Superbrain: The Garage

Superbrain: The Garage is the first book in Cai Bigui's Superbrain series. Originally serialized online under the title My Friend Is a Weirdo on Tianya Community's "Lotus Lantern Ghost Tales" forum, it is regarded as one of the representative Chinese online works blending suspense and science fiction. The book begins with a man full of quirks: Shui, a star planner at a game company, suddenly quit three years ago and has since wandered about, carrying a large backpack no one is allowed to touch, and especially forbidding anyone from sitting on his right. A group of mischievous friends corner him during a trip, and he has no choice but to recount that night three years ago—after working late, he took the elevator down to the underground parking garage and could never return to the surface; the garage became a prison where time stands still and space mutates, and the timelines of those trapped within do not match one another on the surface. Worse, this enclosed space seems to have a will of its own, driving everyone toward deeper unknowns with a series of mysterious guides. As they desperately search for an exit, Shui, on the edge of life and death, suddenly feels a shackle in his mind come unlocked. How exactly did he leave that place, and why does he forbid anyone from sitting on his right to this day? The answer pulls out a larger secret about human evolution. Told in the tone of an urban legend, the book weaves together a space-time prison, parallel timelines, and suspenseful pursuit, with a brisk pace and characters who carry a touch of irreverent humor.