As Ming had predicted, the faceless Zeru did emerge when Jin was closer to the end of the challenge. That one week survival challenge had somewhat become a recurring nightmare as Jin faced the younger Zeru in his prime.
Even as he wondered about his connection to Suzaku, there was no denying that Zeru was not a foe he could contend with at the current moment. All the copying and imitation of skills from other faceless soldiers might have helped to mitigate the bulk of the problem but when push comes to shove, the faceless Zeru always prevail.
Thus, Jin had decided to take a timeout by forcing himself out of his subconscious and return back to the real world. He was slightly groggy from the forced re entry but nothing he could not handle. Yet, as time went by, he started to feel that his muscles were feeling sore and it was not particularly normal for him to experience such soreness.
