The Curse of “The Three Body Problem”

0:00You may have heard of the sex cult NXIVM and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story, until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talk to Alison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member, and what she thinks of it all now. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma to other people? I mean, I don't even know how to answer that question. Alison, after NXIVM from CBC's Uncover, is available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:33In December of 2020, life was pretty good for Lin Xi. The Chinese billionaire was CEO of one of Asia's most important entertainment and gaming companies. His games were played by millions, and his company produced some of China's most successful shows. He was part of a young group of Chinese executives reshaping the country. But as he left work on December 16th, Lin began to feel unwell. He had reportedly had blueberries earlier in the day, but this didn't seem like food poisoning. And it didn't seem like the cold or the flu. Then Lin started experiencing some strange symptoms. He had vision and hearing problems, tingling limbs, and a lack of coordination.

1:27And it wasn't just Lin who was feeling strange. He was one of five people at his gaming company that this was happening to. Unsteady and worsening, Lin checked himself into a hospital in Shanghai where doctors acted fast. They tested Lin's blood and soon they made a frightening discovery. This was not an upset stomach or a cold. Lin had been poisoned. The doctors tried to administer likely antidotes And for the next few days, it seemed like Lin's symptoms were improving He was able to speak with the police when they came in to question him But then, Lin crashed His condition began to deteriorate And on December 25th, Lin Xi, one of China's most famous business tycoons Succumbed to his poisoning The 39-year-old was dead.

2:24And soon, a revenge plot, ripped right from a Hollywood script, would be exposed.

2:37This is Opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One. I'm Sarah James McLaughlin. Today, I'm telling the story of a high-profile entertainment deal that resulted in a meticulously planned murder plot. When the truth was exposed, it forced people to think about the evil that may walk among them every day because the perp targeted co-workers and executed his plan in their office building. He'd spent months planning his attack, and no one suspected a thing.

3:13After everything came to light, people were forced to think about how you might never really know someone, even when you spend almost every day with them, even when you have no reason to think they'd be capable of something heinous. People made the harsh realization that sometimes, when someone's angry enough, They'll play the long game, and that jealousy and revenge aren't just reserved for crimes of passion.

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5:13With three or more orbiting objects in the picture, everything gets messier. Before the gaming exec, Lin Chi, died of poisoning in 2020, he'd been at the height of his career. The billionaire had founded the gaming and media company Yuzu Games when he was still in his early 20s. In America, he wasn't a famous entertainment CEO like Fox's Rupert Murdoch or Disney's Bob Iger, but in China. That was how he was viewed, although a lot younger than both of those American business tycoons. According to Michaela Friel, a senior reporter at Business Insider, Lin was cinching blockbuster deals by the time he was in his 30s.

5:58Yuzu Games is this massive company that are out of China. They're really well known for holding the rights to a couple of big productions. A company called Yuzu, which is probably best known overseas for creating the smash hit online strategy game called Game of Thrones Winter is Coming. Yuzu Games was ahead of the curve. The media and entertainment industries in China saw a slump between 2020 and 2022. But since then, it's skyrocketed. This is mainly due to policy and technological advances. Even without those advances, Lin forged ahead. He believed in Chinese creativity and the country's ability to modernize productions.

6:44He saw Hollywood potential in Shanghai. And while game adaptations had launched him into the entertainment stratosphere, Lin was spreading his wings. He wanted to adapt a popular Chinese novel into a TV series. Has anyone else seen it? Someone or something is targeting scientists. They're going after our best and brightest.

7:13The Three-Body Problem is the first book in the science fiction trilogy. That's Kelly Ung, a BBC journalist we spoke with about the case. It involves like aliens and trying to communicate with a different kind of living organism. There are certain existential themes. I would say that it's well known because it really broke some boundaries. I think in China in terms of the science fiction genre. Even now, we don't see so much science fiction coming out of China. There were themes of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as well, which is, I guess, a bit unique and brave. The author's story is kind of interesting because he was professionally an engineer.

8:02There's a bit of the backstory that is kind of interesting because they went on to do so well. and as you said, be pretty influential across the world as well.

8:14The adaptation was set into motion in 2017. In an interview with The Guardian, the author of the book series, Liu Sushin, said that people hoped the adaptation would be China's Star Wars or 2001 A Space Odyssey. The production had all the makings of a sci-fi cult favorite. Suffice it to say, after the idea sparked to adopt the book series, nothing would stand in Lin Chi's way. Or at least so he thought. A true crime podcast. It got me upset because this is someone's kid and someone knows she's gone. That takes a different approach. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town.

9:01Focusing on the communities affected by life-shattering crimes. It made news throughout the entire region that these two people had been shot while they slept in such a safe community. To give a new perspective on the devastation crimes can cause. It was shocking for something like this to happen in our little town. Featuring cases from quiet towns to bustling cities and interviewing the people closest to the case. My first thought was that it's an unusual location for us to have a homicide. Listen to the true crime podcast City Confidential and step beyond the yellow tape to learn just how far a crime can reach.

9:40There are certain cases in the history of Boston that I think sort of define the city. I think this is one of them. New episodes of the City Confidential podcast are available every Thursday. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

9:55In 2017, Lin Chi, founder of the Chinese gaming and production company Yuzu Games, got the rights to adapt the hit sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem into a Netflix series. This was a huge deal, and Lin was at the helm. He was the big boss of the company. He was in charge. and probably one of the richest people when he was alive, worth billions. He had a production empire under his belt. One member of that empire was a man in his early 40s named Xu Yao. Xu had studied law in France and the U.S. Before he was hired at Yuzu Games, he'd spent a decade working for the Chinese conglomerate, the Fosun Group.

10:44Lin gave Shu the opportunity to expand Beyond Law and get involved with production. It's likely that Shu saw new horizons ahead. He wasn't just a corporate cog anymore. He was a media mogul. He was a very intelligent man. He knew exactly what he was doing when he was hired in 2017. He headed a full division of Yuzo, which was the free body universe. Shuyal was trusted with something that I'm sure the bosses knew were going to make the company millions, if not billions. So he was obviously considered a valuable member of the team. He was trusted. He was fought off as smart and reliable. And then something happened.

11:32We don't exactly know what it was. But courts say that he was demoted after less than three years in the job due to poor performance. He apparently received a pay cut because of this. According to the Chinese state-sponsored magazine Sixth Tone, Lin soon realized that while Xu was a skilled lawyer, he wasn't cut out for media production. He offloaded those responsibilities to one of the company's vice presidents. Xu had essentially been sidelined. It destabilized the entire inner solar system. People at the company probably felt bad for Xu. he was a competent lawyer and kind of a quiet guy. It doesn't seem like he'd ruffled feathers before this.

12:18Disappointment was to be expected. Even embarrassment. We hear about business disputes all the time. It's not unusual. But it's not like his career was ruined or anything. After all, career setbacks are often seen as a good thing. There are tons of glamorized stories about people who had career setbacks before becoming successful. Oprah Winfrey's demotion at her new studio inadvertently launched her into fame. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, then went on to make huge industry strides before the company he founded hired him back a decade later. And remember, Shoe wasn't fired, just demoted, like Oprah.

13:00So the situation wasn't that dire, right? Well, not exactly. Remember, entering the media landscape was an exciting new chapter for Shu. It was an exciting new chapter for China. Being part of it meant money and fame beyond what Shu ever expected as an attorney. So when he was essentially told an attorney was all he'd ever be, it was a bigger loss for him than anyone realized. And there was one final blow. Netflix dropped Three Body Problem in March 2024. The opening credits name Lynn as an executive producer, but not Shu. He wasn't credited on the final cut of the show. This had to sting. First of all, Shu had worked on the show.

13:49He probably felt like all his hard work was being swept under the rug. To add to it, the show got a ton of visibility. As Esquire puts it, Three-Body Problem was, quote, well-loved by science buffs and President Obama alike. It became a bellwether for sci-fi that is both accessible and deeply concerned with actual physics, unquote. Suffice it to say, she was not happy when the decision to cut him out was made back in 2020. It all went downhill from there.

14:21The details are murky, but she reportedly felt humiliated. Success, power, wealth. It all seemed to be slipping from his reach. He had a lot of resentment and bitterness. Those feelings manifested in a bizarre way. According to the reporter Stephen Tien, she was, quote, enamored with a popular American TV series, Breaking Bad, unquote. You know, the one about a scorned chemist who builds a meth lab. Chemistry is, well, technically, chemistry is the study of matter. But I prefer to see it as the study of change. Apparently, Xu drew inspiration from the show, but not the right kind. He seems to have learned the wrong lessons from the teacher-turned-drug kingpin.

15:19In September 2020, he started devising a plan. There was a lot of planning. It was very premeditated. it. Unlike Breaking Bad's lead character, Walter White, Shu had no background in chemistry. He was operating on full delusion, but that didn't stop him. There's an old saying, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Well, Shu is a good example that men can be described this way too. But like I said before, this was not a crime of passion. This was fiercely premeditated. In an effort to avoid detection and to cover his tracks, Shu bought multiple phone lines. Once he had a way to try and stay anonymous, Shu got on the dark web where he bought over 100 different types of poison.

16:13He created a fake company to purchase them. Then he set up a secret lab in the suburbs where he'd bring animals to test the poisons on. It's like he was playing mad scientist, but the thing is, he wasn't a scientist. And if we're being honest, his lab, well, it wasn't a lab at all. It's not like he was cooking anything. He bought everything online. What he had was a makeshift testing center. Okay, let's just take a step back here and reassess everything that we've learned. Shu feels marginalized. He has had his salary cut. It's a huge blow to his ego. And his response to that, instead of finding a new job, is to play around as a mad scientist with hundreds of poisons.

17:12essentially he's learning a new hobby to extract revenge he's not a chemist he's just buying poisons off the dark web and he's got animals in this lab hundreds of animals dogs cats and he's testing these poisons on these animals to decide which death he wants his boss to have?

17:48That's incredibly insane to me. Back to the story. So once he found a poison that delivered the results he wanted, he wasted no time.

18:15In September 2020, Shu Yao started testing poisons in secret in his makeshift lab. Tensions were still high in the Yuzu game office, but Shu maintained a poker face. That didn't mean his anger had subsided or that he was sitting idle. He was raging inside, meticulously plotting, just planning his revenge. Over a three-month period, Shue Spike lends coffee, his tea, and supplemental pills with methylmercury chloride. Four other people in the office consumed the poisons as well. It seemed like three of those people were collateral damage, but one of them was the VP who got Shue's old job. Hell hath no fury.

19:07Like an entertainment executive scorned?

19:16Then on December 17th, 2020, Shanghai police got a call from the hospital. Doctors there believed that a tech billionaire had been poisoned. Authorities didn't provide a lot of details on their investigation. but only one day passed before Xu Yao was in custody. Before questioning Lin, other witnesses, and Scouring Zhu's internet history, they figured out his plot, but one crucial detail was still missing, the type of poison he used. The four other victims were sick, but not in critical condition. But Lin was teetering on the edge. Doctors had given him a general antidote, but it wasn't working as well as they had hoped.

20:06They needed to know exactly what it was in his system. On Christmas Day, one week after Xu Zhao was brought into custody, Lin Xi died. People in China were shocked. Yeah, it was a big deal in China because of how sensational it was. And the fine details in which he supposedly plotted the act. I mean, if he was so upset, he could have left and gone into something better. I can't imagine him not being able to find another job of similar pay. In April 2024, Xu Yao was sentenced to death. An execution date hasn't yet been confirmed. Here's Michaela. I do know my own experience as a journalist with whenever we do report on China, just the sheer volume of censorship that they have in the country.

21:02It makes it incredibly difficult to find out anything when it comes to sourcing information, whether that be interview sources or just reading an article. It can be very difficult. So I'm not surprised. The legal system is extremely difficult to also get access to. China isn't just keeping legal updates under wraps. They're also censoring discussion around the show itself. After the series premiered, people started drawing parallels between the story and Xu Yao's own retribution. When Three Body Problem premiered on Netflix in March 2024, it was met with mixed reviews. And that's true for any show, but this one came out with historical implications.

21:52First of all, the story is set against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Second, Netflix is banned in China, so people there had to find it through other means. It's fair to say that this series would be met with controversy regardless of whether Xu Yao had murdered Lin Qi, but people couldn't help but draw similarities between the murder and the story featured in both a Netflix show and the novel it was based on. Another interesting thing is the social media reaction, right? Like we talk about the lack of political commentary, but actually on social media and just online, the news of the death and then later this guy being sentenced to death really broke Chinese social media somewhat.

22:39But so there was a lot of, and also because, as we said, Three Body Problem is such an influential work in the country. So we saw a lot of comments as I was researching, you know, people drawing parallels with the themes in the series, like this plot to kill for one's own posterity, in some way, the bizarreness of this actual murder parallels, or maybe even supersedes what is written in the book. It's hard to imagine what could have motivated him to that extent. Earlier, we talked about how he was supposedly sidelined in the company. So I'm not sure what his eventual, what his final role was in the company, but I don't imagine it really being something that would wipe out his livelihood or whatever.

23:27So I feel like financially, he would have been still holding a pretty lucrative position. So yeah, I guess it does speak to how far the desire for revenge could drive someone. Themes of authority, ostracism and revenge are obvious, but there's still an element of shock involved in Lynn's murder. That's where the shock factor obviously comes in. And it's the kind of thing that you will look at in movies or in true crime documentaries, but nobody could ever imagine it happening to them. and I'm sure that everybody that works at Free Body Problem and Netflix never suspected that something like this could happen in their offices.

24:13One of the scariest parts of this story is the fact that Xu Yao had no record prior to this. Sometimes when we hear about a horrific murder, you know, we go online and see all of the stories from the killer's past, and maybe they were an abusive partner, or they'd been in violent altercations. Because when a killer has a recorded history of violence, it kind of makes us feel better in a way, like the signs were always there, you just needed to know where to look. But in the cases like Shu Yao, there weren't any signs. He was hardworking and smart and people liked him. He really seemed destined for success.

24:58His resume read like someone who was staring down a career of limitless opportunity. But the wrong thing set him off and he showed what kind of danger he was really capable of all along. Let me just leave you with a quote from Liu Shixin's novel, The Three-Body Problem. Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean.

25:57Thank you for tuning in to The Opportunist. This episode was written by Sarah Batchelor and executive produced by Connor Powell. We'll be back soon with more stories about people who see an opportunity to get ahead and take it. Until next time.

26:25Thank you.