To watch the full episode, please click on the FinalWar’s official YouTube channel here.
“It has been more than two months since Yu Menglong was taken from us,” says FinalWar host Katherine Hu. “Yet something extraordinary is happening: The global push for justice has not only refused to die down — it’s accelerating.” Now, more than 670,000 people worldwide have signed a petition demanding accountability and a transparent investigation into Yu’s suspicious death on Sept. 11.
Meanwhile, China itself has entered “a strangely turbulent moment.” Seemingly unrelated incidents — from art-world oddities to political theatrics — all trace back to Yu.
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A global call for justice
On Nov. 9 at the National Games in Guangzhou, Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan took their seats in front of tens of thousands — only for the spotlight to shift to an unexpected figure.
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“A giant golden fish with the head of a dragon glided across the stadium floor. At first, it looked like a variation of the traditional dragon dance. But one glance was enough — this wasn’t a dragon. It was absolutely, unmistakably a fish,” noted Hu.
Designers later explained the creature was ao — a fish caught mid-transformation into a dragon. Viewers instantly recognized the symbolism: “Because the pronunciation of Yu Menglong’s name in Chinese contains the sounds for both ‘fish’ and ‘dragon,’ the blue fish icon online is often used as a symbol referring to him.”
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Some saw “a silent rebellion by a conscientious designer against full-scale censorship.” Others believed “the fish was appearing to bring Yu Menglong’s spirit back — right in front of the man who ordered the silence.” So there he was — Xi Jinping “had to sit calmly and watch a symbol of Yu Menglong circle the arena, illuminated, celebrated, alive in front of tens of thousands of people,” says Hu.
After two months of deleting posts containing even the single character for “fish,” Beijing ended up making its own stadium “the biggest stage for the very symbol it tried to erase.”
A citizen investigation that changed everything
Then came the most unexpected development yet: a grassroots forensic probe. “A team of women from across China traveled to Beijing, walked the crime sites themselves, cross-checked weather patterns, audio spectrograms, and surveillance shadows — and produced the most rigorous, detailed independent investigation seen since the case began.”
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Their 40-page report, divided into “Under the Moon Chapter,” “The Qihao Chapter,” and a postscript, reconstructed Yu Menglong’s final hours “less like an online post, and more like a professional forensic dossier.” The discoveries were shocking, including:
The two-day gap, investigators believe, “was used to destroy evidence, clean crime scenes, and fabricate alibis for the elites involved.” Hu added that “what moved the public most wasn’t only the report’s thoroughness — it was the courage behind it.”
A turning point
But supporters and netizens have been finding new ways to bypass China’s strict censorship controls. “Yu Menglong’s supporters came up with a method no one expected — they turned the ‘notes’ section on food-delivery apps into a channel for the truth,” says Hu.
One receipt read: “Please look into the incident exposed on Bilibili — the actor who played Bai Zhen uncovered evidence of his company’s money laundering, was killed and 80 billion yuan in pension funds disappeared. Thank you.”
Immediately below it: “One set of utensils.” It was “simple, quiet, and it spread like wildfire — because anyone could do it, and the censors couldn’t block it fast enough,” added Hu.
Beijing’s response was instant: “Food-delivery apps across the city suddenly shut down the notes feature entirely.” Print shops were ordered that “nothing related to Yu Menglong may be printed.” Others displayed car banners reading, “Justice for Yu Menglong — hold the perpetrators accountable.”
“These acts are courageous,” Hu observed, “and they show a level of public anger Beijing can no longer fully suppress.”
The Kris Wu distraction
After failing to silence the movement, the propaganda system finally reverted to its oldest, most predictable playbook. “When they want to bury bad news, they dust off the same name every time: Kris Wu,” says Hu. On Nov. 6, social media erupted with the claim that “Kris Wu has died in prison.” But authorities said nothing. Soon after came the opposite rumor — that he was alive but under investigation for 300 million yuan in tax evasion.
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“Dead — Alive — In transit — Under investigation. The contradictions were the strategy,” Hu explains. “When the truth becomes dangerous, the best way to bury it is not censorship — it’s noise.” She notes a pattern: whenever Beijing faces crisis, “Kris Wu becomes the crisis.” Previous incidents included:
“So when did the rumor of his ‘death’ catch fire?” Hu asks. “Nov. 9 — exactly two months after Yu Menglong’s death … right when the citizen investigation report hit the internet.” Instead of distraction, the rumors “pushed more people to connect the dots … between both cases and the unchecked power of China’s elite circles.”
The ‘reverse aging’ controversy
The investigation’s shockwaves soon met another unsettling trend: Celebrities suddenly appearing decades younger. “For years, Jet Li appeared frail, hunched, and visibly aging. … But in recent videos he looks like a different person entirely — younger face — explosive energy — leaping, bouncing, almost childlike in movement,” notes Hu.
Spiritual observers claimed that “Jet Li’s rejuvenation wasn’t just cosmetic — they ‘saw’ something inside him.” They said his body “now carries not only Qiufeng’s heart, but also parts said to come from two young girls … one quiet and gentle, the other rebellious.”
Li denied all rumors regarding “reverse aging” treatments, releasing a video to prove otherwise — but netizens pointed out “no armpit hair, unusual folds along his neck, and seams of synthetic covering around his wrist.” Other stars — Ni Ping and Sammo Hung — showed a similar “miraculous” vigor. “People across China are asking the same question: What kind of ‘technology’ can reverse age this dramatically? And at what cost?” asks Hu.
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Entrepreneur Yu Wenhong has also claimed to have reversed her age from 55 to 30 through what she described as “micro-vesicles and youth-linked functional proteins extracted from the circulation of 16- to 21-year-old males.” Each treatment, she said, costs 20 million yuan a month.
At the same time, reports of mass biological-sample collections and child disappearances have surged in China. “When the human body becomes a ‘resource’ in the production chain,” Hu warns, “systems begin doing things that should never be done.”