diff --git a/internal/links/mentions.go b/internal/links/mentions.go
index b9674be35..485e54538 100644
--- a/internal/links/mentions.go
+++ b/internal/links/mentions.go
@@ -92,6 +92,22 @@ func (u *urlScan) inURL(content string, at int) bool {
 		strings.HasPrefix(content[u.runStart:at], "www.")
 }
 
+// rangeCursor answers "is pos inside one of these ranges" for positions that
+// arrive in increasing order, walking the sorted, disjoint ranges once per
+// call rather than once per match (TASK-3917 r4: isInRanges per match made a
+// body of many code spans and then many mentions quadratic).
+type rangeCursor struct {
+	ranges [][2]int
+	i      int
+}
+
+func (c *rangeCursor) contains(pos int) bool {
+	for c.i < len(c.ranges) && c.ranges[c.i][1] <= pos {
+		c.i++
+	}
+	return c.i < len(c.ranges) && pos >= c.ranges[c.i][0]
+}
+
 // badMentionPrefix reports whether the byte before the "@" at content[at]
 // makes it a non-mention (an email local part, a path, a URL).
 func badMentionPrefix(content string, at int, u *urlScan) bool {
@@ -161,10 +177,11 @@ func ExtractMentions(content string) []string {
 	seen := map[string]bool{}
 	var out []string
 	u := urlScan{scheme: -1}
+	fc, ic := rangeCursor{ranges: fenced}, rangeCursor{ranges: inline}
 	for _, m := range mentionPattern.FindAllStringSubmatchIndex(content, -1) {
 		at := m[0]
 		u.advance(content, at)
-		if isInRanges(at, fenced) || isInRanges(at, inline) {
+		if fc.contains(at) || ic.contains(at) {
 			continue
 		}
 		if at > 0 && badMentionPrefix(content, at, &u) {
diff --git a/internal/links/mentions_test.go b/internal/links/mentions_test.go
index 7338a0976..fbd930936 100644
--- a/internal/links/mentions_test.go
+++ b/internal/links/mentions_test.go
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ func TestParseMentions(t *testing.T) {
 		{"url then space then mention", "see https://x.social/a @alice", []string{"alice"}},
 		{"www in an earlier run does not taint", "www.x.social z/@alice", []string{"alice"}},
 		{"scheme earlier in the same run", "go:x://h/p/@alice", nil},
+		{"mentions between and after code spans", "`a` @alice `@bob` @carol\n```\n@dave\n```\n@erin", []string{"alice", "carol", "erin"}},
+		{"mention at a code span edge", "`x`@alice", []string{"alice"}},
 		{"hyphen prefix rejected (documented limit)", "-@alice", nil},
 		{"period at end", "thanks @alice.", []string{"alice"}},
 		{"apostrophe", "@alice's turn", []string{"alice"}},
@@ -83,3 +85,15 @@ func TestExtractMentionsLinearOnSlashRuns(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("ExtractMentions on %d bytes took %v; a per-match backward scan is back", len(body), d)
 	}
 }
+
+// The code-range check walks the spans once per call, not once per match: a
+// body of many inline code spans followed by many mentions was quadratic
+// (TASK-3917 r4; 360 KB took ~1.1 s, so a 2 MiB comment body ~40 s).
+func TestExtractMentionsLinearAfterCodeSpans(t *testing.T) {
+	body := strings.Repeat("`a` ", 160000) + strings.Repeat("@aaa ", 160000)
+	start := time.Now()
+	ExtractMentions(body)
+	if d := time.Since(start); d > 3*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("ExtractMentions on %d bytes took %v; a per-match range scan is back", len(body), d)
+	}
+}