China has executed Xu Yao, a former executive at Yoozoo Games, for the murder of Lin Qi, the billionaire founder of the company. Xu was found guilty of poisoning Lin in December 2020, a crime linked to a dispute over the Netflix adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy The Three-Body Problem.
Xu, who had previously helped Lin secure the Netflix deal, was convicted in 2024 and executed on May 21, 2025. Lin's company, Three-Body Universe, confirmed the execution in a statement on Weibo, expressing gratitude that justice had been served.
According to local media, Xu spent hundreds of thousands of Chinese yuan to buy highly toxic substances online, including alpha-amanitin, a lethal compound found in poisonous mushrooms. He disguised the poisons as probiotic pills and placed them in coffee capsules, water containers, and whisky bottles, which he shared with Lin and other employees.
Lin, aged 39, was hospitalised shortly after and died a few days later. Several other employees fell ill but recovered. The case has drawn significant attention due to the popularity of The Three-Body Problem trilogy, written by Liu Cixin, which won the Hugo Award and has been adapted into various media, including Netflix's 2024 series.
