Independently of the solution, I think there is a clear UX problem with the current design of the code block. Contrast is almost non-existent.
To quote @codinghorror I would say on the contrary that “most places on the web” do not exhibit this issue
See github:
or slack:
or even notion
I would argue that both green underline and highlight have the exact opposite problem with unnecessary super high contrast but that’s more about taste than a UX problem.
What about implementing the github approach with a darker gray background and some padding?