After scavenging in the toxic zone, I stepped out to organize my gear. I had just finished—with the backpack equipped on my character rather than left on the ground—when the game disconnected. Upon immediately logging back in, both the backpack and its contents had vanished. The gaming experience was absolutely abysmal! My intuition tells me this wasn't a technical issue with the game itself but rather the result of human interference; I hope the developers investigate this thoroughly.