diff --git a/Inline.php b/Inline.php
index 58d38986..f780a26e 100644
--- a/Inline.php
+++ b/Inline.php
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ private static function evaluateScalar(string $scalar, int $flags, array &$refer
             }
 
             // an unquoted *
-            if (false === $value || '' === $value) {
+            if ('' === $value) {
                 throw new ParseException('A reference must contain at least one character.', self::$parsedLineNumber + 1, $value, self::$parsedFilename);
             }
 
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ private static function evaluateScalar(string $scalar, int $flags, array &$refer
             case '!' === $scalar[0]:
                 switch (true) {
                     case str_starts_with($scalar, '!!str '):
-                        $s = (string) substr($scalar, 6);
+                        $s = substr($scalar, 6);
 
                         if (\in_array($s[0] ?? '', ['"', "'"], true)) {
                             $isQuotedString = true;