Chinese authorities have executed a man convicted of using poison to kill a billionaire gaming tycoon linked to the Netflix adaptation of The Three-Body Problem over a professional dispute, local media reported on Tuesday.
Xu Yao (許垚) was found guilty of killing Lin Qi (林奇), the founder of the Shanghai-based Yoozoo Games, which holds the film adaptation rights for the blockbuster science-fiction trilogy known by the title of its first book, The Three-Body Problem.
The trilogy by Chinese author Liu Cixin (劉慈欣) has been translated into more than 40 languages, and adapted into television and game productions including Netflix’s popular 3 Body Problem series released in 2024.
Photo: Chinatopix via AP
Xu, the former head of a subsidiary of Yoozoo Games, poisoned Lin in December 2020 over being sidelined by the founder shortly after Xu helped his superior land the Netflix deal, local media reported.
Xu was convicted in 2024 and executed on Thursday last week, the reports said.
Lin’s company confirmed the execution in a statement on Tuesday on social media.
“Recently, the case concerning Mr Lin Qi, the founder of Three-Body Universe, has finally reached its conclusion, and justice has ultimately been served,” the statement read. “All of us at the company are deeply grateful for the upholding of justice.”
Yoozoo Games did not immediately respond to a request for additional comments.
The Shanghai High People’s Court did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
Xu spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy highly toxic substances online, including alpha-amanitin, a lethal compound found in some poisonous mushrooms, local media reported.
He disguised the poisons as probiotic pills, as well as put them inside coffee capsules, water containers and whisky bottles, which he then shared with Lin and other company employees.
Lin was taken to the hospital in December 2020 and died a few days later.
He was 39.
Several others fell sick, but recovered, local media reported.
The Three-Body Problem series has been hugely popular in China and abroad.
Liu became the first Chinese writer to win the Hugo Award, the genre’s biggest prize.
Domestically, the works spurred the growth of a sci-fi industry spanning movies, video games, books, magazines and exhibits.
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