A Chinese lawyer who poisoned and killed billionaire gaming tycoon Lin Qi, an executive involved in producing Netflix’s sci-fi hit “3 Body Problem,” has been executed, Chinese state media reported.

Xu Yao murdered his employer in 2020 by giving him what he claimed were probiotic pills, but which were actually laced with lethal toxins he had purchased on the dark web and prepared in a personal lab.

Earlier that year, Xu had worked closely with Lin on securing the rights to adapt Liu Cixin’s acclaimed Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, which begins with “The Three-Body Problem.”

He was executed last Thursday, two years after a Shanghai court sentenced him to death for murder.

News of the execution was first reported on Tuesday by Chinese state media outlet Economic Observer, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Confirming the report, Three-Body Universe — the company formerly owned by Lin to manage development of the trilogy’s intellectual property, issued a statement on Tuesday saying, “All employees of our company are grateful for the justice served by the legal system.”

The statement also paid tribute to Lin, who was credited as an executive producer in the opening credits of Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” when the series premiered in 2024.

Lin was a devoted fan of Liu Cixin’s trilogy and had long harboured ambitions of bringing the science-fiction saga to the screen as a major franchise.

Just months after Netflix announced plans to produce the series, Lin was poisoned and killed at the age of 39.

On a winter evening in 2020, he was driving home from the headquarters of his company, Yoozoo Games, in Shanghai when he suddenly fell ill and admitted himself to hospital.

He died 10 days later on Christmas Day.

Reports from Chinese media said at least five toxins were found in his body, including highly lethal substances such as mercury and tetrodotoxin.