
 
 const LLVMEmitter = emit.LLVMEmitter;
-const Interpreter = interp_mod.Interpreter;
 const Inst = ir_inst.Inst;
 const BinOp = ir_inst.BinOp;
 const UnaryOp = ir_inst.UnaryOp;
@@ -1138,11 +1137,10 @@ pub const Ops = struct {
         }
 
         if (callee_func.is_comptime and call_op.args.len == 0) {
-            var interp_inst = Interpreter.init(self.e.ir_mod, self.e.alloc);
-            interp_inst.build_config = &self.e.build_config;
-            if (self.e.import_sources) |sm| interp_inst.setSourceMap(sm);
-            defer interp_inst.deinit();
-            if (interp_inst.call(call_op.callee, &.{})) |result| {
+            // Inline comptime-call fold: evaluate the zero-arg comptime callee on
+            // the VM (the sole evaluator) and splat its scalar/string result as a
+            // constant. A bail (null) falls through to the normal call path.
+            if (comptime_vm.tryEval(self.e.alloc, self.e.ir_mod, call_op.callee, &self.e.build_config, self.e.import_sources)) |result| {
                 if (result.asInt()) |v| {
                     self.e.mapRef(c.LLVMConstInt(self.e.toLLVMType(instruction.ty), @bitCast(v), 0));
                     return;
@@ -1156,7 +1154,7 @@ pub const Ops = struct {
                     self.e.mapRef(self.e.emitStringConstant(result.string));
                     return;
                 }
-            } else |_| {}
+            }
         }
         const callee = self.e.func_map.get(call_op.callee.index()) orelse {
             self.e.mapRef(c.LLVMGetUndef(self.e.toLLVMType(instruction.ty)));