Chinese authorities have executed Xu Yao, the former Yoozoo Games executive convicted of poisoning company founder Lin Qi, who later became an executive producer of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem.
Lin founded Yoozoo Games in 2009 and turned it into one of China’s most recognizable gaming companies, including international projects like Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming. The company also controlled screen rights connected to Remembrance of Earth’s Past, known globally through the adaptation 3 Body Problem.
Lin was posthumously credited as an executive producer on the Netflix series when it premiered in March 2024. Netflix later confirmed that production for Season 2 began in Budapest in November 2025.
According to Chinese outlet Securities Times, Xu Yao was executed on May 21, 2026, after receiving final approval through China’s legal system. Three-Body Universe, the company connected to the franchise, later released a statement saying the case had officially come to an end and that justice had been served.
Xu was originally sentenced to death by the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court on March 22, 2024. Prosecutors said he poisoned Lin in December 2020 following internal business disputes over company operations and projects tied to 3 Body Problem. Lin died roughly 10 days later at the age of 39.
The court also found that four other employees became ill after Xu poisoned drinks inside Yoozoo offices between September and December 2020. All survived.
Chinese media reports described the case as unusually elaborate. Outlet Caixin reported that Xu had become fascinated with the TV show Breaking Bad and allegedly built a laboratory in suburban Shanghai, where he experimented with toxins purchased through the dark web before disguising poisonous substances as probiotic supplements.
Reports also claimed the attacks happened after Xu lost influence over operations connected to the 3 Body Problem franchise. He had previously led Three-Body Universe, the Yoozoo-linked subsidiary managing the sci-fi property.
Lin became ill on December 16, 2020, and Xu was detained by Shanghai police two days later. Lin died on Christmas Day, years before Netflix’s adaptation finally reached global audiences.
The death sentence was officially handed down one day after Netflix released Season 1 of 3 Body Problem, linking one of China’s most shocking corporate crime cases to one of its biggest global entertainment projects.