Lin Qi, a billionaire fan of "The Three-Body Problem," had big plans to bring his favorite Chinese sci-fi novel to TV, cinema and video-game screens across the world.
Flush with cash after the listing of his gaming company in 2014, the young entrepreneur envisioned turning China's most beloved sci-fi trilogy into a global pop culture phenomenon in the same league as "Star Wars."
A decade on, Lin would have been a step closer to achieving his dream when a Netflix adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning book drew millions of viewers worldwide – but he never lived to see it.
Lin, who was named as an executive producer in the opening credits of "3 Body Problem," was poisoned to death at age 39, according to Chinese authorities, months after Netflix announced its plans to produce the series in 2020.
The culprit was one of Lin's own executives, a high-flying lawyer who helped Lin's Yoozoo Games secure the rights to adapt the highly acclaimed trilogy.
After falling out with his boss, Xu Yao gifted Lin a bottle of what he said were probiotic pills, but which contained a cocktail of lethal toxins he bought off the dark web.
Media reports of the meticulously planned murder have gripped China, where it has drawn comparisons online to the American crime drama "Breaking Bad." According to Chinese media outlets, it involved the mixing and testing of more than a hundred poisons in a makeshift suburban lab.
Xu was sentenced to death for murder by a court in Shanghai on March 22 - the day after the much-anticipated debut of "3 Body Problem" on Netflix.
To Chinese tech entrepreneurs and fans of the books, the dramatically timed sentence served as a poignant reminder of the loss of a rising star in China's once vibrant internet industry – and a pivotal figure in the making of one of the country's most successful pop culture exports.
On a winter evening in 2020, Lin was driving home from Yoozoo Games headquarters in Shanghai when he suddenly felt unwell. He checked himself in to the hospital and initially recovered to a stable condition. But he died 10 days later, according to his company.
At least five toxins were found in Lin's body, including mercury and tetrodotoxin – an extremely potent poison found in pufferfish, Chinese financial magazine Caixin reported, citing people close to the tycoon.
Xu was identified as a key suspect and swiftly detained, according to a police statement at the time.
In its ruling last month, the Shanghai court said Xu had a dispute with Lin over "company management matters" and plotted to poison his boss through edible items over two days. Xu also poisoned drinks in the offices of two executives he had disputes with, causing four colleagues to fall sick, the court said. (The four survived.)
In the months following Lin's death, Chinese media outlets pieced together a more detailed – and chilling – account of the murder, which involved meticulous planning that lasted months.
Read more about the meticulously planned murder.
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