‘3 Body Problem’ Exec Practiced on Pets Before Killing Boss: Report

• Former Yoozoo Games executive Xu Yao has been sentenced to death for the murder of his boss.
• Lin Qi died in 2020 after ingesting poison, the New York Times reported.
• Xu took inspiration from “Breaking Bad” and poisoned animals for training, Caixin reported.

An executive who worked on Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” practiced killing cats and dogs before fatally poisoning his boss, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported.

The New York Times reported that Xu Yao, a former Yoozoo Games executive, was sentenced to death on March 22 after fatally poisoning the company’s founder, Lin Qi, in 2020.

Yoozoo Games owns the rights to the Chinese-language sci-fi series “3 Body Problem,” which debuted on Netflix in March. The show is based on the award-winning book trilogy “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” by Liu Cixin.

Xu, who joined Yoozoo Games in 2017, killed Lin due to a “dispute over the management of the company,” according to a statement from the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court, cited by the Associated Press.

The dispute took place after Xu was demoted and received a pay cut due to poor performance, according to the Caixin report cited by the Times.

Xu allegedly planned Lin’s murder in retaliation. He built a laboratory near Shanghai and experimented with hundreds of poisons from the dark web – often testing them on pets, including cats and dogs – according to Caixin.

Caixin reported that Xu was inspired by the series “Breaking Bad,” about a high school teacher diagnosed with lung cancer who began making and selling methamphetamine.

The court said four other employees fell ill, but were not killed, after Xu poisoned drinks at the office between September and December 2020 due to grievances he had with two of them, a reported AP.

Chinese media named one of the poisoned employees as Zhao Jilong, vice president of the company’s film division, Variety reported in 2021.

Zhao may have been targeted due to jealousy over his involvement in the company’s deal with Netflix. Lin and Zhao were both named executive producers of “3 Body Problem” in the official announcement, while Xu was not credited, Variety reported.

Writing on his WeChat account after Xu’s sentencing, Zhao said: “Justice has been served,” according to Chinese state media cited by the Times.

Representatives for Yoozoo Games and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.