At the moment it is a random connected node in your routing table. So each node does a store and the vault managers then send back stored to the group of data managers. Then the chunk is considered stored. If there is less than 3 copies another 4 are made (one each) so we can end up with 6 copies of data (and do a lot) so number of copies can be from 2-6 and offline copies (16). So Data managers can make a decision themselves that can only be agreed by the return message which goes to the group and consensus is achieved.
So when we say 4 copies it can be 2-6 and 16 off line. It’s just easier to say 4 