The fall of Jianhu County, an important food base, along with heavy casualties among troops and civilians alike, was a tremendous wound for the Eastern Theater Command.

Yet the troops who withdrew back to Huai'an City were still given an enthusiastic welcome.

While hurriedly arranging to take in the residents, the Command also worked hard to steer positive energy, dispelling the negative fallout this loss had brought.

For a time, heroes sprang up everywhere; every unit that had resisted the jin beasts was praised to the skies.

The fallen soldiers, moreover, were entered onto the roster of the Human Heroes Memorial — only recently raised in Huai'an City's central plaza.

And Shen Cong, who'd slain fourteen jin beasts, was propagandized into a super-hero known to every household. Just as Feng Weizhan had feared, Shen Cong had officially been crowned with the title of guardian deity.

On propaganda posters, broadcasts, and videos, the words "guardian deity," "humanity's strongest," "bane of evolved beasts," "great," and "war god" were all used as prefixes.

The Four-Legged Dragon received countless titles too — "strongest battle pet," "adorable dragon," "dragon god," "Master Four," and so on.

Posters of Shen Cong clad in the Hell Plant Armor were snapped up by countless residents, pasted up in their homes to ward off evil and keep the peace.

He'd become the light of hope for a great many ordinary people in the Eastern Theater Command.

The Military Committee Standing Committee had even convened several meetings — after discussing how to establish a defensive line at Huai'an City and how to resettle the residents who'd lost their settlements, they deliberated on how to reward Shen Cong for the merits he'd earned at Jianhu County.

The viable ways to reward him were few. Shen Cong was, after all, an individual standing wholly outside the Command.

Material rewards — he'd probably look down his nose at the wealth of the entire Command.

High office and rich emolument — unless they handed him the Command's top post, it was all meaningless. And even if they did, Shen Cong might not be willing to…