The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

When Zhou Xing opened his eyes, he was completely dazed.

It wasn't because the scene before me was particularly breathtaking—well, it was indeed quite breathtaking.

Above was a canopy embroidered with gold dragon patterns, and beneath her was a hard, carved sandalwood bed. The air was filled with a deep sandalwood scent, mixed with the aroma of some kind of old wood.

He stretched out his hands to try to sit up, but then froze.

Those were a pair of small, white, and tender hands, chubby and with a few little dimples on the knuckles.

Six years old.

He transmigrated, becoming a six-year-old child.

Memories flooded back like data from a smashed hard drive, fragmented and scattered.

The original owner's name was Zhou Xing, the ninth prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty. His birth mother was a palace maid in the cold palace who died from postpartum hemorrhage when she gave birth to him.

Without his mother's protection or the support of his maternal relatives, in this ruthless palace, the six-year-old Ninth Prince lived a life worse than a cat in the favored concubine's palace.

It took him three whole days to completely digest the original owner's memories.

At the same time, they also figured out what this world was all about. This place was called the Great Zhou, and the name of the country sounded familiar, but it had nothing to do with the Zhou Dynasty in history.

The civil and military officials of this world do not cultivate the Four Books and Five Classics or archery and horsemanship, but rather righteous spirit and martial arts essence.

Martial artists are divided into nine ranks, with the first rank being the lowest and the ninth rank being the highest. The powerful dukes and marquises in the imperial court are all ninth-rank masters.

To Zhou Xing, it was utterly absurd that a civil official of the sixth rank could suppress a military general of the same rank.

A group of scholars, reciting a few lines of classical texts, can defeat a military general who has practiced martial arts for decades?

However, these things are not his concern for the time being.

He is now just a six-year-old prince living in a secluded side hall, with only two maids serving him.

Zhou Xing sat cross-legged on the bed, propping his chin up with his hand, his small face full of a deepness that was far beyond his years.

In his previous life, he was a programmer at a major internet company. He worked three days and three nights straight to meet a project deadline, and finally collapsed at the keyboard.

He'd seen plenty of time-travel stories in online novels, so he wasn't worried.

He even had a faint sense of anticipation, because according to the rules of online novels, transmigrators must have a cheat code.

Sure enough, on the fourth day, a sound rang in my head and mind.

"Ding! China Sky Group System activated."

A golden light screen, visible only to him, unfolded before his eyes, with lines of text appearing one by one. Zhou Xing's round, almond-shaped eyes slowly lit up.

The Super Team System summons top-tier figures from various dynasties in Chinese history, assigning them star ratings based on their potential and strength, with one star being the lowest and nine stars the highest.

Elite teams consist of two to five people, while large teams consist of twenty or more people. Each type can be summoned once a year.

Zhou Xing almost didn't hesitate, silently reciting the summons in his mind.

The golden light shone brightly, then quickly subsided.

Five words appeared in the center of the light screen.

"Five-Star Elite Team".

He held his breath and looked down, then his pupils suddenly contracted.

"Group Name: Trainees of the Imperial Household Department"

Members: Zhao Gao, Wei Zhongxian, Gao Lishi, Zheng He.

Zhou Xing remained silent for a long time.

As a veteran online novel reader, he certainly knew what those four names meant.

Zhao Gao, the prime minister during the reign of Qin Er Shi, is the one who coined the phrase "calling a deer a horse." The Qin Empire only lasted two generations, and he alone contributed at least half of its KPIs.

Wei Zhongxian was the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial under Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty. He called himself "Nine Thousand Years Old," which was a thousand years less than the Emperor's name but nine thousand years more than everyone else in the world. He was the head of the eunuch faction and held immense power in the court. All the civil and military officials in the court vied to be his adopted son.

Gao Lishi was Emperor Xuanzong's most favored man, serving him for nearly half a century. When Li Bai drunkenly asked him to take off his boots, Gao Lishi remembered it. Later, Li Bai never became an official. Isn't that a coincidence?

Zheng He, the eunuch Sanbao during the Yongle reign, led seven voyages to the Western Ocean, traversing the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean with the world's largest fleet at the time. In terms of vision and perspective, he far surpassed the civil and military officials in the court who were only good at fighting amongst themselves.

These four people have too many things in common.

They were all eunuchs, ruthless figures who rose from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of power, and left a significant mark on their respective eras, though some of that mark was good and some was bad.

The system has now packaged them into a supergroup and given them to itself, giving them a five-star rating and even thoughtfully naming them "Trainees of the Imperial Household Department".

Trainee.

These four top-ranking eunuchs in Chinese history are now starting from scratch as beginners.

The system screen continued to flash, displaying explanations about the implanted identity one by one.

After Zhou Xing finished reading carefully, a smile slowly appeared on his tender little face.

A six-year-old child's smile should be innocent and carefree, but his smile doesn't look like the expression a six-year-old should have.

According to the system's arrangement, Zhao Gao, Wei Zhongxian, Gao Lishi, and Zheng He will be implanted as newly arrived palace eunuchs, none of whom will be at the rank of cultivation level.

However, they all carry memories of their past lives.

The system will even tell them each other's identities, letting them know who they are traveling with.

The system will not interfere with what they think or do after they know each other's background, but will only guarantee one thing: these four people will be absolutely loyal to the host, Zhou Xing.

Zhou Xing jumped off the bed and walked to the window with his short legs.

He was too short to reach the window, so he dragged a stool over, huffed and puffed as he climbed up, and pushed open the carved wooden window to look outside.

As dusk settled, the Qian Yuan Palace in the distance was brightly lit, and the faint sounds of string and wind instruments drifted over—his father, Emperor Wu of Zhou, was hosting a banquet for his officials.

The Ninth Prince's side hall was deserted and no one even lit a few palace lanterns.

Good.

The quieter the better.

He leaned on the windowsill for a while, his mind racing.

The four people were given the identity of newly arrived palace servants and eunuchs. They lived in the lowest-level dormitory of the Imperial Household Department and did the dirtiest and most tiring work.

According to the system's rules, they cannot contact him directly, and there can be no open interaction between them.

If a powerless six-year-old prince and a few newly arrived servants and eunuchs get too close, the eyes of the palace will not miss them.

Therefore, they are the hidden pieces.

Hidden in the deepest, most inconspicuous place, it takes root and sprouts in a corner where no one notices, and when needed, it is a deadly move that strikes with one blow.

He is only six years old now, and they have plenty of time to grow up.

Zhou Xing climbed down from the stool and returned to the bed, sitting cross-legged again.

He began to mentally review each of the four people.

Zhao Gao is the most alarming, yet also the most admirable.

His past life was nothing short of legendary. Starting from a minor position as the head of the Imperial Carriage Office, he worked his way up under the very nose of Qin Shi Huang for over a decade, eventually becoming one of the emperor's most trusted close advisors.

After Qin Shi Huang died, he joined forces with Li Si to tamper with the imperial edict, ordered the death of Fusu, and put the useless Huhai on the throne. Then he turned around and killed Li Si, seizing power for himself.

In terms of forbearance, cunning, and ruthlessness, he was a first-rate tyrant.

Calling a deer a horse isn't stupid; it's an extreme test of power. He wanted to see clearly who in the court obeyed and who didn't.

Zhou Xing was eager to see what kind of trouble such a person could cause in the Imperial Household Department, given the identity of a menial eunuch.

However, Zhao Gao also had his flaws. He was too selfish, his methods were too ruthless, and his vision was always limited to the small world of the imperial court.

The Qin Dynasty perished under his rule. While Hu Hai's incompetence and the general trend of the world contributed to this, as the actual ruler, he squandered the entire empire, ultimately demonstrating a narrow-minded approach.