An abstract trainer who taught Charmander the Incinerate move

Chapter 61: A Trainer's Life Starting from Zero

Looking at his bitter and resentful old face in the mirror, Gong Ping's eyes gradually became confused.

laugh……

Huh, laugh? How am I supposed to laugh?

confidence……

Wait, what is self-confidence now?

Gongping suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, feeling terrified. The words "smile" and "confidence" seemed unfamiliar to him.

Looking back on his life over the past ten years, Gongping realized that he seemed to have hardly ever laughed since he was a child.

He lived a miserable life every day, sometimes hungry and sometimes full, so how could he possibly smile?

As for self-confidence, those are two words that are completely absent from his dictionary.

Gongping looked at the pathetic, good-for-nothing guy in the mirror and realized he couldn't trust him at all!

"Gan!"

Gongping never expected that his path as a trainer would be so bumpy, that even taking the first step would be so difficult.

A scoundrel like him can't even manage a confident smile!
Is this all there is to my life?!
Gongping felt increasingly saddened by his life and actually burst into tears in front of the mirror...

Snapped!
Suddenly, Gongping slapped himself hard and roared at the good-for-nothing in the mirror who was crying.

"Enough! You good-for-nothing, just how low will you go! Pull yourself together right now! How can you live up to Mr. Mo Zhen's expectations of you? Mr. Mo Zhen... wait?"

In that instant, Gongping seemed to have discovered some kind of trick.

By the way, all I need to do is imitate Mr. Mo Zhen!

Gong Ping closed his eyes, forcing himself to recall every fragment of light and shadow related to Mo Zhen in his memory.

The first thing that comes to mind is the moment he broke down the door to save himself.

The man stood against the light, sunlight streaming in from behind him, gilding the edges of his red suit.

His smile was so bright it was as if he had crushed the sunlight and held it in his mouth, and the curve of his lips was so precise it looked as if it had been measured with a compass.

Gong Ping remembers that he was huddled in the corner at the time, and through his tears he could clearly see the sunlight dancing in that smile, which was more scorching than Xiao Huolong's fiery claws.

Next is the silhouette of the opponent leaning against the door frame after the battle.

The way his lips moved when he spoke was exaggerated like a theatrical performance, yet miraculously it didn't feel fake; it was as if every smile was an arrogant declaration of "I am the protagonist."

But sometimes, his smile carries a honey-like gentleness, making Gongping, a mouse who has never been taken seriously, dare to have the illusion that "maybe I really can do it."

Now he stares at the mirror, forcing his facial muscles to mimic the curve he remembers.

When Gong Ping's lips twitched upwards, his eyes drooped, giving him a miserable look.

"Damn it... what's going on? Why is Mr. Mo Zhen laughing like that?!"

Gong Ping cursed under his breath, his nails digging into his palms.

He suddenly remembered the smile that Mo Zhen had given him when she pressed his shoulder down, like the sun shining on a dark ditch.

Gong Ping remembers staring at that smile and feeling a tightness in his throat.

It turns out that some people can laugh so naturally, as if the whole world should make way for their smile.

And he was fortunate enough to have his corner swept by this light.

He closed his eyes and reconstructed every detail of that smile in the darkness: the angle of the slightly raised eyebrows, the curve of the bulging cheekbones, and even the gap between the teeth.

When Gongping opened his eyes, the corners of his lips finally trembled and lifted up. Although his smile looked worse than a grimace, at a certain moment, the eyes of the person in the mirror suddenly lit up.

It was a strange, stinging heat, like a sewer rat seeing the sunlight for the first time.

Gong Ping stared at the mirror and suddenly realized that he wasn't imitating Mo Zhen's smile curve, but rather the thing hidden in that smile.

A kind of arrogance that has "I can do it" etched into its bones, a kind of crazy drive that insists on being the sun even when it's in the gutter.

"Hahaha!"

He suddenly burst out laughing, though his voice was tinged with tears, but for the first time he didn't find the face in the mirror so repulsive.

Gongping touched his stiff cheeks, and he finally understood that the first step in the special training was not to move his facial muscles to make himself smile, but to carve a crack in his heart and let in a stolen ray of sunshine.

Even a tiny ray is enough to illuminate the loser reflected in the broken mirror.

Ah Shui was trembling under the bed, looking at Gong Ping with worried eyes.

But what it didn't know was that what Gongping saw reflected in his eyes was no longer the rats in the gutter of the past, but a man in a red suit who would forever smile like the sun in his memory.

The mirror still held the warm breath he had exhaled while practicing his smile. At that moment, he was blinking repeatedly at the mirror, trying to straighten his unfocused gaze into a steel needle.

Having achieved that confident smile, Gongping immediately moved on to the second step.

As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning. With the experience of taking the first step, Gongping immediately started the Mo Zhen impersonation show, racking his brains to recall the man's resolute eyes.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself back to that afternoon when the quick-gun team broke down the door.

Mo Zhen leaned against the door frame, with the curtains torn by the leopard behind him. Sunlight shone on his hair, but his eyes were shockingly cold.

[Everyone, could you please give me some face and not make things difficult for this child? He might be the future hope of the Unown...]

When he said this, the man's gaze was so firm, without the slightest tremor, like a seagull guarding a lighthouse, whose beak always points due north even when a storm overturns the entire sea.

Gong Ping suddenly opened his eyes, but the eyes of the person in the mirror were as soft as dough.

"Damn it, get your resolve in, Mr. Mo Zhen's eyes..."

Gongping strained to open his eyes wide, the muscles around his eyes throbbing painfully.

He imagined himself as Mo Zhen, facing the gun muzzle of the quick-fire squad, and imagined Ah Shui being carried away by the cool leopard, the heart-wrenching pain turning into frost in his eyes.

Just as Gong Ping found his edge, the person in the mirror suddenly sneezed, and his gaze scattered like cotton wool.

"Damn it! You useless piece of trash!"

He grabbed a pillow and threw it against the wall, but in the dust kicked up by the fabric, he saw Mo Zhen leaning down and speaking to him.

I, Mo Zhen, say that you, Gong Ping, will become a Pokémon Trainer who serves the people!

Gongping remembers instinctively shrinking back, but was rooted to the spot by that resolute gaze.

It was a certainty harder than steel, as if Mo Zhen already saw Gong Ping's reflection on the champion's podium.

The current poverty and hardship are merely a necessary fog, which will eventually dissipate under this resolute gaze.

That man was always like that; he never cared about what others thought. Once he made up his mind about something, he would stick to it without wavering.

That look in his eyes was like...

Like the moon in the night sky.

Gong Ping grabbed the water otter from under the bed and forced himself to stare into the other's eyes like Mo Zhen did.

But as soon as he met Ah Shui's big, watery eyes, his shoulders started to tremble.

For the past sixteen years, he has been used to looking down at the cracks in the ground, the leftover food in the trash can, and the worn-out soles of his shoes. When has he ever stared at anything with such unwavering determination?
"I want to become a trainer."

Gongping spoke softly to Ashui, his voice trembling yet stubborn.

In the otter's eyes, he saw fine lines appear at the corners of his eyes as he strained, and finally, at a certain moment, a resolute glimmer flashed deep within his pupils.

At that moment, those eyes that always looked down in self-doubt seemed to be illuminated by the moonlight.

Gongping touched the corner of his wet eyes and suddenly realized that a resolute gaze is not about staring wide-eyed.

Instead, it makes every gaze heavy, like Mr. Mo Zhen's, engraving the idea that "what I believe in, even fate must give way" into his eyes.

After walking just two short steps, Gongping seemed to have shed all her former glory, undergoing a complete transformation.

Although no training with Pokémon has begun, Gongping understands that things are truly different now.

He was becoming a Pokémon Trainer, and no matter how absurd or ridiculous it might seem, Gongping was convinced of it.

Now, he no longer had any doubts about Mo Zhen's training secrets; all he had to do was to steadfastly carry out the third step.

"To make the elves think what I think, to feel what I feel, hmm, well..."

After a moment's hesitation, Gong Ping, with a resolute look in his eyes, slowly took out his phone and opened a live stream...

(End of this chapter)