When he heard Neville say "always," Zhang Xiao finally understood.
It was not aphantasia. Neville's difficulty learning and his general clumsiness were not caused by the Obliviate spell, either.
Someone of Dumbledore's caliber would never make that kind of mistake.
All of it was because Neville was consuming his own spiritual essence to keep Alice's and Frank's souls from fading away.
He used the pain of longing as chains to hold them back, keeping them from leaving their bodies.
This was multiple soul disorder. It was not schizophrenia; instead, it left a person dazed and muddled. Originally, the body only needed to nourish itself.
But now it had two more souls to support, which inevitably left it unable to supply enough.
Neville's world had never been like everyone else's. For ordinary people, the world was clear and fluid.
His world, however, lagged a beat behind. In gaming terms, he was playing against normal players with high latency and a low refresh rate.
So Neville had been a genius all along. To learn spells and achieve results in Herbology under such conditions could only mean he had astonishing talent.
No one outside their family could see any of this. Zhang Chengdao was patiently explaining the current situation to Mrs. Longbottom.
"...You're saying Frank and Alice ended up like this because a piece of their souls is missing?"
Mrs. Longbottom looked at Zhang Chengdao with an expression that was hard to describe. Emotionally, she desperately wanted to believe it was true.
But reason told her it was impossible. In a wizard's understanding, the soul was a single whole; splitting it was impossible.
That was precisely why something like a Horcrux was so shocking.
"And Neville hasn't seemed particularly gifted because the missing pieces of Frank's and Alice's souls are inside him?
"But..."