Jasper never expected the face under the mask to be Evangeline's. He had treated Jade as his idol and was shocked to discover she was the sister he hated and despised.
"No It's absolutely impossible! I must have mistaken it because of the severe injury. Queen Jade can't be Evangeline! No way!" he exclaimed, seemingly overwhelmed and distraught. Trapped in the car, unable to move, he could only wail.
Evangeline smiled, amused by Jasper's collapse. She poked his deformed leg. 'Good! His leg is crippled,' she thought. In truth, her skill hadn't diminished; she had precisely controlled the force and target of the collision.
Perhaps the poke was too forceful. Jasper groaned in pain. Evangeline withdrew her hand, rubbed the blood from her finger onto his body, and said with a half-smile, "I'm sorry. Your favorite Queen Jade is actually the sister you despise. I'm curious. Do you like me now? Or do you hate me?"
Jasper's chest heaved violently; his eyes were bloodshot. Evangeline chuckled and whispered in his ear, "What does it feel like to lose your faith and be betrayed by your idol?"
Jasper stared, his throat seemingly constricted, unable to speak.
Evangeline smiled and continued, "Relax. It's only one leg today. We have a long way to go. I will destroy your family slowly." Hearing this, Jasper spat out blood.
The combined physical and psychological blows finally overwhelmed him, and he fainted. Just then, the rescue team arrived and began prying open the wrecked car door. After removing Jasper, they sent him for emergency treatment.
While the rescue team worked, Evangeline had already left. However, the scene was captured on tracking cameras. Her face appeared on a large screen in front of the audience.
Everyone was shocked, staring in disbelief at the familiar face. They were motionless, as if frozen. They stared at the face that had recently captured worldwide attention, surprised that Evangeline was Jade. No one could accept that Evangeline was their racing deity.
It wasn't that Evangeline wasn't beautiful—in fact, she was arguably the most beautiful woman in the entertainment industry. It was the image of her crawling through the forest and swinging on vines that clashed with their perception of Jade.
"My eyes didn't deceive me, did they? Queen Jade is Evangeline, and Evangeline is Queen Jade?" "Gosh! What a twist!" "I'd rather believe there's a Spiderman than that Evangeline is Queen Jade!" "Holy shit!" "I don't know how to describe how I feel" "Ahh! My dream is shattered!" "It turns out Evangeline is Queen Jade. Did she hit Jasper on purpose?" "Definitely. With Queen Jade's skills, that wasn't a mistake on that flat track." "Queen Jade helped Jasper from the start, even letting him take the lead. It was so strange. I never expected that ending." "I remember Jasper liked Queen Jade. Am I right?" "More than that. He worshipped her; his phone was full of her competition photos." "Haha! I wonder how he'll feel knowing his idol is the sister his family bullied and despised." "Queen Jade did this on purpose—to break Jasper's spirit. That's why she entered the competition, helped him during the race, ran into him at the end, and took off her helmet. It was all planned." "No wonder Queen Jade entered that competition. It was all for Jasper."
The audience, recovering from their shock, erupted into a heated discussion. Meanwhile, Evangeline returned to the lounge, changed out of her racing suit, and emerged to find Arthur and Steven waiting.
Steven rushed to her excitedly. "Evangeline, you're so cruel! That was a devastating blow! He must be despairing. This is far more ruthless than simply scolding him!"
"They signed liability waivers. I thought you were going to kill him," Arthur said.
Evangeline glared. "Do I look that evil? I'm law-abiding."
Hugo added, "If he'd died in the crash, you wouldn't have gone to jail. Everyone signed waivers and had insurance."
Evangeline blinked. "The crash was an accident. I didn't mean it."
Everyone looked unconvinced. Evangeline shrugged; she didn't care if they believed her. As long as she said it was an accident, it was.
"Evangeline, let's go. They'll be here soon. I'll take you out the side door," Steven said.
The audience, still stunned, would soon react.
"All right. Let's go," Evangeline replied.
They quietly left through the side door. As soon as they left, they heard the commotion from inside.
"Where's Queen Jade?" "Where's Evangeline?" "Evangeline, come out! Admit you're Queen Jade!" "Evangeline, protect Queen Jade's image!"
Evangeline fell silent. Looking at Arthur and the others, she asked, "Is it so hard to accept I'm Jade?"
Silence. Arthur pondered. "It's like marrying a delicate woman and finding out she's unattractive. Can you understand that?"
Evangeline was speechless. Hugo chuckled. "Evangeline, it's not that you're not beautiful, but your jungle maneuvers destroyed your image. Queen Jade is aloof; they can't accept it."
Evangeline mused, "Why do they have this illusion? I rarely appeared or communicated during competitions, let alone interviews. They imagined aloofness."
"All right, let's go," Arthur urged.
Since they preferred to travel together, Steven's contact drove a five-seater MPV. Soon, Hugo exclaimed, "The racing venue incident is online! The news about Evangeline being Queen Jade is trending on Twitter!"
He quickly checked the internet. Evangeline tried to log into her Twitter account but failed; it was down. Hugo offered her his phone.
Dozens of trending topics appeared: [#RacingDeityIsEvangeline], [#EvangelineIsQueenJade], [#EvangelineTheRacingDeity], [#QueenJadeComeback], [#Evangeline'sOtherIdentities], [#EvangelineInjuredJasper], [#Jaspere'sDeityIsQueenJade], [#TheGallagherFamily]. Many "Jungle Survival" topics also trended.
Evangeline clicked on a trending topic. Pictures and videos of her removing her helmet appeared. In a short time, there were over one hundred thousand comments. She read comments such as: [#MarryMeEvangeline], [#EvangelineIsAmazing], [#DamnEvangelineIsQueenJade], [#DreamsBroken], [#EvangelineIsPerfect], [#EvangelineMadeMeGay], [#ILoveEvangeline], [#MoreShowsPlease].
She couldn't help but twitch her lips at the many marriage proposals, even from women.
Hugo smiled. "You're popular now. Join more shows, act in plays, make money. Join my company; I'll help you choose projects."
Evangeline opened her mouth to reply when her phone rang. An unknown number. Frowning, she answered. "Who is this?"
It was Dallas from Jungle Survival. They had recently completed their collaboration.
"I haven't received the $20,000 you promised yesterday," Evangeline said.
Dallas paused. "I'll transfer it later. Send me your account number. Edward gave us his company's account; I couldn't pay you. Also, a friend asked me to invite you to a foreign variety show, Xtreme Survival. It's been on for ten seasons and is very popular abroad."
He paused. "I'm doing this out of courtesy. I don't recommend it. It's dangerous and unfriendly to Clusians. Participants from all over the world have participated. Our country has participated three times. The first broke his hand, the second was paralyzed, and the third, a special forces veteran, broke his leg, lost his vision, and became disabled."