The People in the Copied City

When the final sign went out, residents on the school field raised their phone flashlights. Four thousand tiny stars filled the darkness. Stability crossed twenty percent. The gray particles vanished from the old man. [NOVICE DOMAIN ESTABLISHED.] [REWARD: BASIC REPAIR STATION BLUEPRINT. 200 CONTRIBUTION POINTS.] Then every phone received a delayed news alert. “At 7:40 p.m., all residents of Riverside Block Seven disappeared under unexplained circumstances. The buildings remain inside the sealed zone, but more than four thousand citizens are missing...” The video showed the real Block Seven still standing—roads, apartments, and convenience store intact, but empty. If this place was only a copy, why had the people vanished from reality?